Putin trying to kiss up to US and Israel? Check out this video!

Spengler writes in PJ Media,

…Russia’s tacit approval for Israel’s massive air strike on Iranian bases in Syria last week marks an important shift in the strategic landscape. Israel is an American ally, as Russia well knows. It has no illusions that Israel will be anything but an American ally within any possible horizon of strategic calculation. President Putin’s remarkable reception of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at last week’s World War II victory celebration was not only a gesture to the Middle East’s pocket superpower. It was a gesture to the United States by proxy. The symbolism of the Red Army Band playing Israel’s national anthem (at the 5:00 mark in this video) is typically Russian in its heavy-handed emphasis.

If Russia wanted to sabotage American policy, it would do its best to help Iran shoot down Israeli planes flying combat missions in Syria. On the contrary, Russia last week announced that it would not deliver the S-300 air defense to Syria, because Syria “has all the air defense it needs” — after Israeli raids destroyed a substantial part of the country’s air defense network.

…American and Russian interests do not converge in the Middle East, to be sure, but they overlap in some respects. Russia will not help the United States bring down the Iranian theocracy, but it may not stand in the way of American efforts to do so, either. There is room for negotiation. Russia’s position well may make the difference between success and disaster for the Trump Administration’s initiative against Iran. That is why a Russian-American rapprochement is possible, despite the dudgeon of the foreign policy Establishment. For the past ten years I have argued that the most important trade-off would be American legitimization of Russia’s takeover of Crimea in return for Russian help with America’s policy objective in the Middle East.