Confrontation between Shiites and Sunnis could play into the hands of Israel

PanARMENIAN.Net - This controversy is especially evident in the confrontation between Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey, and also in the “Arab spring” that came to serve not “democracy”, but the settlement of various issues between Arabs and, using Western terms, led and will lead to a civil war. Thereupon, the only Muslim country in the Middle East, namely, the State of Israel, is trying to find new friends and allies. As reported by the Jerusalem Post, government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that there are three groups of countries they can cooperate and even make friends with.

The first group - Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria - are all long-standing rivals to Turkey and are fearful of the success of the Erdogan government trying to become a regional leader. All these states used to be part of the Ottoman Empire and they know quite well what may happen in that case. No wonder that the policy of «zero problem» is being replaced by «Neo-Ottomanism». The second group of countries make up Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria and the new state of South Sudan. Recently leaders of African states have been frequent visitors to Jerusalem. These countries are predominantly Christian, and so they fear of militant Islam, too. Moreover, Kenya has promised to help Uganda build a coalition against fundamentalism.

And finally, the third group of countries – actually the Arab countries with which Israel does not hold any relations. Israel, in fact, has diplomatic relations with Egypt only, but even they are not as they used to be under Mubarak. It is with this group that Israel is obviously beginning to build relations, keeping in mind the adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". The enemy, in this case, is Shiite Iran, which is opposed by the Wahhabi (Sunni branch) Saudi Arabia, where the two sacred cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, are. There is a serious struggle going on between the two countries for informal leadership in the Islamic world. From time to time there appear reports on military-technical cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And although these messages are later rejected, recent developments show that the Mossad is sort of trying to establish contact with the kingdoms of the Gulf. At least, heads of the intelligence agencies met and are still meeting in Jordan.

Nevertheless, Islam, whether Sunni or Shiite, still aims at destruction and approval of the Prophet's banner. And the fight between Shiites and Sunnis is just a struggle for a place in the sun, as it was between the USSR and the rest of the world. The difference is that Islam in itself, regardless of different flows, is a consolidating factor, which is not true about communism or about Western democracies. But it is also a destructive force, which, under unfavorable developments, may dramatically change the map of the world, or at least that of the Greater Middle East, which is fraught with serious complications for the West, and also for Russia, which has always been famous for betting on a wrong horse. Courtship of the Soviet Politburo with the Islamic world resulted in nothing good: Afghanistan, Chechnya with all of the Caucasus - relationship damaged if not forever, then, at least, for a few generations.

Reverting to Israel's attempts to create a "security belt" around itself, let us note that in case of neutralizing Iran these attempts may be crowned with success because of the Sunni-Shia opposition.