Russia goes to Israel for help

Russian officials travel to Israel for help in designing improved anti-terrorism system.

HERZLIYA, Israel – While rejecting U.S. and EU criticism of its anti-terrorism reforms, Russia plans to adopt Israel's counter-insurgency methods in Moscow's war against Chechen rebels.

Russian officials said the government in Moscow has agreed to increase security cooperation with Israel and focus on counter-insurgency. The officials said the cooperation would include Israeli training and instruction on a range of issues, including aviation security and civil defense.

"We are being helped by your expertise in the field of aviation security," Vladimir Vasilyev, chairman of the Security Committee of Russia's parliament, told Israeli reporters.

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Lavrov met Israeli leaders last week and signed an accord meant to pave the way for a joint effort against Islamic insurgency groups.

Vasilyev and other Russian officials said such cooperation was already taking place. They said teams from both countries were arranging meetings in an effort meant to learn the lessons of the Chechen takeover of a high school in North Ossetia in late August. Nearly 400 people were killed in the hostage episode.

"I want to express my support that you're giving us to solve security isues," Vasilyev told Israeli reporters at an international conference in Herzliya, which ended on Tuesday. "We will also continue cooperation in the field of protecting public places and will use Israel's experience. To be smarter and tougher, we will have to prepare our citizens."

Sounds like that's just the tip of the iceberg to new Israel/Russian cooperation. While some folks are justifiably concerned about Putin's recent rollback of democratic reforms - and I share these concerns, I have to speculate as to whether this means that Israel finally has another friend in the U.N. besides the U.S.

This move to enlist Israel's help signals that the Russians are deadly serious about taking on islamofascism, which, in my opinion is very good news. I am optimistic that this new alliance means that the Russians will no longer be on the side of Israel's enemies (that includes pretty much every nation in the U.N. with the exception of the United States) and will support Israel's right to defend itself, much as they finally see the need to defend themselves against the same global enemy.

The fact that I'm interpreting this as good news does not mean that I am not concerned about Putin's restructuring-related power grab. I still view the Russian government with great skepticism - Russia is essentially to the Soviet Union what Diet Coke is to Coca-Cola. That being said, I am pleased to see them taking real action in the global war on terror.

And what of Putin's recent pullback from democracy?

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in an interview with Reuters, backed liberal criticism in Russia by saying the changes were "pulling back on some of the democratic reforms".

But Russia's foreign minister said Washington had no right to impose its model of democracy on others.

"First of all, the processes that are under way in Russia are our internal affair," Sergei Lavrov said.

"And it is at least strange that, while talking about a certain 'pulling back', as he (Powell) put it, on some of the democratic reforms in the Russian Federation, he tried to assert yet one more time the thought that democracy can only be copied from someone's model," Lavrov said.