Both Israeli and American intelligence are reporting that at a Summit meeting last year in Moscow – while PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat met with Russian President Vladimir Putin – there was a secret meeting between Iranian agents and PLO representatives.
That secret meeting resulted in a new alliance between the PLO and Iran in which the oil-rich Iranians would covertly fund PLO groups with millions of dollars and supply them with weapons.
Tehran vehemently denies any such meeting occurred – or that any such alliance exists.
Of course, Tehran also denied any participation in a shipload of Iranian weapons to the PLO which was intercepted several months ago by the US Navy.
You may recall that President Bush then lumped Iran into his Axis of Evil speech along with Iraq and North Korea. At that time Iran protested the label – and argued that the Iranian government has taken a ‘moderate’ turn.
Now, let us analyze this report:
If both Israeli and American intelligence are leaking that such a ‘secret’ meeting indeed took place in Moscow, then a key question is: Did the Russians know about it?
It is difficult to believe that such a ‘secret’ meeting could take place in Moscow and the Russian intelligence agencies not know of it. After all, that is a regime that in the past basically bugged every hotel room in Moscow just to listen in to all foreigners’ conversations.
A former Congressman once told me of a time he visited Moscow and, upon checking into his room, he said aloud to the chandelier hanging in his sitting room, “Gee, I don’t have any towels in my bathroom.”
Not five minutes later there was a knock on his door and a maid appeared with a fresh supply of towels!
If his room was bugged, it is inconceivable that Iranian and PLO agents could meet in Moscow and the Russians not know of it.
Thus, we all must ask: how complicit in this PLO-Iranian alliance is Putin? And, if Putin knew of this meeting – or perhaps even arranged it – why isn’t Russia included in Bush’s Axis of Evil?
Moscow and Tehran have long had a close relationship. Moscow has recently been assisting Iran in the construction of a nuclear power plant. Russia cultivates nations like Iran which have hard currency (from oil sales) and want to buy Russian military hardware.
A year ago a new President Bush said he looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and determined that “he is a good man with a soul.”
Such a naive and sophomoric assesment may very well be proven to be tragically false – especially if Russia is brokering an agreement which will result in a war against Israel.
Russia – and Red China – have not changed their stripes. It’s just that our Big Business wants to make money there.
It is time we faced facts: the Axis of Evil contains more governments than just Baghdad, Tehran and Pyongyang. Perhaps Moscow and Beijing should also be included.