Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin to improve relations with Russia, 66-year-old Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu showed why President Barack Obama has failed as commander-in-chief. Since the end of WWII where Eastern Europe was ceded to the Soviet Union, generations of U.S. presidents have done their part to improve U.S. relations with the Kremlin. While U.S.-Russian conflict hit a peak Oct. 14, 1962 under President John F. Kennedy with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Obama hasn’t done much to follow in the tradition of Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush improving ties with Moscow. Whatever Putin’s geopolitical moves, there’s no excuse for Obama to turn back the clock on U.S.-Russian relations. Boasting she’d follow Obama’s lead, 68-year-old Democratic front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promises the same.
Hosting one of the largest Jewish populations before WWII, Putin handed Netanyahu an olive branch seeking better bilateral ties. Intolerable conditions in Russia prompted a mass exodus of Jews to Israel before and after WWII. Putin’s attempt to improve relations with Israel embarrasses the White House, too busy letting Saudi Arabia run U.S. foreign policy. It’s no accident that Obama fights on the same side as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front, Saudi-funded Jaish al-Islam and host of other rebel groups, all seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Obama backs the five-year-plus-old Saudi-funded proxy war against al-Assad, causing more 250,000 deaths, displacing 11 million Syrians to neighboring countries and the European Union. Obama’s Syrian policy pits the U.S. directly against Russia and Iran, both backing al-Assad.
Hillary’s foreign policy on Syrian shows no separation from Obama, presenting a nightmare for the Middle East. Netanyahu’s visit to the Kremlin attempts more than just bilateral trade relations. “Russia is a global power and our relations are getting closer,” Netanyahu told the RIA Novosti news service. Obama ignored Putin’s plea to the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 28, 2015, asking the U.S. and world powers to back his fight against Syrian terrorist groups trying to topple Damascus. Obama and Hillary’s stubborn support of Saudi Arabia’s proxy war shows the U.S.—as it stands now—is busy exacerbating the Syrian crisis. Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry don’t see how the Saudi-funded Syrian proxy war Syrian threatens to destroy the EU’s Schengen passport-free zone. Unlike German Chancellor Angela Merkel, few EU countries want to resettle Syrian refugees.
Obama claims he wants the Syrian War over yet defies Russia, backing the Saudi proxy war that shows no signs of ending. Putin put his money where his mouth was Sept. 30, 2015, starting air strikes against Syrian opposition groups seeking to topple al-Assad. Netanyahu, while not stating it publicly, backs Russia and Iran’s attempt to beat back the war against al-Assad’s Shiite government. “I worked on this rapprochement and today it is serving us, our national security, preventing unneeded and dangerous clashes at our Northern border,” said Netanyahu, referring to Putin’s leverage over Iran’s Hezbollah militia that fought Israel July 12, 2006 to Aug. 14, 2006 to loggerheads. Unlike Obama, Netanyahu sees Putin as a valuable ally against terrorism. While it’s too late for Obama to switch gears with Putin, it’s not to late for U.S. foreign policy to take a serious inventory of its failed relationship with Moscow.
Netanyahu’s fence-mending with Moscow shows mature leadership, just like Putin who wants to benefit Russian foreign policy. “The Russia-Israel security relationship has been quietly developing for some time now,” said Daragh McDowell, principal analyst for Europe and Central Asia with Verisk Maplecroft. With U.S.-Russian relations at post-Cold War lows, Putin seeks better ties with the best-run country in the Middle East. Developing closer ties to Israel helps Putin’s strained relations with the European Union. Since he invaded Crimea March 1, 2014, the EU has had frosty relations with Moscow. Only recently has Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov stated for the record that Russia would never attack a NATO state, trying to reassure frazzled nerves in the Baltics and Eastern Europe. Installing U.S. Aegis missile defense systems in Romania and Poland has rattled Putin.
Taking a hint from Netanyahu, Obama should spend his last months in office mending relations with Moscow. Instead of rubber stamping the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad, the U.S. should back Russia’s attempt to end terrorism, re-establish al-Assad’’s sovereignty and stabilize the region. As long as Riyadh continues to fund and back rebel groups to topple al-Assad, the region—and Europe—will remain in chaos. There’s no justification for Obama fighting on the same side as ISIS and al-Qaeda to topple al-Assad’s Shiite government. However despicable al-Assad, he’s less onerous than the Wahhabi terrorist groups seeking his ouster. A simple phone call to Putin on the Syrian War could reverse years of deteriorated relations. As Netahyahu knows, Russia’s a global power that can help dicey geopolitics in many parts of the globe. Keeping Putin an enemy only hurts U.S. national security.
