[Michael81Dus]

Pictures of Merkel´s trip to the Mideast:

[Michael81Dus]

Ping

[Red6]

"slams nations 'that do not want success in these efforts' "

She gets it, but do others?

Just like Iraq is having trouble because of Iran and Syria, so is the whole Israeli Palestinian issue. Besides the obvious antagonists Iran and Syria you then have the enablers. Those who bottom feed and profiteer off of the situation and make it worse, such as Russia. For them an isolated Iran means an exclusive market for their goods, to include weapons. Finally you have the political opportunists who simply stand in opposition but have little to gain in economic terms such as China. China has few vested economic interests in this region and they are not threatened by the instability there. However, they do get some of their fossil fuels from this region and more importantly they see the US as their long term adversary. Anything that weakens our position is good for them, so they will always oppose us in the UN, make public statements in their state run media which is parroted in part even in the US..... It's hard to achieve peace when you have people on the outside doing all they can to prevent it.

[wolf78]

Also important to mention: She refused to wear a headscarf in Saudi Arabia (second woman after Condi Rice, all others did, including M. Thatcher etc.).

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT

..................

[fishtank]

It was just after supper on Sept. 11, 2001, that Cmdr. Charles Merkel received notice of the terrorist attacks, and he and the USS Key West were ordered to go to the North Arabian Sea.