Daniel Rakov, at The Blogs

May 6, 2022, 5:33 PM

The difficulties of the Russian military on the battlefield increase the possibility that in the coming weeks, Moscow will expand the fighting as part of preparations for a long-term military campaign. Putin’s apology considering Lavrov’s antisemitic remark signifies, that...

Feb 10, 2022, 9:33 AM

Russia and Iran: Are they really birds of a feather?

Standing ovations for Raisi in the Russian Parliament. Image: Russian State Duma

As Tehran invests efforts to improve relations with Russia, Israel will have to maintain a dialogue with Moscow to safeguard its military and diplomatic freedom of action

Feb 9, 2022, 9:15 AM

The Ukraine Crisis: a Harbinger of Shifts in the World-order

Putin-Xi Summit in Beijing, February 4, 2022. (The Russian Presidency Official Site)

Global powers might find it more challenging to reach a consensus on the Middle East than before. This makes it more critical for Israel to get separate understandings or develop new partnerships both globally and regionally. The perceived decline in...

Apr 25, 2020, 6:49 PM

Putin’s not giving up on Assad

Putin, Assad and Russian defense minister Shoigu, during Putin's last visit to Damascus (Jan 7, 2020) (ALEXEI NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK, KREMLIN POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

Israeli and regional experts on Middle Eastern politics are wondering about a series of articles that appeared in Russian and Arabic media in recent weeks in which Russian experts have been blatantly criticizing the corruption of Assad regime. On...

About Me

Daniel Rakov is an expert on Russian policy in the Middle East and great-power competition in the region. He's a senior fellow at The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). He had served in the IDF for more than 20 years, mainly in the Israeli Defense Intelligence (Aman). From 2019 to 2021 he was a research fellow at the Russian Studies Program in the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). In 2021 he co-edited a volume of articles "Thirty Years of Russian-Israeli Relations: Past, Present, and Future", published in Hebrew and in Russian (by INSS and MGIMO University, Moscow).

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