- 2 days ago
Soviet and modern Russian influence in the Middle East runs deeper than most people realize, and this documentary-style analysis traces how Cold War narratives still shape the region today. From Moscow’s early religious and strategic ambitions to its support for anti-colonial messaging, the video shows how propaganda, military aid, and political rivalry became long-term tools of influence.
The story moves through Russia’s ties to the Orthodox Church, the Jewish question, the creation of Israel, and the anti-Israel turn that followed. It also examines Soviet support for Egypt and Syria, the role of guerrilla training and state-backed messaging, and why Syria became Moscow’s last major stronghold. The final section connects that history to today’s Russia-Gulf ties, OPEC+ politics, and the way wealthy Russians have used Dubai as a refuge.
Created for viewers interested in Russian history, Middle East politics, Cold War propaganda, geopolitics, and international relations, this is a deep-dive history commentary that connects past strategy to present-day power. It also works as long-form educational listening for anyone searching for Russia in the Middle East, Soviet foreign policy, Syria, Israel, anti-colonial narratives, and geopolitical analysis.
The story moves through Russia’s ties to the Orthodox Church, the Jewish question, the creation of Israel, and the anti-Israel turn that followed. It also examines Soviet support for Egypt and Syria, the role of guerrilla training and state-backed messaging, and why Syria became Moscow’s last major stronghold. The final section connects that history to today’s Russia-Gulf ties, OPEC+ politics, and the way wealthy Russians have used Dubai as a refuge.
Created for viewers interested in Russian history, Middle East politics, Cold War propaganda, geopolitics, and international relations, this is a deep-dive history commentary that connects past strategy to present-day power. It also works as long-form educational listening for anyone searching for Russia in the Middle East, Soviet foreign policy, Syria, Israel, anti-colonial narratives, and geopolitical analysis.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Wars in Gulf countries, human rights crumble beneath the boots of dictators,
00:06whole regions sink into chaos, and yet the world barely blinks.
00:11But when violence erupts in the Middle East, especially around Gaza,
00:16suddenly the world stops to watch. Why? Is it about money? No.
00:22The wealthy oil states commit their share of atrocities, yet the world politely looks away.
00:28Is it religion or ancient history? Maybe.
00:32But most people can't even point to these sacred places on a map.
00:36The truth is far more sinister. We are trapped in the aftershocks of the Cold War,
00:42a secret battle of narratives planted decades ago. The Soviet Union may be dead,
00:48but its stories still rule us. We repeat slogans written in Moscow without even knowing it.
00:55My name is Elira Barry. Born in the Soviet Union, I know firsthand how powerful propaganda can be.
01:01Today, I'll uncover exactly how the Kremlin planted its seeds of influence across the Middle East.
01:08Seeds that still shape the way millions of Westerners see the region.
01:17What exactly did Russians want in the Middle East?
01:21Historically, their interest rested on three pillars.
01:25First, support for Orthodox religious missions in the Holy Land.
01:30Second, access to military bases in the Eastern Mediterranean to protect vital trade routes.
01:37Third, and perhaps most importantly, rivalry with the West.
01:43Long before red flags flew over the Kremlin, Russian pilgrims trudged toward Jerusalem.
01:49By the mid-19th century, as many as 7,000 a year braved the long and dangerous journey to bow
01:56before the Holy Sepulchre.
01:57To shelter them, the Russian-Palestine society bought land and built what locals still call the Russian Compound –
02:04grand stone courtyards that served as hostels for pilgrims.
02:09It was not only about faith. Nobles and merchants brought money.
02:14Their presence meant income for church coffers and for Russia's consular budgets.
02:20Supporting orthodoxy was more than piety. It was political glue.
02:24Because in truth, Russian society was fragmented. The elites did not even speak Russian at home.
02:30They spoke French.
02:33Between rulers and ruled, there was no unifying bond except the Orthodox faith.
02:39Without it, the empire would have looked like what it really was – a colonial occupation.
02:46So, Orthodoxy became the banner of the regime.
02:49Inside the empire, it meant restricting other religions, especially Judaism.
02:55Abroad, it meant military and diplomatic campaigns to defend Orthodox holy sites and Orthodox Slavic peoples.
03:03But for those people, it brought no prosperity.
03:07Their lands became battlefields where two great empires – Ottoman and Russian – clashed over prestige and territory.
