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Analysis

The Takeaway: Russia, Israel weigh consequences of fallout in ties over Ukraine 

Dmitiri Simes has the take from Moscow, Ben Caspit the scoop from Jerusalem; Hamas opens terrorist front inside Israel; skepticism over Assad’s refugee strategy; does Egypt’s national dialogue include Brotherhood?; Israel’s psychedelic nasal spray.

Putin Erdogan
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi on Sept. 29, 2021. — VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The lead: ‘Few illusions about Erdogan’ in Moscow 

The mood in Russia about the Ukraine war is "much less pessimistic" than Western media may be reporting, says Dimitri Simes, one of the top American experts on Russia, president and CEO of the Center for the National Interest, and publisher of its foreign policy magazine, The National Interest. 

Simes, who was born in Moscow and speaks fluent Russian, spent more than two weeks in Russia meeting and talking with the country’s leaders and citizens. 

Some of his observations from Moscow: 

  • The mood in Russia is "much less pessimistic" than accounts in Western media. 

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