Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog - Let’s be clear: Vladimir Putin will be happy to welcome Saudi Arabia into Moscow’s orbit if the U.S. cuts Riyadh loose.

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Let’s be clear: Vladimir Putin will be happy to welcome Saudi Arabia into Moscow’s orbit if the U.S. cuts Riyadh loose. (Here are four must-read articles on the importance of maintaining our alliance with the Saudis, including the statement by President Trump.) by joelcrosenberg (Denver, Colorado) -- Whither the U.S.-Saudi alliance? A ferocious debate over this question is raging in Washington at this very moment, and the stakes are high.  On on side of the debate are many in the media, along with numerous former advisors to President Barack Obama. They have never liked how close Washington has been with Riyadh and they are freshly determined to smash the Saudis in the mouth because of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist. Most of these voices had no problem with President Obama cutting a nuclear deal with Iran -- one of America's most dangerous enemies and certainly the worst terrorist state on the planet. Despite Iran's history of murdering thousands of their own people and others throughout the Middle East (now especially in Syria and Yemen), these voices saw no problem with providing the ayatollahs with $150 billion in cash, removing economic sanctions from Iran, or legitimizing Tehran's previously illegal enrichment of uranium. They never once during the process seriously tried to require Iran to stop funding terrorism, building longer range missiles, or sowing seeds of revolution and destruction throughout the Middle East. But the Saudis, oh the Saudis, these folks claim, these are the blood-thirsty despots who really need to be punished. What's more, a growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill are also ready to impose severe punishments on the entire Saudi government over the Khashoggi affair. Some are calling into question the nature of the alliance itself. On the other side of the debate are those who fully agree that the Khashoggi murder was despicable and must be punished, but are calling for cooler heads to prevail when it comes to upending American policy in the Gulf region. They make the case that we need the Saudis to help us counter Iran and Russia in the Middle East, to help us fight the Radicals like al Qaeda, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, to keep oil flowing, and hopefully to advance Arab-Israeli peace. They make the case that the 33 year-old Saudi Crown Prince is making bold, serious, and important reforms at home, and wants to work more closely with the U.S. and the West. Yes, he has made mistakes, even serious ones. But he should be helped, coached, encouraged, not cut loose. What's more, these voices caution that punishing the entire Saudi government -- rather than targeting the operatives responsible for the crime -- would be a serious mistake, one that could rupture the alliance. Some worry that if Washington hits the Saudis too hard, this could drive Riyadh into the waiting (eager) arms of Vladimir Putin and the Russians. Putin is headed to the G20 summit in Argentina and plans to meet with the Saudi delegation. He would absolutely love to flip Riyadh from the American camp into the Russian orbit. I don't believe Saudi King Salman or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) are inclined at the moment to switch sides to the Kremlin. But I fully expect Putin to make a very tempting offer. And who knows where the king and his son might wind up if most of Washington loses focus on U.S. national security interests in the region, in addition to our enormously important human rights concerns. At the moment, the anti-MBS/anti-Saudi faction is the loudest. Their articles, interviews and speeches are everywhere. It's tougher for the average reader or viewer to find articles and statements by those who want to punish those responsible for the murder of Khashoggi but who also want to maintain or even strengthen the U.S.-Saudi alliance. Here are a few worth reading, including the statement by President Trump just before Thanksgiving. I found particularly insightful the columns by Elliott Abrams and William McGurn. Both urge President Trump to send a retired senior American statesman who is liked and trusted by the Saudis -- perhaps former Secretary of State James Baker, or former V.P. Dick Cheney -- to meet with MBS in Riyadh. They recommend such a statesman quietly recommend big, specific, immediate reforms MBS should make that would signal to the world just how serious he is about taking the kingdom in a different, better, more positive direction. Interestingly, both cite the example of former President Nixon discreetly and very effectively communicating with the Chinese leadership in Beijing after the Tiananmen Square, warning them -- as a long-time trusted friend -- that the massacre was a huge deal and they simply could not proceed with their "business as usual" approach. First, Nixon personally traveled to Beijing to have off-the-record talks with the most senior leaders. Second, Nixon sent a follow up letter that was respectful, frank and specific -- a letter that was kept secret for decades. Abrams and McGurn argue Nixon's approach worked, helping both President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton reengage with China on more positive terms for both countries, while not ignoring the atrocities that had been committed. I commend both articles to your attention. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "The U.S.-Saudi partnership is vital -- We don’t condone Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. But the kingdom is a powerful force for Mideast stability." (op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal) Elliott Abrams: "More Realpolitik, Please -- Trump is right: We should not break with Saudi Arabia. But we should demand a higher price for our support."(column published by National Review Online) William McGurn: "Nixon, Now More Than Ever -- Trump could use an elder statesman to tell the Saudis what they need to hear." (op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal) Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Standing with Saudi Arabia. (The White House) —————————– PRE-ORDER — To pre-order a copy of THE PERSIAN GAMBLE on Amazon, please click here. (Note: Right now, Amazon is the only place I can find online that is pre-selling the novel. I will post links to others sales options when they become available.) To order a copy of The Kremlin Conspiracy — the New York Timesbest-selling political thriller, now available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats — please click here, or order from any of your favorite general market or Christian bookstores. To order copies of the new mass market paperbacks of the J.B. Collins novels — my most recent trilogy of novels about ISIS plotting attacks on the U.S., Israel, Jordan and Egypt — please click here. —————————- Would you like to make a secure, tax deductible investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.com)? This is the non-profit organization that my wife, Lynn, and I founded in 2006 to educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, to care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, care for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. The Joshua Fund is a member in good standing of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Please click here to learn more. Thanks so much! This post is ad-supported ​ joelcrosenberg | November 28, 2018 at 11:38 pm | Categories: Epicenter | URL: https://wp.me/piWZ7-8JA

