All in Moderation

The only moderate, reasonable nation in the Middle East, at least for the time being, is Turkey. How do I know? Check this story out!

Turkey's foreign minister has spoken of Syria's readiness for peace talks, during a landmark visit to Israel.

Abdullah Gul is meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli leaders in Jerusalem to discuss the prospects for reviving Middle East peace talks.

Syria "expressed willingness to resume negotiations without preconditions" with Israel, he was quoted as saying.

Mr Gul is also on a mission to repair Israeli-Turkish ties after a chill last year over Israel's crackdown in Gaza.

He is the most senior Turkish politician to visit Israel since the Justice and Development Party - a moderate movement rooted in Islam - came to power in Turkey November 2002.

I've never met a Turk who wasn't pro-American. To the best of my knowledge, there are two Islamic countries in the entire world that have any sort of respectable relations with Israel: Turkey and Egypt, and Egypt isn't terribly friendly about it.