This year’s Valdai meeting on the Middle East took place in Moscow on 19-20 Feb. and was ostentatiously titled “Russia in the Middle East: Playing on All Fields.” Designed to showcase Russian policies towards the region, it gave out clues about its preferences. The messages were abundant from the titles of the panels, to the speaker choices and absentees.
Although the title claimed that Russia was “playing on all fields” in the Middle East, the absence of Iraq and Egypt among the panels, which included Libya, Yemen, Kurds, Syria, Palestine and Iran, was telling. It seemed as if Russia has left Egypt and Iraq to the U.S. and perhaps even Iran.
Read more on http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/mustafa-aydin/messages-from-moscow-127764
