TEMPERS are running high in the Middle East. Turkey is thumping
its chest, threatening to trounce its neighbour, Syria. Israel,
usually a party to local squabbles, is ducking out of this one,
protesting innocence. The region's self-appointed referee,
Egypt, has waded bravely into the fray to cheers from the Arab
stands. This is not sport, however.  Turkish newspapers speak of
possible air strikes on Damascus, and the Turks have reportedly
dispatched troops to the Syrian frontier, cancelling leave for
soldiers stationed there. Syria, which has also moved troops to
the frontier, has called for a unified Arab stand, noting that
it has mutual-defence pacts with Saudi Arabia, Libya and Egypt.
Turkey meanwhile has forged an alliance with Israel that
squeezes technologically backward Syria between two vastly
stronger enemies. These are the broader strands of a web that
links elements as far afield as Greece, Iran and the United
States. The conflict may well spread.  Relations across the
880-kilometre (550-mile) Turk