So fatigued by their own rhetoric have Israeli and western leaders become, that they will not think or say that Israel has run out of options.

A provocation at the al-Aqsa enclosure by one or other of the extreme Settler cults, is not probable – it is inevitable, Alastair Crooke writes.

As Gaza quietens for now, the next phase to this war likely will centre around Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem and the 1948 Palestinian communities within Israel.

This American lacuna is not confined to Iran. The world has changed decisively, yet America seems to be pursuing its policies of yesteryear.

The shift of paradigm centred on the U.S. pivot away from West Asia naturally impacts on Iran’s JCPOA calculus, Alastair Crooke writes.

It seems that ‘the team’ wants both to wage 5th generation war and to demand (and expect) cooperation from its ‘adversaries’, Alastair Crooke writes.

U.S. sanctions are easily done, but not easily undone – even temporarily. Lifting them completely is institutionally almost impossible.

The Biden Circle’s foreign policy agenda is secondary – It’s prime objective is to forestage ‘toughness’, Alastair Crooke writes.

The U.S. will ignore the message from Anchorage. It is already testing China over Taiwan, and is preparing an escalation in Ukraine, to test Russia.

Blinken, having read out the prepared ‘grievances’ indictment, found that the anti-hero, Yang Jiechi, instead of being chastened, hit back.