King Abdullah II just met with Vice President Cheney and used the meeting to make several important individual points and by implication a broader point. The King noted that "Jordan stands in support of a peaceful resolution to the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities that would spare the region further tensions." Making this comment to the VP was very important because anything less than a clear statement in favor of a peaceful resolution may have encouraged the hawkish Cheney to push a military option....he may well do so but at least he received some push back from Abdullah.

The King also stated that the Arab Plan "still represented an opportunity to advance peace and end the Arab-Israeli conflict" and strongly encouraged the U.S. Administration to push this forward. He also went on the record and reaffirmed that "reinforcing security and establishing stability in Iraq is in the interest of the country as well as a key Jordanian interest."

Each of these points individually is very important and collectively they show that while the Middle East - or from this blog's perspective the NEASFram region - has many problems, there are real and often interconnected solutions out there. We just need the political will to carry them out.