The U.S. should work to pull Russia out of the Iranian axis

However, how can America go about pulling Russia out of the Iranian sphere of influence? In order to come up with a concrete policy plan for this, one needs to understand Russia’s intentions. Russia is not supporting Erdogan and Iran due to a love of radical Islam. The Russians themselves are facing threats from radical Islamist groups in Chechnya, who have blown up Russian railway stations and taken hostages inside Russian theaters. The Russians know deep down inside their souls that both Iran and the Islamist regime in Turkey can one day form an alliance with these Chechen groups.

Nevertheless, on the other end of the coin, the Russians feel very much threatened by the expansion of NATO and NATO’s deployment of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. They also feel very much that their role as a super power is not respected in the West. A good illustration of this is Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric during the US electoral campaign. Also, the fact that the US under Obama placed sanctions upon Russia did not help the US to win support in the Kremlin. As a response to these grievances, the Russians feel that they need to preserve their status by creating problems for the United States via Iran and Turkey in the Middle East. And they believe that they have the power to do it.

As Syrian Kurdish dissident Sherkoh Abbas explained, “Things changed after the prices of oil went up within the past 10 years. When the prices of oil went up, they had abundant money and were able to build up their weapons system. When the prices of oil went down again and they faced increased Western pressure over the expansion of NATO as well as the sanctions on them due to their involvement in the Ukraine, they reached out to Iran/Assad/the radical groups to create problems for the US. They had to show them that they were strong in order to prevent another Baltic state from joining NATO.”

So how can the West solve the issue? On the one hand, Russia cannot see the United States as weak. The United States has to take a proactive position and cannot retreat like Obama did with his Red Line Policy in Syria. But on the other hand, the US has to be sensitive to Russian sentiment and not to demonize them. The best way that the US can be proactive in finding a solution to this issue is by finding a solution to the Syrian crisis. This will make it easier for the US to resolve their differences with Russia on other issues of importance.

Right now, the US is so boggled down with the Syrian refugee crisis, Assad’s brutal bombings and ISIS terrorism to deal with any other issue. But if the Syrian crisis can be solved, then Iran will lose one of the main issues that they are using in order to obtain Russian support for the Ayatollah’s regime. Starting with Syria, this will be a road-map for solving all of the issues and grievances between Russia and the US. It can be a first step towards creating goodwill on both sides.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Times of Israel.