Tag Archives: Russia

24Mar/14

Ukraine, Iran and the Cold War

 

The Cold War is long gone, says the American  president, and the Ukrainian affair is not a“ Cold War chessboard.” Syria and Ukraine, he adds, are about “expression of hopes” rather than acts of regional powers. After all, the people – 96% of them to be exact – have spoken!  And so goes for Iran:  “If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today.” But the parallel between past and present deserves closer inspection, especially given the president’s reluctance to intervene in any battle, be it Ukraine, Syria or Iran. Apparently, there is a difference between battles of ideas to one of “international law” and perhaps this is what Ukraine might teach us about Iran.
But this parallel between past and present deserves closer inspection, especially given the president’s reluctance to intervene in any battle, be it Ukraine, Syria or Iran. Apparently, there is a difference between a battle of ideas and one of “international law.”

America and its allies in Europe never forgot their united opposition to the Soviet Union, and to its world view, so inherently incompatible with their own. They recognized, correctly, that the Soviets had a clear ideology juxtaposed with global ambitions, in which a free world had no place. They also recognized that, left unchallenged, those ambitions would weaken the free world, and perhaps completely destroy it. Continue reading

05Aug/12

Syria, a day before tomorrow

Three scenarios appear plausible for Syria’s future: agreed transition; segregation; or disintegration. It is imperative that friends of Syria help Syrians create a scenario they can live with.

The Commentator

 

 

AMMAN – In 1942, Winston Churchill famously drew a distinction between “the end of the beginning” and “the beginning of the end”. That distinction is equally applicable to the unfolding crisis in Syria.

While intense battles continue in Idlib, Aleppo and Damascus, equally intense discourse is  already in full swing  anticipating the “day after” or the beginning of post-Assad Syria.

Undoubtedly, the Syrian revolution has reached a critical point. Despite equipment shortages and government brutality, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been able to show some significant advances. Following the successful planting of the bomb that killed three top inner circle officials, the FSA now effectively controls most of the border crossings between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and with them, the critical supply lines from Iran which has thus far kept the regime afloat.

Some of the FSA’s recent strides can be attributed to the growing list of defectors that now includes generals, pilots, diplomats and even inner-circle officials like Brig-Gen Manaf Tlas, the son of former defense minister Mustapha Tlas and a recent close ally of Assad.

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19Sep/08

מאחורי צג הברזל

מה בין לוחמת הרשת שהונחתה על אתרי האינטרנט של ממשלת גיאורגיה בחודש שעבר, ובין חיסולם ביריות של עיתונאים ברחובות? על חופש ביטוי ומסורתה החיה של הקג”ב

ניב ליליאן, ניר בומס

(הרשת התיכונה, YNET)

בעוד הטנקים של רוסיה מסרבים לסגת סופית מאוסטיה, ובעוד העולם מנסה למנוע את תחילתה של עוד מלחמה קרה, שדומה והחלה עם הכרזתה של רוסיה על מכירת נוספת של נשק לאיראן לאור עמדתה של ארה”ב כלפי המשבר, דומה שנכתבו עוד כמה פרקים בעימות המתוקשר הזה, עימות שמזכיר ימים אפלים קצת יותר.

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