AMMAN -- The landmark visit by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to Syria this week and his comments about the important role Damascus plays in regional peace and stability provides further momentum for a Syrian comeback to the Western fold, perhaps setting the stage for a shift in U.S. policy toward the country in preparation for President-elect Barack Obama to take up office.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obamas historic election victory may have done a lot more for Israeli moderates than just boost the election prospects of the Kadima party and its new leader Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. A remarkable public speech by one of the Jewish states espionage chiefs Monday suggests that Obamas emergence is encouraging Israeli doves to spread their wings, even in the military high command.

President-elect Barack Obama has already achieved a rhetorical break with the arrogant, pompous and rather totalitarian language of the outgoing George W. Bush administration. Thus, a new grammar is being presented in which the United States is re-invented as a particularly inclusive and exceptional place where everything is possible.

I watched U.S. President-elect Barack Obamas victory speech from Kabul, where his campaign promises have had particular resonance. The stage is now set for Washington to send thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and once Obamas new team reviews the complexities of the counterinsurgency mission there, I suspect the United States will match troop increases with greater civilian resources to support economic development projects and to help extend the writ of the Afghan state.

JERUSALEM -- In an endeavor to breathe some life back into the moribund Israeli-Palestinian conflict the British government is taking steps to encourage disinvestment from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank by labeling all produce manufactured and produced by settlers.

AMMAN -- The Iraqi parliament convened on Monday to read a controversial security pact with the United States and debate how to vote on the accord, after the Iraqi cabinet approved the final draft following months of what both sides said were tough negotiations.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obamas reported decision to close Guantánamo is a long-awaited and necessary measure that will contribute to improve the U.S. image around the world, particularly in Muslim countries. But important as this measure is, it is also a first step to a wide series of decisions aimed at eliminating once and for all the kind of abuse and human degradation that made this facility infamous worldwide.

We should not expect too much from the G-20 financial summit in Washington this weekend, despite some grandiose talk from French President Nicolas Sarkozy about crafting a new global financial system. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is not going to join the talks and has yet to name his choice for treasury secretary. And President George W. Bush and his team will only matter until midday on Jan. 20.

Professor Rashid Khalidi, who unintentionally came into the national limelight during the final week of the campaign when the John McCain camp labeled him a "terrorist," and then proceeded to tie him to Dem. Sen. Barack Obama, gave a speech in 2002 at the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committees 19th national convention in Virginia where he told the audience that "the first thing Arabs should do is stop whining. "We are very good at whining," said Khalidi.

AMMAN – The team of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama may be considering an Israeli idea that the Jewish state and Lebanon aim to forge a non-belligerent treaty within three months of launching talks in February, which is just one month into the Barack presidency. But its success depends on the support of Hezbollah.