Iran and its close ally Syria have signed a new defence cooperation pact, Iranian media reported on Wednesday, just a week after news broke that Israel had begun indirect peace talks with Damascus.
“The two countries pledge their mutual support regarding territorial independence and integrity in terms of international and regional authorities,” the state-run IRNA news [...]

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When Damascus confirmed peace talks with Israel on May 21, a secret high-powered military purchasing delegation, headed by air force-air defenses commander Gen. Akhmad Ratyb, was already in Moscow. With a $5 billion allocation in hand from Tehran, the delegation was bidding for the most advanced products of Russia’s munitions industry.
The six main categories of [...]

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South Asia’s nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan resumed peace talks May 20 amid reminders of how vulnerable the two nations are to terrorism. Bombings in Jaipur (IANS) allegedly by Bangladeshi extremists and heightened tension (CSM) with Pakistan across the long-disputed border in Kashmir has New Delhi on edge. The U.S. State Department’s 2007 report on [...]

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By George Friedman
The Middle East, already monstrously complex, grew more complex last week. First, there were strong indications that both Israel and Syria were prepared to engage in discussions on peace. That alone is startling enough. But with the indicators arising in the same week that the United States decided to reveal that the purpose [...]

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But officials portray Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak as having little interest in a deal with Hamas. They acknowledge that a suspension of attacks by both sides might make the ongoing peace talks easier — and that the outbreak of an all-out conflict would almost certainly kill the Annapolis process. Yet, [...]

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