1) What is the following statement meant to imply?: 'The Islamic Republic so far has remained unrepentant when it comes to its nuclear program'. Iran has nothing to be repentantant about. Their nuclear programe is legal and open to inspection, in stark contrast to that of Israel. 2) Secondly, the statement: “Iran and its allies are committed to preventing a settlement with Israel and Russia does not have the leverage on Iran to change that," notes Dr Jonathan Rynhold from Begin-Sadat centre for Strategic Studies', is blatently untrue. Iran are concerned that the current process is totally biased against the Palastinians and tailored completely towards preserving, or even increasing, the current bias towards Israel. I am sure that were the tables turned and the Palastinians were given all the rights currently enjoyed by Israel, Iran would be amongst the first to support the peace process. 3) Netanyahu has shown himself to be a master of manipulation when it comes to preserving Israeli interests (even in the face of harsh critisism) on the world stage. I am sure he will visit Moscow with some very strong arguments as why Russia should support Israel over Iran or the Palastinians, however I would view any 'offers' with extreme sceptisism. If Netanyahu was commited to a genuine and equatable peace in the region he could make it happen himself. By hiding behind the US in the UN (I forget how many resolutions Israel is in breach of yet recieves no sanctions), by manipulating the UK and the EU, and now apparently Russia, Israel will continue to dominate the region with impunity. 4) I would hope that Russia uses this opportunity to show Netanyahu (and the world) that Russia is is interested genuine and long term in peace and stability, not the preservation of a false, unstable, and short term status quo that has the potential to errupt into a conflict that could ignite the whole region.

Hail President Dmitry Medvedev Real World leader (not like Obama puppet) Russia world’s first non aggressive superpower brings peace and prosperity to Europe and the Middle East. Russian leadership is strong and cant fail. Iran Israel palatine Hamasy. Come on you guys can do it. Don’t fall in to the American trap of wo3, they are broke and just want to steal everything away from you.

Is Russia hosting Netanyahu and Albright at same time? We know neither has any intention of bring peace to the Middle East or to Russia.

"Russia’s backing for sanctions against Iran in exchange for Israeli concessions in the conflict with the Palestinians – this is believed to be the main goal of the Israeli prime minister's visit to Moscow." I hadn't thought of that. Russia does have some leverage with Israel after all. However, I am still not confident this would work; Netanyahu is a stubborn supporter of the settlers. He is liable make superficial concessions to Russia and then withdraw them once he has what he wants from them; he did this with Obama and Abbas last year when he promised a settlement freeze for a certain amount of time and then went back on his word shortly after using this credential to get the PR of a peace meeting with Abbas. Israel needs to be made to know that if it doesn't give up its settlements, it will be denounced all across the world, particularly in places like the US and Western Europe because it holds its alliance with those places as a critical means of propping up its own self-esteem; not to mention its military alliance with those places. Israel has largely succeeded in crippling the ability of the Palestinians to kill Israelis such that the Palestinians have now lost their key negotiating leverage. Israelis no longer see peace as very important to them because the suffering inflicted by the wars has become so one sided that the Israelis see their own losses as being acceptable. Russian mediation is worth a shot, I for one certainly wouldn't mind my own country being able to give up some responsibility for a thankless effort that is so seemingly hopeless, but I am pessimistic. If however Russia managed to bring peace to Canaan, it would be a great moral triumph.

