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Fyodor Lukyanov: Putin visited the Middle East this week. Here's why it is important

Fyodor Lukyanov
RT
Sat, 09 Dec 2023 07:42 UTC

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

The Russian president traveled to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and it wasn't to enjoy some winter sunshine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, followed immediately by his Iranian counterpart's visit to Moscow, reminded us of the importance that the Persian Gulf has acquired in international affairs, and especially in domestic foreign policy. It is not that the region has been ignored before; there have always been reasons to keep an eye on it. But these were mainly due to issues with natural resources and the geopolitical struggle to control them.

The structure of the international system has changed. Firstly, the so-called 'middle powers' - and all the countries I have mentioned belong to this category - play a much more important role than they did 10 to 15 years ago, and this influence is growing at the expense of the big countries. Second, regional politics is increasingly driven by regional forces, even if it is an area where major foreign interests converge.

Comment: See also:

Ukraine's leaders have gone 'totally crazy' - Putin

RT
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 16:17 UTC

President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia on December 8, 2023.

The Russian president questioned the sanity of Kiev's political elites, during an event at the Kremlin

Persistent persecution of ethnic Russians in Ukraine was one of the key reasons behind the decision to launch the military offensive of February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has explained. He added that he believes the authorities in Kiev have since gone completely "crazy."

The president made the remarks earlier this week when he hosted distinguished servicemen at the Kremlin to award them "Hero of Russia" medals. Excerpts from Putin's speech on the sidelines of the event were published by Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday.

"We would never have done anything like [the military operation] if they had not started to destroy Russia in our historical territories, expel people from there, declared Russians a non-indigenous ethnic group in Ukraine. Have they gone completely crazy? Are they completely - how can I put it more bluntly - nuts?" Putin told the medal recipients.

The president was apparently referring to Ukraine's Law On Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2021. The legislation recognized only three ethnic groups - Crimean Tatars, Crimean Karaites and Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) - as the country's indigenous peoples.

Comment: When Vladimir Putin says that the leadership in Kiev are nuts, what does he think of the leaders of many western countries? The question is needed, considering that the current leadership in Kiev and the legislation they have carried out, would be impossible without strong western backing.

Over the years, there have been a number of articles related to the strands and signs of Nazism found Ukraine:

There was also:

So where exactly do we find more sanity among the political leaders?

The Economist calculus: Israel has just a few weeks left to destroy Hamas

The Economist
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 22:34 UTC

Pressure from America to end the offensive is mounting

It has been nine weeks since Israel began bombarding the Gaza Strip and six since it sent in ground forces. Some 18,000 Gazans, mostly civilians, have died. But Israel has so far failed to achieve its main objective of destroying the military capabilities of Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza and, in a terrorist attack on October 7th, murdered 1,200 Israelis and took 240 people hostage. It increasingly looks as though the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have just weeks to finish the job before America, Israel's vital ally, withdraws support for the offensive. Success looks unlikely.

Israel is stepping up its operations. It has deployed an entire airborne division of the IDF in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where it believes Hamas's senior leaders are now holed up. Three armoured divisions are still operating in the northern sector, in devastated Gaza city. Fierce fighting has been occurring in the Shujaiya and Jabalia areas of the city. The IDF is destroying tunnels, where Hamas fighters take refuge, and infrastructure, both military and civilian, in the city and its outskirts.

Senior Ukrainian commander says Russia attacking on all fronts

RT
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 21:04 UTC

The battlefield situation remains difficult for Kiev, Colonel General Aleksandr Syrsky has said

Russian troops are attacking Ukrainian positions in all areas along the conflict front line, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Colonel General Aleksandr Syrsky, has said.

In a Telegram post on Sunday, Syrsky acknowledged that "the operational situation in the east remains difficult" and that the Russian military "doesn't stop conducting offensive operations along the entire front."

He added that he had held a meeting with fellow Ukrainian commanders, who have been "on the defensive in the eastern direction," to analyze the situation and plan further steps.

