The Middle East leaders are very experienced in self-preservation and forming alliances of convenience - they've been at this for millenia. Obviously having read the handwriting on the wall that the U.S. is exiting the area (and abandoning its allies, opting for alliance with Jordan, Saudia Arabia and Egypt - good luck!), these leaders are repositioning themselves against that eventuality. Bye-bye Kurds. And Israel is on its own. The joker is the developing Russian-Iranian military alliance, perhaps marking the fulfillment of Russia's centuries-long project of gaining a warm-water port.

Civil Truth --

It would seem that WWIII is setting itself up to become a serious cataclism.

Unfortunately for Russia, though, an alliance with an Islamofascist country like Iran will eventually include a guided tour of the Pain Locker.

As soon as Iran figures the time is right, especially once they've got a nuclear arsenal, they'll demonstrate the consequences for an infidel nation of embracing an Islamic nation as a friend.

Islam is treacherous, it teaches that back stabbing is perfectly okay as long as the victim is an infidel.

If Israel realizes in time that they need to dump their incumbent spineless leaders and deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions, they may actually save a whole bunch of countries. Their commandoes have shown in the past that they are capable of some super-human feats, and when the survival of their country is at stake....

No matter how things come down, there is definitely going to be some "excitement".

I think that with the current Israeli leadership, Iran expects to destroy Israel without nuclear weapons.

Looking ahead, in a post-Israel world, if you were Iran with nuclear weapons, who would you rather go after, a spineless Western Europe or a ruthless Russia (with no fifth column, unlike Europe) who has demonstrated that it won't take any nonsense from Islamic rebels (e.g. Chechens), especially since Russia has nuclear weapons too and won't have any compunction about turning Iran into a parking lot if they're attacked?

No, I don't think Russia has any illusions whom they're dealing with in Iran, nor does Iran vis a vis Russia.

Civil Truth --

You're right. The Russians are well schooled in the Hard Truths Department, but they must know that Islamofascist Iran will only be using them, much as they will be using Iran.

Perhaps, unlike our own leadership, the Russians perceive that global war, Islam vs Everyone Else is inevitable, and they are simply taking the opportunity to align their own war effort in advance. Russia is a past master at deviousness.