Good post - plenty of stuff going to be going on in this area.

The situation is greatly complicated by having five nuclear armed nations involved, Russia, China, US, Pakistan and Israel.

The US is very aggressive - but most want to see the $US hegemony die.

That means keeping Iran free, and keeping the US out of Afghanistan are huge priorities for China and Russia alike.

How far will they be willing to go to keep Iran out of the US hegemony - well, time will tell.

China gets a huge chunk of it's oil from Iran. We are in Iraq and Afghanistan. China is desperate for oil.... Iran supplies that oil! It has supported their economic boom. Without it their boom goes bust. It seems a great way to keep in check the power that holds most of Americas dept. Wouldn't you agree?

S & F'd.

The US as well as Britain have a roll in the ME to maintain the free flow of oil but also to maintain a balance of world power in their favor. Given that factions like Al Qaeda persist, how can we maintain operations against them without a presence in the area to for example monitor their communications and put limits on their movements?

Also an ongoing Western and US presence in the ME area makes it easy to influence the military activities of the many well armed and restless Islamic countries and military organizations. To tip the balance one way or another. As I've mentioned, the US wins when the Islamic nations are bickering among themselves and not directly with us.