... out of U.S. foreign policy priorities. Shortly after his election, George W. Bush came up with the ambitious initiative of a Greater Middle East which entailed a democratic restructuring of the region; Barack Obama quickly sent a special envoy for the Middle East to mediate between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; and Donald Trump, by contrast, dashed a number of traditional constants in the policies of his predecessors. It took Joe Biden’s administration a long time to realize the place of this troubled region in the U.S....
... status quo established via aggressive means, such as what Israel presently aims for, so long as it is stable and sustainable
This author published an
analysis
in
The Tehran Times
in December 2020, part of which assessed how China would factor into Israel’s Middle East-wide conflict with Iran.
The analysis forecast an Israeli strategy to engineer an overlap between China’s Middle East security vision and its own as regards Iran. This strategy would entail considerable tactical and diplomatic maneuvering ...
... "Libya: between Turkey, Egypt and others?".
Welcoming remarks were made by Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC); Amb. David Akov, Head of the Center for Political Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel; and Irina Zvyagelskaya, Head of Centre for the Middle East Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) RAS, Professor, Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO University, RIAC expert.
During the first session reports were made by Nikolay Surkov,...
... later stage with Iraq due to the strong connections between Iraqi military groups with those in Bahrain whom Bahrain would accuse of tampering with its security and stability.
Other Key Players
Irina Zviagelskaya, Nikolay Surkov:
Russian Policy in the Middle East: Dividends and Costs of the Big Game
Israel
Some important geopolitical trends in the region will be marked by March 2, 2020, with a new round of Israeli elections which would decide the future government of Israel. Indicators from Israel reveal that once Benjamin Netanyahu wins in the ...
... Syria in the context of the strategic interests of Russia, Israel, and the United States; and as the tension has been growing, this need is getting more and more urgent. Before giving any assessment, it is important to trace which new trends in the Middle East policy of the United States and Israel served as the ground for the summit in Jerusalem and how they affect the interests of Russia in the region.
From Obama to Trump: Middle East U-Turns
During the presidency of Obama the US strategic line in the Middle East as a whole did not go beyond ...
... May 21, 2019, Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, read a lecture to a group of Israeli diplomats and interns from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs visiting Russia on professional training program.
The event was organized by the Embassy of Israel in Moscow. In the lecture, Andrey Kortunov focused on the problems of Russian-the US relations, the dynamics of conflict situations in the Middle East, the prospects for cooperation between Russia and China, as well as the risks of new regional crises and conflicts in the near future.
... yet, the latter part is far from the truth. Russo-Israeli relations had been improving for decades before Netanyahu entered the Israeli political scene.
Primakov’s Mission: Laying the Foundations for Russo-Israeli Relations
Yuri Barmin:
Russia and Israel: The Middle Eastern Vector of Relations
The “founder” of improving Russo-Israeli relations, Yevgeny Primakov, made a point (almost a mission) of maintaining some type of relationship between the two countries. Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War all the way ...
... 10-15 years diminish even slightly, this will only add to Israel’s problems.
Karsten Riise:
Opportunities for Europe, Syria and Russia with New Approaches
The US
similarly will over the next 10-15 years probably not face better conditions in the Middle East, than we witness today. Israel, the key US ally in the region, though basically maintaining a status-quo, will rather become relatively weakened than strengthened. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are next in close ties to the US in the region: both countries face a very uncertain political ...
... on the Israeli vision of the role and mechanisms of work of the UN and other international structures. The parties also discussed the situation around the Gaza Strip, in the south of Lebanon, and southwest Syria. In addition, representatives of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Russian experts touched upon issues of post-conflict reconstruction and the balance of forces in the Middle East region.
Russian side was represented by Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, Timur Makhmutov, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, Ruslan Mamedov, RIAC Program Assistant, and Alexey Khlebnikov, RIAC Expert.
... capitalize on this initial success by broadening the range of participants to the Astana process and expanding the conversation beyond tactical de-escalation and ceasefire mechanisms to a more sustainable political settlement.
Yuri Barmin:
Russia and Israel: The Middle Eastern Vector of Relations
The second stage of Russia’s direct engagement in the region turned out more successful than the first one. However, it also demonstrated a number of limitations. Iran and Turkey turned out to be incapable or unwilling ...
