Having failed to either charm or bribe Iran to negotiate and having similarly failed to entice Russia and China to support serious sanctions, the Obama administration hoped to appease disgusted Arab states with an Israeli sacrificial lamb. The"smart" diplomats forgot that Russia may also wish to join the game. Having pocketed all the concessions it could from the US, it wants to extract some from the Arab states. Obama may be able to deliver Israel; Putin may be able to deliver Ahmadinejad or at the very least biting sanctions in addition to Israel. Having negotiated nuclear parity with America, Putin is aiming at strategic parity in the Middle East. Now how about them apples?! Note the message Russia sent to the conference of Arab states:

In a message sent to the 22nd Summit of Arab Leaders that kicked off on Saturday in Sirt, Libya, President Medvedev expressed hope that an international conference on the Middle East could be held in Moscow with a view to resuming the negotiating process.

According to his letter that was broadcasted from the presidency website, he hoped that the Arab nations will contribute to the ongoing efforts in order to hold the international conference on the Middle East in Moscow that aims to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as well as achieve progress on the Syrian-Lebanese tracks with Israel. Medvedev called Arab nations to support the conference.

On the Iranian file, he stressed the importance of solving the nuclear issue through diplomatic solutions, but did not rule out the use of additional sanctions.

He stressed that sanctions would not be against civilians in Iran.

May I suggest that the United States would be silly, indeed, to sacrifice or weaken its sole real strategic Middle East asset, Israel. With Russia back in the game, she is more valuable than ever.