A NEW POWER STRUCTURE ACROSS THE GLOBE?

America's lightning success at regime change in Afghanistan and then Iraq, together with the deadly threat to world peace and stability presented by militant Islam, are beginning to change the global strategic picture.

Certainly, some of America's more truculent foes in the Mideast seem to have been properly intimidated by the astonishingly rapid arrival of U.S. troops in Baghdad.

Look at the way some of the most radical and most ruthless Palestinian terror groups agreed to a cease-fire with Israel.

And don't expect any overtly bad behavior from the vulnerable regimes in Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia - each of which is mindful of the American divisions sitting across the border in Iraq.

Also, as Jane's Intelligence Digest pointed out last week, a new triangular alliance may well be evolving among the United States, Israel and India - three countries that share not just a common enemy in Islamist suicide bombers, but also common traditions of democracy and the rule of law.

If this does come about, it will have powerful repercussions from the South China Sea to the Mediterranean.

Interesting perspective. Read more here.

UPDATE: More on this theme from another source.

...the killing fields of Iraq are less a part of a nationwide revolt than another chapter of jihadism. Irreducible Ba'athists, unleashed Wahhabis and nervous Khomeinists — all oppose the United States, but cannot survive any upcoming democracy.