Seth Frantzman Profile picture
Oct 3, 2020 15 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Thread: If Iran judges that the conflict in Armenia and Azerbaijan is creating any instability in Iran or stoking ethnic tensions, it will move quickly to secure a ceasefire via work with Ankara and Moscow based on the Astana model. Those talking about "Turkey vs. Iran" are wrong Image
Why are they wrong? Because the hidden deal between these countries, who may not always share interests, is no stoking tensions inside sovereign borders of the other. For instance Russia is wary of extremists, Turkey of PKK, Iran of ethnic tensions;
The idea that the conflict which Turkey encouraged between Azerbaijan and Armenia might be used in any way to weaken the Iran regime will stop immediately if Tehran feels this way through quick calls to Ankara and Moscow.
Ankara understands this and plans accordingly. Only some people in the West think there is some mythical idea of Ankara helping the US against the Iran regime, i.e that Turkey supports US sanctions and maximum pressure...no Turkey does not. Ankara works with Iran.
While Ankara, Iran and Russia may partition Syria into areas of influence...when it comes to internal borders...there can be no acceptance of any of these big states meddling inside eachother borders...same with relations with China.
Tehran messaging already is concern over the battles near the border. While some suggested Azerbaijan would be able to take areas of Nagorna-Karabakh or even move along the Iran border towards exclave near Turkey, Iran would be concerned about this.
The correct analysis that Turkey, Iran and Russia are the emerging powerful states is accurate and the era of 10 years of recent wars; or even 30 years of instability and global war on terror; and US hegemony is changing...as powerful states return.
The powerful states share common interests, they want to co-opt extremist groups and use them, contract them, make them proxies, but they don't want chaos and instability. They want to move in to create spheres of influence or frozen conflicts in weak states
They want to stop weak states from spreading extremism, they learned over the years that weak, ungoverned, unstable areas, spread instability. Turkey's obsession now with PKK was a result of seeing that in Syria in 2014-2015. Russia from Chechnya's lessons, Iran from various.
The goal now is for powerful states to grab up areas in other states, like Russia does in Georgia-Ukraine, or Turkey in N. Syria and Libya or Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon. This is how things work. No one will be allowed, by Tehran, to destabilize Iran, certainly not Turkey
Why do we know this. Because Iran also wanted to make sure there are no more Kurdish groups carrying out attacks in Iran, and it sought to stop PJAK and then also KDPI etc. It did that also through pressure and deals abroad.
The idea that the US, stretched as it is with various issue...could use the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict to somehow fan flames inside Iran of protest is unlikely. Turkey won't wan that...Tehran will work to make sure it doesn't happen. And Azerbaijan is on the border, not far away
I always get complaints from Ankara analysts who claim "no, Seth, you're wrong, Ankara is hostile to Iran"...but it isn't. There are no statements by the foreign minister etc. In fact Ankara understands Iran and can work with it and has a way of doing that. It hedges.
Ankara is hostile to Israel, hostile to France...it knows how to put out statements attacking numerous countries, from Holland to Germany, Austria, India, UAE, etc...it almost never critiques Iran.