03:15The peasants back home, two-third of them illiterate, barely understood the reasons.
03:20They only wanted one thing – that ours would defeat theirs.
03:26And Russia needed to win. Because the empire's budget depended heavily on grain exports.
03:34Yet the Ottomans controlled the straits, the narrow gates between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
03:40When your enemy controls your lifeline, you either bow or fight.
03:46So, they fought.
03:47Again and again, the Ottoman Empire was weakening.
03:51It never managed to industrialize.
03:53So, Russia extracted concessions piece by piece.
03:57That ensured relatively steady grain exports, which in those days were as critical as oil is today.
04:05But world politics was never been driven only by trade or religion.
04:10It has also been driven, perhaps more than anything, by the ancient instinct of male rivalry.
04:18I've made another video about this and I encourage you to watch it.
04:22Because once you understand how these ancient behavioral patterns shape decisions,
04:28the world map suddenly makes sense.
04:31For men of the hunter personality archetype, life itself feels meaningless without the frill of victory.
04:37At home, if their power is unchallenged, they instinctively look abroad for rivals.
04:44They crave the contest, the fight, the prize.
04:48And they'll dress it up however they must – in faith, in patriotism, in economic necessity.
04:55But beneath the noble words is something raw and primal – the desire for a duel.
05:02And because they value their own ambitions about the lives of others,
05:07they feel entitled to sacrifice people in the name of a holy cause.
05:12That was the mindset of Russian elites throughout the 19th century.
05:17And not only Russia's – Britain, France, Austria – they all played the same game.
05:23From the palaces of London, Paris, and St. Petersburg, it looked almost like sport.
05:28Orders given, dispatchers read, maps covered in flags and arrows.
05:34Men in epaulets, posing proudly over the chessboard of the world.
05:39They never carried the burden of their choices.
05:43Others did the dying.
05:45That is why Russian emperors entangled themselves in the Middle East.
05:50Not just for religion. Not just for trade.
05:54But because it was part of the great game.
05:57And the thrill of beating their rivals was a reward in itself.
06:01Before we move to the next part – how the Soviet Union shaped Middle Eastern narratives
06:06that still define how we in the West see the region today – I want to thank you for supporting
06:12this channel.
06:13You can do so with a super thanks or buying me a coffee.
06:18This channel exists because of you. It's my full-time work and your support makes it possible.
06:24And if you are fascinated by Russian history, let me give you a tip.
06:29The best way to truly understand Russia is through literature.
06:33Textbooks give you facts. Stories give you lives.
06:37That's why I wrote my Russian treasures series.
06:40Carefully researched novels that immerse you in worlds most Western readers never knew existed.
06:47They are on Amazon waiting for you.
06:50Now, let's return to the Middle East.
06:57We cannot talk about Russia's role in the Middle East without first looking at the Jews.
07:04At the turn of the 20th century, the Russian Empire held the largest Jewish community on Earth,
07:10over 5 million people in 1897. More than half of all Jews worldwide.
07:17This wasn't by design. For centuries, Jews had migrated across North Africa and Europe,
07:24refusing to assimilate or abandon their faith. Many eventually settled in what is now Ukraine
07:30in Belarus because local rulers allowed them. Then those lands fell to the Russian Empire.
07:37And because Russia believed it had a sacred duty to defend orthodoxy, the Jews quickly found
07:43themselves pushed to the margins. They were restricted in education, in movement, in careers.
07:50They paid heavier taxes. And then came the pogroms of the 1880s.
07:56Waves of violence that convinced many young Jews there was no safety, no equality,
08:02unless they built a homeland of their own in Palestine.
08:06At that point, Jewish youth split into two camps. Some dreamed of revolution inside Russia,
08:13tearing down the old system and building a just state. Others dreamed of a Jewish homeland in
08:19Palestine, then under British control. Those who chose Palestine began raising money to buy land
08:27and establish the first Jewish settlements. Settlings that decades later would grow into
08:33the state of Israel. Those who chose socialism found themselves in official positions inside the young
08:41Soviet Union. They were literate, organized, and the old Russian bureaucracy had been wiped out
08:47by civil war. For a moment, it seemed as if Jews might finally find a place inside the new system.
08:55But the Soviet economy collapsed again and again under its own laws. And when it did,
09:02ordinary citizens pointed the finger. The Jews are to blame. Waves of anti-Semitism returned,
09:09sometimes quiet, sometimes vicious, but always there. By the late 1940s, many Jews were desperate to
09:19leave the Soviet Union, especially after Israel was found in 1948. But to the Kremlin, this was outrageous.