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: “Darkness Is Falling: Vladimir Putin and the Threat to the West.

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“Darkness Is Falling: Vladimir Putin and the Threat to the West. (Full text of my address to the 2018 National Religious Broadcasters Convention.) by joelcrosenberg Nashville, Tennessee -- On the eve of the release of The Kremlin Conspiracy, I was invited to deliver a keynote address to the National Religious Broadcasters convention.  Here is a link to the full text of my speech. We will post the video when it's available. The following are selected excerpts from the speech: Preaching the gospel in the open air is now illegal in Russia. So is sharing the gospel with friends and coworkers—even in your own home. So is inviting friends to come to church to hear the Word of God. Christianity Today described the new Russian law signed in July 2016 as the “most restrictive measures [against religious freedom] in post-Soviet history”.... 143 million people spread across eleven time zones are slaves of an evil they either cannot see or cannot stop. We must stand with our brothers and sisters who love Christ but hear the prison doors closing and locking around them. We dare not put our lamp under a bushel. The Billy Graham era may be over, but we must never stop communicating the Good News, especially to nations enslaved by cruel and wicked tyrants.... Darkness is falling in Russia. A new czar has risen, and his name is Vladimir Putin. Putin calls himself a Christian, but he has declared war on the gospel. Opponents wind up in jail. Journalists disappear or die. The economy is suffocating. Poverty is rampant. Deaths by alcoholism and drug overdoses are exploding. Since Putin came to power in 2000, the population has shrunk by more than three million people. They’re not emigrating. They’re dying. One in four Russian men die before age fifty-five. And Russians aren’t having enough children to replace themselves. Why would they? They have no hope. Yet on March 18—barring something unforeseen—Russians will go to the polls and re-elect Vladimir Putin once again, giving him power to rule until 2024. Why? If life is so dismal in post-Soviet Russia, why is Putin so popular? Why should it matter to our leaders in Washington that by the end of his next term, Putin will have ruled for nearly a quarter of century? And why should any of this matter to you and the American Evangelical movement? Allow me to take those questions one at a time.... Why should any of this matter to leaders in Washington and the West? Because Vladimir Putin poses a grave and growing threat to the national security of the United States and our allies of any power in the world—greater than Radical Islam, greater than Iran or North Korea or China....  Putin made global headlines around the world by announcing that Russia has developed new first-strike nuclear missiles and state-of-the-art hypersonic underwater torpedoes that make NATO defenses “completely useless.” In an angry, menacing State of the Union address, the Russian president vowed that “Russia cannot be contained.” He explained when and how Russia will use nuclear weapons against her enemies. He complained no one has been listening to his threats and promises of nuclear superiority over the West. “Listen now,” he warned. “I’m not bluffing.” Putin is hungry for wealth, hungrier for power, hungrier still for territory. He must be stopped, yet no one is stopping him.... Putin is that he sees himself as a modern-day czar. He’s not a Communist. He’s not a Marxist or Leninist. He is, rather, an imperialist. He feels humiliated by the collapse of the Soviet Empire. He sees his mission as rebuilding the glory of Mother Russia, and to that end, he is hell-bent on expanding Russia’s borders. “My historical mission,” he once said, is to stop “the collapse of the USSR. . . . If I can help save Russia from collapse, then I’ll have something to be proud of. “The monarch [that is, the czar] doesn’t have to worry about whether or not he will be elected, or about petty political interests, or about how to influence the electorate. He can think about the destiny of the people and not become distracted with trivialities.” Thus, one part mafia kingpin, one part imperialist czar, Putin is . . . rebuilding the Russian offensive war machine, o rebuilding Russia’s strategic and tactical nuclear forces selling advanced weapons and even nuclear technology to Iran selling weapons to North Korea invading her neighbors, o silencing his critics threatening the West.  The big question is: What’s next? —————————————- To order a copy of The Kremlin Conspiracy -- now available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats -- please click here, or order from any of your favorite general market or Christian bookstores. To order copies of the new mass market paperbacks of the J.B. Collins novels — my most recent trilogy of novels about ISIS plotting attacks on the U.S., Israel, Jordan and Egypt — please click here. Learn all about The Joshua Fund’s Holy Land tour in July and the 2018 Epicenter Prayer Summit in Jerusalem — come meet Israelis and Palestinians and pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the region! —————————- Would you like to make a secure, tax deductible investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.com)? This is the non-profit organization that my wife, Lynn, and I founded in 2006 to educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, to care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, care for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. The Joshua Fund is a member in good standing of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Please click here to learn more. Thanks so much! Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. joelcrosenberg | March 6, 2018 at 11:46 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: https://wp.me/piWZ7-8EQ

Have You Spotted These 11 Dangerous Signs in America? - BERT FARIAS CHARISMA NEWS

With disasters and tragedies now filling daily headlines and becoming more common, the desensitizing of our hearts becomes the placebo that convinces us that these things will soon stop and could never happen to most of us. (REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein)

Have You Spotted These 11 Dangerous Signs in America?

 7/20/2016 BERT FARIAS  CHARISMA NEWS

(Many of these world events I share came from a report given by Alex Jones of Infowars.com)

The average American citizen is virtually unaware of the danger that now lurks. They are busy enjoying life, being entertained, working their jobs to make ends meet and so on. Even when disaster or tragedy strikes most people quickly return to their status quo life and soon all is forgotten. And with disasters and tragedies now filling daily headlines and becoming more common, the desensitizing of our hearts becomes the placebo that convinces us that these things will soon stop and could never happen to most of us.

