"In the Arab Spring, watch Turkey"

The New York Times daily yesterday published an article entitled "In the Arab Spring, Watch Turkey" which claims that latest developments in the Middle East have caused such comments that a cold war has started between the US and Iran, which has been trying to follow a policy of expansionism by using its Shiite power, adding, "What this view of the Middle East overlooks is the fact that both the United States and Iran are mired in internal political and economic difficulties. Simultaneously, inside the region, both are being outmaneuvered by an ascendant Turkey. Moreover, Western observers have missed the primary thread of events - namely, the ongoing asymmetric Turkish-Iranian "soft" partition of the Arab republics. Concomitantly, the American position as regional hegemon is vanishing. Today, only the Arab monarchies and Israel continue to look to the United States as their primary patron." The article also writes, "The Arab Spring has vastly weakened the Arab states, leaving them open to fragmentation, increased federalism and outside penetration. With hindsight, 2011 may come to represent as sharp a rupture in the political landscape of the Middle East as 1919 did. Back then, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the British and French divided the Arab Middle East among themselves, with Britain as the senior partner. In today's soft partition of the region, the weaker, less stable partner is Iran. The true victor of the Arab Spring is surely a resurgent Turkey."