Turkey is ascendant right now. They know that the EU is never going to admit them so they are naturally turning eastward. This makes great sense for them anyway. They have historical and ethnic ties to the east and it is a poorly served part of the world. They are emerging as a dominant force in central Asia, a trend that will gather strength as they improve relations with Syria, Iran, and Iraq. They are a natural gateway to EU for this region.

By way of clarification, let's not pretend that Iran has "one of the largest standing armies in the world." They have a large army in terms of numbers of people but materially they are second rate power at best. Sure they can defend their boarders and threaten their neighbors but they do not compare to modern army (incidentally they have never attacked a neighbor). We heard that kind of talk when the neo-cons were rushing us into a war of choice in Iraq. And while Iran is a second rate rate power, they will bloody us pretty good if Israel attacks.

While we're on that subject, let's be clear. Any attack by Israel will be an attack by the US. Iran will hit back at Israel and our forces across the region at the same time. They know that we will be forced to protect our poor defenseless ally once they respond to an Israeli attack. So why wait for that to come? They will hit us immediately. Given that Israel will be flying US planes and dropping US made BLU-82 daisy cutters and the even bigger GBU-43/Bs that were rushed to Israel earlier this year, there is little reason for anyone to think that an attack by Israel isn't an attack by the US.

Don't ever forget that everything that Israel does has our (America's) name on it.