Throughout human history, there has never been a cooperative military alliance between the nations of Russia and Iran—at least until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, a cooperative diplomatic and military alliance between Iran and Russia has formed and slowly expanded, ultimately leading to Russia’s assistance in providing Iran with the necessary support to make the Bushehr nuclear power plant operational. The nuclear plant officially opened on September 12, 2011 and began operating at 100% capacity on August 31, 2012. This year, on September 23, 2013, operational control was transferred from Russia to Iran. But wait—there’s more . . . In February 2013, Iran stated it planned to start joint work with Russia on a second power unit at Bushehr. Although Iran insists that the facilities will be used for peaceful power-generation only, Israel and other nations express fear that the reactor could help Iran create an atomic bomb. Is Russia really interested in Israel? This is becoming apparent. According to Bloomberg News dated June 7, 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to provide troops for the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights (land between Israel and Syria) ever since Austria decided to withdraw its soldiers, validating their withdrawal by citing escalating risks from Syria’s civil war. Austria has been the biggest provider of troops to a United Nations contingent, enforcing a buffer zone between Syria and Israel since 1974. However, since Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and due to the 39-year-old agreement between Syria and Israel that created the peacekeeping mission, Russia wouldn’t be able to participate in that. However, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN Ambassador, insisted that “times have changed,” and believes that permanent members of the Security Council should now be allowed to step in. Will this happen? Is peacekeeping their sole motive? It remains to be seen. (Read full article, “Russia Offers to Replace Austria as UN Golan Peacekeepers” by Sangwon Yoon and Caroline Alexander at tinyurl/lfy7trx)
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 07:14:39 +0000
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