NEWS ANALYSIS: After the Mecca Accord, Clouded Horizons

By HELENE COOPER, New York Times, February 21

....In the battle for influence in the Middle East, Hamas is a prize Saudi Arabia is willing to fight for.

Put simply, in the past year, Iran has been wooing Hamas, which is Sunni. The Saudis did not like that. So they fought to get Hamas back.

“The Saudis did a switcheroo,” said Martin Indyk, the United States ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration. “The U.S. views the Middle East as a battle between the moderates against the Iranian-led extremists. But our regional allies see this as a divide between Sunnis and Shiites, and Sunni extremists like Hamas may be extremists, but they are Sunnis first.”

“The Saudis,” he said, “don’t want Hamas on the Shia side, on the Iranian side.”

The fight over Hamas began in earnest last year when the United States and Europe cut off most of the $1 billion in direct aid to the Palestinian government....

Saudi Arabia Plays A Leading Role As Middle East Power Broker

By Judith Latham

Voice of America, Washington

19 February 2007

hmmm, not so simple?:

Editorial: Iran & Saudi deal to stabilize Lebanon is Syria’s worst nightmare

Ya Libnan, Monday, 19 February, 2007 @ 11:48 PM

Beirut & Damascus- ....The Syrians' worst nightmare, of course, would involve Iran and Saudi Arabia working out a deal to stabilize Lebanon. Saudi-Iranian dealings in recent weeks prompted Hezbollah to back away from demonstrations that had been designed to bring down the Lebanese government. And it would not be beyond the pale for Iran to acquiesce to a broader agreement between Hezbollah (its proxy) and Saudi Arabia's Sunni allies, if Tehran was able to secure its goals in Iraq in exchange.

Such a deal would be immensely detrimental for Syria, given its significant interests in Lebanon....

Saudi, Iran concern about Shia, Sunni division

IranMania.com, Thursday, February 15

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Feisal said that the Saudi government shares Iranian concern about the discord between Shia and Sunni Muslims, IRNA reported.

In a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, al-Feisal said that both Saudi Arabia and Iran are anxious about the current situation in Iraq which has driven the Shia and Sunni Muslims to rivalry.

"Iranian officials have already expressed concern about the division between Shia and Sunni Muslims and the Saudi government hopes that such an event will not take place in the Muslim World," the Saudi foreign minister said.

Al-Feisal said that Iranian and Saudi officials regularly hold consultations on the current state of affairs in the Middle East and the entire Muslim World.

He said that the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) have decided to follow up programs for civilian use of nuclear energy and that both Saudi officials and the secretary-general of the PGCC have held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Riyadh about the PGCC decision on nuclear program.

The Saudi foreign minister said that Saudi Arabia will develop cooperation with the Russian Federation on carrying out program to produce nuclear energy.....

Note: IRNA is the Iranian state-controlled news service--grain of salt required.

For those who like to scrutinize and perhaps complain about what the "MSM" writes about Hillary, it might help to know what the ground rules are. According to the following, they are basically: "feel free to do 'he said, she said' from what I say to the public at campaign functions, but no questions from the press allowed; everyone is also free to use my war room press releases":

It Takes a Chill;

Senator Clinton Comes Up With Press-Control Method: Freeze ’em!

Ann Lewis: ‘Most People Prefer Information Firsthand’

by Jason Horowitz, New York Observer, Feb. 19 issue

....Her disciplined and highly touted communications operation keeps the media at arm’s length....

During Mrs. Clinton’s two-day trip to New Hampshire this weekend, for example, she didn’t hold a single press conference. The national press corps that followed her around to Berlin, Concord and Keene got to watch Mrs. Clinton interact with voters in forums, but without asking questions.....

Mrs. Clinton’s senior campaign advisor, Ann Lewis, a former White House communications director in the Clinton administration, pointed out in an interview that there was nothing keeping the droves of reporters following Mrs. Clinton from watching her conversations with voters and reporting on the substance of her answers. That way, she said, Mrs. Clinton’s message “ripples out” across the country....

It is that early dominance of the Democratic field—she leads her opponents in most polls by about 20 points—and her universal name recognition that allows her the luxury of campaigning without soliciting press coverage. Those same dominating attributes also allow her campaign to be unusually aggressive about managing the attention they do get. Her press office is not built for charm and outreach. With a media war room filled with hardened alumni of Senator Charles Schumer’s press office—Howard Wolfson, Phil Singer, Blake Zeff—Mrs. Clinton created a team cut out, above all, for rapid response....

The ambitious goal for the Clinton campaign is, in essence, to keep control of every aspect of the message—from day to day or, as the rapid-fire exchange with the Obama campaign demonstrated, from hour to hour.

“She is unique in her ability to have a communications strategy that she pretty much dictates,” said Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst at the Cook Political Report, who recalled that Mrs. Clinton’s strategy after winning her Senate election in 1999 was to only speak with New York press, so as not to give the impression that she had national ambitions.....

In Berlin on Saturday, when one voter—yes, that one—asked her about her 2002 vote authorizing the war in Iraq, Mrs. Clinton responded with nothing but nuance and what The Times called her “standard talking points.” (In a possible indication of just how inscrutable Mrs. Clinton can be, the headline on that very same Times story read “In New Hampshire, Clinton Owns Up to Her Vote on Iraq War.”)....