The US is facing two bad actors Iran and Russia. If they were equally bad you would expect the US would mete out the same treatment to both. But they are not equally bad. Iran is demonstrably much worse yet the US treats them with kid gloves whereas the US treats Russia as harshly as they possibly could, short of going to war against it. Is there a unifying theory? Iran wants to extend its hegemony over the UAE and Saudi Arabia and perhaps others. It already has done so over Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. It continually calls out “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” It has no qualms about killing American soldiers. In Iraq alone, as of 2019, its militia have killed 603 American Soldiers according to the Millitary Times . No one doubts that it will destroy Israel if it can. Since the Mullahs took power in Iran in 1979, they have shown themselves to be aggressive, imperialist, immoral, ruthless and duplicitous. Pres. Trump recognized this and adopted a policy of severe sanctions and containment while exacting a price for subsequent terrorist actions Biden wants to undo what Trump did and wants to ignore what Iran says and does. He wants to give them a sweetheart deal even though it means alienating Israel and the Gulf States. Russia, on the other hand, since the fall of the Iron curtain, has shown itself to be reactive rather than proactive and certainly not aggressive. NATO in the Balkans and Libya Russia disbanded the Warsaw Pact expecting NATO to also be disbanded but it wasn’t. Instead, NATO changed it purpose to one of spreading “democracy” and expanded membership to 28 states since then. Russia felt threatened by NATO’s eastward expansion. In 1995, NATO, which was originally conceived as a defensive alliance, took the offense in the Balkan wars claiming to do so for “humanitarian” purposes. She bombed Bosnia/Herzegovina and then in 1999 bombed Serbia for 78 days. 1000 NATO planes flew 38,000 combat missions killing about 2000 people and injuring another 5000. In both cases, it did so without the approval of the UNSC. Russia complained bitterly over such actions as Serbia was her ally. In both cases, NATO lacked any sanctioned approval by the UNSC. Following a subsequent legal analysis , the claim was made that NATO acted under an "assertion of anticipatory collective self-defense". A defense that could be employed by any organization to defend any military action. It is this very defense that Russia claims currently in Ukraine, but Russia is disqualified from using this defense given that they are acting alone, as a nation state rather than an international body, highlighting the marginalization of nationalities below that of an organized international hierarchy. Following the bombings in Serbia, in 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia much to the chagrin of Serbia and Russia, while also setting a dangerous precedent for future breakaway national regions to similarly proclaim their own national identity into existence. To date, less than half the countries of the world have recognized Kosovo’s independence. Later that year, war broke out between Georgia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia . Russia invaded Georgia to defend these two provinces and Georgia retreated in a few days. And so it remains. Then in 2011, NATO led the attack against Libya, again justifying the attack as being an “humanitarian intervention”. This time, NATO acted under the premise of a UNSCR declaring a no-fly zone over the nation. NATO enforcement of a no-fly zone, however, quickly gave way to mission creep at a dizzying pace. Following a period of only three weeks, the no-fly zone matured into disproportionate bombing raids, supported by cruise missile attacks along with reports of Special Forces on the ground. These operations continued for more than seven months. When they finally found Qaddafi, they killed him. Til then, Russia had a good relation with Libya. One of the reasons for the attack was to destroy that relationship. Which brings us to Ukraine In 1783, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Crimea became an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR in the Soviet Union . In 1954 Khrushchev transferred Crimea to Ukraine. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was reestablished as an independent state and most of the peninsula was reorganized as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea . The city of Sevastopol retained its special status within Ukraine. Russia was allowed to continue basing its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea Crimea has a population of 2.4 million, made up mostly of ethnic Russians . In late February 2014, following a coup instigated by the CIA that ousted the pro-Russia Ukrainian president , Viktor Yanukovych , Russian troops were deployed to Crimea. Following a disputed referendum in which its official results showed over 90% support for reunification with Russia, the Republic of Crimea declared its independence on March 16 , 2014. Two days later, Russia formally annexed Crimea . Then the US levied sanctions on Russia which remain in place today. At the same time, Russia-backed separatists seized control of a third of the southeastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, known collectively as Donbas, but they lost control of the strategic port city of Mariupol overseeing the Sea of Azov. They held a referendum on whether to declare independence to which the vote was overwhelmingly “Yes” but was challenged by Ukraine and the US. The NAZI Azov Battalion of the Ukrainian Army has been waging war on these areas since then and has killed about 14,000 people and injured another 30,000 according to the Ukraine’s MFA . Finally on Feb 21/22, the separatists declared independence. Russia was quick to recognize their independence paving the way for the official presence of Russian troops in the rebel-controlled areas. Prior to making a full scale invasion, Russia demanded assurances from both NATO and Ukraine that Ukraine would not join NATO. This demand was refused. so on Feb24/22, Putin announced a " special military operation " to " demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine. NATO studiously avoided joining the war. But the west waged a relentless public relations campaign to defame and demonize Putin while imposing the harshest sanctions ever. This propaganda war has dominated the media ever since. After Pres Biden said at a press conference ““For God’s sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power.”, Scott Ritter made the case that Regime change has been the US goal in Russia for years , What the west doesn’t like to talk about is that most of the world is not joining the sanctions and supports Putin. Most notable China, India and all Muslim nations are standing by him. While Putin is finding ways around the sanctions the west is significantly affected by them. Both Europe and the US continue to buy oil from Russia at a cost of over $100 a barrel thereby financing Russia’s war. To add insult to injury, the US has put Russian in charge of negotiations for the new Iran Deal. Two weeks ago, Russia demanded that its trade with Tehran be exempt from the Western sanctions and that sanctions imposed on it will not apply to the benefits which accrue to Russia as a result of the new Iran Deal. So, why the double standard? Why is the US going to such great lengths to ignore Iranian aggressions and to magnify Russian ones? Why is it in such a rush to get a new Iran Deal yet so reluctant to mediate a settlement between Ukraine and Russia? MK Nir Barkat, former Mayor of Jerusalem, just pointed out this inconsistency to US Senators by advising them in a Zoom call, “You can’t put sanctions on a bully like Russia with its aggressiveness and take off sanctions from Iran. They are using brute force to seek a nuclear bomb and unfortunately, they are the only country in the world that wants a bomb in order to use it. It’s not for defense purposes they want a bomb, it’s to eliminate Israel off the map. We will not allow another holocaust. You can not lift sanctions from Iran and place sanctions on Russia.” According to Caitlyn Johnstone, The Deep State planned Russiagate as a stepping stone to regime change in Russia. The Deep State also wants to empower Iran to be a greater threat to Israel and the Sunni states so that both the latter would be more dependent on the US for protection and thus more pliable and easily dominated if not destroyed. Perhaps the unifying theory is that the Deep State seeks to control both Russia and Israel in its path to world domination. And the American people have no clue about the Deep State's plans. Ted Belman is a retired attorney and the editor of Israpundit. He made aliya in 2009 and is now living in Jerusalem.
