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An Unlikely Shift: Israel Moves Closer to Russia
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| HardTranceProd |
Forget Barack's claim, made in his Cairo speech, that the US and Israel share "an unbreakable cultural bond." That bond is pretty strained right now.
Instead, Israel is cozying up to an alternative partner with whom it has the real cultural bond: and that would be Russia. With most of Israel speaking Russian and closely following Russian culture, as well as Russian tourists freely visiting Israel with no visas, that relationship is actually quite similar to the one between the US and Britain.
So it only felt natural when Israel's foreign minister arrived today in Moscow to discuss Russia's greater involvement in the region--in Russian, of course. Touché, anyone?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/w...y.html?_r=1&hpw
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MOSCOW — “Would you mind speaking without an interpreter?” Vladimir V. Putin asked, and his visitor, Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s new foreign minister, responded that he could not imagine doing business any other way. The two then chatted in Russian, as if their meeting this month were a homecoming for a local boy who made good.
In some sense, it was. Mr. Lieberman is an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and the notably warm reception that he received in Russia could be a sign of things ahead. His hard-line positions have disquieted the Obama administration, but in Moscow, there was no such squeamishness.
There was no way to tell, of course, how much of the cordiality was simply a display for the cameras. Still, it pulled back the curtain a bit on how Israel and Russia are trying to navigate the crosscurrents of a Middle East profoundly in flux — notably in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle and in Iran, where the tumultuous election on Friday was perhaps the most vivid illustration.
Israel’s new government has voiced its reservations about the United States’ new policies under President Obama in both of those areas, so Mr. Lieberman’s trip could easily be seen as a tactic — using his access in Russia to suggest that Israel might become less dependent on the United States and look to Moscow for support.
Even if it is just a bluff, his pivot toward Russia — which itself seeks a larger diplomatic role in the Middle East — adds one more element to a list of shifts under way in the region. All of these changes are traceable, to some extent, to reactions to Mr. Obama’s emphasis on improving relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds through diplomacy, and pressing Israel to stop the growth of settlements in the West Bank.
Last week was a case in point: It started with an American-aligned coalition winning an unexpected victory in parliamentary elections in Lebanon, and it ended with the fiercely fought Iranian election, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an anti-American populist, faced surprisingly spirited competition from Mir Hussein Moussavi, a relative moderate who favors fewer strictures on personal freedom in Iran.
This week, Mr. Lieberman is to visit Washington for talks with American officials, but Mr. Obama is not scheduled to see him. In Russia, by contrast, Mr. Lieberman had a parade of meetings with Prime Minister Putin, President Dmitri A. Medvedev and others. And Mr. Lieberman went to Russia before Washington.
“We would like to add some diversity in our foreign policy,” Mr. Lieberman told a Russian-language television station in Israel upon his return. “And, of course, Russia is a key player.”
Mr. Lieberman stressed that he did not favor weakening Israel’s fundamental bond with the United States. And whatever his strategy, ultimately it is Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has the final say on foreign policy (and who has met in Washington with Mr. Obama).
In fact, the maneuvering in recent weeks has at times had the feel of shadowboxing. With a new diplomacy-oriented administration in Washington and a new hawkish one in Jerusalem, the various parties in the region are trying to prod and test one another to see how positions are being recast.
The Kremlin is hoping to use this period to reassert itself in the Middle East and challenge American dominance there. If it has good relations with both Israelis and Arabs, it can more readily present itself as an honest broker. It is also planning to sponsor a Middle East peace conference in Moscow.
Mr. Lieberman seemed to thrive here because he speaks not only the language of Russia, but also that of the Russian leadership. Both sides believe in a tough use of state power, according to political analysts, as well as a resolute nationalism and a willingness to act against Islamic extremism in ways that may be perceived in the West as excessive.
For example, Mr. Lieberman, who reflects the right-wing views of many immigrants from the former Soviet Union, has called for Arab citizens in Israel to swear an oath of loyalty to the state. The Kremlin recently established a panel to combat what it termed attempts to falsify history in ways that demean the achievements of Russia.
Tatyana A. Karasova, head of the Israel department at the Institute for Oriental Studies in Moscow, said Mr. Putin and Mr. Lieberman had a rapport because they are both “gosudarstvenniks” — a term that derives from the Russian word for state or government and implies a person who likes wielding official power. “Putin, as a gosudarstvennik, can really understand another gosudarstvennik like Lieberman,” she said.
While the Soviet Union was among the first nations to recognize Israel at its founding in 1948, it later became a staunch cold war ally of Arab countries like Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Soviet Jews encountered pervasive discrimination, which is one reason so many left.
Since the Soviet collapse, Russia’s relations with Israel have steadily improved; the one million immigrants who fled the former Soviet Union for Israel became one reason. Many maintain a cultural bond to Russia. (Mr. Lieberman himself emigrated from Moldova in the late 1970s.)
Russia and Israel have eliminated visa restrictions for travel between their countries, and Russian tourists now flood Israel, with Israeli executives often going the other way. Anti-Semitism in Russia still exists, but is much less widespread. Because of the immigration, Russia arguably has closer societal ties to Israel than the United States does.
