Hagel Confirmation fight - 2nd Obama Term

Telegraph: Reports on the first day of the confirmation hearing for Senator Hagel to be the next US Defence Secretary, the article notes the following, " .. fumbled questions about America’s stance towards Iran Thursday, as he struggled through a Senate confirmation hearing. ".

Lets Get Real:

Thus folks not a good start, but the former Senator should get through, thus far this blog has not heard of any Democratic Senators will vote against him, also a President should have his choice at State and Defence, if any Democrats come out then it might change the outcome.   It not 100% that Hagel will get through, Senator Tower, the choice of Bush 41 failed to pass the Senate.  Lets see if the Jewish lobby and the those on the left can block the confirmation, those that support Israel are afraid that Hagel is soft on Iran, while the left has not forgotten his chosen remarks about a gay US Ambassador.    The Oval might need to spend some political capital to get this through, but it should be enough, in less Hagel does a major mistake over the next few days. 

The Syrian Card - Middle East 2

Guardian: Reports that Syria has threatened to respond to yesterdays Israeli attack, the article notes the following, " Syria may respond to Israeli air strike, says ambassador ".

Lets Get Real:

One can see the Tehran Regime telling the President Assad that the only way that his regime can stay on is to attack Israel, this could cause divisions between the rebels, force those on the sidelines to support the Regime.  A regional war would be bloody, and would be a great for the Tehran Regime to get the West to focus on Syria while it develops the bomb.    A Israeli - Syrian War would force the Oval to support Israel, this would not go down well with extreme liberals, also it would dash any chance of talks between the US and Iran, Iran would say it would not talk while Israel was fighting Syria.  A WIN - WIN for Iran, no talks and it gets to increase it chances of getting the bomb.  Thus its in Western interest for the Assad Regime to fall quickly, the more there is a delay the more chance that Iran can play games.   Next few weeks could be very dangerous folks. 

Israel vs. Syria, Russia and Iran - Middle East

BBC News: Reports that Syria has complained to the UN over the Israeli attack over its borders, while the attack has come under critical attack from Russia and Iran. 

Lets Get Real: 

The Russians need to keep the Assad Regime in power, the Assad family has been a close ally of Russia for years, since the days of the Cold War, the Russians have their only warm water naval base in Syria, they can not afford to lose it, while Iran needs Syria as a access to Lebanon and thus to attack Israel.   As Syria is a state of Civil War, the Israeli Government has to keep a 24 hour look out for the Syrians giving weapons of mass destruction to its terrorists allies, thus Israeli intelligence Mossad will be on the ground, they will be sharing info with the CIA  and MI6.   It can be expected that there will be more Israeli attacks as the Assad Regime falls apart and its loses control of its WMD's, also Iran might want to muddy waters by having Syria attack Israel, thus force Israel to respond, this could set off Gaza again, and this could develop in to a regional war, while Iran gets closer to the bomb.   The Middle East is hotting up folks, the new US Secretary of State, Secretary Kerry will have his hands full when he takes over on Friday from Secretary Clinton.