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Endgame: Putin Plans To Strike ISIS With Or Without The U.S.
On Sunday, we noted that Washington’s strategy in Syria has now officially unravelled.
John Kerry, speaking from London following talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, essentially admitted over the weekend that Russia’s move to bolster the Assad regime at Latakia effectively means that the timing of Assad’s exit is now completely indeterminate. Here’s how we summed up the situation:
Moscow, realizing that instead of undertaking an earnest effort to fight terror in Syria, the US had simply adopted a containment strategy for ISIS while holding the group up to the public as the boogeyman par excellence, publicly invited Washington to join Russia in a once-and-for-all push to wipe Islamic State from the face of the earth. Of course The Kremlin knew the US wanted no such thing until Assad was gone, but by extending the invitation, Putin had literally called Washington’s bluff, forcing The White House to either admit that this isn’t about ISIS at all, or else join Russia in fighting them. The genius of that move is that if Washington does indeed coordinate its efforts to fight ISIS with Moscow, the US will be fighting to stabilize the very regime it sought to oust.
Revelations (which surprised no one but the Pentagon apparently) that Moscow is coordinating its efforts in Syria with Tehran only serve to reinforce the contention that Assad isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and the US will either be forced to aid in the effort to destroy the very same Sunni extremists that it in some cases worked very hard to support, or else admit that countering Russia and supporting Washington’s regional allies in their efforts to remove Assad takes precedence over eliminating ISIS. Because the latter option is untenable for obvious reasons, Washington has a very real problem on its hands - and Vladimir Putin just made it worse.
As Bloomberg reports, The Kremlin is prepared to launch unilateral strikes against ISIS targets if the US is unwilling to cooperate. Here’s more:
President Vladimir Putin, determined to strengthen Russia’s only military outpost in the Middle East, is preparing to launch unilateral airstrikes against Islamic State from inside Syria if the U.S. rejects his proposal to join forces, two people familiar with the matter said.
Putin’s preferred course of action, though, is for America and its allies to agree to coordinate their campaign against the terrorist group with Russia, Iran and the Syrian army, which the Obama administration has so far resisted, according to a person close to the Kremlin and an adviser to the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
Russian diplomacy has shifted into overdrive as Putin seeks to avoid the collapse of the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally who’s fighting both a 4 1/2 year civil war and Sunni extremists under the banner of Islamic State. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow for talks with Putin on Monday, followed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
Putin’s proposal, which Russia has communicated to the U.S., calls for a “parallel track” of joint military action accompanied by a political transition away from Assad, a key U.S. demand, according to a third person. The initiative will be the centerpiece of Putin’s one-day trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 28, which may include talks with President Barack Obama.
“Russia is hoping common sense will prevail and Obama takes Putin’s outstretched hand,” said Elena Suponina, a senior Middle East analyst at the Institute of Strategic Studies, which advises the Kremlin. “But Putin will act anyway if this doesn’t happen.”
And that, as they say, it that. Checkmate.
The four-year effort to oust Assad by first supporting and then tolerating the rise of Sunni extremists (presaged in a leaked diplomatic cable) has failed and the Kremlin has officially served a burn notice on a former CIA “strategic asset.”
There are two things to note here.
First, Russia of course is fully aware that the US has never had any intention of eradicating ISIS completely. As recently as last week, Moscow’s allies in Tehran specifically accused Washington of pursuing nothing more than a containment policy as it relates to ISIS, as allowing the group to continue to operate in Syria ensures that the Assad regime remains under pressure.
Second, even if Russia does agree to some manner of managed transition away from Assad, you can be absolutely sure that Moscow is not going to risk the lives of its soldiers (not to mention its international reputation) only to have the US dictate what Syria’s new government looks like and indeed, Tehran will have absolutely nothing of a regime that doesn’t perpetuate the existing Mid-East balance of power which depends upon Syria not falling to the West. Additionally - and this is also critical - Russia will of course be keen on ensuring that whoever comes after Assad looks after Russia’s interests at its naval base at Tartus. This means that even if the US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are forced to publicly support a managed transition, Washington, Riyadh, and Doha will privately be extremely disappointed with the outcome which begs the following question: what will be the next strategy to oust Assad and will it be accompanied by something even worse than a four-year-old bloody civil war and the creation of a band of black flag-waving militants bent on re-establishing a medieval caliphate?
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That's true.
Ain't that how we do it?
And according to the Islamic cult, the Russkis, and the US Air Force; or everybody with a bomber, there is no such thing as "civilian" when bombing.
Course the Western bombers will drop leaflets for 5 days advising,in English, the civilians to leave.
So there is that paradigm in the mix.
I hope Putin reams ISIS - and then leaves that little bitch Obama bleeding by the side of the road of history.
In normal country there is always alternative for current president. For Russia - there is not. So this ex-KGB criminal is at power for more than 15 years. Any real opposition in Russia is jailed or simply not allowed to take part in elections using different kind of excuses.
