Middle East Focus: Maliki in Baghdad, Allawi in Syria, Assad in Tehran, Ahmadinejad in Beirut…….

Arabia Deserta

Maliki in Baghdad, Allawi in Syria, Assad in Tehran, Ahmadinejad in Beirut…….

Walking on water

In Iraq, media reports indicate that al-Sadr bloc of the INA have removed their objections to Nuri al-Maliki as their joint candidate for Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the Iraqiya group of Ayad Allawi are holding meetings with Ammar al-Hakeem head of ISCI and part of INA. Allawi and ISCI agreed that al-Maliki should not be the next PM. They did not name Allawi as acandidate, which may improve the chances of Abdul Mahdi. Another report claims that Allawi will go to Damascus to meet with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad before he, al-Assad, leaves for Tehran on a state visit. There was one clam that he might meet there with Muqtada al-sadr, but Saudi daily Ashrq Alawsat reports today that the Sadrists have agreed, under Iranian pressure, to accept al-Maliki. The daily also reports that the Iraqiya may accept proposing Adel Abdul Mahdi (INA) for PM.

Confusing enough? Okay: Allawi goes to Damascus to meet other Iraqis. Al-Assad goes to Iran to avoid meeting Allawi and those other Iraqis. Ahamadinejad leaves Tehran for Lebanon to avoid meeting al-Assad. Lebanon’s president flies to the Comoros to avoid meeting the Iranian. The Comoros leaders invite the Iranian to meet the Lebanese…….
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com