Late yesterday afternoon, I participated in an hour long Alhurra discussion program with three other Middle East specialists: Edmund Ghareeb of American University, Ori Nir of Americans for Peace Now, and David Schenker who directs the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

I have written the mock press release below partly as farce and partly as hope for the kind of statement that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) might eventually issue in response to the provocative and disconcerting posture of the Israeli government this past week.

One of the most fascinating things to come out of the recent dust-up over the embarrassment of Vice President Biden in Israel is the reasoning offered by many Israelis and supporters of Israel for why Israel needs American support now more than ever: in effect, “don’t anger the U.S., we need their help on Iran.

(Photo Credit: Jan Paul Yap’s Photostream) This is a guest note by Anya Landau French. French directs the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative. This post originally appeared at The Havana Note. Two days before the House Agriculture Committee holds a hearing on U.S.

(Photo Credit: International Monetary Fund Photograph/Stephen Jaffe) This post is cross-posted at The Race for Iran. Over at the National Interest, Nikolas K. Gvosdev has a piece on the “BRIC Wall” that is developing in opposition to many U.S. policies, particularly the U.S. drive for further sanctions on Iran.

This is a guest note by Kalie Pierce, a research intern at the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program. The parliamentary elections in Iraq began tragically last Thursday with a series of attacks in Baghdad on security officers.

(Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Last week, I referred to the remarkably high level of anti-Americanism in Turkey in the context of H.R. 252 – the House Resolution accusing Turkey of committing genocide against Armenians in 1915 that passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee last Thursday.

This is a guest post by Lawrence B. Wilkerson exclusive to The Washington Note. Wilkerson is the former Chief of Staff at the Department of State during the tenure of Secretary of State Colin Powell, for whom Wilkerson was a 16 year aide.

This article originally appeared at Al Jazeera English. Joseph Biden, the US vice president, left on Sunday for a head-scratching trip to the Middle East and many are wondering what he is up to. After all, the vice president has a lot on his plate already.

I’m traveling this week, but still paying close attention to Iraq’s parliamentary elections, where it seems things are holding fairly steady despite the fears of instability before the election and heinous terrorism up to and on election day itself.