Israel's New Friends

That's right, Israel has a collection of new friends and they include Greece, Cyprus, Canada and Russia.  And, who knows, Italy may join the group.  So, what's this all about?  The usual: money, or more specifically, the money to be made from energy.

First, let's review some old news; namely the large natural gas discoveries off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean.  This brought together Israel, Greece and Cyprus.  Then in June of 2012, Russia's Gazprom and Israel jointly announced plans to cooperate on gas extraction.  That's new.  With Russia having a stake in this pie, it becomes a bit more difficult for Turkey to create problems.  As for Italy, it's racked up some really big bets on Iran.  Rome, may well decide that it would be far more advantageous  to work with someone closer and more dependable.

But, we now have a big new thing.  It's the potential that's been uncovered in shale oil under the land of Israel itself.  It appears that Israel may have the third largest largest shale oil deposit in the world, something like 250 billion barrels.  This according to the World Energy Council, a global forum with affiliates in 93 countries.  And, so, at about the time that Russia entered into a cooperation agreement with Israel on the gas, Canada entered into an agreement with Israel to cooperate in the exploration and development of what apparently could be Israel's vast shale oil reserves.

Canada has already shown itself to be a solid friend of the Jewish people.  Israel's agreement with Russia was accompanied by a remarkably cordial visit from President Vladimir Putin.  In the course of his visit, President Putin put on a kippah and went to the Western Wall to pray.  One report quoted him as saying to one of the Russian Jews present, "I came her to pray that the Temple should be rebuilt, and I wish that your prayers will be fulfilled."  He also said to his Israeli hosts, "Here, we see how the Jewish past is itched into the stones of Jerusalem."  Needless to say, the Arabs went bonkers.

This information was taken from an article by Walter Russell Mead that appeared in the American Interest, July 2, 2012.  In his article Mr. Mead did mention that besides the gas in the Mediterranean Sea, there has also been identified 5 billion barrels of recoverable oil.  American Companies were involved with those finds.

Not mentioned by Mr. Mead, but clearly apparent to me is that Israel's new friends seem a lot warmer towards Israel than Barak Obama.  What special relationship remains between the US and Israel is the one being held together by the Congress.  Obama, would seem, has left the building.