LE MONDE ESSAY Russia and the Oriental Question revisited Unlike the comments made in autumn 2015, Russia did not enter the Middle East play an important part for old and new ties from di- sian military intervention prevented that additional as a newcomer – it had been a geopolitical actor and a cultural power in the Eas- plomacy to business. cycle of violence in a once secular country that had turned into a stage for all sorts of proxy wars plus the tern Mediterranean for centuries. The Russians had never actually left since tra- Russia, Turkey, the Arab Gulf States and the Iran issue influx of bored EU-citizens turning into terrorists. ding with Byzantium. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been extensi- In the case of Iran, the desire to preserve the mul- Political power: Vladimir vely travelling across the Middle East over the past tilateral disarmament agreement JCPOA of 2015, is a Putin (fifth left), President few months. He has received guests from the region goal still shared by the EU and the Russian Federati- of the Russian Federation, ow, Moscow is present not only in its tradi- was a different one. Lenin had been brought by the and demonstrated a rather high degree of continuity on. It will be especially pertinent how the USA will Recep Tayyip Erdogan (fifth tional Levant sphere, but also gains an in- Germans from his Geneva exile in a sealed train to in Russian foreign policy: access to the sea and non- join again the agreement and how Russia will advan- right), President of the creasing role as power broker in the Persian St. Petersburg, where he took control over the pro- intervention in domestic affairs. The relationship ce its respective influence. Iran and China have re- Republic of Turkey, GulfN with old foes and friends across the region. This tests and turned the marginal Bolshevik movement with Turkey merits special scrutiny. Both are militari- cently started a comprehensive strategic partnership, Aleksandar Vučić (fourth has implications for war and peace. into the revolutionary force. ly confronting each other in Syria and Libya. But in which has already changed the Middle Eastern right), President of the When the Russian government was requested by parallel, they manage the art of sophisticated diplo- chessboard. Russia is present on all levels in Iran, Republic of Serbia, Boyko Borissov (fourth left), Prime Damascus to provide military intervention on Sep- The Cold War in the Middle East macy by going along with each other on energy con- while the diplomatic relations with the US stopped Minister of the Republic tember 30, 2015, several voices predicted a clash with The Soviet Union quickly grasped its role as a new tracts such as TurkStream, which had replaced South in November 1979. of Bulgaria, Alexander Novak the many other armies already present in war-torn attractive model for the discontent intellectual circ- Stream with the EU, and military cooperation, very (very left), Minister of Energy Syria. This was not the case. The Russian army just les in the Arab world. One of the first states to recog- much to the dismay of NATO. It is with Turkey and From the Oriental Question to the Middle East conflict of the Russian Federation, like Russian diplomacy knew how to find its way in nise the Saudi entity, which turned into an indepen- Iran that Russia has been pushing various agendas for In early 20th century, relevant dossier in the Mi- Fatih Donmez (third right), the Syrian quagmire. And the communication with dent state in 1932, was the USSR. The Cold War not Syria in the framework of the Astana format. With nistry of Foreign Affairs was called the Oriental Minister of Energy and Karin Kneissl the US and other NATO-armies, like Turkey, func- only divided the European continent, but it provoked regard to the Arab Gulf States, Moscow is advancing Question; its geography started in Bosnia and went Natural Resources of Turkey, studied law and Arabic at tions rather well, apart from certain tragic incidents, divisions on a global level. The Middle East with its the case of Syria, namely work with Assad. Fresh all the way to Kabul. Ever since the end of World War and Alexey Miller (third left), the University of Vienna. most of which had been premeditated. No major oil rich Gulf states and many layers of conflict turned starts may yet be possible to untie the many fronts II, we call the many layers of confrontation the Chairman of the Gazprom She later served as an war-by-accident was triggered – so far. into one of the many stages for proxy wars. While the inside Syria where numerous Sunni monarchies have “Middle East conflict”. Management Committee, were attending an event in Austrian diplomat in the Before World War I, Russian schools and acade- USA initially refrained from a fully-fledged support been in unconditional support of Islamist forces. It is still the region where the largest reserves of January 2020, at the grand office of the Legal Advisor, mies in the Eastern Mediterranean were just as im- of the Jewish state created by the UN-General As- In late summer 2015, when the terrorist militias of easy to drill oil and gas of high quality are to be opening ceremony for Cabinet of the minister, portant as the French and English, both competing sembly resolution 181 (II) in 1947, the USSR was one the Islamic State (Daesh) had conquered huge parts found. Even with the increase in non-fossil fuels and TurkStream gas pipeline, Middle East Desk and was for influence in the Ottoman Empire. The Russian of the early arms’ suppliers. The entire concept of Zi- of Syria and Iraq, it was feared that an advance by the intended normative energy transition the region and which is laid in the Black Sea. posted among others in bond with the region was and now again is the one of onism with its collective farms, the kibbutzim, and terrorists to the Syrian coast city of Latakia, where its fossil resources will remain relevant. China has It is a link between the gas Paris and Madrid. Later on, Orthodoxy. The majority of Oriental Christians are strong Eastern European heritage seemed too com- millions of displaced persons had fled for shelter, turned out to be the number one trading partner for transmission systems she worked as an Orthodox. The Syrian city Aleppo had a Christian munist for Washington. Subsequent to the Six-Days- could prompt massacres and exodus. Maybe the Rus- many. of Russia and Turkey. independent correspondent majority until the 1960s, being a traditional haven War in 1967 and October War in 1973, the USA tur- on energy affairs, analyst for the Armenian diaspora. The transregional im- ned into a solid ally of Israel, while Moscow shaped and university lecturer portance of the Orthodox church has always secured the many revolutionary leftist movements, stretching (Vienna, Beirut). She served a certain role and status for Russia, the protective po- from Algeria to the Palestinians. President Gamal Austria as Foreign Minister wer of the Orthodox Christian world. Abdel Nasser turned to the Soviets, though he would in 2017-19. Thereafter, she have initially preferred the Americans. The two sta- returned to her independent The role of Constantinople tes of Yemen, one under Soviet, the other under Bri- work. She has written 10 Moscow is historically referred to as the “Third tish control, was an omitted epicentre of that Cold books and numerous papers Rome” with Constantinople as centre of the Eastern War era in the Arab world. Only Ayatollah Khomeini and articles about Roman Empire of Byzantium being the second one, decided to take a “third way” with the Islamic Revo- geopolitics, energy and conquered by the Ottomans in 1453. Both Russian lution in 1979 in Iran – he despised both the Marxist international relations. language and culture were deeply marked by that he- East and the Capitalist West. kkneissl.com ritage. The Sykes-Picot agreement, a Franco-British The entire Comecon cultivated Orientalist studies correspondence of 1915/16 on how to divide up the on very high levels. In today’s world of international Ottoman Empire, was actually a trilateral arrange- relations, the better linguistic skills in Arabic, Farsi, ment, including Tsarist Russia and her claims on Pashtu etc. are still to be learnt at Russian universi- Constantinople. Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov ties, also formerly in Prague, rather than in western had obtained in March 1915 the guarantee that in academies, where those studies are often considered case of an Allied victory, Constantinople would be superfluous “orchid departments”. The network of under Russian control. But two years later, the world alumni who graduated from Soviet universities still RIA NOVOSTI MATERN, FELICITAS PHOTOS: 52 Cercle Diplomatique 2/2021 Cercle Diplomatique 2/2021 53.