It is an Israeli thing. When a politician, say Ehud Barak, running for the office of prime minister appears at a public event, the crowd will often chant, "Ehud, King of Israel." It is a takeoff on the traditional song, "David, King of Israel," sung on Jewish holidays and celebrations.

Are happy days here again – for the Russian navy? The Russian Federation is redeploying a part of the Black Sea Fleet to its Cold War hunting grounds in the Mediterranean. Returning to bases and anchorages in Syria and Libya is a top priority for the Russian admirals.

Piracy off the coast of Somali and in the Gulf of Aden threatens shipping to and from the Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea. The Gulf states, however, do little to prevent it, while Iran and Saudi Arabia may be supporting the pirates allies in Somalia. Sources at Lloyds of London warn that if not stopped, the Somali pirates will threaten the Suez Canal traffic and Bab-el-Mandeb maritime traffic.

Will Israels Prime Minister designate Tsipi Livni order a strike against Iran? Highly unlikely, at least not before the November elections in the United States, and possibly not at all. The anti-Israel fear mongers in Washington and elsewhere are likely to be proven wrong once again.

Turkeys Constitutional Court on July 30 averted a potentially explosive political crisis when its judges rejected an attempt by the State Prosecutor to ban the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The ban would have prohibited 71 senior members of the AKP from taking part in politics for five years and would have effectively brought down the government. AKP leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkeys President Abdullah Gül were among the AKP leadership facing exclusion from political life. The ban, if enacted, also would have negated the will of 47 percent of Turkish voters who supported the party and would have dashed the countrys hopes of entering the European Union.

In March 2009, Russia will deploy modern S-300 long-range anti-aircraft missiles in Iran. By June 2009 they will become fully operational, as Iranian teams finish training provided by their Russian instructors, a high-level Russian source who requested anonymity told the Middle East Times.

The recent Iranian missile tests demonstrate the need to deploy a missile defense capable of mid-flight interception of Iranian warheads, which in a few years may be able to reach Europe and the United States.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain have called for an expansion of U.S. domestic oil drilling to Alaska, federal lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the U.S. East and West coasts. This could not be more timely, if only it was realistic.

Oil demand appears in unexpected places, where there was very little demand in the recent past. The oil thirst is mounting in the Persian Gulf, Russia, even in Africa, due to expanding wealth, booming construction projects, and growing populations. Government fuel subsidies, typical in energy exporting countries, are increasing demand for gasoline. No wonder that the oil prices are going up, up and away.

Iran is emerging as a key issue in the U.S. 2008 presidential campaign. In his speech to the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee – AIPAC – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama pushed all the right buttons, from keeping Jerusalem united as the capital of Israel, to calling for resurrection of the Jewish-African-American coalition from the 1960s.