The reality is that underneath every tragedy, bizarre event, and senseless act is a global agenda to lead us into World War III and bring about one world order. If this sounds like a far-fetched conspiracy theory, consider the following:

• Historians, political scientists, and analysts from the U.S., England, Canada, Russia, Germany and Australia are telling us that the same chain of crisis and pattern of events that led to World Wars I and II are happening now.
• There is a deliberate global movement to implode economies, to set world depressions in motion, and policies to collapse third world nations.
• The most stone-age barbaric groups are being granted political power.
• Borders are being open to bankrupt our economies and flatten our social welfare programs.
• The globalist agenda is first to cause collapse of our political and socio-economic systems and then to take control and bring in total tyranny, even waging war on nation states who are working to stabilize their economies.
• Led by billionaires like George Soros and others, they actually fund crisis such as the Arab Spring, the flow of Jihadists into Europe, assisting the migration of illegal immigrants and those with diseases such as refugees into our societies.
• Right now there are major U.S. and Chinese fleets lining up against each other in Chinese waters with the communist Chinese President preparing his troops for World War III.
• There are reports that Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan is being backed by jihadists and not his own army. If true, this has immense ramifications as Turkey is considered the gateway into Europe.
• Vladimir Putin of Russia is also preparing for nuclear war and warning journalists and begging for a global debate as the media remains silent.
• From Venezuela to Nigeria, world governments are going bankrupt while the Pentagon reports that this is the most dangerous time in our history.
• All this is happening while our own enemy of the state, Obama, reports that the world is as safe as its ever been and the economy is the best its ever been.

These are just a few examples of hundreds of scenarios that are occurring worldwide to create the perfect storm. This is modern 21st century warfare spearheaded by top globalists against all nation states, individuals and any type of logic, intelligence and independence. Currencies are being manipulated, stock-markets are being rigged and computers are making major decisions.

Heck, even in our solar system, great changes are being reported.  Record level earthquakes, volcanoes, and natural disasters are being recorded. These are also harbingers of war as paralleled with World War I and II. It is all so surreal as we sense it and see it, and yet only a small minority of the general populace is aware, involved, engaged or awakened to these things. People are asleep on their watch as our own species wage war against the majority of the human race.

The mainstream media has been controlled by the globalists for a long time, and they are intent on sowing chaos, stopping innovation, preventing nations from joining efforts, funding ISIS and aiding Obama in overthrowing our allies such as Israel—all this for a one world order and government. But now they are expanding and making the weaponization even more deceptive and vicious. All the major networks are state run, and the globalists are engaged in worldwide economic siege. This explains the stupid, often bizarre, and satanic nature of the decisions being made and/or the inaction of many of our politicians.

Behind it all is an evil agenda for a post-industrial world, a United Nations plan to be fully implemented by the year 2030. There is an international group fighting against all the nation states. We have criminals in our government working against our own nation and everyone else. Have you seen how many Muslims Obama has placed in his administration? Doesn't it give you a warm cozy feeling to know that some of them are working in the department of Homeland Security?

Even what once were reputable organizations such as the NFL cannot be trusted as they've become a political weapon opposing the second amendment and the freedoms of our nation. MSNBC is now telling us that our children belong to the state and to our communities and not the parents. It's crazy and inexplicable until you realize there is an agenda, and it's playing like a sci-fi movie and doing everything to destroy civilization as we've known it. It is the Antichrist agenda that has been unleashed on the world.

It is one minute before midnight on God's calendar and we are in the most dangerous times we've ever been in, but people are asleep. As for me, I am fully awake and actually encouraged. Why, you ask? Because Jesus foretold all these things.

"There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men fainting from fear and expectation of what is coming on the inhabited earth. For the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:25-28).

To the true believer these events are actually a source of great hope and encouragement because it means that the coming of the Lord is drawing ever so near, and that we, the church, should be about our Father's business of winning souls and making disciples. When these things start happening, Jesus also told us to look up and to lift up our heads because it means our redemption is drawing near.

