US: Israel's Prosperity a Problem
by Shoshana Bryen
May 24, 2013 | Gatestone Institute
There are people – not necessary Secretary Kerry – who prefer their Jews as needy supplicants, but that is not a role Israel is prepared to play, thank you. The entire Zionist enterprise is designed precisely to ensure that Jews in the State of Israel are able to wake up every day with a "sense of security" and determine their own interests. The fact that Israelis also wake up with a hard-earned and well-deserved "sense of accomplishment and of prosperity" is icing on the cake.
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Dateline Defense: The Divergent Interests in the Syrian Cauldron
by Matthew RJ Brodsky
May 22, 2013 | ABC News Channel 8 "Capital Insider"
In recent weeks, Vladimir Putin hosted successive delegations of foreign leaders from Secretary of State John Kerry, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. With Moscow as the new address to find a solution to the Syrian civil war, what are the likely scenarios that will play out in the Middle East? Matthew RJ Brodsky joins Morris Jones on "Capital Insider" for a wide-ranging interview touching on Russia, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, the United States, and Israel's interests in the Syria cauldron.
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Tension on the Syrian-Israeli Border
by Matthew RJ Brodsky
May 21, 2013 | CCTV News
Matthew RJ Brodsky appears on CCTV News where he describes Hezbollah's growing role in the Syrian civil war and Israel's rationale for preventing the transfer of more sophisticated weapons to the terrorist group. He explains how Russia and Iran continue to be the Assad regime's chief weapons supplier with Hezbollah being the regime's main provider of manpower. It is in Iran's interest to make sure that as many high-quality surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles are in Hezbollah's possession if Assad falls from power. He goes on to say that the Geneva 2 conference to be held in June under U.S. and Russian sponsorship represents a rolling back of America's previously articulated foreign policy that stated Assad must "step aside" and that the conference is unlikely to end the conflict.
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Russia: Playing a Losing Hand like a Winner
by Shoshana Bryen
May 21, 2013 | American Thinker
Russia has the worst of red lines: like King Cnut, Putin is trying to stop the tide of Sunni-Shiite fighting within the borders of Syria, where he plans to control the outcome. In 1982, Hafez Assad killed perhaps 40,000 Syrians in Hama in an attempt to bury the Muslim Brotherhood. But the Brotherhood emerged like cicadas 30 years later. How many remain in Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ossetia, waiting for an opportunity to rise?
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More Than a Matter of Words
by Matthew RJ Brodsky
May 13, 2013 | The Times of Israel
The recent Israeli airstrikes outside of Damascus have refocused the United States' attention on the Syrian civil war. In the wake of the attacks, the phrases – "red line," "game-changer," and "enormous consequences" – have permeated the lexicon of the conflict, with each resonating differently in Washington and Jerusalem. "I've stated repeatedly, publicly that red line, and that is we're not going to accept Iran having a nuclear weapon," President Obama said in a September 2012 interview with Telemundo. "I've been very clear about my position." But the administration has long suffered from mixed messaging on Iran; Syria is merely the latest example. It augurs poorly for security guarantees Team Obama offers Israel at a time when Israel requires a steadfast ally in America.
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Mistaking Cause and Effect in Syria
by Shoshana Bryen
May 10, 2013 | American Thinker
Russia's President Vladimir Putin called Prime Minister Netanyahu during Mr. Netanyahu's visit to China, surely a diplomatic oddity. Â (Chinese Premier Li Kegiang answers the hotline in Beijing and says, "Oh, sure. Hey, Bibi, it's for you.") Â President Obama called him there as well, making Netanyahu appear to be the most important man in the world at the moment. Both conversations were reportedly about Syria and what appears to have been Israel's demonstration of the utility of red lines and the inutility of Syria's Russian air defenses.
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