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Interesting commentary. The difficulty is that the Dems in particular (and a fair sampling of their Euro soulmates) don't recognize any new geopolitical situation that doesn't fall into accordance with their fantasy-world precepts of anticolonialism, multiculturalism, and international sanction for the prices of stamps at everyone's corner post office. For much of this they'll be the last to know, and if action might be required to adjust it, the last to see opportunity go whizzing by.

This is hardly the first time alliances have shifted to quietly address a shifting threat. It is to be recalled that Syria joined the anti-Saddam coalition in '90 and that Saudi Arabia hosted it. Iran is not having its way in Iraq despite all the bellowing from MSM "experts." It is in a tactical retreat as those who accepted its opportunistic support now find that the Iraqis have had enough of the bombings and that the old tribes are becoming less tolerant of the new militias.

It will therefore find some sort of demonstration in Lebanon necessary to maintain its crumbling facade of Middle East clout. That clout is still extremely formidable but fragile largely for logistical reasons. Expect a propaganda offensive very soon.

As for what Syria was trying to set up with increasingly apparent North Korean help, there are several possibilities and none of them are good. Syria can't afford a full-blown nuclear program, but it might use what it can obtain if Assad really does lose that last marble down the drain of the bathroom sink. It already has chemical programs and has for years. Their use depends on a plausible deniability that is afforded them by Hezbollah. How plausible that really is depends on Western credulity and Iranian smokescreening.

$80 per barrel oil is sustainable only in the face of increasing demand. It will be extremely significant if the increase drops off due to, say, a recession or other readjustment in demand for manufactured products. Demand may not decrease much very soon but at $80 other sources become increasingly feasible. That may seem to have little directly to do with the price of bombs in Islamabad, but it does. As far as how much those bombs are used in London or Paris or Berlin, that's a long way down the chain and we're going to be dealing with that aspect of the Middle East mess for a very long time to come. IMHO.