Don't be afraid, but get your eyes on Jesus, from whom comes perfect peace. The church is the restrainer of evil and total lawlessness. When the church is removed, the lawless one, or the Antichrist, will be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy (2 Thes. 2:5-8). Ha ha! Game over! We win! Jesus rules and reigns, and we shall reign with Him forever.

In the meantime, let us take advantage of the greatest opportunity of our lifetime. The world will panic and men's hearts will be full of fear, but we will have the answer and the wisdom of the ages that they all need. Truly, I believe the greatest harvest is still ahead of us when more men will be saved perhaps in one day than in one century, as these hellish world events continue to unfold. Let us pray and exercise our God-given authority on this earth because we can still change some things, delay some things and even stop some things. Some things have been prophesied and foretold by Jesus and cannot be changed, but it's comforting to know that He is in complete control of the destiny of His own people.

Look up saints! Lift up your heads! Our redemption is near. 

Bert M. Farias, revivalist and founder of Holy Fire Ministries, has authored several books with an emphasis on helping to restore the true spirit of Christianity in the Church today, including the newly released, Passing on The Move of God to The Next Generation. An anointing of fire marks his ministry with frequent demonstrations of the Spirit and power of God. He ministers interdenominationally and cross-culturally in nations, churches, conferences, on the streets and in homes. He and his wife Carolyn also host The Holy Ghost Forum – a school of the Spirit. Follow him at Bert Farias and Holy Fire Ministries on Facebook and @Bertfarias1on Twitter.

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Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: Putin crosses a line — bans Russians from preaching the Gospel outside churches.

