If America can't broker peace in the Middle East, is it time for the Russians to step in? They have a long history with the region – and aren't hobbled by an Israeli lobby

And what lies behind this? I turn to my old mate John Mearsheimer, co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy which became a best- seller among ordinary Americans – despite the usual ravings of Alan Dershowitz (he of "Judge Goldstone is an evil man" infamy) – who has now published yet another brave article on the woeful influence of the Israeli lobby on Washington; actually, it is the Likud party lobby, but let's not worry about the difference right now. Mearsheimer says that President Barack Obama has "finally coaxed Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table", hoping that this will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. "Regrettably, that is not going to happen," Mearsheimer states. "Instead, those territories are almost certain to be incorporated into a 'Greater Israel' which will then be an apartheid state bearing a marked resemblance to white-ruled South Africa."