Various battles rage in the region from Pakistan to the Maghreb and where once civilisations flourished in the Indus Valley, in Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt we today see intolerance and violence that together seem to be putting the inheritor nations on the road to self destruction. Maybe this is an exaggeration but the daily killings and destruction as a form of political expression that encompass nationalism, sectarian beliefs, human aspirations and dictatorial regimes is becoming an epidemic without any obvious cure.

There are three main players in West Asia today — Israel, Iran and the US. Israel, surrounded by hostile regimes and their proteges, is increasingly concerned about Iran’s nuclear plans and determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability and ‘all options are on the table’. Iran itself feels surrounded by Israel, the strongest military force in the region and hostile Sunni regimes backed by a huge CentCom US force. The US itself is today unable to assert itself as it thought it could a decade or more ago.