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

Putin crosses a line — bans Russians from preaching the Gospel outside churches. Here’s the latest. by joelcrosenberg Russian President Vladimir Putin has just crossed a very dangerous line. He has just signed a law making it illegal for Russian followers of Jesus Christ to share or preach the Gospel anywhere outside the walls of their church, or even email their family and friends to invite them to church. What's more, he has done so under the guise of preventing "terrorism." As I have been warning for a decade (see here, here, here and in my 2006 book,Epicenter), Putin -- who is fashioning himself as a rising Czar -- is an increasingly dangerous despot. He continues to centralize government power and control to himself. He is trampling over human rights, the media, and NGOs. He is rebuilding the Russian military. He has invaded neighboring Georgia and Ukraine. He is arming and building alliances with Radical Islamic countries, particularly Iran. Now, Putin is positioning himself as an enemy of Christ and His Church. If he doesn't not reverse course, he risks bringing disaster upon himself and the people of Russia. As Christianity Today reports, last week "Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a package of anti-terrorism laws that usher in tighter restrictions on missionary activity and evangelism. Despite prayers and protests from religious leaders and human rights advocates, the Kremlin announced Putin’s approval yesterday. The amendments, including laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings, go into effect July 20." Please read and share this important article from Christianity Today with others.Please be praying for God to change Putin's heart. Please be praying for the pastors and Christian leaders and lay people in Russia. And please pray for the Russian people. This is a very dangerous road they are now heading down. EXCERPTS FROM THE CT ARTICLE: ......Though opponents to the new measures hope to eventually appeal in court or elect legislators to amend them, they have begun to prepare their communities for life under the new rules, reported Forum 18 News Service, a Christian outlet reporting on the region. Protestants and religious minorities small enough to gather in homes fear they will be most affected. Last month, “the local police officer came to a home where a group of Pentecostals meet each Sunday," Konstantin Bendas, deputy bishop of the Pentecostal Union, told Forum 18. "With a contented expression he told them: ‘Now they're adopting the law I'll drive you all out of here.’ I reckon we should now fear such zealous enforcement.” “There are potentially very wide-sweeping ramifications to this law,” Joel Griffith of the Slavic Gospel Association said in a Mission Network News report. “It just depends on, again, how it is going to be enforced, and that is a very huge question mark.” ------ Earlier CT reporting (June 29): Christians in Russia won’t be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church or to evangelize in their own homes if Russia’s newest set of surveillance and anti-terrorism laws are enacted. The proposed laws, considered the country’s most restrictive measures in post-Soviet history, place broad limitations on missionary work, including preaching, teaching, and engaging in any activity designed to recruit people into a religious group. To share their faith, citizens must secure a government permit through a registered religious organization, and they cannot evangelize anywhere besides churches and other religious sites. The restrictions even apply to activity in private residences and online. This week, Russia’s Protestant minority—estimated around 1 percent of the population—prayed, fasted, and sent petitions to President Vladimir Putin, who will have to approve the measures before they become official. “Most evangelicals—leaders from all seven denominations—have expressed concerns,” Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia and a former Moscow church-planter, told CT. “They’re calling on the global Christian community to pray that Putin can intervene and God can miraculously work in this process.” Following