09:29How could people want to leave the most progressive and happy country in the world? Travel abroad in the
09:35USSR was a mark of privilege. It meant access to goods and luxuries unimaginable for ordinary citizens.
09:42And the idea that Soviet Jews should enjoy that privilege enraged the KGB. So, the state did
09:49everything possible to keep them trapped. Meanwhile, the Jewish lobby in the United States did everything
09:55it could to get them out because Israel desperately needed new citizens after 6 million Jews had been
10:02slaughtered during the Holocaust. Here lies a cruel irony. The USSR actually supported the creation of
10:09Israel in 1948. Why? Because by then, the Cold War was raging and Moscow wanted to strike a blow
10:19against Britain, which still controlled Palestine. But the Israelis had no intention of building socialism.
10:27And the Soviet Union couldn't give them what they truly needed to survive.
10:31Yes, Moscow could send weapons left over from the Second World War, but money to rebuild the nation?
10:37Impossible. The Soviet economy lay in ruins. Its war scorched territories still struggling to recover.
10:45That is why Israel turned to the only power that could provide it a lifeline – the USA.
10:52To the Kremlin, it felt like betrayal. And from that moment, Soviet policy hardened.
11:00At home, the state unleashed a flood of anti-Israel propaganda.
11:05Abroad, it armed and funded every enemy of Israel it could find.
11:10That pattern lasted for decades, and its echoes still shape how millions of people view the Middle East today.
11:21After the Soviet Union abandoned Orthodoxy as its unifying idea, it needed something else.
11:27Something simple, powerful, and impossible to argue against.
11:31Something that would divide the world into us and them at a single glance.
11:38And they found it. Anti-colonialism. It was brilliant.
11:43On the Middle East stage, it played like wildfire.
11:48The narrative united unlikely allies, hardened socialists, and Islamists dreaming of the golden age of Arab
11:56civilization when the Arab world had been the most advanced, literate, and powerful force in the region.
12:03People longed to restore that greatness. Moscow knew exactly what to do.
12:07Gather the enemies of Israel, and therefore of the United States, into one coalition with the USSR at the helm.
12:14Win even one convincing victory.
12:17And you could claim the moral high ground in the eyes of the world community.
12:22But to draw allies in, you needed a story. A narrative so clear, so emotionally charged,
12:28that anyone who supported you instantly became the good guy. And anyone who opposed you, the villain.
12:36The trick was simple. Offer the world a formula. Declare it absolute good. Erase anything that contradicted it as irrelevant.
12:47Anti-colonialism. What could be against it?
12:50And you didn't have to look too closely at the liberators who replaced the colonizers.
12:56Their power struggles. Their corruption. Their cruelty to their own people.
13:01And the aid they siphoned the way into private pockets.
13:06If anyone dared to point that out, the answer was ready.
13:09Oh, so you want these poor nations to remain under the boot of evil colonizers?
13:15And suddenly, there were only two choices on the table.
13:19Oppression by Western colonial powers or oppression by local warlords and corrupt elites bought and paid for by some other
13:29country.
13:30Everything else disappeared from the discussion.
13:33But a narrative? No matter how powerful needs carriers, messengers and Moscow knew where to find them.
13:40In the West, countless intellectuals were hungry for recognition.
13:45Their books barely sold. Their ideas rarely found an audience.
13:50They weren't athletes or actors.
13:53Just clever, restless minds earning for validation and, if we are honest, the attention of beautiful women.
14:00Then, suddenly, they were invited to special events.
14:07Treated with admiration. Told how brilliant, how sensitive, how refined they were.
14:13A mysterious woman appeared, speaking their language with a charming accent.
14:19New connections opened doors. Small publications printed their work.
14:24The pay wasn't huge, but enough to ease the struggle.
14:28They had become part of a circle. A world where they were admired, welcomed and, for once, truly listened to.
14:37And that world opened doors they never imagined.
14:41Invitations to Poland, to Czechoslovakia or even to the mysterious magnetic Russia.
14:48Always under the banner of cultural exchange.
14:51There, they were treated like stars. Lavish dinners. Ballet at the Bolshoi.
14:57Lectures before white-eyed students who looked at them as if they were demigods.