Comment: History Legends give a good summary of the situation:

Israel knew Hamas's attack plan over a year ago

Manlio Dinucci
Voltairenet.org
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 00:00 UTC

Manlio Dinucci discusses the reasons why the Israeli government allowed the attack of October 7 to take place, with full knowledge of the facts.

"Israel Knew Hamas's Attack Plan Over a Year Ago", The New York Times reveals, A 40-page document code-named by Israeli intelligence "Walls of Jericho" proves this:

It outlines point-by-point, without specifying the date, exactly the attack carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The plan has been circulated widely, for more than a year prior to Oct. 7, 2023, among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but they concluded that "an attack of this magnitude is beyond Hamas' capabilities." Last July, only three months before the attack, a veteran analyst at Unit 8200, Israel's intelligence agency, warned that Hamas had conducted an intensive exercise similar to the one described in the plan. But an intelligence agency colonel trashed her report.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas executed the attack plan with "astonishing precision": a barrage of rockets, drones to knock out security cameras and automatic machine guns along the barrier surrounding Gaza, gunmen entering Israeli territory from gaps opened by bulldozers in the barrier. Exactly as it was written in the plan called by the Israeli intelligence "Walls of Jericho."

This outstanding documentation, which the political-media mainstream has essentially passed over in silence, confirms what we have been demonstrating based on facts and not opinions, since episode 113 of Grandangolo entitled "The Middle East's 9/11". The leaders of Israel were not taken by surprise by the Hamas attack, but contributed to its execution in order to have the pretext to implement their strategic plan. It consists of exterminating the population of Gaza: the dead and seriously wounded, mostly women and children, amount to about 60,000 so far, equivalent (if we were in a similar situation) to about 2 million dead and seriously wounded in Italy.

IDF reports 1,593 wounded since October 7, but hospital data Is much higher

Ido Efrati, Yaniv Kubovich
archive.today
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 10:03 UTC

Unlike past conflicts and wars, the Israeli army withheld reports of wounded soldiers and their condition. The army released the information after Haaretz reported it is refusing to do so...

Making its first such announcement since Hamas attacked on October 7, Israel stated on Sunday that 1,593 Israeli soldiers have been wounded during this period.

The military noted that 255 soldiers had suffered serious injuries, 446 moderate injuries and 892 minor injuries. The army released the information on the numbers of wounded soldiers and their condition after Haaretz reported two weeks ago that it had been refusing to do so.

Those figures include 559 soldiers who have been wounded during Israel's ground operation in Gaza, including 127 who were seriously injured, 213 moderately injured and 219 who suffered minor injuries. As of Sunday, 40 seriously wounded soldiers remained hospitalized, as well as 211 moderately injured and 165 with minor injuries.

Hungary warns it will veto €70 billion EU aid to Kiev-junta & more anti-Russia sanctions

Euractiv
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 19:27 UTC

© XThe President of the European Council Charles Michel met Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest on 27 November 2023 in a bid to ease rising tensions, with the increasingly belligerent Hungarian leader threatening to block key decisions on Ukraine.

EU heavyweights are set for a showdown with Hungary this week over giving Ukraine billions of euros in aid and the chance to start membership negotiations, both key objectives for Kyiv as its war with Russia stalls.

European Union leaders will meet for a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (14 and 15 December) to decide on proposals to grant €50 billion of economic support to Kyiv, assign a further €20 billion to Ukraine's military and launch accession talks.

Securing fresh financial assistance from Europe is critical as doubts mount over future US support for Kyiv, which relies on Western financial aid for its war with Russia.

US uses 'emergency authorization' to send tank shells to Israel for Gaza genocide, skips congressional approval

Al Jazeera
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 19:13 UTC

The United States government has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review, says the Pentagon.

The State Department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5m for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement on Saturday.

The shells are part of a bigger sale the Biden administration is asking the Congress to approve. The larger package is worth more than $500m and includes 45,000 shells for Israel's Merkava tanks, regularly deployed in its offensive in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians.

