Putin Has a Plan to Upend the Political Order of the ME

by Steven A. Cook March 6, 2017 ( originally published in SALON)

In Washington, whenever the idea of Kurdish independence from Iraq comes up, all kinds of experts, former diplomats and officials declare, “Never going to happen.” Without fail, the assertion is always backed up with an elegant and well-informed statement of the serious challenges facing Iraqi Kurds, leading to the conclusion that a declaration of independence is “not rational.”

Yet there remains the possibility that Iraqi Kurds may decide to make, perhaps in the near future, a decision that would be entirely rational. This gap is linked to the difference between what analysts think Kurds should do — based on these observers’ calculations of Kurdish politics and interests — and the way Kurds and their leaders actually look at the world. It is a problem that can leave American officials surprised by “unexpected” events and behind the curve on developing appropriate policies.

The debate about the Kurds is one among many examples of this questionable thinking that informs U.S. foreign policy. Consider the case of Iran in Syria, for instance. By now the Iranians were supposed to have been exhausted from their support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, in no small part because of the financial strain of maintaining the fight. And yet the Iranians remain.

Then there are the Russians, who were not supposed to move into eastern Ukraine and annex Crimea because of Moscow’s limited capabilities and NATO’s likely punitive response. Here we are, though. The Iranians (and Russians) are helping the Assad regime unencumbered, and the Russians have not backed away from their intervention in Ukraine, despite Western sanctions.

What is missing in the misbegotten analyses about the likely behavior of other people are ideas. For the Kurds, there are important ideas about identity at stake. In Tehran, support for Assad is not measured in financial terms but rather in terms of powerful ideas about the way the Middle East should look and Iran’s place in it. And the tragedy of a superpower lost clearly informs Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nationalist worldview.

This is why Western analysts and American officials often underestimate Russian goals, especially in the Middle East, at their peril. Even as Moscow’s strategic thinking has come into view in the last few months, there continues to be a prevailing sense among foreign policy experts that the Kremlin’s plans in the region have been ad hoc and its successes the result of brutishness rather than brains. There is something to this, if only because the assumptions that the Russian leader had neither a plan nor a lot of resources produced American and Western passivity that, in turn, provided new opportunities for the Russians.

Yet the explanation for Moscow’s behavior in the Middle East does not lie solely in the unwillingness of Barack Obama’s administration to grasp the extent of Moscow’s intentions in the region. President Donald Trump’s team, to the extent it is interested in understanding what the Russians are up to, risks making a similar mistake if it fails to understand the Kremlin’s plan in the Middle East and the important and potent set of ideas that are its inspiration.

Putin seems to be the kind of person who holds on to a grudge. The beef that seems to keep him up at night plotting revenge is the humiliation of Christmas Day 1991.At 7:32 p.m. that evening, the hammer-and-sickle banner was taken down over the Kremlin, where it had flown since 1923, and 13 minutes later the Russian flag was hoisted in its place. It is not so much that the Russian president is an unreconstructed Soviet communist as the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the subsequent decline of Russia’s relative strength seem to have been particularly painful for this Russian nationalist.

To add insult to injury, since that historic moment, NATO has expanded to the east, the Russian economy needed help from international financial institutions to stay afloat, the United States has thrown its weight around the world with little interest or deference to Russian interests, and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine undermined a reliably pro-Moscow leadership there in favor of people who looked to the West. From a certain Russian perspective, this all looked mysteriously like an American effort to surround, destabilize and disrespect Moscow.

So from the time Putin became president of the Russian Federation, he has executed a plan. While Americans were focused on Afghanistan, Iraq, solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, tax cuts, promoting democracy in the Middle East, Obama’s birth certificate, the Tea Party, the debt ceiling, government shutdowns and the Affordable Care Act, Russia rebuilt its military capability and rethought its war-fighting doctrine. At the same time, Putin sought to rebuild Moscow’s global prestige, mostly by taking advantage of American missteps (at home and abroad), to offer an alternative. This has provided the Russians an opportunity to begin building new spheres of influence — which is helped immeasurably by the confusion, polarization and instability that Moscow has sowed in the West through social media, television and cash.

So what does this all mean in the Middle East? It was not that long ago that the United States was the predominant power in the region. In many ways it still is, given Washington’s continued diplomatic, military and commercial influence, especially when it comes to arms sales. Even so, Russia has reestablished itself as a power in the region. At the very least, the reliably pro-American Arab Gulf states understand that they must now take into account Russian interests and objectives. This is something they have not had to do for 25 years.

Much of the shift in regional power dynamics stems from the Russian intervention in Syria, which began in late September 2015 — an operation that a fair number of Western analysts (including this one) thought would be short-lived, ineffective and damaging to the Russian military. As odious as it has proven to be, Moscow has achieved a number of important objectives. The Russians have signaled that they will stand by their allies, drawing a distinction between Moscow and Washington, which many in the region believe to be feckless. They have also forced important American allies like Turkey and Israel to turn to Russia as they seek to achieve their objectives in Syria. Putin has also made common cause with the Iranians who, like the Russians, chafe at the regional political order established by the United States.

The Egyptians, who have benefited from copious American economic and military assistance over many years, clearly regard Russia as an alternative to the United States. So much so that Egyptian government opposed possible U.S. intervention in Syria late in the summer of 2013 but has supported Russian military operations there.

To be fair, the U.S. has given the Egyptians reason to seek support elsewhere. Egyptian diplomats and military attachés in Washington are keen observers of American politics. In recent years they have begun to worry about the dysfunction on Capitol Hill and the creeping isolationism found within the Republican and Democratic Parties. The Egyptians reason that these developments may adversely affect their annual $1.3 billion allotment in American military aid.

