Posted on 02/11/2016 12:36:57 PM PST by Trumpinator
Thu Feb 11, 2016 2:40pm EST
Russia raises spectre of permanent or 'world war' if Syria talks fail
MUNICH | By John Irish
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev raised the spectre of a permanent or a world war if powers failed to negotiate an end to the conflict in Syria and warned against any ground operations by U.S. and Arab forces.
Medvedev, speaking to Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper on the eve of a security conference in Munich, said the United States and Russia must exert pressure on all sides in the conflict to secure a ceasefire.
Asked about Saudi Arabia's offer last week to supply ground troops if a U.S.-led operation were mounted against Islamic State, he said:
"This is bad as a ground offensive usually turns the war into a permanent one. Just look at what happened in Afghanistan and many other countries. I don't need to remind you what happened in poor Libya."
"The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war?" It would be impossible to win such a war quickly, he said according to a German translation of his words, "especially in the Arab world, where everybody is fighting against everybody".
"All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table instead of unleashing a new world war."
...snip...
"You have no one power that can act alone," Medvedev said. "You have Assad and his troops on one side and some grouping, which is fighting against the government on the other side. It is all very complicated. It could last years or even decades. What's the point of this?"
(This version of the story was refiled to change byline)
(Reporting by John Irish, reporting by Joseph Nasr; editing by Ralph Boulton)
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Nice and our own village idiot lit the match which led to this point.
I won’t side with our govt if they help those linked to al-Qaeda and that is all of Syria’s rebels.
We’re in a permanent war now. We have been since before 9/11 - but took that day for everyone to realize the threat.
It’s a low intensity conflict that spans the globe - everywhere from Syria to Buenos Aires to the Phillipine jungles.
This war won’t end in our lifetimes.
I don’t know if we can defeat this enemy but we should sure as hell do everything to minimize their power to hurt us.
You mean like we had from 1945 until 1991?
This is a hallow threat. Wars cost money and the various conflicts Russia is in must be having an effect on their economy. When it reaches a tipping point, Putin will be replaced and peace will, of necessity, be declared.
You make a good point; Putin is pushing the Russian armed forces for a quick military victory, and is also pushing for a quick diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict because of the effect on his economy.
The whole Syrian war was about the Saudis and Gulf Emirates building a gas pipeline to Europe to break the Russian monopoly on European gas supplies. The Russian support of Assad, aside from their historical interest in Syria, is to block that pipeline. Part of the war is economic; the Saudis are flooding with world with cheap oil to break Russia’s oil-driven export economy.
Putin needs a quick victory in Syria; he gets the Saudis to realize there will be no gas pipeline before Russia goes broke. Then the Saudis reduce oil production to a “normal” level and drive the price back up. The Saudis also have an interest in driving the oil price back up, as they are also losing money in this war. They just had more cash on hand than Russia did when it started.
The real question is whether Russia can win a military victory before it runs out of money, and/or whether they can convince the Saudis to give write off the loss and go back to making money off the oil they have.
Meanwhile, while these powers are playing an international chess game, our president sits in a corner and plays with himself.
Read the article. He didn’t threaten world war. He said that what the Russians are doing from the air is the only way to make headway. He said that if the US and Saudis decide to fight a ground war it will turn everything into a mess like Libya that drags on for years. Turning it into an endless world war.
The headline is a little misleading.
“”This is bad as a ground offensive usually turns the war into a permanent one. Just look at what happened in Afghanistan and many other countries. I don’t need to remind you what happened in poor Libya.”
“The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war?” It would be impossible to win such a war quickly, he said according to a German translation of his words, “especially in the Arab world, where everybody is fighting against everybody”.”
“The whole Syrian war was about the Saudis and Gulf Emirates building a gas pipeline to Europe to break the Russian monopoly on European gas supplies.”
So Saudi Arabia and the EU banksters unleashed this misery,,,, to build a pipeline. I think also to spread wahabbism. Very disgusting.
with help from the VI running for his job ...
More like 628 AD-1500 AD ...
When that dumbass Kerry went before Congress to ask for authority to bomb that evil dastardly Assad, when it was such an urgent need to act immediately, he let the cat out of the bag. He was asked “How will we pay for this?” His reply was that the Saudis would pick up the tab.
Since when did the Saudis give a damn about their neighbors’ human rights record? Nope, it was an investment. The pipeline is the return on that investment.
-The real question is whether Russia can win a military victory before it runs out of money, and/or whether they can convince the Saudis to give write off the loss and go back to making money off the oil they have.-
Without that pipeline to the Mediterranean the Saudis will be in a much worse position when Iran goes nuclear. Iran has a huge portion of their military in positions to block the Persian Gulf. Iran had an estimated 30-50 thousand mines in warehouses ready to deploy to block Saudi Arabia in. The Saudi oil war was supposed to break Iran-s back. But Obama rescued Iran. So, to put it mildly, Saudi Arabia is screwed. They have little else they can do now except go to war directly to topple Assad so they can have their pipeline.
I have to think, though, that Saudi Arabia would lose eventually even if by some miracle they or their proxies took Syria. A long pipeline would be easy to sabotage. Also, I suspect Saudi Arabia-s military may look good but is actually almost useless. It is, essentially, a huge palace guard mostly lead by posers with connections.
I saw that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain (a Gulf gas exporter) was considering sending in contingents of ground troops to support the anti-Assad forces.
I have to admit that 0bama inherited a precarious situation in the middle east. However, he made it soooooo much worse. He went out of his way to deliberately make it worse. Of all the powers looking for some sort of stability, it’s Russia in conjunction with Egypt. Even the Israelis have approached Russia looking to cut some sort of deal.
What benefit would come from the Saudis and Turks calling their sons in ISIS and making them put on uniforms?
“He was asked “How will we pay for this?” His reply was that the Saudis would pick up the tab.”
Nice catch.
They’ve got to understand that we’re waiting out our rainbow warrior prez, so nothing is happening this year.
If we let him negotiate anything, we’d be screwed. Maybe Congress can stall him, if nothing else.
“Russian air strikes are targeting mosques in Syria”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/11/russian-air-strikes-targeting-mosques-syria/80248060/#
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