Posted on 09/11/2015 9:36:35 AM PDT by Trumpinator
Russia Calls on Other Nations to Help Arm Syrian Government
By nataliya vasilyeva, associated press
MOSCOW — Sep 11, 2015, 11:53 AM ET
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday called on world powers to help arm the Syrian army, describing it as the most efficient force against the Islamic State group.
...snip...
You cannot defeat Islamic State with air strikes only," Lavrov said. "It's necessary to cooperate with ground troops and the Syrian army is the most efficient and powerful ground force to fight the IS."
Lavrov insisted that by sending weapons to Syria, Russia is not propping up Assad but is contributing to defeating Islamic State fighters.
"I can only say once again that our servicemen and military experts are there to service Russian military hardware, to assist the Syrian army in using this hardware," he said at a news conference in Moscow. "And we will continue to supply it to the Syrian government in order to ensure its proper combat readiness in its fight against terrorism."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
How about we arm the Ukrainian government instead?
You do realize you’re fighting the last war, don’t you? If Christian civilization is going to survive, we’re going to need to cooperate with the Russians, not continue the military/diplomatic equivalents of poking them in the eyes that we’ve been engaged in since Clinton’s Balkan adventures.
There is no way to shut down ISIS without helping Syria.
Our great idea to take down Syria was to build a jihadi army, which turned out to be a disaster.
In Afghanistan, we attached special forces guys to direct the Northern Alliance. Here, we just armed the jihadis and turned them loose. So they did what they love to do best, which is slaughtering Christians.
Obama wanted a small footprint and created a monster.
Now to undo the harm, we find ourselves with a schizophrenic policy, helping Iran fight the jihadis in Iraq, and helping the jihadis in Syria. Apparently. Meanwhile the refugees are pouring out by the hundreds of thousands. Which, I think, if you are Qatar or Obama may just be a feature, not a bug as they say. It fulfills other policy goals as it spreads the caliphate into Europe.
If you are Qatar or the Turks, this is a cost-free policy. To change their opinion you have to make them bear the human cost by dumping the refugees on their doorstep.
IF they are killing ISIS, arming them is probably OK. The Russian can arm the Syrians. We should arm the Kurds - and fly CAPs to shoot down any Turkish aircraft trying to bomb them.
The Russians, who are not our friends, are the only ones fighting the war we should be fighting on the side we should be supporting.
Thanks to 53% of the American electorate, we are screwed.
Arming the Kurds has failed - not because the Kurds are bad - they are great - but the Turks and everyone else does not want a Kurdistan taking shape. Turkey is bombing Kurds instead of ISIL.
The reason the Ukranian govt in Kiev is using militias that are mostly privately funded is because the Ukrainian army proper would probably join the Russian side if given half the chance. The rest would sell the arms on the black market (those are the smart ones who should run that country).
Most of the Ukrainian navy did that. The rest are stuck in port because if they venture out they would probably head to the Russian side.
Just like in Syria where American arms to our guys ends up in ISIS hands so too in the Ukraine where it would probbaly arm the pro Russian side.
I was being a bit snide.
However, that said, I don’t see Russia as Christian, so I don’t see Russia as a templar of Christian civilisation.
Russia is just...Russia.
Often drunk, often loud, rarely all that dangerous.
It's either that, or the US Army. Or the Russian Army.
Seems to me this is the only way out of a very bad situation.
This is the fault of Obama and his state dept that made all those pompous and self righteous proclamations and wedded themselves to this fictional freedom loving “free Syrian army” alternative to oust Assad. Assad, by hanging on proved the Free Syrian Army that fought for western like values was a myth. But now no one in the State Dept can bee seen walking back their pompous self righteous statements. The State Dept was operating under politician rules where they say stuff for an audience vs diplomat rules.
The monasteries are full, the Patriarch of Moscow has great influence over social policy, and even intervention in Syria is in keeping with Russia’s traditional role in Tsarist times of being the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Middle East (mostly done by forcing concessions from the Ottomans back in the day).
Russia has a lot of “Christendom,” but little genuine Bible religion.
There’s no more hope for “Christian civilisation” in Russia than there is from the United States.
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.