Is Abbas' Tantrum The Result of the Success of Netanyau's Latest Strategy?

Last week it was Mahmoud Abbas against the world as Abbas decries pressure from the US, Russia and the Arab world:

“Our relations with everyone must be good, but no one will dictate to us any position or idea...Therefore, let us think as Palestinians. I will think about Palestine, not Washington or Moscow”

President Abbas speaks to Israeli journalists in Ramallah, January 21, 2016.
 of Israel (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

What is going on here?

The UN Resolution Equating Zionism With Racism Has Roots In The Cold War in 1965

Joel Fishman writes that UN Resolution 3379, claiming that Zionism is a form of racism, did not just appear out of nowhere. Though passed in 1975, the roots of the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism can be found in the UN in 1964. Back then, the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities was engaged in discussions aimed at recognizing Antisemitism as a form of racism -- along with apartheid and Nazism.

At the time, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency had the story of what happened next:

Russia Asks U.N. to Condemn Zionism Along with Anti-semitism, Nazism

The Soviet Union called formally upon the United Nations today to condemn Zionism along with anti-Semitism, Nazism and neo-Nazism as a policy of “colonialism and race hatred.” The step was taken in the General Assembly’s Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee where a draft convention was being debated calling for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

Assad Ends 2013 Much Better Than When He Started

The following by Jonathan Spyer is reposted here with permission of the Middle East Forum:

With Help From Tehran and Moscow, and Inaction by the U.S., Assad Is Poised To Stay

by Jonathan Spyer
Tablet Magazine
November 13, 2013
http://www.meforum.org/3670/syria-assad-iran-russia

As the Syrian civil war grinds on toward its fourth year, no end appears in sight. It is the greatest disaster in the Levant in a generation: More than 115,000 people have died. Around 2 million refugees have departed the country—for Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and beyond—while untold more who have left their homes remain in Syria, seeking with increasing desperation to put themselves and their families out of reach of the guns.

But while the war appears far from ending, its direction and likely outcome have shifted significantly in the past year.

After Syria and Iran, Is Russia's Putin Finding Another Middle East Ally in Egypt?

The following by Raymond Stock is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Obama vs. Putin -- is the Cold War About to Return to the Middle East?

by Raymond Stock
Fox News
October 28, 2013
http://www.meforum.org/3654/obama-putin-cold-war

Raymond Stock

Sensing an historic opening, Russian President Vladimir Putin may soon be visiting Cairo in search of closer military ties and access to Egypt's warm water ports—according to an October 27 article in the Sunday Times of London.

Should he make that trip, Putin would likely get a warm, if not rapturous reception, both in government and on the street.

But if President Barack Obama should go there -- or anywhere in the Arab world-- now, the warmth would likely be of another kind entirely.

Obama's October 9 decision to freeze about a third of this year's $1.6 billion aid package to Egypt, and his coldly critical reaction to the popularly-demanded ouster of President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood (MB) organization from power on July 3, have predictably angered most Egyptians.

Dr. Jacques Neriah: Sisi Fever: Will the General be the Next President of Egypt?

At the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dr. Jacques Neriah asks the question: Sisi Fever: Will the General be the Next President of Egypt?.

Here is a synopsis of Neriah's article:

• General Abd el Fattah el-Sisi, the man who led the overthrow of President Morsi on July 3, 2013, holds the combined titles of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, first Deputy of the Prime Minister, and Minister of Defense and Military Production. Unlike his predecessors, Sisi is waging a merciless campaign against jihadi fighters in Sinai Peninsula in order to restore Egypt's sovereignty there while drastically reducing Hamas' power in Gaza.

The Discussion of The Growing Influence of Islam in Europe Should Focus on Russia

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

Muslim Russia?

by Daniel Pipes
The Washington Times
October 21, 2013
http://www.danielpipes.org/13531/muslim-russia

The stabbing murder on Oct. 10 of an ethnic Russian, Yegor Shcherbakov, 25, apparently by a Muslim from Azerbaijan, led to anti-migrant disturbances in Moscow, vandalism and assaults, the arrest of 1,200, and brought a major tension in Russian life to the fore.

Not only do ethnic Muslims account for 21-23 million of Russia's total population of 144 million, or 15 percent, but their proportion is fast growing. Alcoholism-plagued ethnic Russians are said to have European birth rates and African death rates, with the former just 1.4 per woman and the latter 60 years for men. In Moscow, ethnic Christian women have 1.1 child.