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More from @sfrantzman

Jun 24
The attack in LA, the targeting of the Nova exhibit in NYC and the ripping down of posters of hostages are all part of a coordinated effort and it is linked to Oct. 7. Oct. 7 was the main attack, but it was immediately followed by coordinated extremist activism in the West targeting Jews.
The way they manifested this was clear, and it is coordinated and well-funded. For instance, the activists were told that posters of hostages are "propaganda" and that images of the Nova festival massacre are "genocide propaganda."
This is a classic two-pronged attack, similar to the Holocaust and Holocaust denial...the Nazis did the Holocaust and then anti-semitic extremists deny the Holocaust while also supporting the Nazis.
Read 19 tweets
Jun 19
Whenever I hear this cliche of "Hamas is an idea"....I think about all the other "ideas" that have come and gone. Nazism was also an "idea" and so was the ideology of the KKK. Lots of groups represent an "idea"...but many of them come and go or are defeated.
What makes Hamas powerful IS NOT ITS IDEAS...it is its support from abroad, primarily the fact its leaders live in western ally Doha and that it gets backing from Ankara, Moscow, Beijing and other places. It also seems to have been enabled to grow more powerful via smuggling from Egypt and cash from Doha, etc.
The Hamas "idea" may have begun with roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, but it primarily began with thugs like Sinwar killing "collaborators" in mafia-like murders in Khan Younis. It then expanded in the 1990s with foreign backing to try to sabotage the Oslo peace deal. Then it grew after 2007, taking over Gaza.
Read 9 tweets
Jun 18
Hezbollah reduced its attacks on northern Israel when the US envoy was in Israel...didn't it...almost like Hezbollah is very very smart and knows exactly what it is doing and it heats up the conflict when it wants and reduces the heat when it wants...everything is almost scripted....almost.
That's why...I don't believe there will be a war in the north. Because Hezbollah is very thoughtful and its friends in Iran are as well. Hezbollah needs to preserve its powder. It is, in a sense, too big to fail. Iran can't sacrifice this Hezbollah "real estate" in a war.
Why? Because Iran worked hard to unite the arenas and tie all its proxies into one front against Israel. That means everytime Iran gets Hamas to carry out a major attack, Hezbollah and six other fronts will join.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 18
The Middle East's ethnic cleansing and extermination of Jewish minorities in the last 100 years is one of the most complete erasures of a people in history. It should be seen that way. Jews used to be a large group in many cities in the region...and they have been SYSTEMATICALLY expelled and ethnically cleansed by various regimes (some of those regimes supported by the West too)...and this is not widely studied in "Middle East studies" and other disciplines where in many western academies today any interest in Jewish history is now called "Zionism"...which is one of the ways the ethnic cleansing and genocide is completed.

You literally have western commentators who grift off being "anti-Zionist" now who make comments trying to portray all Jews as being from Europe rather than acknowledge the truth.
It's worthwhile to view it as a regional ethnic cleansing targeting Jews (and other minorities) because the complete erasure of Jews was more thorough in the long term than what Nazism did. This isn't always fully understood...but cities and areas where Jews were once a large group, now are reduced to zero.
If we compare the ethnic cleansing of the Middle East with the Nazism of Europe, we find that today Jews can generally travel in Europe in areas where Nazism once dominated. But in the Middle East Jews cannot travel in many countries. They definitely cannot travel openly as Jews, with a kipah or Star of David or pray etc.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 16
I never understood the theory that after Oct. 7, after 1,000 people were massacred and 250 kidnapped...that the goal should be to "reduce Hamas capabilities"...so it "can't carry out another Oct. 7." What kind of war is that? An Orwellian one.
Reducing Hamas "capabilities" means you defeat a few Hamas "battalions" (an illusion of victory)...and then you leave Hamas in power...and it recruits more people and stockpiled more weapons.
The theory of fighting an enemy merely to make it so it can't carry out another attack is bizarre. It's like if, after the attack on Pearl Harbor...the US goal was simply to make it so Japan can't bomb Pearl Harbor again. By that logic you sink a few Japanese carriers and then end the war...what's the point?
Read 16 tweets
Jun 15
I watched this video several times, after the first time with the sound off, because the kids in the right side of the frame are all trying to get the attention of the camera to tell their story; they deserve a better future without Hamas and the endless wars it brings to Gaza and the suffering it profits from
It’s really unconscionable that the international community has not worked to prevent Hamas from ruling Gaza and destroying the lives and opportunities of these kids. The same country that hosted the Taliban and brought it back to Kabul, hosts Hamas a
It’s not a coincidence that Hamas has such power and strong backers. It exists solely to destroy peace and ruin the rights of generations in Gaza and a lot of this is accomplished with the collaboration of the international community
Read 9 tweets

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