15:03Were they recruited agents? No.
15:06Were they paid by the KGB? Not directly.
15:10They were simply fighting for peace, justice and anti-colonialism.
15:15They defended the narratives of Middle Eastern struggle.
15:18Narratives carefully seeded by respected mentors or sympathetic editors.
15:23Few of them had ever seen the region for themselves.
15:26Fewer still had the time or will to question what was real.
15:31In their world, repeating the right message wasn't just safe. It was virtuous.
15:38A kind of moral badge.
15:40This is good. This is evil.
15:44And if you want to be accepted, respected and heard, you knew what gospel to recite.
15:51They never saw the truth that the entire celebration was paid for by Moscow with money squeezed from the Soviet
15:58people who could barely afford their food and clothing.
16:00But they didn't want to see it because inside their circle, inside their cause, they finally felt what they had
16:10craved all along.
16:12Meaning, recognition and belonging.
16:15Bingo.
16:21The Soviet Union could never hope to outcompete the West in economics.
16:27Its factories produced tanks faster than tractors and its stores had more slogans than winter boots.
16:33But the anti-colonial narrative gave Moscow another weapon.
16:37When Western lenders hesitated to fund Egypt's Aswan High Dam, Khrushchev swept in.
16:44A $100 million credit line.
16:47Thousands of Soviet engineers.
16:50Enough cement to bend the Nile itself.
16:53From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Moscow poured over a billion dollars' worth of bombers,
16:58tanks and rudder systems into Egypt and Syria, paid for not with cash, but with cotton and rice.
17:07Back home, ordinary Soviet citizens lived in obvious poverty, querying for bread and dreaming of basic comforts.
17:15But the elites did not notice.
17:18They were too busy forging alliances meant to show Americans and Israel who was boss.
17:24Meanwhile, in training camps under Moscow's supervision, young Arab militants drilled in guerrilla warfare.
17:31They learned how to handle modern weapons, how to plant explosives and how to fight a war that never ended.
17:38All of it wrapped in the banner of anti-colonial struggle.
17:42But in truth, it wasn't about freedom.
17:45It was about ensuring peace never came.
17:48Because in the Eastern Mediterranean, peace was bad business.
17:51Local rulers learned the lesson quickly.
17:54Present yourself as a threat and you got money, weapons and influence.
17:59Seek compromise.
18:01And you risk being toppled by rivals armed and funded from abroad.
18:05Let's be clear.
18:06Not everything in the Middle East was scripted in Moscow.
18:10The Muslim world had its own rivalries.
18:13Turkey, Iran, the oil kingdoms of the Gulf all had interests and agendas.
18:18But the fact remains.
18:20The Kremlin pushed hard to turn every spark into a fire, every scratch into a wound that never healed.
18:27The Soviet Union backed the Arabs in every war against Israel.
18:31And when that failed to deliver victory, Moscow shifted tactics.
18:36In the second part of the 20th century, literacy rates had soared.
18:41People listened to the radio, watched television and read newspapers.
18:46In democratic countries, public opinion now had the power to shape policy.
18:51So the Kremlin set out to shape that opinion.
18:55Keep the anti-colonial struggle alive.
18:57Stir outrage.
18:59Make sure the Middle East was always a wound the world could not ignore.
19:03Create a world where anger earns social prestige, while compromise costs you everything.
19:10And to sustain this storm, you needed resources.
19:15Money for propaganda.
19:16Bribes for officials.
19:18Salaries for useful activists.
19:21Weapons for fighters.
19:22False passports printed not in back rooms, but on state-owned presses.
19:28And most of all, you needed terror.
19:31Hijackings.
19:32Hostage-takings.
19:33Acts so shocking that Israel was for to strike back.
19:37And every strike deepened the cycle of violence.
19:46If there is one place in the Middle East where Moscow has planted its flag and refused to let go,
19:52it is Syria.
19:53The partnership began in the 1950s.
19:55The Cold War was heating up and Washington was cementing alliances with Turkey, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
20:02Moscow needed a foothold and found it in Damascus.
20:06The Syrian rulers were eager.
20:09They wanted weapons to fight Israel and to strengthen their shaky regime.
20:13The Soviets were happy to provide them.
20:16Tanks rolled off ships in Latakia.
20:19MiGs screamed over desert skies.
20:22Thousands of Syrian officers trained in Soviet academies
20:25while Russian advisors set up bases and camps on Syrian soil.