Comment: Israel's genocide of the Palestinians wouldn't be possible without the US, UK, and AI:

BRICS and the Resistance Axis: A convergence of goals

Pepe Escobar
The Cradle
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 17:01 UTC

The Gaza war has accelerated cooperation between Global South behemoths resisting western-backed conflict. Together, the Russian-led BRICS and Iran-led Axis of Resistance can shape a US-free West Asia.

MOSCOW - Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a notable pit stop in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to meet, respectively, Emirati President Mohammad bin Zayed (MbZ) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) before flying back to Moscow to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

The three key issues in all three meetings, confirmed by diplomatic sources, were Gaza, OPEC+, and BRICS expansion. They are, of course, interlinked.

The Russia-Iran strategic partnership is developing at breakneck speed, alongside Russia-Saudi Arabia (especially on OPEC+) and Russia-UAE (investments). This is already leading to stark shifts in defense interconnection across West Asia. The long-term implications for Israel, way beyond the Gaza tragedy, are stark.

Putin told Raisi something that was extraordinary on so many levels:

"When I was flying over Iran, I wanted to land in Tehran and to meet you. But I was informed that you wanted to visit Moscow. Relations between our countries are growing rapidly. Please convey my best wishes to the Supreme Leader, who supports our relations."

Putin's reference to "flying over Iran" directly connects with four armed Sukhoi Su-35s flying in formation, escorting the presidential plane over 4,000 km (if measured as a straight line) from Moscow to Abu Dhabi, without any landing or refueling.

As every stunned military analyst remarked, an American F-35 is capable of flying at best 2,500 km without refueling. Yet the most important element is that both MbZ and MbS authorized the Russian Su-35s escorts over their territory - which is something extremely unusual in diplomatic circles.

And that leads us to the key takeaway. With a single move on the aerial chessboard, compounded with the subsequent clincher with Raisi, Moscow accomplished four tasks:

Putin proved - graphically speaking - that this is a new West Asia where the US hegemon is a secondary actor; destroyed the neocon political myth of Russian "isolation;" demonstrated ample military supremacy; and lastly, as the start of Russia's BRICS presidency approaches, showed that it retains all its crucial geopolitical and geoeconomic cards.

Strategic reflections from Moscow

Alastair Crooke
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 16:29 UTC

U.S.-Russia relations have touched rock-bottom; it is worse even than imagined. In discourse with senior Russian officials, it is evident that the U.S. treats the former as clear enemies. To gain a flavour, it is as if a senior Russian official were to ask: "What is it you want from me?". The answer might come: "I wish you'd die".

The inherent tension and lack of genuine exchange is worse than during the Cold War when channels of communication did stay open. This lacuna is compounded by the absence of political nous amongst European political leaders, with whom grounded discussion has not proved possible.

Russian officials recognise the risks to this situation. They are at a loss however on how to correct it. The tenor of discourse too, has slid from outright hostility toward pettiness: The U.S., for example, might block workers from entering the Russian mission at the UN to repair broken windows. Moscow then — reluctantly — finds itself with little alternative but to respond in a similarly petty vein — and so the relationship spirals down.

There is an acknowledgement that the deliberately vituperative 'information war' is wholly dominated by the western MSM — further souring the atmospherics. And though the scattered western alternative media exists and is gaining in scale and significance, it is not easily engaged (being both diverse, and individualist). The tag of 'Putin Apologist' too, remains toxic to any autonomous news providers, and can destroy credibility at a stroke.

It is understood in Russia that the West presently exists in 'phony normality' — an interlude within its own cultural war (in the run-up to 2024). Russians, however, do perceive some obvious parallels with their own experience of radical civil polarisation — when the Soviet Nomenklatura demanded conformity to the Party 'line', or suffer sanction.

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Clearly, preservation of history is not what Israel is after. Which is ironic, if their goal was true.

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