The Motives of Russia’s Pro-Gaza Vote

Online political newsletter Counter Punch has posted an interesting piece on Russia’s decision to endorse the Goldstone Gaza report in the United Nations Human Rights Council last week.  Although I can’t agree with the broad summation that Russia’s vote indicates a black-and-white pro-justice stance, given that its human rights record on other foreign policy issues is so poor.  The contradiction just goes to show that political decisions that appear to be made benevolently in the interests of human rights usually have some ulterior driving point.  In this case, the motives may not be clear, but you can bet there’s something other than concern for human kindness at work here…

Israel began courting Russia, hoping to build bridges and to enlist Moscow in its cause. Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Moldova-born Foreign minister, met ten times with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov; Netanyahu flew to Moscow on a “secret mission” for a talk with Medvedev, and President Peres met with Medvedev in Sochi. They wanted Russian support for Iran sanctions and for silencing the Goldstone report. They said to the Russians that it would create a dangerous precedent: If today they judge Israeli ministers and generals for Gaza, tomorrow they will judge Russian ministers and generals for Chechnya. This is a false comparison: Chechens are Russian citizens with full rights, Gazans have no rights at all; Chechens are free to travel and live in Moscow or elsewhere, Gazans are not allowed to leave their concentration camp. Though Russia’s campaign against Chechen separatists was bloody and cruel, it could not be compared with the cold-blooded murder the Israelis unleashed on Gaza.

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2 Comments

  1. Oleg
    Posted October 24, 2009 at 7:28 pm | Permalink

    KGB/FSB ISRAEL SHAMIRIn 2003, Shamir stated publicly that he had converted to Greek Orthodox Christianityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_ShamirIsrael Shamir (born 11 June 1947)[1]is a controversial writer and journalist. He is a citizen of Sweden, where his legal name is Adam Ermash[2] (previously Jöran Jermas)Increasing Russian activityCommander Meir Gilboa, chief of the Israeli Serious Crime Unit, has noticed the increasing activity of Russian gangsters. He says: “They come here because in Israel it’s easy to carry out their illegal activities. “There is no law against money laundering or belonging to an illegal organisation. “It’s easy for Jews to receive Israeli citizenship. If they are not Jews they are smart enough to forge documents in order to become citizens. They feel much safer here than in Russia.”Prostitutes from Eastern Europe often end up in Israel

  2. Posted October 24, 2009 at 7:58 pm | Permalink

    Leftists like Alexander Cockburn naturally claim they’re not Anti-Semitic, but rather Anti-Zionist. Indeed Alexander Cockburn published a book “The Politics of Anti-Semitism” dedicated to that premise. But as implausible as the premise that an enthusiastic defender of Saddam Hussein like Cockburn and so many of the left, who nevertheless obsessively attack Israel for human rights violations, are not displaying a clear double standard… the Anti-Zionist, not Anti-Semitic argument flies out the window when you’re publishing articles reviving medieval blood libels against Jews, sourced from the likes of “Israel Shamir”, the pseudonym of a Swedish Neo-Nazi, and another regular at Counterpunch, who writes articles about Jews with charming titles like “The Vampire Killers,” “Poisoning Wells,” “Kugel Eaters” and “Bloodcurdling Libel”.http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/15928

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