Why? First, because of proximity. The Mideast is not that far from Ukraine.
Turkey, which is part of the Mideast, is just across the Black Sea from Ukraine, and just one country (Armenia) south of Russia. Tel Aviv is only some 3,000 kilometers from Kyiv, and Odessa is 2,000 km. from Beirut.
As Anna Borshchevskaya, an expert on Russia in the Middle East at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, pointed out, “Historically, the Russian state always looks at this region as one whole. In fact, the military position that Russia has established in Syria is now helping to put pressure on Ukraine through Crimea. So this is all essentially one theater.”
The second reason the ripples from this war will be felt here is that Russia is present in the region in a massive way. READ MORE