a wave of Russian nationalist propaganda, the laws passed almost unanimously in the Duma, the upper house, on Friday and in the Federation Council, the lower house, today. “If this legislation is approved, the religious situation in the country will grow considerably more complicated and many believers will find themselves in exile and subjected to reprisals because of our faith,” wrote Oleg Goncharov, spokesman for the Seventh-day Adventists’ Euro-Asia division, in an open letter. Proposed by United Russia party lawmaker Irina Yarovaya, the law appears to target religious groups outside the Russian Orthodox church. Because it defines missionary activities as religious practices to spread a faith beyond its members, “if that is interpreted as the Moscow Patriarchate is likely to, it will mean the Orthodox Church can go after ethnic Russians but that no other church will be allowed to,” according to Frank Goble, an expert on religious and ethnic issues in the region. Russian nationalist identity remains tied up with the Russian Orthodox church. “The Russian Orthodox church is part of a bulwark of Russian nationalism stirred up by Vladimir Putin,” David Aikman, history professor and foreign affairs expert, told CT. “Everything that undermines that action is a real threat, whether that’s evangelical Protestant missionaries or anything else.” Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Protestant Churches of Russia, and several other evangelical leaders called the law a violation of religious freedom and personal conscience in a letter to Putin posted on the Russian site Portal-Credo. The letter reads, in part: The obligation on every believer to have a special permit to spread his or her beliefs, as well as hand out religious literature and material outside of places of worship and used structures is not only absurd and offensive, but also creates the basis for mass persecution of believers for violating these provisions. Soviet history shows us how many people of different faiths have been persecuted for spreading the Word of God. This law brings us back to a shameful past." Stalin-era religious restrictions—including outlawing religious activity outside of Sundayservices in registered churches and banning parents from teaching faith to their kids—remained on the books until the collapse of the Soviet Union, though the government enforced them only selectively. Some have questioned whether the government could or would monitor religious activity in private Christian homes. “I don’t think you can overestimate the Russian government’s willingess to exert control,” Aikman told CT. If history is any indication, the proposed regulations reveal a pattern of “creeping totalitarianism” in the country, he said.... If passed, the anti-evangelism law carries fines up to US $780 for an individual and $15,500 for an organization. Foreign visitors who violate the law face deportation. Russia has already moved to contain foreign missionaries. The “foreign agent” law, adopted in 2012, requires groups from abroad to file detailed paperwork and be subject to government audits and raids. Since then, the NGO sector has shrunk by a third, according to government statistics.... [To read the full article, please click here] —————————– Order The First Hostage today — the new political thriller about ISIS plotting a terrorist attacks against Israel, Jordan and the United States — available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats. ———————-—- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks on the U.S. and our Mideast allies. Make an investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net), our non-profit organization to help Christians care for Syrian refugees, educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. Read our latest Donor Report, and prayerfully consider making a tax deductible, secure, on-line contribution. Thanks so much! Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg joelcrosenberg | July 13, 2016 at 10:29 am | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-5eZ

Israeli-Russian Ties Stronger Than Ever, Experts Say by Jonathan Benedek - BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

