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Never? To Soon To Tell

Reader comment on item: Iran's Nuclear Buildup and American Irrelevance
in response to reader comment: It will Never happen

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Mar 11, 2014 at 19:00

It has been a while that an exchange of thoughts in this venue evoked the sense of wanting to respond. What is seen in the Middle East currently, and by a strange bedfellows nexus in the Ukraine, that which many might think unusual is not nearly so. The pattern of one has a close parallel to the other.

Why does anyone think Russian interest in Syria was so palatable when Candidate Obama was unable to broker an intervention for protecting Syrians from gas attacks? But let us go back, way back, to a time many of an older generation remember as if it was yesterday and the issues of a former time have come breaking back into the forefront.

Is the Russian interest in the Middle East a recent infatuation in which we may recall that Russian's have had significant investments in the Middle East; or are there deeper roots that have been relegated to a revisionist's history long since lost to modern thinking. The Russians have a history connecting to the Middle East that is rich, more notably in the nineteenth century with its first Ecclesiastical Mission.

In more recent times, after the holocaust and during the issues of a Jewish resettlement in what was to be the rebirth of Israel, the Soviet government's position was promulgated by the efforts of Ivan Samylovskii, who as an ardent patriot (see Wikipedia for references), provided dialogue that "the Soviet stand on the Palestine question was confirmed, i.e. preferably the establishment of an independent single Jewish-Arab State with equal rights for both the Arab and Jewish populations. The Soviet delegation conceded that in case this plan could not be implemented, and the Jewish and Arab populations could not be reconciled, and only then, should a "second plan be considered, which would provide for the partition of Palestine into two independent single states, one Jewish and one Arab".

Fast forward, and with the musing of Mr. Putin's observation of the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the former Soviet Union, one with certain discernment can see that many of the former Soviet points of interest are in process of being regained; and with The U.S. and the rest of the West in vacillation mode, recaptured in spades. There is the power of the federation; and in the background, the power of energy source control. Does anyone think that competing gas and oil reserves in the Mediterranean have gone unnoticed to gas investor Putin?

From a regional conflict perspective, there is a definitive invested purpose that is being closely watched and the Black Sea port is part of a critical path towards protections of such things. What if Syria implodes; does anyone think tovarich Putin is going to let that prevent him from seeking his and his country's own? Iran ambitions play into that as well; and do not be too surprised when both collide after Syria craters and Israel is fixed upon as the target it has always been.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (30) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Reason? I Hope [11 words]Steel Pipes In IndiaMar 21, 2014 06:36213903
Spiegel titel page portrays a large Putin over a small Obama [78 words]mythMar 12, 2014 10:16213760
1Soft power vs hard power [56 words]saraMar 5, 2014 00:04213570
1power of predictions [201 words]mythMar 5, 2014 10:44213570
1It will Never happen [190 words]saraMar 8, 2014 20:35213570
Never? To Soon To Tell [494 words]M. ToveyMar 11, 2014 19:00213570
1The Iranian and Ukrainian Situation [207 words]Lujack SkylarkMar 2, 2014 17:35213539
There are TWO Israeli Military Options [159 words]AlexFeb 25, 2014 19:17213430
don't t target iranian scientists [219 words]mythMar 2, 2014 08:49213430
Does anyone believe that America is the same America it was and should be, a LEADER? [74 words]NuritGFeb 25, 2014 15:28213427
1Replay of misteps [191 words]John R PeacherFeb 23, 2014 21:01213384
Israel needs US for the military option [40 words]Peter GoodmanFeb 23, 2014 17:42213380
MOAB is old tech [377 words]James A. HaffordMar 2, 2014 07:48213380
Israel decides if Iran gets nuclear weapons [176 words]Lujack SkylarkApr 29, 2014 12:27213380
2Between a Rock and a Hard Place [311 words]john w. mcginleyFeb 23, 2014 12:50213377
The Bill [60 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Mark DFeb 22, 2014 23:23213367
Israel, Iran, US Presidents [282 words]Mark DMar 20, 2014 18:29213367
Israel [121 words]Mark DFeb 22, 2014 23:21213366
3Iran's Nuclear Buildup and American Irrelevance [58 words]C MillerFeb 22, 2014 23:08213365
12no if's just when [68 words]Michael Hanni MorcosFeb 22, 2014 22:31213363
1THE SHIA END OF TIMES [69 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Tom DundeeFeb 22, 2014 22:26213362
2Hitler's speech 30.01.1939 sets an example [246 words]mythFeb 24, 2014 12:16213362
Thank You [4 words]Tom DundeeMar 15, 2014 17:51213362
Nuclear Armed Saudia Also A Player [44 words]Haym L RabinovitzFeb 22, 2014 22:15213361
Re: Saudi Nukes? [90 words]Kenneth Duke MastersFeb 24, 2014 22:53213361
11Cannot rely on the Saudis [89 words]Michael Hanni MorcosFeb 25, 2014 11:40213361
Iran & US [16 words]steven LFeb 22, 2014 21:17213359
2Reasons I hope the bill passes [154 words]Doug MayfieldFeb 22, 2014 19:01213357
Iran's buildup [58 words]A.T. HalmayFeb 22, 2014 18:16213356
What likely comes [73 words]David W. LincolnFeb 22, 2014 17:37213355

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