AZERI-ISRAELI AIR BASE DEAL OUTED BY US
by Mark Impomeni
Human Events (Conservative Voices)
April 10 2012
Azerbaijan is surrounded on three sides by openly hostile or
unpredictable regimes in Armenia, Russia, and Iran. Armenian troops
continue to occupy large sections of Azerbaijan in the disputed region
of Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran’s slow-motion but determined pursuit of
nuclear weapons is a continual source of instability in the Caucasus,
and Russia continues to be led by men nostalgic for the Soviet era.
Only the Caspian Sea to the east offers a relatively tranquil border,
while providing Baku mineral riches in oil and gas. Beset by turmoil
in almost every direction, Azerbaijan has increasingly looked beyond
its immediate neighbors for investment, economic diversification,
and – more recently – defense.
Last month, Israeli sources confirmed that Baku agreed to buy $1.6
billion in missile defense, anti-aircraft weaponry, and reconnaissance
drones from the state-run Israel Aerospace Industries. The deal,
undertaken at the height of tensions and saber rattling over potential
Israeli air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, underscores Azerbaijan’s
determination to more closely identify with the West. That a majority
Muslim nation located within easy range of Iran’s nuclear facilities
in Tehran and at Natanz, Qom, and Arak, would engage with the Islamic
Republic’s mortal enemy is nothing short of remarkable.
Officially, Israel downplayed the significance of the arms deal,
saying that such international agreements take years to develop. But
a former head of the Mossad spy agency acknowledged the deal’s obvious
geopolitical implications. Telling the Associated Press that Israel has
been and will continue to sell arms to friendly nations, Danny Yatom
added, “If it will help us in challenging Iran, it is for the better.”
Then last month, Foreign Policy published a bombshell report sourced
to senior U.S. administration and intelligence officials alleging
that the nature of the Israeli-Azeri relationship goes much deeper
than buyer-dealer in military hardware. Administration officials
suggested that Azerbaijan has granted access to airbases – plural –
on Iran’s northern border. “The Israelis have bought an airfield,”
the report quotes one senior administration official, “and the airfield
is called Azerbaijan.”
Azeri airfields – either for staging attacks, landing after conducting
the raids, or positioning forward units such as search and rescue
teams – would greatly enhance Israel’s reach and logistical ability
to hit targets deep inside Iran. Although Baku denied that it would
allow Israel to attack Iran from its territory, the FP notes that
Azeri officials did not specifically deny the other two possibilities,
an omission that did not go unnoticed in Washington.
The U.S. government is leaving no doubt about its unhappiness with the
alleged agreement. One intelligence official working directly on the
possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran tells FP, “We’re watching
what Iran does closely, but we’re now watching what Israel is doing
in Azerbaijan. And we’re not happy about it.”
In outing the arrangement, U.S. officials have as their goal the
dampening of Israel’s intentions to attack Iran – at least this
year – thus forestalling a politically tricky event for the Obama
administration in a campaign year. But the administration does
not appear to be considering the impact of its open speculation on
Azerbaijan, which if the speculation is true, would be doing a huge
service not just for Tel Aviv but for timid Western capitals while
incurring a massive risk to its well being.
Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan, never good, have been slipping
of late. The Azeris recently arrested what it described as terrorists
allegedly in the employ of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
and positioned for attacks on the U.S., Israeli, and other Western
embassies in the country. For its part, Tehran accuses Azerbaijan
of supporting alleged Israeli hit squads that have been targeting
Iranian nuclear scientists with alarming efficiency, an allegation
Baku labels a “slander.” The relationship is further complicated by
the presence of some sixteen million ethnic Azeris living in northern
Iran. While Baku harbors no territorial ambitions, the enclave in
Iran is a potential future source of strife for Tehran, which may
hold the Azeris responsible for keeping the area calm.
As difficult as it is to fathom the U.S. administration’s objection
to deepening ties between Israel and an oil-rich, strategically
positioned, emerging Muslim democracy, it is even more perplexing
to consider why Washington would want to show Azerbaijan the back of
its hand for actions that unquestionably advance the administration’s
stated goal of preventing a nuclear Iran. Azerbaijan’s relationship
with Israel is clearly mutually beneficial. It has the potential to
be globally beneficial, if only Washington could look past November.
Cross-posted from the website for the Center for the Study of Former
Soviet Socialist Republics.
Mark Impomeni is a Scholar at the Center for the Study of Former
Soviet Socialist Republics, a think tank dedicated to promoting
democracy and free markets in the former Eastern Bloc.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50747