Crossfire War – Russia – U. S. Plan Increased Military Cooperation Against Iran

Crossfire War – MOSCOW WATCH – Eurasia Theatre: Tehran – Beijing/Moscow – Washington; Russia – U. S. Increase Military Cooperation – Russia DM Sergei Ivanov to Meet US DM Donald Rumsfeld in Fairbanks, Alaska August 27 – Diplomacy Not to be Discussed

Night Watch: MOSCOW – “During the meeting the Russian and U. S. Defense Ministers will discuss global security and bilateral cooperation in the defense sphere.” That is a quote from Colonel Vyacheslav Sedov, a Russian Defense Ministry official. This should not be surprising. Both Russia, the West and Japan require access to Central Asia raw materials and they know that if Iran is successful in its military aims that are obviously opposed to all three it would be an economic blow the industrialized world could never recover from. It would make the energy crisis of 1973 seem like child’s play by comparison and that crisis was caused by the Islamic world’s opposition to the West’s policies in Western Asia. [RIAN]

Then the dispute revolved around the West’s support for Israel but now it involves the Islamic world’s opposition to the West – Russia’s prominent role in the affairs of the region, which they believe is an obstacle to Islam’s re-emergence. And they know that the West has often supported Moscow’s invasions south in their direction, that being the reason the West had the Ayatollah Khomeini in exile in a Paris suburb, in the fall of 1978, and provided him with the communication assistance he required in order to become the leader of the revolt against the Shah. But the West did not realize his influence would extend beyond Central Asia. Disturbances and uprisings there, caused by Khomeini’s radical beliefs, would be a threat to Russia, providing Moscow with its reasons to conduct more military moves toward the Persian Gulf in Tehran’s direction.

Obviously the range of the late Ayatollah’s influence has gone beyond that. The latest example was the angry statment recently by Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, in which he stated, in Beirut, that he wished oil had been used as a weapon during the first round of fighting between Lebanon/Israel. No doubt the Emir, and most Islamic governments are looking forward to the next round which could explode any day.

With that in mind the sole topic on the agenda of discussions in Fairbanks, between Ivanov and Rumsfeld, will be strictly on military cooperation against the obvious threat revolving around Tehran and governments that are working with them like, Bejiing – Pyongyang – Damascus – Qatar – Ankara. What Rumsfeld should do is to mention that the lost alliance, London – Washington, realize the futility of continuing to chase the Jihad around Iraq, strengthening Iran’s position in the country, and have therefore prepared a quick withdrawal to be completed before the end of this year. Both officials, and the corporate-state interests behind them, should know those units are more needed protecting the energy pipelines and resources of the Caucasus-Caspian region. Military successes there, threatening Iran, will make Tehran’s negotiating positions more agreeable.

I suspect this meeting is an acknowledgement on the part of Moscow – Washington – Tokyo and other Allied capitals that war with Tehran is inevitable. And that the response to the occasional terrorist attack with the arrests of some militants is not enough. There is no way to successfully wage the war against terrorism without attacking the center of it. As a result of this meeting in Fairbanks, Moscow may begin to assume a more prominent role in intercepting nuclear warheads-ballistic missile technology being exported by China-North Korea to Iran.

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Willard Payne is an international affairs analyst who specializes in International Relations. A graduate of Western Illinois University with a concentration in East-West Trade and East-West Industrial Cooperation, he has been providing incisive analysis to NewsBlaze. He is the author of Imagery: The Day Before.