How Russia Plays All Sides of the Middle East’s Power Struggles, and Wins
Relishing frozen conflicts and divided countries.
March 31, 2021
How Russia Plays All Sides of the Middle East’s Power Struggles, and Wins
Relishing frozen conflicts and divided countries.
On March 15, the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov received senior Hizballah officials in Moscow; two days later, Lavrov’s Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, arrived in the same city for consultations. Shortly thereafter, Lavrov set off for the Persian Gulf, while Vladimir Putin flew to Turkey, where he attended the ribbon-cutting of a nuclear plant Russia built. Jonathan Spyer notes that in these meetings alone, the Kremlin shored up relations with all three of the Middle East’s rival blocs: the Iran-Syria-Hizballah axis, the Sunni Islamists led by Qatar and Turkey, and the pro-Western countries led by Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, and the UAE.
March 31, 2021
The New Immigrants to Israel Aren’t Fleeing Persecution but Seeking Opportunity
The post-coronavirus aliyah?
Remembering an American Scholar-Diplomat Who Saw the True Imbalance in the Arab-Israeli Conflict
International pressure on Israel to concede, without pressure on the Palestinians to match Israeli concessions.
Too Many Historians Have Ignored or Downplayed the Role of the Bible in American Public Life
Aided by biblical illiteracy.
To a Leading Critic, Both American-Jewish and Israeli Literature Express Deep Ambivalences
The blessing and the curse.