Dore Gold: What Might Be Expected in Monitoring Syria: Lessons from Past Middle East Weapons Inspection

Dore Gold describes What Might Be Expected in Monitoring Syria: Lessons from Past Middle East Weapons Inspections.

Here is the executive outline of the article:

• Weapons experts point to the successes of the West in both Iraq and Libya in destroying large weapons arsenals. Yet there are certain problems that weapons inspectors have had to deal with over the years that are common to all attempts to deal with control of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) of rogue regimes in the Middle East.

Mideast Media Sampler 9/16/13: The Accidental Obama Foreign Policy In Syria

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

After President Obama chose to ask for Congressional approval for any military action against Syria, NBC reported The White House walk-and-talk that changed Obama’s mind on Syria:

The plan was immediately met with robust resistance from a whiplashed Obama team who had listened to Kerry lay out the administration’s strongest case yet for action against Assad. “My friends, it matters here if nothing is done,” Kerry had argued. “It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens.”

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal added more details of the reversal, Inside White House, a Head-Spinning Reversal on Chemical Weapons (Google Search here):

Arlene Kushner Reviews The Errors of the Obama Administration on Syria Over the Last Few Days

Arlene Kushner:
September 11, 2013

International Farce

Before I look at that farce, I remember.  Today is 9/11.  Not only should it not be forgotten, it should serve as a warning, a lesson. Even now.  Especially now.

 

Credit: Chabad
There is consummate evil in the world.  And there are forces dedicated to taking down Western civilization -- with all of its humanistic and liberal values.  Radical Islam.  No less a threat than naziism was, or communism.

Remember...

~~~~~~~~~~

And the farce?  Aiii!  It would be very funny, if it weren't so pathetically sad and dangerous.

David P. Goldman: The World Learns to Manage Without the US

The following by David P. Goldman is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

World learns to manage without the US

by David P. Goldman
Asia Times
August 19, 2013http://www.meforum.org/3590/manage-without-us

David P. Goldman

The giant sucking sound you here, I said on August 15 on CNBC's The Kudlow Report, is the implosion of America's influence in the Middle East. Vladimir Putin's August 17 offer of Russian military assistance to the Egyptian army after US President Barack Obama cancelled joint exercises with the Egyptians denotes a post-Cold-War low point in America's standing. Along with Russia, Saudi Arabia and China are collaborating to contain the damage left by American blundering. They have being doing this quietly for more than a year.

The pipe-dream has popped of Egyptian democracy led by a Muslim Brotherhood weaned from its wicked past, but official Washington has not woken up. Egypt was on the verge of starvation when military pushed out Mohammed Morsi. Most of the Egyptian poor had been living on nothing but state-subsidized bread for months, and even bread supplies were at risk. The military brought in US$12 billion of aid from the Gulf States, enough to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. That's the reality. It's the one thing that Russia, Saudi Arabia and Israel agree about.

MEQ Winter 2005: Putin's Pro-Israel Policy

The following by Mark N. Katz is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Putin's Pro-Israel Policy

by Mark N. Katz
Middle East Quarterly
Winter 2005, pp. 51-59

The Russian government remains the greatest facilitator for Iranian nuclear ambitions. It has had close ties to terror-sponsoring regimes such as Syria and Saddam's Iraq. Russian president Vladimir Putin has not hesitated to oppose U.S. foreign policy. Washington and Moscow have clashed frequently over the Iraq war and its aftermath. But, mostly unnoticed by foreign policy pundits and Middle East watchers, Russia's policy toward Israel has undergone a steady shift.

Under Putin, Russia has not only declined to adopt Western Europe's increasingly shrill anti-Israel posture, but in many ways he has actually tilted Russian policy in Israel's favor, at least with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It would be a mistake, however, to interpret recent Russian shifts as due to a fundamental ideological shift. Putin neither seeks to please Washington nor to accommodate any domestic political imperative. Rather, Moscow's new Middle East policy results from Putin's personal calculation of Russian interests, one that does not find many other takers in his own government.

David P. Goldman on How the US Should Respond to Russia's New Middle Eastern Role

The following by David P. Goldman is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum

Russia's New Middle Eastern Role

by David P. Goldman
Asia Timese 13

Russia has thrown a monkey wrench into Western plans for Syria by promising to deliver its top-of-the-line S300 surface-to-air missile system to the Bashar al-Assad government. Exactly when the missiles might arrive remains unclear; the last word from Moscow is that the missiles are not yet in place, which means the matter is up for bargaining.

It is humiliating for the West to trip over a game-changing Russian technology nearly a quarter of a century after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The larger scandal is that the West lacks countermeasures against the Russian system, the result of misguided defense priorities over the past dozen years. If the United States had spent a fraction of the resources it wasted in nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan on anti-missile technology, Russia would lack the bargaining chip in the first place. That's spilt milk, however, and the pressing question is: what should the West do now?

Arlene Kushner on Russia Heating Up The Situation In Syria -- And Israel's Response

From Arlene Kushner:
May 21, 2013

Strong for All Things

There are multiple ways in which enormous strength is required of the Israeli government now.  In no situation is this more the case than with regard to Syria and armaments shipped there, either for use by Syria or for transfer to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The situation is rife with threats, claims, charges, counter-charges, and rumors.

What seems to be the case is that Russia recently shipped its Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria.  And this is bad news:

By Bungling Both Iran and Russia, Obama Continues To Empower Syria

For Immediate Release: May 16, 2013

Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter

Obama and Kerry's Fingerprints All Over Syria Crisis This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on FOX News.  In Syria, the motto for stopping the bloodshed might be summed up this way: when the going gets tough, the tough hold a conference. That’s the latest word from Secretary John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov who are planning the event for some time in June. Neither Assad, nor the opposition, has committed to attend.

Arlene Kushner on Israel's War of Pre-emption Against Syria and Hezbollah

From Arlene Kushner:
May 16, 2013:

Dead Serious

The NYTimes ran a piece yesterday in which it directly quoted a "senior Israeli official" -- who according to the JPost had contacted the Times (emphasis added):

"Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah.  The transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah will destabilize and endanger the entire region.

"If  Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate."

Read: 'Israel determined to stop Syrian weapons transfer'

