News stories by Analysis by Jim Lobe*

The threat of a military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities this year appears to have substantially subsided over the past several weeks as a result of several developments, including the biting criticisms voiced recently by former top national security figures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Ehud Barak.

This week was supposed to be all about Iran — at least, that's how Israel and its powerful U.S. lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had planned it - and why the U.S. should prepare to bomb it very, very soon if its leadership doesn't cave into Western demands to abandon its nuclear programme.

Is war against Iran, either by Israel, the U.S. or both, closer or farther off after this week's meeting here between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

While Israeli leaders historically have enjoyed not insignificant influence with their U.S. counterparts, Prime Minister Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu will likely arrive at the White House next week with a little extra boost in his efforts to get President Barack Obama to toughen his already hard line against Iran.

What with rumours from Israel of war on Iran, a major showdown with the Egyptian military over the indictments of government- funded U.S. activists in Cairo, and continuing political paralysis in Iraq, you would think President Barack Obama has enough Middle East crises to deal with.

Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of next month, a familiar clutch of neo-conservative hawks and prominent Republicans are blaming the president for 'losing' the Middle Eastern country to its neighbour and long-time Washington nemesis, Iran.

The right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could not be more pleased.

On Wednesday, they voted to cut all U.S. contributions to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), a symbol of U.S. hemispheric dominance for more than 60 years.

'We are in a multi-polar world now,' Robert Gates told a Washington Post columnist within a year of his taking over the Pentagon in early 2007.

As the so-called Arab Spring enters its sixth month, it appears to have run into seriously wintry headwinds.