Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most congested international waterways. It is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and is bordered by the Iranian coast to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise. The war games are the largest ever undertaken in the region.

Just ask Dan Shapiro, the US envoy to Israel who reportedly broke protocol to remonstrate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for misrepresenting President Barack Obama’s Iran policy at a meeting last month. Shapiro publicly denied the report as “a very silly story,” only for the third man in the room — Representative Mike Rogers — to declare that there was “a very sharp exchange.”

Ordinarily [Mr] Shapiro, and his Washington counterpart, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, would expect their work to be sensitive, demanding, and extraordinarily important — but not hugely controversial. They are, after all, the representatives of two profoundly allied countries, partners committed to democracy and freedom.

But these are not ordinary times. Iran, a common threat, is progressing relentlessly with its nuclear program. If Israel doesn’t use its military capacity soon, it will no longer be able to impact that program. But the United States is urging Israel to hold its fire — to give more time for diplomacy and sanctions. Extraordinarily fateful decisions are being weighed. Perhaps inevitably, tensions are fraying even between these firmest of allies.

And the diplomats — along with the politicians and the security chiefs — need to be acutely careful about what they say and do. Every word and deed comes under the microscope — whether it is US military chief Martin Dempsey’s use of the word “complicit” to denounce the notion of an Israeli attack; or [Mr] Netanyahu’s assertion that it is not “moral” for those who are not setting red lines for Iran to seek to prevent an Israeli strike; or the resonant failure of the presidential schedulers to find a time-slot for an Obama-Netanyahu tete-a-tete during the prime minister’s admittedly brief visit to the US at the end of this month.

The reported meeting is to take place as 25 countries deploy warplanes and warships in the Persian Gulf (Strait of Hormuz) in annual maneuvers, in the largest exercise ever. If a Netanyahu-Obama meeting takes place, it could be a saving political grace for both political leaders. A direct discussion presumably would shelve the public differences between Israel and the United States for the rest of the presidential campaign, even to the extent of [Mr] Netanyahu’s private promise to stop issuing hints of an attack on Iran.

A Netanyahu-Obama meeting also would be a face-saver for President Obama. The president’s refusal to meet [Mr] Netanyahu during the Prime Minister’s visit to New York next week was officially ascribed to ”scheduling” problems. It would be the first time ever that an American president has not met with a visiting Israeli Prime Minister. [Mr] Obama has been facing heavy criticism from pro-Israel Americans and from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has fiercely attacked the administration’s foreign policy.

“The Iranians understand this and are not crossing the line ... of implementing and building a nuclear bomb, not because they are merciful toward us, not because they like us, but because they fear a military response or another response," said Amos Gilad. Speculation that Israel might attack Iranian atomic research sites soon has soared in the last few months as the dispute between Washington and Tel Aviv deepened over how much time to give economic sanctions and diplomacy before taking military action.

The Fed initially disappointed some investors on Thursday when it said it would buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities each month. That is far less than the $75 billion a month it bought in its second round of bond-buying, or the more than $100 billion monthly tab for its first round. But this time, the Fed has promised that "if the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially," it won't stop buying and could ramp up its spending further.

Depending how the Fed defines "substantially" and how long it takes to get there, it could end up buying bonds for several years, adding $1.7 trillion or more to its balance sheet, analysts say. By comparison, the Fed's initial round of quantitative easing, first announced in November 2008 as the US economy slumped into a deep recession, totaled $1.75 trillion.

"They've clearly committed to do what it takes to get unemployment down where they want it," said Pierre Ellis, an economist at New York-based Decision Economics. "There's no limit."

Philippe Even, former head of the Necker Hospital in Paris, and Bernard Debré, doctor and member of parliament for the UMP party, recently co-authored a book titled ‘The Guide to 4,000 Useful, Useless or Dangerous Medicines.’ The book claimed that France could save up to ten billion euros a year by halting social security reimbursements for drugs that are hazardous or have no health value.

The pharmaceutical industry is “the most lucrative, most cynical and least ethical of all the industries,” Dr Even said. He claims that in order to reduce budget shortfalls in France’s healthcare system, “one simply has to take the dangerous, useless and ineffective medicines off the market.” The book was written in light of a Mediator Affaire report Dr Even and Dr Debré conducted in 2011 for former President Nicolas Sarkozy, where they investigated an incident where some 2,000 people were killed by a prescribed diabetic drug before the medicine was taken off the market.”

Their report stated that the French medical system was in dire need of reform, spurring Dr Even and Dr Debré to write their book. The two made a list of drugs that pose health risks, including cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory and anti-smoking drugs, and contraceptive pills. Statins, drugs taken to lower cholesterol, were just one of the many drugs found to be “completely useless,” Dr Even said in an interview with Le Nouvel Observateur. “[Statins] are taken by three to five million French people, which costs France two million euros per year.”

In Germany, the French and British efforts, initiated in 2010 to reinforce the bonds between their military forces and their arms industries, have long been dangerously underestimated, according to a recent analysis published by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). "A new Entente Cordiale," spanning the English Channel, is being created, which will undercut German efforts to set up an EU army and thwart the organization of a unified European arms industry.

The DGAP's choice of calling it an "Entente Cordiale" refers to the Franco-British alliance of 1904, as the German Reich's power was growing menacingly. It was formed to synchronize the two countries' global interests and forge a common defense in Europe against the expansion of German domination. The awareness that European policy is essentially being dictated by Berlin has led to this new Franco-British alliance.