While Israel and Afghanistan have been taking center stage — and while Iraq and Iran are being pushed onto the stage — the region's fringes are starting to come undone. These bear watching.

Turkey

PM's illness puts Turkey on the brink of collapse

The coalition government in Turkey held a summit meeting in a hospital ward yesterday as the increasingly frail Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, faced growing calls to step down due to ill health.

The country's political and economic future may well hang on Mr Ecevit's health, and his illness has set alarm bells ringing in Ankara and abroad.
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Kashmir

India Prepares Troops for 'Decisive Fight'

India's Prime Minister told troops on the front line with Pakistan on Wednesday the time had come for a "decisive fight" to end Islamic militant attacks New Delhi blames on its neighbor.

Atal Behari Vajpayee's tough talk added to fears India was preparing for war to force Islamabad to curb Pakistan-based Muslim activists fighting India's rule in disputed Kashmir.
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Too little, too late
Kashmir could become the world's most dangerous region - and the west's lack of interest is partly to blame

Last weekend India expelled Pakistan's high commissioner to New Delhi, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. This modest diplomatic gesture fell well short of the swift military strike which many hardliners in India's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party demanded. But many analysts believe a war has merely been postponed, most probably to September or October. Privately, India's generals admit the army needs a few more months to prepare.

At the border, where nearly 1 million troops from both sides have been dug in since January, Indian gunners are shelling Pakistani bunker posts. Thousands of villagers have fled. Pakistan is reported to be moving its Shaheen nuclear missiles into position.
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