Thought a deal had been made. After all, the Bush administration made all the concessions requested by France and Germany and got the United Nations resolution through on Iraq. Now another problem has popped up. What's going on?

At the meeting of the G8 in Georgia, after finally winning the European Union's support for a UN resolution on Iraq, the United States and Britain felt confident they could move forward. They presented a three-point plan for the Middle East. Their plan called for a bigger role for NATO in Iraq, the bringing of real democratic and economic reforms to region, and the settling of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute via Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan Read about it here.

And to their surprise, France and Germany did it again -- they pulled back from the table. Why? This is what I think: Their problem is NATO. You see, the bottom line is, the anti-American factions within Solana's 10-nation alliance don't want more NATO -- they want less NATO. In their view, more NATO means more America. And they simply want America out of the Mediterranean.

Let's take a look at who didn't show up for this important meeting. It turns out two very important regional players stayed home -- Saudi Arabia and  Egypt. But another important player also didn't show -- the EU's High Representative Javier Solana. If you know Solana, you know this was highly out of character. And this brings up an interesting question: Are all three of these important players on the same team?

Here's what I think: The US and her few remaining allies are battling the growing anti-American factions within the new, super EU for control of the Middle East's resources.

Whether we admit it or not, we're in a Mediterranean Cold War.

And Israel is caught in the middle.