The Grand Game: some interesting info
Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 3:05PM The fact that Israel supplied Georgia with pilot-less drones and probably more hardware than that is well known. I have always posed my self a question why would Israel do such a thing? The money made from this business would not make up for the damage caused by angering Russia. Anyone who has ever been to Israel knows how Russian the place is. Recently Israel dropped its visa requirements for Russians because the contacts are busy. Not only do the relatives of Russian Jewish immigrants but a lot of Orthodox pilgrims (especially around Easter) and people seeking healing from the Dead Sea travel to Israel. Money couldn't be behind it.
Stanislav Mishin of Mat' Rodina elucidates the matter a little with his recent article. According to his claims Israel wanted to use Georgia as a launching pad in it's possible air-raid mission with the objective to destroy or hold back the Iranian nuclear program.I find this explanation quite plausible because it is not in the best interests of the Americans (who control Iraq) and the Khaleeji (Gulf) or the Saudi to have Israeli planes fly over their territory. Turkey did not even allow the Americans to use their bases during the invasion of Iraq and it is very hard to imagine they would give Israel such a favour. That leaves Misha the tie-muncher of Georgia the only person crazy enough to be willing to help Israel.
Furthermore there is an interesting discussion between Mark Ames of exileD and Scott Horton on the AntiWar radio. It is basically about the contest over Brzezinski's heartland that is waged by Russia and the US. There is nothing particularly revealing for me except at one point they say that Chechens are probably the only Muslims the Washington establishment loves. I would say they love any Muslim as long as he serves their interests. They point to a neocon infested pro-Chechen organisation called 'Committee for Peace in Chechnya'. A google search of this group yields a link to an organisation called 'The American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus' which was previously unknown to me. It is obvious that they are concerned with the entire North Caucasus and not an insignificant strip of land called Chechnya, very much like the Caucasus Emirate. The google search also yielded a link to a site called Prague Watchdog which I have know about for some time now. This site is prime example of NATO's moral support for the Chechen cause, I should have included it in my recent piece on the matter but must admit that I completely forgot about it. I also know that some Chechen exiles work in Radio Free Europe which has it's headquarters in Prague and is run by the American government.
Reader Comments (4)
I read one author, Michael Neumann, I think it was who said that after the collapse of the USSR, having Israel as a major US ally was akin to putting garlic out as protection against vampires. I suspect that in this case, they were pressured into supporting Georgia by the USA. It always seems comical when American politicians praise Israel as their great ally for...uh...being a brave little democracy or something. Yet it has never been as simplistic as it appears as I've heard that most of Israel's grants from America have to be paid to American defence contractors. Aside from mad televangelists and the statistically small Jewish population, there are few strong supporters of Israel in the USA. It is likely that their influence will wane if they do not create a new role for themselves and the resurgent 'cold war;' could be that opportunity.
Given how mad the Evangelical Zionists are, it is not even out of the question that the Israelis want troubled relations with the Russians because of the Gog/ Magog thing. Proving Big Gay Hal's theories are still possible must be a consideration for the Israel lobby, given how many Evangelical Zionists there are.
I would like to believe certain elements in American politics are not that eschatological in their reasonings but seeing Palin explain how the task (Iraq, Afghanistan) is from God I have doubts about the sanity and rationality of decisions taken by Bush administration. If God told Bush to invade Iraq and Afghanistan than God made a pretty cruel joke. I know of another entity that makes such jokes.
The biggest problem with this theory, which is otherwise not a bad one, is that to bomb Iran from Georgia you will still have to fly over Azerbaijan. I severely doubt they'll agree to it. The Azeri approach is not to offend anyone in the region too much while extracting maximum benefits and looking to somehow win back Nagorno-Karabakh, I don't see how allowing Israeli warplanes to bypass its territory on bombing runs will serve that purpose. (Obviously, flying over Armenia or Turkey is a no-starter).
Should the US give Israel the go-ahead to bomb Iran, then I highly suspect it will fly over Saudi Arabia, a country in intense strategic competition with Iran. There are rumors SA has already given permission via diplomatic back-channels, they are now waiting for the US.
You are right Anatoly, adding to that most Azeris live in Iran and not in their national state to the north. In any case Misha's actions have proved to be governed not by reason and considerations of his neighbour's wishes and interests.
It is some time when I read what looked like to be a plan to redraw the maps of the Near East, creating Kurdistan and enlarging Azerbaijan, sort of like a divide and rule policy. I don't know if that is trustworthy, it looked more like from the realm of conspiracy theories, but given that the Bush administrative attacked Iraq even though number of people warned them of the results of such action I would not be surprised if someone has such a crazy plan in mind.