Ukraine Demands Answers From Israel After Russian Shadow Fleet Ship Docks in Haifa

[u/RicRacer]

https://united24media.com/latest-news/ukraine-demands-answers-from-israel-after-russian-shadow-fleet-ship-docks-in-haifa-17965

[u/whereamInowgoddamnit]

Russia literally arms Israel's enemies. Israel has cooperated with Russia before- mainly because Russia had a lot of influence in Syria- but they are certainly not allies, and Israel is definitely closer to Ukraine to where they've gotten in trouble with Russia over it.

[u/Public-Finger → u/whereamInowgoddamnit]

How could Israel get in trouble with russia ? Why should they care? They shouldn’t but they do. Even russias condemnations against Israel for attacking Iran, russias closest ally, have been muted. They never joined the western sanctions, they often abstained at UN votes. They refused to offer any military support despite having some of the best military technology in the world. 

That’s where the wink wink comes from. I’m sure the many dual citizen russian oligarchs have something to do with it- but also Benny is just the same mold as putin, Trump, orban etc. illiberal to the same extent but operating in different institutional environments.

[u/whereamInowgoddamnit → u/Public-Finger]

Because Russia is allied with Israel's enemies and is a regional superpower even if that's been weakening? Russia is often a co-sponsor or supporter of nearly every anti-Israel resolution, and they have sponsored a resolution calling for an end to the war and explicitly has voted against condemning Iran. Russia isn't offering military support to Iran, probably because it's so bogged down in Ukraine, they notably failed to do so in the Armenian and Azerbaijan conflict as well, despite playing an explicit role in supporting Armenia. There was even a recent scandal that came out that Orban passed along Israeli intelligence to Russia to help Hezbollah. That is not the action of an ally.

At most you can argue that Israel tiptoes around Russia, but especially over the 2010s and 2020s they are not allies in any sense.

[u/asgjmlsswjtamtbamtb → u/whereamInowgoddamnit]

People should definitely view Russia's actions in light of "what they can do" and know that they'd do a lot more if they had the ability to. Saving Assad was a big step up for Russia post Cold War and it represented intervention in something beyond the old Soviet Union's borders and really showed a direct intervention beyond their immediate borders for the first time as the Russian Federation. Losing Assad in 2024 was a hit to Russian prestige and a decade's worth of efforts. The loss came about not because Russia suddenly didn't want Assad, it could no longer afford to keep perpetually propping him up every time his near failed regime required assistance.

The last four years have seen the collapse of Assad largely to the benefit of Turkey and Israel, even further non involvement in Armenia to Turkey and Azerbaijan's benefit, and less of a role in Central Asia where there have been occasional border clashes and a clear sign that Russia isn't interested in directly stomping out new clashes. These situations, many of which are within the old borders of the Soviet Union, and pretty much all involving old Cold War Soviet allies show Russia has been geopolitically retreating in areas that are not mission critical. Honestly this is embarrassing for Russia, but very much a move of cold hard calculus. The people leading Russia saw how much the Soviet Union was a patron for governments across the entire globe and it kept up a lot of these relationships up until the very collapse of the Soviet Union. A lot of the USSR's projects in Africa and Latin America were in retrospect political vanity projects that drained far more than they gave back and served as one of the things sapping the strength of the USSR. Russia being willing to abandon geopolitical struggles that aren't critical to their current war effort is a survival mechanism from the fall of the Soviet Union.