Do not ever underestimate the importance of territory to the nation-state, and the signal importance of maps to buttress territorial claims. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a gift to Chinese President Xi Jinping of a map of China that omitted some sensitive territories–the Chinese response was to publish copies of a completely different map.
Merkel’s Map
The map that the Chinese people saw:
Russia and Iran are working to complete a $20 billion oil-for-goods agreement in which Iran would sell oil to Russia. The agreement would sound a death knell to the current sanctions regime against Iran and suggests that Russia is breaking ranks with the West on the Iranian nuclear program. One can only hope that Iran will continue to negotiate in good faith or it is likely that Israel will conclude that the current negotiations have no chance of success. If it comes to that conclusion, then Israel would probably take unilateral action to disarm Iran.
We are precariously close to a complete breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Israel has not released the final batch of Palestinian prisoners it currently holds that was promised as a condition for continuing the talks. In retaliation, Palestinian President Abbas has threatened to pursue membership in 15 UN agencies which would solidify Palestinian claims to statehood (importantly, the International Criminal Court is not one of those agencies). US Secretary of State Kerry is desperately trying to salvage the negotiations, but the current atmosphere is grim.
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