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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Netanyahu heads to Russia as ties with Moscow strengthen |
| 2016-06-06 |
| Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu headed to Moscow this morning, for his third visit to the Kremlin in nine months, as Israel-Russia ties continues to burgeon. The meeting is the fourth one between Netanyahu and Russia President Vladimir Putin during the same period, after the pair also met at the sidelines of the recent UN climate change conference in Paris. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has also met with Putin during that time, even cancelling a trip to Australia to visit the Russian leader at the Kremlin. In an illustration of the growing alliance between their two countries, this time Netanyahu is scheduled to stay in Russia for an extended trip of two and a half days, meeting other leading Russian officials as well as the Russian President. The two leaders will be engaging on a range of issues of mutual interest and potential cooperation, most notably the ongoing bloody civil war in Syria. Russia, which supports Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, has been heavily engaged in Syria on the side of the regime. While Israel considers the Assad regime - a close ally of Iran - an enemy, and is still technically at war with it, Jerusalem and Moscow have seen their interests in Syria converge as of late. Last year, Netanyahu and Putin reached a landmark agreement to coordinate all Israeli and Russian forces in and over the skies of Israel's northern neighbor. On the diplomatic front, Netanyahu will look to Russia as a way to offset a hostile White House's recent veiled threats to not use its veto in the Security Council, as well as increased pressure from Europe to impose a two-state solution over the heads of the Israeli government. Israel and Russia share a deadly enemy: the EU. The growing Israeli-Russian alliance also illustrates Moscow's rising influence in the Middle East, as US President Barack Obama has pulled back America's presence and influence in the region considerably. Nature abhors vacuum |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #1 Natures okay with broom tho, as is the dawg. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2016-06-06 17:40 |