I don't think Russia has any real leverage with either Iran or Israel. From what I've seen, Iran still carries resentments towards Russia that date back to the old U.S.S.R.'s time, and are not likely to put them aside any time soon. I am also not confident that any concessions Israel, or Iran, might make would have any lasting value. Both have a marked tendency to make promises in order to get out of tight situations, and then renege on them. In Iran's case, a thorough review of it's history with the IAEA would prove that. It's repudiated numerous agreements that it has entered into the moment that those agreements were put to any sort of test. It's also intentionally misunderstood the clauses in those agreements when it has suited them to do so. A case in point is the new Fordo facility, and the question of when it should have been reported to the IAEA. Iran either fails to understand, or is actively misrepresenting this as falling under the additional protocols that it never signed or ratified. The timing of the reporting of all new facilities actually falls under article 42 (or 49) of their original 1976 agreement with the IAEA, (to which Iran 'reverted' in 2006) where it is specified that such facilities need to be reported as soon as possible. Dr El Baradei did not agree with the US and other parties that the reporting was late for no good reason. I only wish that this had been made a lot clearer in the media, as the issue of IR-40 was likewise misrepresented by Iran in this way, and despite the IAEA explaining this in detail to Iran at the time, the misconception that this also fell under the non-ratified additional protocols is still out there and still being used as justification for Iranian actions. With the history of violations that Iran has, it is really in no position to be commenting on the illegal nature of anyone else's nuclear programs, or to be claiming any sort of moral high-ground. I really doubt Russia can do much to alleviate this.

Nobody can bring peace to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict except the Israelis. Mediations from the US or Russia are not worth a penny for Netanyahu, master of manipulation and deception. Why is he able to maintain this course? Simple. Israel and its friends have complete control over the US policy in the Middle East and beyond. There are very strong opinions in the United States that the recent wars that the Americans got enmeshed in were cooked in Tel-Aviv. And this constant pressure on Iran to be subjugated to the Israeli and Western dictates is simply unacceptable in international law. Further, Emily Landau's call for the "international community" to apply "crippling" pressure on Iran is nothing but a self-serving non-sense coming from a member of the "Institute for National Security Studies in Tel-Aviv." Iran has never been, does not intend to be, nor will it ever be an "existential threat" to Israel. It will NEVER develop a nuclear weapon simply because it does not make any sense in terms of its national security. However, it has every right to develop its nuclear technology in accordance with international law, which it has been doing. It is Israel, the only country in the region as well as the world which hides its nuclear capacity and has persistently flouted the United Nations. Why don't the "democratic" countries of the West regard Israel as an existential threat to the neighboring countries? Besides, Israel has already occupied Palestine and massacred and expelled its people from their ancestral homeland. Thus, Israel HAS already used nuclear bombs against a people, thereby committing the highest crime against humanity. Jim's summary (first comment) is the absolute truth. It is Israel that must stop threatening other countries and show its commitment to peace. It cannot have peace while continuing the annihilation of a people and posing a real existential threat to all the countries in the region.

Russia has no leverage with Israel. Russia's giving in to sanctions for promise of Israel's cooperation on peace with Palestinians --- really! Nobody with an ounce of knowledge of how these things work can possibly believe such a scenario. Israel does only what Israel is forced to do. In recent history, Israel has suffered three defeats, even though in the Murdochised media we live in, sober analysis is nonexistent. First defeat was an attempted raid of Iranian nuclear sites, that had to be abandoned. The planes dumped their ammunition over Syria and Turkey, and returned to Israel. That was later redefined by murdochised media, as Israel's raid on Syrian nuclear facility! Of course, nobody ever heard of Syrian nuclear facility, nor did Israel ever before mention it. The reason is, it did not exist. The types of planes, and the total armada in the air that day, was well beyond what was needed to raid an unprotected warehouse, and the result of raid was a damaged roof! As it was reported minutes after, Syrian air force detected and intecepted the Israeli flotila, and the weapons dumping was done to quickly gain altitude and via Turkey scramble back to Israel. The lesson: Syria had the intelligence, or radar capability to detect the flotila as it left the ground, in order to intercept it. Air combat was out of the question, so quick retreat. Second loss was the attempt of ground war in Lebanon. It had to be halted following heavy losses. The third loss was Gaza. In spite of the furious destruction and viscious blocade, the end result is Israel's diminished standing world wide. Condemnations are far and wide, and the report on human rights abuses is out there. Israel is trying to rope US into another adventure, making all the losses go away, in the fever of new chaos. In US, 100 people in Senate are pushing US foreign policy. Hillary is their person, and that is the place to watch.