Thursday 23 February 2017

Russia, Ukraine, and Israel

From RRW

I want to flesh out some context to my remark about various  Putin's annexation of a piece of Ukraine.  

I have an Israeli Havruta who is a somewhat astute observer of international affairs...

I mentioned about Putin annexing Ukraine and he said something along these lines

Putin had given Ukraine a warning (ultimatum?) not to join NATO. Why? (here comes the West Bank parallel)
Because the Easternmost areas of Ukraine are in a vulnerable area of Russia. This would put Russia in a "precarious" position vis-a-vis NATO. (remember Cuba and JFK?

So when Ukraine did not refuse to join NATO, Putin felt that situation warranted an annexation of some Ukrainian territory.... in order to keep NATO out of his "front yard"

The analogy to the "West Bank" and Israel's security issues seems apparent. Israel needs to avoid a 6-9 mile wide "isthmus" as it had before 1967. It needs territory for its security.

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