VOLOKH AND BERNSTEIN WRONG: RUSSIA IS STILL A HUB OF ANTI-ISRAEL STRATEGY

BERNSTEIN/VOLOKH:

The USSR's Role in the Middle East Goes Down the Memory Hole: One thing I find interesting in reading various authors who discuss the history of the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict is how the role of the USSR in exacerbating the conflict, and the role of its demise in providing an opportunity for a potential settlement of the conflict, is generally completely, or almost completely, ignored.

... while many question why Israel was unwilling to try to negotiate earlier with the PLO, this becomes more understandable when one considers that the PLO was a creation of, and financed by, the Soviet Bloc, which was overtly hostile to the very existence of Israel. Similarly, Israel was reluctant to give back all or much of the West Bank to Jordan when it had the chance for fear that a Soviet-backed Palestinian coup could topple King Hussein--as almost occurred in September 1970. One could surely not imagine the ideological evolution of many right-wing Israelis into the implicit acceptance of a Palestinian state if the USSR was still around to be the primary sponsor of the Palestinian cause.

THIS IS SUPREMELY NAIVE. THOUGH THE USSR IS GONE, RUSSIA IS MORE THAN MAKING UP FOR IT!

• FACT: NEITHER SYRIA OR IRAN - THE CHIEF SPONSORS OF ALL OF ISRAEL'S KEY ENEMIES - COULD BE SO EFFECTIVELY HOSTILE IF IT WEREN'T FOE RUSSIA.

• RUSSIA SELLS SYRIA ITS WEAPONS AND AA MISSILES, DITTO IRAN.

• PLUS, RUSSIA IS BUILDING IRAN'S NUKE PROGRAM.

• ISRAEL WON'T HAVE PEACE UNTIL IRAN IS RECLAIMED BY THE WEST.

• AND THAT WON'T HAPPEN AS LONG AS RUSSIA IS RULED BY SOCIALIST TYRANTS WHO THINK THEY CAN BENEFIT FROM CREATING HAVOC IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

• TO CHANGE RUSSIA WE NEED A ROBUST PRO-LIBERTY FOREIGN POLICY WHICH AGGRESSIVELY AIDS GEORGIA AND UKRAINE AND EASTERN EUROPE.

• BUSH HAD US ON THAT PATH.

• DEPLOYING MISSILE DEFENSE WAS CENTRAL TO IT.

• OBAMA WILL PROBABLY CANCEL IT, AND MAKE RUSSIA STRONGER.

• SCREWING ISRAEL, AND AIDING IRAN AND SYRIA.

OBAMA WILL SUCCEED IF FOLKS LIKE BERNSTEIN CAN'T SEE - OR REFUSE TO SEE - WHAT RUSSIA IS UP TO.