Kremlin sets sights on Middle East

Source: Globe and Mail

JERUSALEM — Days after Russia sent the diplomatic world reeling with its audacious flag-planting beneath the ice of the North Pole, the Kremlin is moving to reassert itself in warmer climes as well, plotting the return of the Russian fleet to a Syrian port on the Mediterranean Sea.

With much of the world still agape, and the Canadian government fuming, over the bold voyage under the Arctic ice by two Mir submarines last week, the head of the Russian navy announced that he wanted next to plant the white-blue-and-red Russian banner in the Middle East. The new Russian strategy envisions returning warships to a Soviet-era naval base at the port of Tartus.

"The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically for the Black Sea fleet," Admiral Vladimir Masorin said as he toured a Russian base in the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol. "I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic fleets, the Russian navy should restore its permanent presence there."

It would mark the first time Russia has established a military presence outside the borders of the former Soviet Union since the USSR fell apart in 1991.



Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070807.wrussia07/BNStory/International/home

I can't see that scenario. Russia has stood against US attacks abroad, but has completely restrained itself internationally for a long time.

Russia aligning with Syria and Iran to balance power in the Middle East. Maybe I spent too much time there, but I see it meshing. I am a former ME citizen so just take my words as that -- opinion.

:hi:

I couldn't understand the reasoning behind Russia being hostile toward them. I thought maybe I was missing something.

I see it more as regaining their status and working with the "borat country" pipelines.

Know that my people (Israeli) want peace in our region more than you want it for us.

{{{hug}}}

We need a multi-polar world in which there is not just one power asserting itself. There's been a terrible disequilibrium the past decade and a half. Plus, the developing countries can only stand to gain from being wooed by multiple powers.

"I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic fleets, the Russian navy should restore its permanent presence there."

....it's about time, comrade....

they are much more wealthy and powerful today.

Russia doesn't need friends with dumb enemies like the Bushites.

"Russia has only two allies - its Army and its Navy".

Brezhnev added to that:

"Now we have a third - Strategic Rocket Forces".

"It's a symbol, the planting of a flag. Just like the one Russia put under the North Pole," said Alexei Malashenko, an expert on the Muslim world at the Carnegie Moscow Centre. The intent, he said, is to declare that Russia has returned to the Middle East, where Moscow held wide influence during the Cold War, backing the socialist regimes of Syria, Iraq and Egypt against U.S.-supported Israel.

It's a move that many in Israel and the United States will have trouble separating from a broader pattern of renewed Russian support for countries and groups Washington and Tel Aviv see as enemies.

"The Russians are coming" read a front-page headline in yesterday's edition of Israel's mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "A Russian flag on Syrian soil has significant strategic implications. Firstly, it challenges the United States and the dominance of the Sixth Fleet stationed in the Mediterranean. Secondly, with its actual presence in Syria, Russia is announcing that it is actively participating in any process and conflict in the Middle East, that it has a stance of its own and that it must be reckoned with," the article read.

Iran, Russia, China....

WORST PRESIDENT EVER by a furlong.

Russia, US adversary? China? The US had good relations with them under Clinton. Relations with Iran were certainly on track for vast improvement during the 1990s. Bush policies have created this situation.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: