To the beat of the drums of war, American papers are falling into the ballot boxes of the midterm elections, and inside them, Republicans and Democrats are wrestling over the remaining half of a presidential term. The fifty states are running a race between an elephant and a donkey, as symbols of two parties competing in an election that looks more like a war front than an electoral political showdown. And while the Democrats, according to opinion polls, have secured the victory in the House of Representatives, the fierce battle is taking place in the corridors of the Senate seats amidst heavy Democratic turnout and weak Republican turnout. Attention is focused on states described as decisive, such as Texas, Michigan, Maine, and Alaska. There, the ability to settle the remaining votes, shuffle the results, and influence their final outcome will be tested. With eleven billion and six hundred million dollars spent on electoral advertising, candidates are competing over issues led by the economy and healthcare, while the situation in the Middle East and oil prices are among the files influencing their choices, which will constitute a test for the fate of the remaining two years of Donald Trump's second term and a referendum on his presidential performance in the first half of the term. From his Oval Office, Trump is following the events of the electoral process, addressing voters by telling them that they must keep America great, while expressing optimism that the results will be better than expected, as he put it. Before the end of the election day, the closing of the boxes, and the arrival of the results, the competition produced a moral victory for the Arab-American Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, whom Trump directly addressed by saying that El-Sayed repeatedly questions why four billion dollars are provided annually to Israel, and stopping the aid will eliminate this story. The more important narrative is that Abdul El-Sayed, before entering Congress, would have contributed with his continuous criticisms to pushing towards an unprecedented decision in the course of the US administration, which is stopping the annual military aid to Israel, and this in itself is a complete achievement that transcends the limits of the midterm electoral battles. As for outside the limits of the Republican-Democratic competition within the fifty states, the choices of war or settlement sit at a difficult crossroads, and after the passing of the midterm event comes the days of decisive decisions, between mediation tables and operations rooms where the region stands before a highly sensitive week, intersecting political calculations with the probabilities of war. Qatari mediation continues to move to make a negotiating breakthrough that can be built upon, amidst an affirmation of the continued chances of reaching an understanding that paves the way for broader negotiations. In contrast to diplomatic efforts, Israeli military indicators are rising to levels that threaten the possibility of escalation with the circulation of information about the transfer of the bulk of the reserve forces to the Lebanese border and raising the level of readiness in anticipation of a regional confrontation that may include Iran and its allies. However, Israeli military calculations are not separated from the internal political scene with the agreement of opposition party leaders on recommending the Israeli president to task Gadi Eizenkot with forming the new government, in a step that opens a new chapter of power struggles. Amidst ongoing mediations, Washington's bets, and Tehran's calculations, the coming hours remain decisive in terms of shielding the region from the storm or falling into the abyss of a new war.