There is also the erroneous Egyptian charge that the United States has supported the Muslim Brotherhood. (THIS IS NOT ERRONEOUS) As fact-free as that may be, it nevertheless provides an opportunity for the Russian leadership, whose views on Islamism are notable for their lack of nuance and thus align closely with those of Egypt’s leaders.

Then there is Libya, where the Russians have met with Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the self-declared leader of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army. Haftar is as uncompromising to Islamists as his primary patrons, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, but there is more going on in Libya than the fight against extremism. The country has the largest proven reserves of high-quality light sweet crude oil in the world. It also has a lot of natural gas. Both make Libya important to Europe. The Russians are clearly thinking ahead. Haftar may end up being Libya’s new strongman, but even if he does not, he is the power in the country’s east, where there is a lot of oil. While the Europeans are looking for ways to diminish their reliance on Russian energy resources, Moscow is looking for ways to keep them locked in and thus vulnerable.

The United States and the West more generally are only now coming to the realization that the Russians are not only back but that they have clear objectives, an understanding of the way to achieve those goals and the national resources to expend in the process. In other words, the Russians have been thinking strategically. The question is, What should Washington and its allies do about it? At one time, the Russian challenge would have been a clarion call for the Western alliance to respond, but the Trump presidency has thrown the very idea of a Russian threat into question.

Trump and his advisers seem so absorbed with the idea of destroying “radical Islamic terrorism” that they are more than willing to partner with the Kremlin. What they fail to see is that while there may be a confluence of interests in fighting extremism, Russia’s strategy goes well beyond this immediate objective. Rather, Putin wants to rewrite the rules of the Middle East and upend the regional political order that has made it easier and relatively less expensive for Washington to ensure the free flow of energy resources from the region, guarantee Israeli security, fight terrorists and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. That’s the Russian plan — plain and simple.

March 9, 2017 | 6 Comments »

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6 Comments / 6 Comments

  1. @ Michael S:
    Apologies, but I learned nothing new from reading this, and Cook’s conclusions ARE wrong.

    As for Iran + Turkey? Hard to know who is hated more: Turks, Persians, or their hatred of each other.

    Hezbollah has been Putin’s cannon fodder in Syria, and both know it.

    Steven A. Cook’s affiliation with the Council on Foreign Relations is a bigger red flag than Salon. CFR is so NeverTrumpEver because Trump lacks the refined speech and credentials so beloved by CFR.

  2. @ Ted Belman:
    Alex said,

    “There is no American foreign policy neither ideologically no strategically.”

    It took Gen. Mattis and others about a month, to put together a comprehensive Middle East Policy; and I like what I see so far. In particular, Trump seems to be helping the Syrian Kurds, disappointing the Turks and cooperating with the Russians (in Syria only, not Ukraine, etc.). I think that is prudent:

    1. The Syrian Kurds have been our allies, and Trump is sticking with them — something Obama erred greatly in NOT doing, concerning Mubarak.
    2. Trump said he wanted to try to rebuild relations with Russia. This is a step in that direction.
    3. Trump said he would, with the help of allies, destroy ISIS. He is on track to do that.

    There is no such thing as a “long-term” Middle East policy, other than determining in your heart whether you want to support or oppose the existence of the Jewish people. I can only offer speculations, in this regard:

    If Putin is able to persuade Assad to tell the Iranians to leave, Turkey will be left as the major local player in Syria — and as the champion of the Sunni cause. The miffed Iranians might then link up with the Turks to attack Israel, as Ezekiel 39 says they will.

    We’ll see.

  3. I disagree with birdalone. Cook’s article covers the bases better than any I’ve seen. I will take issue, though, with his conclusion, namely,

    “Putin wants
    1. to rewrite the rules of the Middle East and
    2. upend the regional political order that has made it easier and relatively less expensive for Washington to ensure the free flow of energy resources from the region,
    3. guarantee Israeli security,
    4. fight terrorists and
    5. prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

    Concerning #5, Putin has close ties with Red China, which supports the rogue nuclear programs in Pakistan, Iran and North Korea. Concerning Iran, Russia is as supportive of their nuclear ambitions as are the Europeans: Germany supplied Iran with centrifuges, while Russia built them a reactor.

    Concerning #4, Putin is in bed with Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, two of the world’s foremost terrorist groups.

    Concerning #3, Putin has done nothing to help Israel in its struggles with Hizbullah, HAMAS, Fatah and Jihad Islami; and it has been in the chorus of nations attacking Israel in the UN

    Concerning #2, the free flow of energy from the Middle East has been disrupted mainly by the US war in Iraq, and the foolish overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya. The US was behind those blunders, not Putin.

    Concerning #1, Cook is correct: Putin is interested in rewriting international rules. In this, though, I might note, he still lags behind the EU — which dismembered Yugoslavia, is in the process of trying to annex the Ukraine, and is attempting to create a new world order focused on Europe.

    In sum, Cook gives much good information, but faulty conclusions. That seems to be the stock-in-trade of leftist publications.

  4. Alex writes,

    American administration is a hostage of Russian sanctions and run by dilettantes. There is no American foreign policy neither ideologically no strategically. Instead of making Putin an allied in fighting Islamists they made him a strategic adversary. Furthermore, unlike Tillerson, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is a strategic thinker and arguably the most experienced and capable diplomat in the world.

  5. I see it as a hit piece.

    Part of the reason to attack Lybya was to kick ant Russians and the Chinese out because of those resources.

    Just because Trump wants to negotiate with Russia, does not mean that he will ignore American interests.