Covering developments in Pakistan in recent weeks, I've been struck by how many Pakistanis blame the United States for the disturbing turn their country is taking. Standing inside the gutted Islamabad Marriott late September, some eyewitnesses saved their most bitter remarks not for the suicide bomber, but for Washington.

AMMAN -- In an unprecedented military assault since the American-led invasion of Iraq more than five years ago, U.S. forces have apparently launched a cross-border attack into Syrian territory that killed eight people, largely seen in the region as a parting shot by the outgoing U.S. George W. Bush administration against Damascus.

BEIRUT -- Wasting little time in capitalizing on the continued unwillingness of the U.S. George W. Bush administration to provide the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) with the advanced equipment it says it needs, Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah suggested late Friday that the government of Fouad Siniora should simply go to the international arms market and procure the desired equipment.

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau, a section of the Prime Minister's Office, has issued an urgent warning to Israelis abroad to be vigilant against possible kidnappings by Lebanese resistance organization, Hezbollah.

AMMAN -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed he will make a landmark visit to Syria on Sept. 3-4 in another step toward normalizing their ties and bringing Damascus back into the international fold by reversing a policy of exclusion that has in recent years alienated the country from the West.

AMMAN -- Chances of coming in from the cold are looking better for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, as the world braces itself for crucial changes in political leaderships and power shifts that might also bring strategic policy turns in the Middle East.

Iran's insistence on enriching uranium in defiance of three U.N. Security Council resolutions, combined with a bevy of antagonistic threats aimed at Israel's existence has created an explosive recipe that may well precipitate a horrifying regional conflagration. For Iran's own best interests, its contentious leaders would be well advised to tone down their anti-Israeli threats, which have not been taken lightly thus far, and find a diplomatic solution to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

AMMAN -- U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama wrapped up a visit to Iraq after exchanging views with Iraqi and U.S. military leaders there in what in part was preparation for a new strategy for future American action in the war-torn country, one the Iraqis hope entails a time frame for U.S. troop withdrawal.

By all accounts, the Israeli-Syrian indirect negotiations through Turkish mediation are going well, and the fact that a fourth round of talks is scheduled for the end of July suggests that both sides expect to make further progress. The reports from Damascus and Ankara, however, indicating that Syria will not enter into direct negotiations with Israel before the advent of new American administration show an obstructive apprehension on the part of the Syrian government. Indeed, Damascus should not only agree to direct negotiations with Israel – as Turkish officials strongly recommend – but time has come for it to make a bold move toward the Israelis.

Russia's Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin, current President Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian foreign policy elite (as it is fond of calling itself), and much of Russian public opinion all strongly oppose American "hegemony" or "unipolarity," and seek to restore Russia as a great power in a multipolar world.