Understanding the Solid Relationship Between Israel and Russia

 

Photo Credit: The Times of Israel



This week marks the 73rd anniversary of the defeat of German Nazism and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin to mark the occasion.  Their diplomatic relationship - and the larger dynamic of Israel-Russia relations - are curious to so many Americans given the Russian patronage of Iran and the enmity between Israel and Iran.  For some perspective, I put the question to Dr. Stephen J. Blank, Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington D.C.  Dr. Blank is a historian of Russian foreign and military policies and his expertise spans the tsarist, Soviet and post-communist periods.  Ever generous with his time and expertise, he shared seven key reasons for what he called "the solidity of this relationship."

 

• First, Putin personally appears to have good feelings about Israel and Jews and Russian policy formally eschews anti-Semitism - though there is still a fair amount of  it in society and he is willing to use it in measured doses for his domestic needs. 

• Second,  Russian elite respect Israel's military-economic-technological prowess and know that Israel is a channel to Washington. 

• Third, there are thriving trade and investment relations between the two countries - even to the point where Israel has sold weapons to Russia. 

• Fourth, Israel respects Russian red lines and avoids actions that are provocative to her. If Israel has to cross a line it informs Moscow first.  This is something Putin et al. appreciate because it shows Israeli respect for Russian sensitivities and interests. 

• Fifth, Moscow knows that wars against Israel end badly for Arabs and bring the U.S. back into the Middle East in a big way. 

• Sixth,  there is some belief that the Russian Aliyah - the group of Russian Jews who have settled in and become citizens of Israel - is in some sense "our people" and they wish to preserve that tie.  They also understand what the USSR lost by pursuing anti-Semitic policies. 

• Seventh, it is critical to Moscow's Middle East policies and its sense of those policies that it be able to talk candidly to all parties and not be excessively identified with any one state's interests.  This also includes Israel precisely because of the many unsettled security issues in the region."

In hearing Dr. Blank's incisive comments I am reminded of the salient and sage words of another distinguished alumnus of University of Pennsylvania, Charles Dudley Warner, who observed that "[p]olitics makes strange bedfellows." 

Lisa Bernard is the President of SecuritySpeak, LLC, a consulting firm devoted to matters of international security.  Experts like Dr. Stephen J. Blank offer briefings, talks and distinguished lectures to audiences of all types working to bring analyses and understanding of security matters to people in all walks of life.  To secure a speaker for your program reach out to  (203) 293-4741 or LisaBernard@SecuritySpeak.net.   Learn more at  www.SecuritySpeak.net. 



The Russians Are Coming? The Russians Are Coming!

 

To be sure, the reaction from people in and beyond Groton and New London, Connecticut to the sighting of a Russian spy vessel sitting thirty miles off their coast and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base last month spanned as wide as those in the Norman Jewison comedy film, The Russians are Coming!  The Russians are Coming! Locals voiced their concerns and opinions at a town meeting.  On Facebook, folks wondered if they should keep their children home from school.  Retired navy commanders, American submariners, CT lawmakers and elected officials calmed nerves and offered threat assessments and possibilities spanning the gamut from “this is nothing new” to “Putin is testing the resolve of the new American President” to “yet another Russian aggression.”  A resident of coastal Connecticut myself, I certainly noted the sighting and couldn’t shrug it off.  After musing about it with a colleague, I went to my local library for the DVD, The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!  Curiously enough, there was quite a wait list for the 1966 farce that parodies Cold War concerns.   

Days ago, just as my turn to rent the DVD came up, that same ship, the Viktor Leonov, was spotted twenty miles south of the U.S. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia.   That’s when I reached out to Dr. Stephen J. Blank, internationally renowned authority on Russian military and foreign policies, for a better sense of Russia’s motives in sending this 300 foot-long ship with surveillance equipment that can intercept radar, radio and other electronic signals.  Unlike the guileless submarine crew in the comedy, The Russians are Coming! the Russians aboard the Viktor Leonov are not sneaking an irresistible and innocent “peek” at America with wide-eyed curiosity.  And “spying” seems too vague a term to be useful to describe what it really happening as this ship traverses our coast, albeit in international waters.  As ever, Dr. Blank’s informed analysis put it all in perspective and I share it with you here:

The appearance of the Russian vessel off the US submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia is not merely another example of Russian surveillance of our submarine capability or another attempt to send a psychological message that its subs can get within striking range of the continental United States.  Rather it is also part of an evolving strategy that appears to be intelligence and combat preparation for a possible contingency of a protracted war with the U.S. when Russian subs will have a mission of interdicting U.S. naval vessels and submarines en route to Europe and/or cutting communication cables with Europe.  If seen in tandem with recent military moves, these submarine sightings, aerial, and naval probes of the U.S. and our allies, suggests a mounting concern in Russia that it will have to fight a protracted war with NATO.  Indeed, the scope of Russia's comprehensive information warfare against the U.S. and Europe already indicates that Moscow deems itself to be in a "Cold War" type scenario with NATO.

Dr. Stephen J. Blank is available for talks, lectures and briefings through Lisa Bernard's SecuritySpeak, LLC.  (203) 293-4741.  LisaBernard@SecuritySpeak.net. 

 

 



2016 Election Night Calm ... Four Experts Kept Us Focused on Key Security Matters Facing the 45th American President

 

Four experts in different aspects of national and international security did not know, and could not know, who would be elected as the next American President as they spoke to an audience comprised of law enforcement, IT and HR professionals, business-owners and CEOs, U.S. Army veterans, educators, social workers and scholars, all assembled to hear macro-analyses of the dynamics and challenges presented by the global economy, Islamic State, nuclear proliferation and Russian foreign policy.  They convened in Westport, Connecticut, on Tuesday, November 8^th for an Election Night 2016 Security Summit, 80 Minutes Around the World: Security Briefings for the 45^th POTUS.   Focused on the issues and avoiding politics, each offered a ten-minute briefing to POTUS-Elect 45 and conducted a 5-minute Q&A.

Economist Constance Hunter was the first to the podium flagging trade policy, industrial policy and taxation as three key components of economic security.  Asia-watcher Gordon Chang then took the floor to map out the intricate relationship between China, Iran and North Korea in his talk called, The New Nuclear Nexus. 



Dr. Austin Long, an authority on insurgency and irregular warfare, rose to present The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: Crucible for the Next American President. Dr. Stephen J. Blank capped off the program with an eye-opening and sobering synopsis of Russia’s War on America.  

During this program there was no election coverage and we operated under The Chatham House Rule.  Both worked to facilitate a candid and synergistic exchange of views and perspectives between the experts themselves and between the experts and the audience.  To organize a similar program, or for ideas on speakers and other formats more suitable for your department, meeting or campus, contact Lisa Bernard via email or telephone (203) 293-4741 or at www.Facebook.com/PodiumTime. #ElectionNightSecuritySummit    #ElectionNightSecurityBriefings  SecuritySpeak@PodiumTime