(On his Russia visit, Mr. Lieberman even boasted that the immigrants so revere Russian culture that celebrations for the birthday of Pushkin would be more elaborate in Israel than in Russia itself.)
At the same time, Russia retains strong diplomatic and business interests in Arab countries and Iran that it does not want to damage. It talks to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and to the fundamentalist Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite Israeli objections.
Russia is also building a civilian nuclear power plant in Iran, and is less willing than Washington to use sanctions to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. This is a point of friction with Israel, and at least for now, it did not seem that Mr. Lieberman had much success in convincing the Kremlin to move more aggressively against Iran.
Even so, it appears that he believes that he has a better chance than other Israeli officials in wooing Moscow. And Mr. Putin indicated that Mr. Lieberman may be right.
“It is gratifying to realize that people who know more than hearsay about this country are appointed to such high posts in Israel,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Lieberman. “I hope that it will be an additional impetus for the development of Russian-Israeli relations.”
Analysts pointed to another aspect of this budding relationship: both the Kremlin and rightist Israelis nurture grievances about how they are seen in the United States and Europe.
“Both sides feel marginalized and pushed into a corner,” said Dmitri Babich, a political commentator with the state-run news agency in Moscow.
“If we look at all the criticism from the West about the Chechnya problem, it is very similar to what you hear people say in accusing the Israeli government,” he said. “Even the terms are the same — disproportionate use of force, too much collateral damage, etc. They feel that the West doesn’t realize how complex these problems are.”
Mr. Lieberman himself alluded to that confluence.
“Russia, more than anyone, is very familiar with terror,” he said. “Russia itself has suffered from double standards.”
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| Magnetonium |
Hmmm ... interesting. Very reminiscent of how Karzai some time ago threatened to get politically closer to Russia over disagreement with Obama administration.
All the time when I thought that Russia is fading away, along with its political muscle and influence, I could be wrong. Or it may be just temporary thing, for Israelis to pressure Americans to get what they want.
"You better respect our choices OR ELSE we'll go to the boogeymen Russians" |
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| Leon |
| why is your text in orange |
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| Zharen |
| It's always been in orange since I've been on here. I always thought it was a Russian thing. :p :disbelief |
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| Magnetonium |
Its been orange for 3-4 years now. I don't remember why I did it - well, lime was my initial (terrible) choice after using the default colour for years. I guess its to make my posts easier to find or to skip. Just my signature talk.
Nothing Russian about it - Russians would instead go with blue-red-or-white. Mostly red. And wave Russian and/or Soviet flags everywhere like idiots (to those damn nationalists).
And besides, my political views have evolved through the years. Regulars would have noticed it by now. :toothless :p |
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| jerZ07002 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Magnetonium
And besides, my political views have evolved through the years. Regulars would have noticed it by now. :toothless :p |
absolutely....the shift has been hugely noticeable in the past year or so.
anyway - it is of no consequence to me whether israel attempts to align itself with russia more so than the US. Israel needs the US far more than we need them. If we dropped support for israel we would gain an ally (i.e., the entire muslim world). In fact, aligning ourselves with Israel has probably done more harm than good for the US. |
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| Leon |
| more harm than good, aye.. in regards to foreign policy? or the medical, technological, pharmecutical or agricultural advancements that have come to life due to our current alignment? |
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| jerZ07002 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Leon
more harm than good, aye.. in regards to foreign policy? or the medical, technological, pharmecutical or agricultural advancements that have come to life due to our current alignment? |
i was referring mostly to foreign policy.
please elaborate on how you think the israeli/US alliance helped with medical, technological, pharmecutical, and agricultural advancements. i would love to hear about that. |
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| Leon |
| Just a few innovations that I'm aware of, as far as I know, the pill-sized ingestible video camera, Intel-Pentium chips, the original voicemail, first available cell phones (Motorola-Israel) and just recently solar power breakthroughs. These are things researched in joint US-IL venture companies. |
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| jerZ07002 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Leon
Just a few innovations that I'm aware of, as far as I know, the pill-sized ingestible video camera, Intel-Pentium chips, the original voicemail, first available cell phones (Motorola-Israel) and just recently solar power breakthroughs. These are things researched in joint US-IL venture companies. |
do you have any supporting links? |
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| jerZ07002 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Leon
you could google this stuff yourself, but here are some legit links |
i could but i don't care enough, but thanks for those links.
as to some of those innovations - so what? some israelis helped intel build a chip in 2007 to take back it's lead from AMD. that's not a US-israeli alliance, that's a private enterprise operating overseas; something that happens even if the two countries in which it operates don't have the best relationship. Furthermore, those innovations are pretty insignificant in comparison to the significant foreign policy disaster that comes with unquestioned support for Israel.
Listen, I'm neither anti-israel nor anti-jewish. I live and work in the NYC area and have too many jewish friends and co-workers to even consider those positions. I'm looking at this on a purely logic level. Israel has gained far more from our alliance than we have gained from the alliance, and it isn't a win/win situation. We give Israel military aid and technology so they can defend themselves, and in return we get blamed for the ty situation in which the palestinian people live and Israel spies on us. we absolutely don't need them, but they absolutely need us. Awesome relationship! |
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