President Reuven Rivlin met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 16, 2016. (Photo: Mark Neyman/Government Press Office)

Israeli-Russian Ties Stronger Than Ever, Experts Say

By Jonathan Benedek March 17, 2016   BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: ‘We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.'” Genesis 32:7 (The Israel Bible™)

President Reuven Rivlin’s visit to Moscow this week looks to be another sign of growing cooperation between Israel and Russia. It also comes against the backdrop of Russia’s military withdrawal from Syria, announced earlier this week, But while that withdrawal may bring change to Syria, the Israeli-Russian relationship looks likely to emerge as strong as ever, Israeli experts said.

“The visit shows that Israel-Russia relations are good as a whole, in comparison to the past,” Dr. Ofer Israeli, an international defense policy expert at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).

Much of this is due to Russia’s recognition of Israel as an oasis of stability in the Middle East.

“When Russia looks at the Middle East, it doesn’t see many stable regions besides Israel,” Dr. Israeli explained to TPS. “So from a Russian perspective, Israel is relatively predictable and can be coordinated with, which is in Russia’s interests.”

Russia is also aware of Israel’s strategic importance in the Middle East. “Russia also recognizes that Israel plays a significant role in the region with its military strength,” Dr. Israeli added.

Most importantly, Israel and Russia are no longer automatically placed on opposite sides in geopolitical struggles.

“Israel and Russia are not on two different sides of their political and strategic battle anymore,” noted Professor Zeev Khanin, who teaches in Ariel University’s Department of Israel and Middle East Studies and is an expert on Russian affairs.

“Despite everything, the Cold War is behind us, so Israel is not necessarily obliged to take any side that would be against Russia and Russia is not necessarily obliged to do anything that would be against Israel,” explained Khanin.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union traditionally backed Israel’s Arab adversaries, and Israel found itself in the American axis. But now, some suggest that Russia is friendlier with Israel than with most Arab countries.

“Some Russian observers insist at the moment that to some extent, relations between Russia and Israel are better than between Russia and the majority of Arab states,” Khanin added to TPS.\

At the same time, Professor Khanin urges against overestimating the improvement in Israeli-Russian ties.

“We should not exaggerate, and we should not overestimate,” Khanin stressed to TPS. “There is no strategic partnership between Russia and Israel. But there is a sort of normal cooperation on issues on which we agree, and no cooperation on other issues.”

According to Professor Khanin, the environment of cooperation was created in large part as a result of efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union.

“Fortunately, the previous government was able to create a background for founding a mutual understanding in a situation where Russian troops will be there,” said Khanin.

That foundation of mutual understanding allowed for Russia to take Israel’s interests into consideration in preventing Iran from opening a front against Israel in the Golan Heights through its proxy fighters in Syria, suggested Professor Khanin.

“It was agreed that in any solution and future settlement in Syria, Russia would insist that the interests of Israel be taken into consideration,” Khanin explained to TPS. “Also, Russia did not mind if we struck the transfer of armaments to Hezbollah as long as we did it outside of Syrian territory.”

“These understandings actually helped us to control or watch carefully and to adapt ourselves to the situation in Syria without being a part of the conflict, which was why we didn’t make any noise when the Russians deployed their S-400 anti-aviation defense system located in Syria” noted Khanin to TPS.

Ultimately, Khanin believes Israel and Russia recognize each other’s interests. “Russia understood that we are unable to permit the transfer of armaments to Hezbollah, and Israel understood that the S-400 system was there in order to defend Russian interests, their seaport, their military fleet, and their troops,” explained Khanin.

However, Dr. Israeli stressed that important issues remain unresolved. “The Russian activity in Syria strengthened radical Islamist bodies, including Iran and Hezbollah,” noted Israeli. “Neutralizing this threat after Russia’s retreat will be a challenge.”

Michael Bachner and Alexander J. Apfel contributed to this article.