~~~~~~~~~~

The Misadventures of Secretary of State John Kerry Continue in Russia

Michael Weiss writes at Foreign Policy about How John Kerry got rolled by Vladimir Putin on a plan to save Syria:

Perhaps because the atmospherics of Kerry's recent visit to Moscow were meant to show that his hosts were under no illusions as to who was the more desperate and bowed party. First, Kerry's motorcade sat in Moscow traffic for a half hour because of a military parade rehearsal for Victory Day, which celebrates the Soviet defeat of the Nazis in World War II. Then Russian President Vladimir Putin kept Kerry waiting for three hours before granting him an audience, upon which he fiddled with his pen and more resembled a man indulging a long-ago scheduled visit from the cultural attaché of Papua New Guinea than participating in an urgent summit with America's top diplomat.

EU Criticizes Russia Over Continued Support For Assad Regime in Syria

February 16, 2013 Contact: TIP Press: press@theisraelproject.org Main Office Phone Number:  202-857-6644 Russia Blasted Over Ongoing Assad Support Photo: Voice of America News / Wikimedia Washington, Feb. 16 – Russian expressions of continued support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad have analysts and diplomats worried that Moscow’s policies may undermine a new Western push, outlined this week by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to end Syria’s two-year conflict.

As Assad's Fall From Power In Syria Approaches, Russia and Iran Take Different Paths

Asharq Alawsat, which bills itself as "The Leading Arabic International Daily" is reporting, US - Russia reach agreement on al-Assad ouster: Opposition sources:

Senior sources in the opposition Syrian National Coalition have revealed that Moscow and Washington have reached an agreement on the Syria crisis, informing Asharq Al-Awsat that this includes “a settlement regarding the departure of President Bashar al-Assad from power”. However the source added that “sticking points in this agreement include the precise mechanism of al-Assad’s departure and handover of power.”

Failing in Syria, Russia Intent Not To Lose Iran -- At Their Own Risk

I strongly urge that in breaking down the walls of Marxist fantasies you do not fall into the prison of the West and the Great Satan. I openly announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the greatest and most powerful base of the Islamic world, can easily help fill up the ideological vacuum of your system.
From a letter from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989

Iran's PressTV -- not known for accuracy -- is reporting that Russian destroyer docks at Bandar Abbas port: