Bear on the Prowl

So we all know that Russia's awash in petrodollars, much like the theocracies of the Middle East are. But what I didn't know till today is that much like their Gulf counterparts, the Russians are also cozying up to anti-Israeli terrorist organizations. According to a story from the Weekly Standard, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal is the guest of the Russian Foreign Minister - for the second time this year. The Kremlin willfully insists that Hamas isn't allied with Muslim terrorists in Chechyna, but Levitt's article makes the falsehood of such beliefs painfully obvious.

That of course begs questions about Russian aims and motives. Historically speaking, Russia has always been a bastion of antisemitism - the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion were authored by the Csarist secret police - but more more recently, the Soviet Union sided with Arab states against Israel. Now seeing that Israel is basically our only friend in the region (many regional leaders feared Sadaam but fear a viable democracy as well), it makes sense to encourage their enemies. But there's a larger lesson for our leaders in all of this: the Cold War is basically back, with a rich Russia funding mischief around the world, and we should begin to understand Russian machinations less as aberations but more as intentional practice. They've shown themselves willing to cause trouble (meddling with gas supplies, killing critics, threatening those who would host our missile shield, etc.) and we can't keep wishing the problem away.