Erstellt am: 19. 11. 2012 - 15:01 Uhr

Egypt: the only mediator for Gaza and Israel

Reality Check: Gaza-Israel, Romanian elections, Obama in Myanmar, fiscal cliff, "legal highs"

Any hopes that the flare up of violence between Israel and Gaza last week would settle down over the weekend were short lived. The situation continues to deteriorate and now Israel has authorised the mobilisation of 75,000 army reservists. The talk is of a land invasion by Israel and, as one might expect, the international reaction is loud, if not entirely clear.

Today has seen a torrent of name calling and blame throwing in all directions. Turkey's Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, is calling Israel a "terrorist state", while the US and EU many years ago labelled Hamas a "terrorist organisation", and are standing behind Israel, although President Obama has said it would be 'preferable' if Israel did not mount a ground invasion. Opinions within Europe are divided on laying the blame, but united that the violence must stop. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, is also calling for a ceasefire and the Arab League met in Cairo yesterday to discuss ways to end the conflict.

However, despite all the outrage and calls for a ceasefire, it's unlikely either side will listen. Both sides know that no one else wants to get involved with anything more than rhetoric.

So is there anything that anyone can do? Shashank Joshi says that the only real hope for a solution lies with Egypt, which is in a unique position to mediate.

• Romanian Elections

After a summer of political chaos which saw 3 rapid changes of government, Nick Thorpe previews the issues and people making the running ahead of Romania's elections in December.

• Obama in Burma

President Obama has made a historic visit to Burma to meet President Thein Sein and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Although he was in the country for only 6 hours, the visit is being seen as highly significant for Myanmar's relations with the West.

• The fiscal cliff

Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution analyses the ways President Obama could tackle the "fiscal cliff".

• Synthetic drugs

The problems and challenges presented by the ever growing number of synthetic drugs.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.