As the Leader of the Free World plays golf and eats ice cream during a 10-day family vay-cay in the exclusive community of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, the area of the world known as the Middle East, once again sets on the precipice of a Firestorm.

Per breitbart.com:

A beleaguered Moamer Kadhafi urged supporters Sunday to “march by the millions” and quash a months-long uprising, as rebel forces advanced on Tripoli and claimed his 42-year rule was on its last legs.

The strongman’s appeal came as fighting erupted and rebels closed in on Libya’s seaside capital by claiming a third key city in 24 hours.

“We have to put an end to this masquerade. You must march by the millions to free the destroyed towns” controlled by rebels he labeled as “traitors” and “rats.”

“These scum enter mosques to cry ‘God is great.’ They are dirty. They are defiling the mosques,” Kadhafi said in an audio message carried on state television.

Earlier, a Tripoli resident said cries of “Allahu Akbar” could be heard from mosques in the city’s eastern sectors.

Kadhafi accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country is helping lead NATO-coordinated air strikes on the strongman’s military assets, of recruiting the rebels as “agents” to steal Libya’s vast oil wealth.

“To win the upcoming elections, he wants to be able to say to his people: ‘Here, I’m offering you Libyan oil’ and this is going to be achieved with the help of traitors.

“But the Libyan people will not allow France to take its oil or leave Libya to the hands of traitors,” he said.

As blasts and gunfire rocked Tripoli after the break of the dawn-to-dusk fast of Ramadan and witnesses reported fighting in the eastern neighbourhoods of Soug Jomaa, Arada and Tajura, the government insisted it was in charge of the city.

“The situation is under control,” Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim said, adding that pro-regime volunteers had repelled insurgent attacks in several neighbourhoods.

Ibrahim dismissed mounting speculation that the regime was on the brink as a “media attack,” but more gunfire was heard after he spoke on television.

Diplomats between the region’s leaders, Egypt and Israel feverishly worked on Saturday to smooth the strained relationship between the two nations, prompting the Israeli government to issue a rare statement of regret for the killing of three Egyptian security officers by an Israeli warplane.

The relationship between the two countries is so strained that Egypt announced Saturday that it would recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv. This new round of tension has been brought about by a burst of violence along the border which they share in the Sinai Peninsula. Eight Israelis were killed there in a series of attacks on Thursday. The Israelies then retaliated against Gaza-based militants, and the three Egyptians died in the crossfire.

Following Egypt’s announcement concerning its ambassador early Saturday, diplomats from other nations rushed to broker an end to the impasse between the Egyptians and the Israelis, according to a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the talks.

Meanwhile, in Syria, per foxnews.com:

A government owned Syrian newspaper on Saturday rejected U.S. and European calls for President Bashar Assad to step down, saying they revealed the “face of the conspiracy” against Damascus.

Despite the regime’s promises this week that it had wrapped up a military offensive against protesters, activists said that security forces killed 29 people on Friday, most of them in the central province of Homs.

The Syrian leader has come under mounting criticism for his assault on the 5-month-old uprising. The U.S. and its European allies on Thursday demanded Assad step down because of the crackdown, which rights groups say has killed more than 2,000 people.

The regime, however, has pushed ahead with its offensive despite the criticism.

Reinforcements were being sent Saturday to Homs, Syria’s third-largest city and the site of intense anti-regime protests, according to the Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and The Local Coordination Committees, an activist group.

“Shooting has not stopped since last night,” Abdul-Rahman said, quoting residents.

And, tensions are high between the anchor nations of the region, per nytimes.com:

In Cairo, thousands of protesters demonstrated for a second night outside the Israeli Embassy on Saturday, demanding the expulsion of the ambassador. One climbed up the building and took down the Israeli flag, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The crisis has been the sharpest signal yet that the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February is transforming the three-decade-old relationship between Egypt and Israel that has been the cornerstone of Middle Eastern politics.

On May 19, 2011, President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) addressed the nation on the firestorm known as the Middle East.  He proclaimed:

There are times in the course of history when the actions of ordinary citizens spark movements for change because they speak to a longing for freedom that has been building up for years. In America, think of the defiance of those patriots in Boston who refused to pay taxes to a King, or the dignity of Rosa Parks as she sat courageously in her seat.

…The question before us is what role America will play as this story unfolds. For decades, the United States has pursued a set of core interests in the region: countering terrorism and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons; securing the free flow of commerce and safe-guarding the security of the region; standing up for Israel’s security and pursuing Arab-Israeli peace.

We will continue to do these things, with the firm belief that America’s interests are not hostile to people’s hopes; they’re essential to them. We believe that no one benefits from a nuclear arms race in the region, or al Qaeda’s brutal attacks. We believe people everywhere would see their economies crippled by a cut-off in energy supplies. As we did in the Gulf War, we will not tolerate aggression across borders, and we will keep our commitments to friends and partners.

Yet we must acknowledge that a strategy based solely upon the narrow pursuit of these interests will not fill an empty stomach or allow someone to speak their mind. Moreover, failure to speak to the broader aspirations of ordinary people will only feed the suspicion that has festered for years that the United States pursues our interests at their expense. Given that this mistrust runs both ways –- as Americans have been seared by hostage-taking and violent rhetoric and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens -– a failure to change our approach threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and the Arab world.

Wow.  Smart Power! seems to be working great so far, Scooter.

By the way, I did not know that Mrs. Rosa Parks was a violent Islamic Revolutionary.