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The Voice of Russia
Oct 5 2012
Myth of Israeli bases in Azerbaijan
Avigdor Eskin
The Israeli-Azerbaijani alliance continues to make the headlines
although details of relations between the two states are shrouded in
mystery. This is not an alliance against Armenia, which to this day
holds on to territories captured during the war with Azerbaijan.
Israel and Azerbaijan cooperation against Arab radicals and Iran
serves no purpose other than internal security.
However, there is recent evidence of a somewhat chilled atmosphere in
Armenian-Israeli relations resulting from frequent accusations in
Yerevan of a Zionist involvement in serious crimes committed in 1915.
Israelis consider this to be blood libel. There is a certain dislike
in Baku towards Arab radicals, who trained Armenian rebels at Lebanese
PLO camps. At the same time Azerbaijan has close relationships with
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab countries that encourage "Muslim
brothers." Azerbaijan's attitude to Iran is one of anxiety and
vigilance. There are twenty million Azerbaijanis in Iran who are
deprived of basic rights. But even all these circumstances fail to
offer a satisfactory explanation for the unexpected phenomenon of an
Israel-Azerbaijan alliance.
But there's also ample evidence that the alliance is real, including a
recent transaction involving the sale of 1.6 billion dollars' worth of
Israeli weapons to Azerbaijan, including the delivery of a significant
number of Israeli drones. A mutual flow of intelligence continues
uninterrupted, which may explain the Azerbaijani authorities' success
in fighting against terrorism. But at the same time Baku has yet to
open an office in Israel, it wants to avoid offending its Muslim and
Arab partners.
The exotic alliance was again in the news in recent days after the
news agency "Reuters" revealed there was speculation that Israel had a
military base in Azerbaijan to be used in the event of a raid on
Iran's nuclear facilities. It may surprise some to see journalism
display such a short memory, the same rumours of an Israeli airbase
were published back in March by the American magazine, "Foreign
policy"; the article attributed anonymous but `high-ranking' sources.
Six months on and there's still no confirmation of the story but that
did not stop "Reuters" excited revelation of the `sensational' news.
Israeli military analyst, Ron Ben-Yishai, wrote back then that the
U.S. administration was engaged in a campaign of deliberate
`misinformation' designed to discredit Israel's various military
options.
His colleague, Alex Fishman wrote in more detail: "To get to
Azerbaijan our Air Force needs to cross the skies of Turkey and Iraq,
Saudi Arabia and Syria. Along the way are Georgia and Armenia. One
single publication, such as this (Foreign Policy), could inflame not
only Tehran and Baku but also other countries, which would realize
that they were being drawn into someone else's "showdown". But even if
we can remove the restriction on crossing other countries' airspace,
questions still remain: will this shorten the distance to the target,
does it justify the probable complications with other states? There is
no single answer to these questions. When it comes to attacking
targets in Tehran, Azerbaijan, of course, has a geographical
advantage. When it comes to facilities in southern Iran, the distance
does not justify this adventure, " said Fishman.
Political analyst, David Adelman, said that Israel could find no
suitable bases on Azerbaijani soil: "With our modern means of
surveillance, we would have got evidence of the use of a base in
Azerbaijan. But it does not exist. The idea of use by Israel of an
abandoned military airbase just looks absurd. After all, a modern air
base is not only the asphalt, but also a complex integrated system of
electronics, control, monitoring, surveillance and protection. Such a
base in Azerbaijan does not exist today. "
Adelman became an adviser to Prime Minister Olmert, just in time for
the operation to destroy a Syrian nuclear reactor, six years ago. He
is certain that Israel is able to put an end to the Iranian nuclear
program, but there are other scenarios: "Iran's currency has been
devalued through the year by eighty percent. There has been rioting in
Tehran. It is possible that Israel's surgical strike will not be
necessary'.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_05/Myth-of-Israeli-bases-in-Azerbaijan/
Oct 5 2012
Myth of Israeli bases in Azerbaijan
Avigdor Eskin
The Israeli-Azerbaijani alliance continues to make the headlines
although details of relations between the two states are shrouded in
mystery. This is not an alliance against Armenia, which to this day
holds on to territories captured during the war with Azerbaijan.
Israel and Azerbaijan cooperation against Arab radicals and Iran
serves no purpose other than internal security.
However, there is recent evidence of a somewhat chilled atmosphere in
Armenian-Israeli relations resulting from frequent accusations in
Yerevan of a Zionist involvement in serious crimes committed in 1915.
Israelis consider this to be blood libel. There is a certain dislike
in Baku towards Arab radicals, who trained Armenian rebels at Lebanese
PLO camps. At the same time Azerbaijan has close relationships with
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab countries that encourage "Muslim
brothers." Azerbaijan's attitude to Iran is one of anxiety and
vigilance. There are twenty million Azerbaijanis in Iran who are
deprived of basic rights. But even all these circumstances fail to
offer a satisfactory explanation for the unexpected phenomenon of an
Israel-Azerbaijan alliance.
But there's also ample evidence that the alliance is real, including a
recent transaction involving the sale of 1.6 billion dollars' worth of
Israeli weapons to Azerbaijan, including the delivery of a significant
number of Israeli drones. A mutual flow of intelligence continues
uninterrupted, which may explain the Azerbaijani authorities' success
in fighting against terrorism. But at the same time Baku has yet to
open an office in Israel, it wants to avoid offending its Muslim and
Arab partners.
The exotic alliance was again in the news in recent days after the
news agency "Reuters" revealed there was speculation that Israel had a
military base in Azerbaijan to be used in the event of a raid on
Iran's nuclear facilities. It may surprise some to see journalism
display such a short memory, the same rumours of an Israeli airbase
were published back in March by the American magazine, "Foreign
policy"; the article attributed anonymous but `high-ranking' sources.
Six months on and there's still no confirmation of the story but that
did not stop "Reuters" excited revelation of the `sensational' news.
Israeli military analyst, Ron Ben-Yishai, wrote back then that the
U.S. administration was engaged in a campaign of deliberate
`misinformation' designed to discredit Israel's various military
options.
His colleague, Alex Fishman wrote in more detail: "To get to
Azerbaijan our Air Force needs to cross the skies of Turkey and Iraq,
Saudi Arabia and Syria. Along the way are Georgia and Armenia. One
single publication, such as this (Foreign Policy), could inflame not
only Tehran and Baku but also other countries, which would realize
that they were being drawn into someone else's "showdown". But even if
we can remove the restriction on crossing other countries' airspace,
questions still remain: will this shorten the distance to the target,
does it justify the probable complications with other states? There is
no single answer to these questions. When it comes to attacking
targets in Tehran, Azerbaijan, of course, has a geographical
advantage. When it comes to facilities in southern Iran, the distance
does not justify this adventure, " said Fishman.
Political analyst, David Adelman, said that Israel could find no
suitable bases on Azerbaijani soil: "With our modern means of
surveillance, we would have got evidence of the use of a base in
Azerbaijan. But it does not exist. The idea of use by Israel of an
abandoned military airbase just looks absurd. After all, a modern air
base is not only the asphalt, but also a complex integrated system of
electronics, control, monitoring, surveillance and protection. Such a
base in Azerbaijan does not exist today. "
Adelman became an adviser to Prime Minister Olmert, just in time for
the operation to destroy a Syrian nuclear reactor, six years ago. He
is certain that Israel is able to put an end to the Iranian nuclear
program, but there are other scenarios: "Iran's currency has been
devalued through the year by eighty percent. There has been rioting in
Tehran. It is possible that Israel's surgical strike will not be
necessary'.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_05/Myth-of-Israeli-bases-in-Azerbaijan/