Russian involvement in Syrian crisis

[pmaitra]

Putin Just Made US Obsolete in the Middle East
Iran, Iraq, Russia and Syria are taking on ISIS together. What do they need the US for?

Jack Perry | (Lew Rockwell.com) | Russia Insider



Originally appeared at LewRockwell.com

Hark! Hearest thou yonder sound? It is the sound of the United States government becoming OBSOLETE in the Middle East! Check out the news. See that? Now IRAQ is going to cooperate with Russia, Syria, and Iran to defeat ISIS over in Syria. HA HA HA! How do ya like THEM apples, Obama!? Hey, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. I said this could happen last week right here on Lew Rockwell when I said “Iraq might just join the party, too.”

First, Putin went to the UN and rightfully gave the United States a good, swift kick in the keester it has needed for a long time now in regards to this whole “Let’s arm the Syrian moderates!” shindig:

“Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster — and nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life,” Putin said.

“I cannot help asking those who have forced that situation: Do you realize what you have done?”​

Uncle Sam is still rubbing his sore keester from that truth-spanking.

So, now we know Russia, Iran, and Syria are all cooperating and now we also know Iraq HAS, in fact, joined the party! Gosh, and the poor United States now feels left out. Aww…Uncle Sammy wasn’t invited to the party? Now Obama and Kerry have been scrambling, trying to talk to Iran about Syria and Yemen. Iran probably feels like Kerry is trying to invite himself to the soiree and use the old “Iran invited me!” shtick to crash the party. Now here goes Obama saying, “Oh, um, well, we want to cooperate with Russia! Seriously! But, Assad still needs to go, you guys!” Yeah, still trying to save face after all this time, even though there’s egg all over it. Give it up, clowns. You just got outflanked. You lost this chess game for keeps.

The U.S. has NOTHING to show for its efforts with Ye Olde Syrian Moderates that were going to get rid of ISIS and Assad both. A $500 million Pentagon program was supposed to train and equip more than 5,000 fighters, so they said. But what did SecDef Ash Carter tell us? A year later, they had FIFTY guys at the most! Then two weeks ago, it was admitted there were only five left AND their leader defected to al-Qaida and took all the weapons with him. Wow, great work guys! Did they give two weeks notice to HR, or was it just a shock to you? That was a swell use of $500 million American taxpayer dollars! And how come none of those airstrikes ever bore fruit? The Iranians pulled off successful airstrikes using cobbled-together F-4 Phantoms older than some Americans’ grand-dads! Probably because the U.S. airstrikes were dropping bombs on empty desert to look busy. “Hey you guys, look busy! Drop bombs on something!” “What should we bomb, sir?” “How should I know?! I’m going golfing with the president! Now get busy!”

Of course Obama is still sticking to this failed policy of trying to topple Assad even after Putin has thoroughly humiliated him in this chess game. Obama is whining over Assad STILL! You’d think Assad picked on Obama in high school or something! It’s like Obama is sitting there looking at all his chess pieces that got captured by Putin and saying, “Hey! No fair! Do over! I wasn’t looking when you put my king into check there!” Pssst! Hey Obama! Ya might wanna quit while, well, not while you’re ahead, because you’re not. But quit before it gets worse and maybe other countries join Russia because they see the U.S. is incompetent at best and dangerously foolish at worst. As in: Plays with fire kind of dangerously foolish. Iraq was “our guy” and now they just said they found a better deal with Russia. So underneath all of that probably lies a secret—for right now—military alliance between Russia, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. You can be sure the Saudis are already sweating not bullets, but ballistic missiles, as I said in my previous article.

Ahhh…the sweet smell of the fall of the American empire! It smells like…hilarity. For all of thinking it knew best, it sure fell for that one, eyes wide open. Last week, Obama was confident he’d control the talks and make it about Ukraine. Putin said no. It’ll be about Syria. And how! The U.S. just became obsolete in the Middle East. And, what, the Saudis are still our guys? So what! They’re in the hotseat with the rest of the Muslim world over that Hajj stampede. They’re getting sued in international court by Iran. Not to mention lots of people in the Middle East are rather angry about Saudi imperialism in Yemen. The rest of the Arab Gulf States will probably be watching close to see who they want to back in the future. I doubt it will be the United States and Saudi Arabia. The vacuum of people leaving that room will cause whirlwinds all over that region.

So, hey Obama, there’s your legacy! Please, stop whining. You lost a chess match with Putin. That’s what you get for listening to people in the Pentagon who thought it was a tiddlywinks tournament. Say, anyone up for a game of chess? The United States government sure wasn’t.

 

[pmaitra]

Russian Air Force to Begin Airstrikes Over Syria

According to a military source in the Latakia Governorate, the Russian Air Force has positioned themselves to begin airstrikes in a number of Syrian provinces, including Deir Ezzor, Al-Hasakah, Aleppo, Homs, and Al-Raqqa; these are the same provinces that the U.S. led “Anti-ISIS Coalition” are currently bombarding.

Russia to Coordinate with the Iraqi Armed Forces to Strike ISIS

Syria was the first to accept the Russians offer of military assistance against ISIS and now, the Iraqi Government has called upon Russia to fulfill this militaristic endeavor that includes the destruction of the terrorist group and the restoration of their sovereignty.

The U.S. led “Anti-ISIS Coalition” has been ineffective in obstructing the growth of the terrorist group in both Syria and Iraq; but this has not stopped the Iraqi Armed Forces from recapturing large chunks of territory, while the foreign air forces bombarding ISIS take credit for their progress.

 

[SajeevJino]

spetnaz dont show there face but they will put there pics in the social media . nows thats pallywood in action .

Who told you ..they were Spetsnnaz Operatives ..

 

[Cadian]

16:07:08

Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation have begun precision strikes on the positions of the terrorist group "Islamic State" in Syria. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said to journalists in Moscow.

http://tass.ru/politika/2304769

 

[jouni]

Looks like Russian economy is going down even faster than expected: the need to foreign policy victories is acute. Vladimir, you got 18 months before money runs out, those babushkas are not gonna be happy when pensions stop coming. Meanwhile have fun.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...i-fm-russia-will-fail-to-save-assad/73065696/

Saudi fm claims Russia will fail to save Assad

 

[Yumdoot]

Ok one question - Who is the Banker?
Ok two questions - Who is the last person the Banker is going to see before he says, he quits?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Russian Airstrikes In Syria Devastated Rebel-Held Areas
NATO says Russia made 'no real effort' to go after ISIS.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ted-rebel-held-areas_560c3cdfe4b0dd85030a6cdc

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/w...ussia-targets-them-rather-than-isis.html?_r=0

Syrian Rebels say Russia targets them rather than ISIS

 

[pmaitra]

Aha, NATO concerned that Russia is targeting the liver eaters? Well, they would have defected to ISIS anyway. Neither are good guys.

Go Russia!

Excerpt from the NY Times report above:

Among the areas hit was the base of a group that had been supported and supplied by the United States and its allies, said its leader, Jamil Saleh. He said the group’s base had been hit severely in Hama Province, wounding eight of his men. Later on Wednesday, American officials confirmed that some groups supported by the United States had been hit.

“We are on the front lines with Bashar al-Assad’s army,” said Mr. Saleh, whose group has recently posted videos of its fighters using sophisticated American-made TOW missiles to destroy government tanks. “We are moderate Syrian rebels and have no affiliation with ISIS. ISIS is at least 100 kilometers away from where we are.”

 

[LETHALFORCE]

There seems to different definitions of terrorists by Russia and USA. Same as the taliban flip flop good terrorist bad terrorist.
These are face saving measures. Obama has been the biggest disaster In US foreign policy. Assad has proven himself to be a tough adversary. Resisting designs by NATO, Saudi and Israel to overthrow him. A major embarrassment for major powers in the middle east.

 

[pmaitra]

There seems to different definitions of terrorists by Russia and USA. Same as the taliban flip flop good terrorist bad terrorist.
These are face saving measures. Obama has been the biggest disaster In US foreign policy. Assad has proven himself to be a tough adversary. Resisting designs by NATO, Saudi and Israel to overthrow him. A major embarrassment for war mongers in the middle east.

In the NYT article, here is a comment that says the same thing:

Judyw
cumberland, MD 7 minutes ago
Putin takes the view that all rebels are terrorists and all terrorists are bad. The US has the view that it can distinguish between good rebels and bad rebels - yet it can only 4-5 men to help create some sort of army.

The US claims that those killed by Russian planes were US allies. Yet we really did little to arm them and I doubt no one ever bother to talk to their leader. So I am not sure we can trust the US opinion of this group.

Even if we would by some miracle destroy ISIS - we would then end up having another civil war among all those "moderate" rebels. The US view of these rebels is naïve - Russia is right to have no illusions about them.

It was asked to help by the legitimate government of Syria and thus it is quite right to attack the enemies of the legitimate government. The ultimate end of the civil war is still a long way down the road unless a decision is made to partition the country.

This one reiterates Donald Trump:

Don
USA 7 minutes ago

Putin quickly sized up Obama when they first met and has no respect for or fear of him.

This assessment was confirmed by Obama's actions since becoming president. All Americans will pay the consequences.

• Reply
  
• 1Recommend

And this one speaks my mind about the Wahhabis:

P Lewis
Chicago, IL 7 minutes ago

There are no moderate rebels. They are just rebels on the Saudi, Turkish and Qatari payroll who pretend to be the nice face for the terrible Al-Nusra and other Al Qaeda based rebel terrorists. Good riddance to all of them. Thank God for the Russians and curse the American administrations (both Democrat and Republican) that are aligned with the evil Wahabis!

Edited to add another comment that I just chanced upon:

P. J. Brown
Oak Park Heights, MN 14 minutes ago

Thank you for your reporting on Russia's first day of bombing in Syria. The graphic you included of 8,871 civilians killed does not fit with this article. It is purposely misleading propaganda. Please give your readers more credit than to think they will fall for this. Those of us who are old enough remember this type of journalism from 1960s. Readers who lived through the media's promotion of the Iraq war will recognize it too. Try to maintain some credibility as a news source, just the facts please. Leave government propaganda to the politicians.

 

[pmaitra]

@LETHALFORCE, just added another comment in the post above; noticed that you had already given a like before I edited the post.

Edit: Moved the post below.

 

[pmaitra]

Moved to new post. This another comment that I just chanced upon:

P. J. Brown
Oak Park Heights, MN 14 minutes ago

Thank you for your reporting on Russia's first day of bombing in Syria. The graphic you included of 8,871 civilians killed does not fit with this article. It is purposely misleading propaganda. Please give your readers more credit than to think they will fall for this. Those of us who are old enough remember this type of journalism from 1960s. Readers who lived through the media's promotion of the Iraq war will recognize it too. Try to maintain some credibility as a news source, just the facts please. Leave government propaganda to the politicians.

Simon
Tampa 14 minutes ago

Since our government and the Saudis decided to overthrow the Assad government, Anne Bernard has churned out some embarrassing pieces of propaganda, but this one takes the prize. These so-called rebels who are crying on her shoulder and whose cause she is advocating are “moderates?” Notice he says that ISIS is far away, but there is no mention that he and his fellow Sunni extremists are allied with Al Qaeda. Remember them? They are the ones who flew those planes into buildings on 9/11.

Also, these are the same Sunni extremists who sold Anne Bernard’s fellow journalists and Western aid workers to ISIS for money, but I guess since she is safely reporting from Beirut, this does not matter to her same way it does not matter to her that these same Sunni extremists have been butchering Christians and other religious minorities or that they happily hand over their weapons to Al Qaeda.

These Sunni extremists’ threats to the Russians remind me about the leak conversation between Putin and the House of Saud before the Olympics in the Saudis promised to keep the Olympics safe from terrorism in exchange for him dropping his support of Assad. See how that turned out?

I empathize with the innocents being killed by us, our allies, and the Russians, but I am not crying for these Sunni extremists. They are getting exactly what they deserve. Since our government won't stomp them into the ground, with some luck the Russians will take them all out.

