Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Putin plays trump card in high-stakes Syria standoff
AFP News ^ | September 12, 2013

Posted on 09/12/2013 5:42:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

After over two years of isolation and vilification as the last significant friend of Bashar al-Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears for now to have played a trump card in the Syrian crisis with a plan for the regime to hand over chemical weapons.

If it works, the plan could offer the West a way out of threatened military strikes as retribution for a chemical attack blamed on the regime and restore Russia's image and regional influence which have been battered throughout the Arab Spring.

Yet Putin will be acutely aware of the risks of the plan backfiring, in particular if the expressions of readiness to implement the plan by Damascus turn out to be an illusion.

Seizing the initiative to promote Russia's position in front of a worldwide audience, Putin took the unusual step Thursday of publishing an op-ed in The New York Times "to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders".

(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Russia; Syria
KEYWORDS: arabspring; leadingfrombehind; putin; putinsyria; syria
Our community organizer is looking unbelievably small.
1 posted on 09/12/2013 5:42:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

2 posted on 09/12/2013 5:44:37 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Meanwhile our media is spending the morning pretending to be offended with what Putin said so we can go back to ignoring Obama’s utter incompetence.


3 posted on 09/12/2013 5:48:42 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Obungles is Putin’s trump card... and a punch line.


4 posted on 09/12/2013 6:04:20 AM PDT by Common Sense 101 (Hey libs... If your theories fly in the face of reality, it's not reality that's wrong.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Me thinks Bambi is beginning to like the spanking and humiliation that Pooty is dealing out.

It probably reminds him of Frank.


5 posted on 09/12/2013 6:50:21 AM PDT by Ceausescu (Put Hillary in a burqa!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer
Our community organizer is looking unbelievably small.

Quite so...


6 posted on 09/12/2013 6:54:37 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (I'm a Christian, pro-life, pro-gun, Reaganite. The GOP hates me. Why should I vote for them?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
Vs.
Why so, Syria - U.S.?
7 posted on 09/12/2013 6:22:15 PM PDT by anymouse (God didn't write this sitcom we call life, he's just the critic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson