Russia and the Gaza War

Putin is being shown who his real allies are

Hamas’ 7 October raid on Israeli military bases and settlements in the ‘Gaza Envelope’, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s success in entangling the US and European NATO members in his subsequent war and mass killings, have been a huge gift for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a massive setback for Ukraine and its military backers.

The Ukraine war is now nearly into its third year, and all the signs indicate that Putin is winning it. He retains control of the Russian-majority eastern and southern Ukrainian provinces he took over and then annexed, as well as Crimea, which he annexed in 2014.

Putin’s popularity is constantly on the rise. US journalist Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with him got 150 million views just on the first day it was aired. Compare that to Joe Biden’s appearances. These are only viewed by a few million supporters, and mostly by people hoping to catch him make another amusing gaffe or trying to figure out if he has the mental capacity to continue functioning in office. As for Volodimir Zelensky, he used to be a Western media mega-star, but there’s barely any sign of him these days. The last time he attracted any attention after a long absence was when he sacked his army chief of staff, whose enormous popularity among Ukrainians risked turning him into his political rival and possible replacement.

In the Carlson interview, Putin affirmed that Russia can never be defeated in the war the US and the West are waging against it in Ukraine. Its army can keep going for years, as can its economy, and it can mobilise vast numbers of reservists to reinforce its army if needed.

Developments on the battlefronts and the global stage are mostly to Putin’s advantage. Rising oil and gas prices have boosted Russia’s coffers. There are growing quarrels between the US and its European allies about funding for the Ukraine war, and also within the US, where Congress is unable to agree on a new multi-billion-dollar aid package. Donald Trump, an admirer of Putin who has said he could end the Ukraine war in a single day, is surging ahead in the opinion polls, while Biden falls ever further back.

Putin tried hard after coming to power to develop and maintain good relations with the collective West. He was met with a series of snubs and rebuffs and the relentless expansion of a hostile NATO alliance towards Russia’s borders. He eventually decided to turn the tables and, to paraphrase an Arab saying, ‘have the West for lunch before it has him for dinner’ by moving into Ukraine.

As part of this policy turnaround, he has been building alliances with Arab partners and resuming Russian support for the Palestinian cause (including by hosting Hamas delegations in Moscow). This has outraged his erstwhile Israeli friends, who have bitterly attacked him and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

It is to be hoped that this trend continues and develops. The vast majority of ordinary Arabs support Putin for standing up to the US-led West. Israel, in contrast, has been supporting Zelensky both over and under the table in his war with Russia in the service of Western interests.
Russia should stand strongly alongside the victims of extermination and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and also provide its ally Syria — bound to it by a mutual defence pact — with the advanced missiles and radars it needs to repel repeated Israeli attacks on its territory.

I feel confident that Russia will not abandon its genuine allies.

Russia and the Gaza War