Thinker
Northern California 14 minutes ago

I think we all agree ISIS is the main target here. Most of us also acknowledge that:

1. Assad is fighting against ISIS.

2. The so-called "moderate rebels" are fighting against Assad and NOT fighting against ISIS if they can avoid it (indeed, one "moderate rebel" leader mentions in this article that he's 100 kilometers away from ISIS).

Therefore, while a bomb dropped directly onto ISIS may be more effective, a bomb dropped on the enemies of someone else who's fighting ISIS can be effective too.

In Russia's view -- which makes good sense to me, frankly – the enemy of my friend is my enemy, especially when my friend (Assad) is fighting against the REAL enemy (ISIS) and my friend's enemies are making it more difficult for him to do that.

 

[pmaitra]

RI’s Alexander Mercouris Analyses Russian Airstrikes for RT (Video)
He's sure US was well-informed in advance of the strikes

Russia Insider

 

[pmaitra]

BREAKING: Russian Planes Strike ISIS in Syria - Defense Ministry
At the request of Syria government

(TASS - Russian news agency) | Russia Insider


Direct intervention has begun

MOSCOW, September 30 (TASS) - Russia’s Aerospace Forces planes have started dealing pinpoint strikes against the positions of the Islamic State group in Syria, outlawed in Russia as terrorist, Major-General Igor Konashenkov has told the media.

“In accordance with a decision by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin Russian Aerospace Forces planes on Wednesday started an operation to deal pinpoint strikes against ground targets of the IS terrorist group in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said.

“The Russian Defense Minister, General of the Army Sergey Shoigu has told his counterparts in the Collective Security Treaty Organization that in the course of the military operation in Syria Russian warplanes have been attacking military equipment, communication centers, motor vehicles, and munitions and fuel and lubricants depots of the Islamic State terrorists.

The upper house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday empowered the Russian president to use Russian military outside the national territory.

As the chief of the presidential staff Sergey Ivanov explained, the air operation was to be launched against the Islamic State in Syria at the request of Syria’s president Bashar Assad.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would not be involved in operations on the ground.

 

[pmaitra]

EXCLUSIVE! First Footage of Russian Planes Bombing ISIS Positions
ISIl fighters yell “Allahu Akbar” as all hell breaks loose

Russia Insider

 

[pmaitra]

Piers Morgan: “Putin is Right and Obama is Wrong on Syria”
Morgan is the epitome of the ass-kissing apple polisher done well as journalist, so ignore his obligatory Putin bashing at the beginning, it is aimed at keeping his neocon bosses happy.

What he says after the first few lines is interesting, also the bit about Bill Clinton's insights at the end.

He says he finds Putin repellent. Funny, that's what a lot of people think of you, Piers

Russia Insider


Even this neocon pump-boy gets it

Vladimir Putin is a monstrous, ruthless, power-hungry political and military assassin.

Let me get that off my chest immediately.

I find much of what this former KGB agent does on behalf of the Russian people self-servingly repellent.

But when it comes to leadership, he makes Barack Obama look like a naïve, timid schoolboy.

And on the specific issue of ISIS and how to stop the terror group’s surge through Syria, he’s right and Obama’s wrong.

Today, Putin won authorisation from the Russian parliament to throw his full military weight behind Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, and launch immediate air strikes in Syria against the Islamic State.
He’s decided the time for jaw-jawing about ISIS is over; it’s time to properly war-war.

Ostensibly, this decision was made to protect ‘Russia’s national interest.’

But in reality, it will protect many other national interests too, including America’s and Britain’s.

I was all in favour of taking out Assad when the Syrian crisis first erupted five years ago.

Like Saddam. Mubarak and Gaddafi, he appeared to be a dinosaur despot eeking out the last vestiges of tyrannical power in a country which, as so much of the Middle East, seemed to crave freedom and democracy.

Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people, many of them women and children, was a disgusting abomination which comfortably crossed President Obama’s infamous ‘red line’.

But Obama cried wolf and did nothing, an act of shocking cowardice which has now come back to haunt him and America.