'No Putin, No Russia,' Says Kremlin Deputy Chief of StaffThat is banana state not a country.
What do you care, asswipe? It has nothing to do with you.
I suppose you want Russia to be a shithole like the USA where the elections are a farce and all the candidates are puppets of the Zionists in charge.
Hmm. Alinsky rule #5.
Disrespect a honored tenet with 1 smidgen of truth and 3 smidgens of hyperbole and the enemy will never figure out they cain't figure it out.
Educational.
Thanks, kudos, and as Jebito would say on SIN, Salud.
Message I was in Riga last year. All that city has is drug addicts and prostitutes and faggots.
pig will always find mud :D / It's about you/
For others.. well let's check TOP 10 cities:
http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/prettiest-european-city/
prettiest trolls maybe..
otherwise this is bs...
Yes for you, life in Latvia would be terrible - better never come here :D (we won't miss you)
https://youtu.be/CaDOXx8rFUo
So.
So is times square and fishermans wharf.
What's the problem?
The Russians don't want an alternative as anyone else would be inferior and wouldn't serve their interests as well as Putin does.
As for "normal" countries - I'd rather take a thousand years under leaders like Putin than be given the Red/Blue poison pill.
Fuck the Zios "alternative" government model.
And it's the US that is rapidly turning into the banana state, not Russia.
" wouldn't serve their interests as well as Putin does"
Is this in intest of Russian people?
Well, when Putin deals with the West, he must be thinking he's playing with kids... Also, the best people on the planet are the Russians and the Dutch, so there....
Any yet again, the Polish paper hanger welcomes the syndicate boss.
Not that I'm a Putin fan but why not? It's not like America doesn't unilaterally do what they want when it fits their objectives.
Well damn.
I'm gonna have to get out my risk game to figure out all this Red is Red, White, and Blue, Wiped ain't wiped, Racism is and Racism isn't, da Pope loves socialism and other isms, but not when it's Captilism, Carly wasn't but now is, the Donald is but now wasn't, Faux News was and forever was, SS was a savings account but now is a entitlement, I could keep my doctor but cain't, Universal health care ain't but single payer is, Shutdowns didn't but now did, 0 is but that doesn't matter because: clock, Boner will survive but not with Republican votes, dim haters and racists are out but still in, upside is now -23, surge is trickle and trickle is now plunge, white is bad, black is badder unless it't gooder, 18 trillions and holding debt is but whatever is after trillions in derivatives isn't....
Like that great American said:"The future ain't what it used to be" and "It's less filling than it woulda been if it was more filling than they didn't want it to be"
Yogi would've understood, once he did some thinking on it.
The US is a corrupt bankrupt banana republic. All the Orwellian speak and wars etc are to just distract its people and hide this fact from them, courtesy of criminal families like Bush and Clinton, Obola and their Zio bed fellows Rockerfeller, Rothschild etc.
In a country that fucked no wonder it makes your head spin.
I star with this: { http://bit.ly/1MgUyTk } Defense against the Psychopath..
How Psychopaths operate and how to deal with them:
As humans, we need to confront this threat and DEAL with it.
We need to remember that cooperating with evil, on ANY level, is a MISTAKE and it will ultimately come back to bite you.
So why we spend so much ink and time to explain how to American (Predatory) Capitalism works?!
When relationship with reptilian host is killing us…
Good Luck, us HUMANS!!!
Why is this a problem? This is a dream scenario for the US.
We could just walk away and say "we are outta here!" and let ISIS and the crazies go after Russia for a change, since they will be directly bombing ISIS. Russia would replace the USA as enemy #1 of ISIS, and Iran and the Sunnis can battle it out.... which is what this has all been about for 1000 years. We keep thinking this is about The West. What crap. It's about Sunnis and Shiites.
I say this is fantastic, if we play it right.
PS- this also means Russia is now in a 2-front war, one in Ukraine and one in Syria. Good for them.
US created, funded, and supported al Qaeda in Afghanistan
to fight Russia.
US created, funded, trained, and supported ISIS in Jordan
to fight Russia.
US destroyed Libya and murdered Gaddafi
in large part to obtain his weapons which US
then shipped (along with its terrorist mercenaries
used in Libya) from Benghazi via Turkey to Syria
to support its ISIS and al Qaeda forces, for the
purpose of defeating Assad and eliminating
Russia's strategic interests in Syria.
Anyone who believes that US and, through its "allies"
have not been, and are not, funding and supporting ISIS
with military intelligence and weapons,
either directly or indirectly or by proxy throughout
the conflict in Iraq and Syria is delusional.
US' most recent strategy of maintining
hegemonic world dominance has been by employing
proxy terrorism.
In large part the US military "defense" budget
(profiteering) is directed to supplying weapons
to various nations in support of this strategy
of proxy terrorism. US furthers this strategy of
military proxy terrorism by a parallel strategy
of overt economic terrorism as well as covert
operations via the CIA, waged against both
foe and "ally" alike