The greatest danger lies in the possibility that one of the current non-actors will become radically transformed, as Egypt did in the Nasser revolution and nearly did again when Sadat was assassinated.

Syria, for example, has a Shiite minority sect ruling a largely Sunni country. What happens if there’s a coup? Would a radical Islamist government in Damascus spur an invasion by Israel?

Egypt’s government is sitting on top of a volcano, where a coup is always possible. A radical change in government there would open a very dangerous front in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. And Jordan, seemingly the most secure as its government is incredibly active in monitoring dissent, is the land bridge between Iraq and the West Bank.

If any of these governments goes down, we could really see “unintended consequences.”

He and Stewart were enlightening and funny (in that order).

Look at the map. Going from west to east, or India to Israel, we have:

1) Pakistan, home to many radical Muslims, including the Taliban, and engaging in terrorism in Kashmir

2) Afghanistan, host to the Taliban, Al Quaeda and Osama bin Laden

3) Iran, sponsor of Hezbollah and Hamas, stirring up trouble in Iraq, and one of the principal terrorist states in the Middle East

4) Iraq, home of Saddam Hussein, who terrorized his own people, used chemical weapons against his own, and offered rewards to the families of suicide bombers in Palestine

5) Syria, another leading terrorist state, which also sponsors Hezbollah and co-operated with Saddam Hussein

Since 9/11, we sent troops to Afghanistan and overthrew the old Taliban regime, which took away bin Laden’s refuge and cut Pakistan off from Iran. Then we sent troops into Iraq, which skipped over Iran, but put American troops in the middle between Iran and Syria. So where there was unbroken territory for Muslim terrorists, the picture is now totally different.

Significant? Absolutely. Coud Iran really contribute much to help Syria in the current conflict, with 135,000 American troops in Iraq they would have to get past first? If Iran wants to join the conflict directly, they have to also be prepared to take on U.S. troops at the same time.

Not unlike teachers separating unruly youngsters by positioning themselves in the middle. Not that I would carry the analogy too far….

This is very cynical, Ric. What is the alternative, religion?

It takes a great deal of courage to extend your hand in peace after so much baggage piled on- yet it was done and it did not succeed. There were moments that seemed ripe, But after the recent failures and the loss of trust and hope and fresh traumas heaped upon one another there came to a point where a divorce was deemed necessary.

Sidewalker: Potter, why go back just to 1948 and a time of upheaval? What about before that? Were there not long periods where the city was shared?

There is a long and tumultuous history.

Barak did put Jerusalem on the table for discussion, but that was a very touchy subject and kept secret. It did break a taboo, as other taboos were broken during the 2000 talks.

This is an interesting: Taba Negotiations:The Moratino’s Non-Paper Moratinos was the EU envoy.

You can thank Hezbollah for that.

You are changing the subject. However, the US did have a civil war over the treatment of Black people here. African slavery was also a fact in the Arab lands and it wasn’t abolished in Saudi Arabia till the 1970′s.

“I think we could say that Lebanon is a multi-ethnic state?”

When the French took over Lebanon a couple of centuries ago they found the Christians to be a beleaguered minority which would have been wiped out had they not interfered.

The French set up a system that, while favoring the Christians, was a lot fairer to the Muslims than the Muslims had been to the Christians.

After independence it didn’t take long before the system set up by the French broke down.

Since then tens of thousands of Christian have left Lebanon.

Take another example Egypt where the Copts had at one time been a majority. They are down to five percent of the population and are also under constant harassment by the Muslims in the country.

Befire 1948 there was a Jewish majority in Jerusalem. Attacks on Jews at that ime were not unkown. Before the British took over in 1917 attacks on Jews in Jerusalem and the rest of area were also a daily occurence.

Life of Jews in the Arab lands was never easy.