That long odyssey is not so in the world of bin Laden or an Iranian theocrat — or the ignorant who stream out of the madrassas and Friday fundamentalist harangues along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
The Russians remain implacably opposed to letting Bush build a ground-based mid-course interceptor—the GBI—base in Poland to try to shoot down any future Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles.
And that same zeal for action can be seen in Saudi foreign policy, with a much more muscular posture towards its arch rival Iran, in places like Yemen and Lebanon.
Prime minister Netanyahu fears a Western rapprochement with Iran-and is keeping up the pressure to ensure the deal is verified, said analyst Yossi Mekelberg of Regents University London.