Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Watch the Russians
The Russians are cozying up to a man who has within the last year ordered his followers to kill American soldiers.
The interesting question is why Russia would so openly and publicly tweak the United States. The answer may be very simple. Russia views Iraq as in its traditional sphere of influence. Iraq was an ally of the Soviet Union through much of the Cold War, a relationship that gave the Soviets important leverage against Turkey to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. American domination of Iraq is undoubtedly very annoying to the Russian foreign policy establishment. However much influence it wields in Iraq's shadows, Russia must have wanted to show the world that it retained overt power. This suited Muqtada al-Sadr, who has been looking for new political legitimacy since the United States rousted his boys in an-Najaf last fall. Chamov and al-Sadr figured out that they would both benefit if the Associated Press's cameras "caught" them together again.
Radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Russia's ambassador to Iraq Vladimir Chamov, right, leave al-Sadr's home in Najaf Monday June 13, 2005. Ambassador Chamov was making the first visit by a Russian envoy to al-Sadr's office since the U.S.-led operation started in Iraq two years ago.
The interesting question is why Russia would so openly and publicly tweak the United States. The answer may be very simple. Russia views Iraq as in its traditional sphere of influence. Iraq was an ally of the Soviet Union through much of the Cold War, a relationship that gave the Soviets important leverage against Turkey to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. American domination of Iraq is undoubtedly very annoying to the Russian foreign policy establishment. However much influence it wields in Iraq's shadows, Russia must have wanted to show the world that it retained overt power. This suited Muqtada al-Sadr, who has been looking for new political legitimacy since the United States rousted his boys in an-Najaf last fall. Chamov and al-Sadr figured out that they would both benefit if the Associated Press's cameras "caught" them together again.
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