The overthrow of so many dictators, far from bringing peace and harmony, has simply created a chaotic, violent vacuum through which ISIS has emerged like a fast-mutating virulent virus.

The rebels who won so much sympathy and support in Syria at the start are not the ‘rebels’ we see now.

The new Syrian rebel army has become a hotbed of terrorism, much of it governed by ISIS.

The good guys are now the bad guys, and the bad guys suddenly don’t seem quite so bad by comparison.

It’s a hideously complex and difficult problem for which there is no simple solution.

But the primary job of any world leader is to defend his or her people, and to do so with a clarity of vision and policy.

Frankly, I haven’t got a clue what Obama’s plan is for Syria or ISIS.

As always, he talks a good game, constantly telling us that we can’t beat ISIS with guns, we have to beat them with ideas.

But sometimes in life, guns are the only answer. And I say that as someone whose opinion of guns is fairly well documented.

ISIS leaders have no interest in negotiating any settlement. They want to nuke all we infidels into the ether. Their thirst for blood and mayhem knows no apparent limits, and their power and membership grows daily.

Hitler was never going to be beaten with ideas. He had to be beaten with guns, tanks, planes and battleships.

ISIS is not the IRA, nor even Hezbollah. Its leaders have no interest in negotiating any settlement.

They want to nuke all we infidels into the ether.

Their barbaric thirst for blood and mayhem knows no apparent limits, and their power and membership grows daily.

ISIS thus threatens every one of us.

But Obama seems utterly neutered on how to arrest their charge, muttering meaningless platitudes and putting on his best ‘We have to do something, folks’ face.

Putin is no such shrinking violet.

He understands the very real menace ISIS poses and he knows how best to deal with it.

A couple of years ago, I got talking to President Bill Clinton at a small cocktail party in New York and asked him about his relationship with Putin.

Putin may be loathsome, and so is Assad. But they're better than ISIS and less of a danger to world peace
They didn’t cross over as world leaders for very long, but it was enough for Clinton to deliver a pretty good insight into what oils the Russian leader’s wheels.

‘Putin’s very smart,’ Clinton said. ‘And he’s a hard man, a very hard man. But he respects strength. We used to kick everyone out of the room, then go at it with each other. And I mean GO at it! Things would get brutally blunt in there. But we’d get stuff done and agree on things. I think the right strategy with someone like him is to be brutally honest with private, and then, if you want them to help you, try to avoid embarrassing them in public.’

‘Did Putin ever renege on a personal agreement with you?’ I asked.

‘No, he did not.’

‘So he could be trusted?’

‘He kept his word on all the deals we made. But it’s not necessary to trust somebody to take them up on a good offer. You hope for the best and prepare for the worst in this business.’

It was a fascinating insight into diplomacy from one of the world’s greatest exponents of the art.

And one worth bearing in mind as Putin goes into battle with ISIS.

He may be loathsome. So is Assad.

But they’re not as loathsome as ISIS, nor are they as big a current danger to world peace.

Vladimir Putin has backed the right horse in a deeply flawed field, and deserves our support as he puts ISIS to the Russian military sword and seeks to vanquish this vile, devastating mutual enemy.

If he’s successful, he will deserve our deep gratitude too, however much that sticks in our gullets.

__________________________________________________________

Commentary: It is disappointing to see this man praise Putin.

 

[Akim]

The loss of the civilian population if air strikes are inevitable.The Americans killed hundreds of Syrian civilians. However, Russia hasa great experience of bombing civilians: from Nagorno-Karabakh and Tajikistan to the Snizhne(Ukraine).

 

[Cadian]

The loss of the civilian population if air strikes are inevitable.The Americans killed hundreds of Syrian civilians. However, Russia hasa great experience of bombing civilians: from Nagorno-Karabakh and Tajikistan to the Snizhne(Ukraine).

Lol, Ukrainians live in their own reality. I still can't get used to it.

I just have to admit, that in actual reality, Russian Air Forces has never taken part in Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan or Donbass conflicts.

Hey @Akim, tell me, where this footage is from?