Read and reflect on this interesting analysis by a former British Intelligence Agent on the shifting geopolitics of the Middle East. What this will mean for the Israeli-Arab 'peace process'(if that expression can still be uttered with a serious face), Western policies in the region, the involvement of non-Western rising powers such as China, Russia, Brazil and India, and the future of inter-Arab politics, is still up in the air at this point.But perhaps the most important question for me when I read the piece is whether it is analytically honest and correct to speak of a 'northern' vs. 'southern' paradigm in the region? I'm going to think about this myself for a bit longer.
Either way when Condoliza Rice spoke of a 'New Middle East', I doubt she was referring to whatever is starting to take shape now.