20:29The relationship deepened after Egypt's answar Sadat broke away from Moscow in the 1970s
20:36and turned to Washington.
20:38Suddenly, Syria was the last Arab ally the Soviet could fully trust.
20:43And trust meant investment.
20:45Billions in arms.
20:47Engineers to build infrastructure.
20:49Secret police trainee.
20:51Another expert the Kremlin specialized in.
20:54For decades, Syria gave Moscow what it craved.
20:57A presence in the eastern Mediterranean.
21:00The Tartars Naval facility opened in 1971 was the jewel in the crown.
21:06Small by Western standards, but symbolically priceless.
21:11Russia's only warm water port outside the Soviet Union.
21:14Then came the collapse of the USSR.
21:18Funding dried up.
21:19Russian ships stopped calling a Tartars.
21:22For a while, it looked like the bond might dissolve.
21:26But history had other plans.
21:29When Syria plunged into civil war in 2011,
21:33Bashar al-Assad was on the verge of collapse.
21:37Western leaders demanded he step down.
21:41Rebel groups closed in on Damascus.
21:44And then, in 2015, Russia intervened.
21:49Its warplanes launched from Kmeimim Airbus near Latakia, striking rebel positions.
21:56Russian advisors helped stabilize Syrian forces.
22:00Putin claimed it was about fighting terrorism.
22:03But the real aim was to save Assad and reassert Russia's role in the region.
22:10But when Russia became bogged down in its full-scale war in Ukraine,
22:15it could no longer support Assad at the same level.
22:19His regime collapsed and the dictator was forced to flee to Moscow.
22:24Today, the positions of Russia's military bases in Syria is precarious.
22:33During the Cold War, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies were everything the Soviet Union despised.
22:39Western aligned, oil rich, deeply religious, and firmly anti-communist.
22:45Moscow backed their enemies, Iraq, Syria, and Nasser's Egypt.
22:50The Gulf states, in turn, pumped oil into global markets and helped drive down prices, weakening the Soviet economy.
22:58But time and desperation change everything.
23:02After the fall of the USSR, Russia no longer had the luxury of picking enemies based on ideology.
23:08It needed partners.
23:10Russia's partnership with OPEC-plus began in 2016 when it joined forces with Saudi Arabia and other producers to stabilize
23:18oil prices after global glut.
23:20The cooperation was historic.
23:22For the first time, a non-OPEC giant aligned with the cartel to manage supply.
23:29Over the years, the alliance known as OPEC-plus has used coordinated production cuts and increases to influence global markets.
23:38Today, amid sanctions and falling revenues from its war in Ukraine, Russia remains deeply reliant on OPEC-plus ties.
23:46But tensions are visible.
23:48In August 2025, the group agreed to a major output increase to regain market share, pushing prices down toward the
23:57mid-$60 and raising questions about whether Russia can meet its quarters while financing its costly war.
24:04When war broke out in Ukraine, many wealthy Russians needed to vanish and fast.
24:09Western sanctions froze their assets, banned flights, and imposed travel restrictions in Europe and America.
24:16But Dubai opened its arms.
24:20Although no official data exists, research suggests that several hundred thousand Russians acquired UAE residency from 2022 to 2024.
24:30Russians have emerged as one of the top nationalities among property buyers, investing billions in residential real estate.
24:40In Dubai's elite districts, Marina Bay, Palm Jumeirah, and downtown, Russians are everywhere.
24:47Chefs launched high-end Russian restaurants.
24:50Private bankers, real estate agents, and crypto consultants scrambled to serve oligarchs, tech entrepreneurs, influencers, and businessmen finding ways around
25:00sanctions.
25:01With the Kremlin floundering in Ukraine, Russia's elites looked to preserve capital, and Dubai became one of the few accessible
25:09lifelines.
25:11If this video opened your eyes, if it helps you understand the hidden threads connecting Russia to today's Middle East,
25:19then please take a moment to like, share, and subscribe.
25:23Your support helps the story reach more people who desperately need to hear it.
25:29And a special note, at the end of this video, you'll see the closing credits featuring all the incredible viewers
25:36who've given my channel a super thanks.
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25:44If you'd like to join them, just click the super thanks button below or buy me a coffee using the
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25:51Thank you for being here, thank you for your curiosity, and remember, the truth is always deeper than the headlines.