Putin Warns Israel on Iran

Vladamir Putin is selling snake oil again, this time in Israel. Meeting with Shimon Peres, the leftist president of Israel, Putin warned against Israel mounting a military strike on Iran:

Look at what happened to the Americans in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I told Obama the same thing. There is no need to do things too quickly; one should not act without thinking first. 

Iraq has a pro-Iranian regime after everything that has happened there. These things should be thought out ahead of time before doing something one will regret later. One should not act prematurely.

Peres, who, like Barack Obama and unlike Benjamin Netanyahu, never saw a dictator that he couldn’t kiss up to, said that Putin had a “warm attitude” toward the Jewish state. Putin doesn’t strike one as having a warm attitude toward anyone, but considering how Putin promised in 2010 to complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant on time, and once said of Iran’s relationship with Russia, “Our relations are developing in a diversified manner in many directions” as well as welcoming them into NATO’s counterpart, the SCO, it’s highly doubtful Putin has a “warm feeling” for the Jewish state.

Peres, at a dedication ceremony for a memorial to the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in Netanya, said he was certain that Russia, which fought fascism, would not tolerate similar threats, “not an Iranian threat and not bloodshed in Syria.” Of course, Russia did fight Nazi Germany, but tell the thousands of murdered Jews in the Ukraine about Russia’s historical love of Jews.

Putin had the gall to say that Russia “has a national interest in guaranteeing peace and tranquility for Israel.” He asserted that the former Soviet Union supported the State of Israel’s establishment, (which is true, but only because the Soviet Union thought the socialists who founded Israel would make it a satellite of their own) and said that his talks earlier Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were constructive.

Putin was more guarded about his meeting with Netanyahu, saying they spoke “in detail about the Syria issue and about the Iranian nuclear program. I would like to stress again that the negotiations were detailed and very effective. I’m convinced that the cooperation between Russia and Israel will develop later as well, and this matter certainly meets the demands and interests of both states, in the region and in the world at large.”

Netanyahu eschewed the flowery oratory of Peres and doggedly stuck to the matter at hand, saying, “I believe that we should be doing two things now: Boosting the sanctions (on Iran) and also boosting the demands.”

Putin is as tough as they come, but so is Netanyahu.