Posted on 11/22/2015 4:12:20 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Don’t expect the U.S. and Russia to sit around a campfire singing kumbaya anytime soon. Both countries are escalating the war of words over who’s to blame for there being no grand coalition to fight ISIS in the Middle East. First, President Barack Obama told reporters in Malaysia that Russia needs to accept the fact the U.S. won’t agree to any political agreement on the Syrian civil war which keeps Bashar Assad as president. Via Bloomberg.
“It is not conceivable that Mr. Assad can regain legitimacy in a country in which a large majority of that country despises Assad, and will not stop fighting so long as he's in power…Russia has not officially committed to a transition of Assad moving out but they did agree to a political transition process. And I think we’ll find out over the next several weeks whether or not we can bring about that change in perspective with the Russians.â€
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wasn’t a big fan of Obama’s comments and blamed the U.S. for having policies which allowed ISIS to come about. Via Sputnik.
“The strengthening of the Islamic State became possible partially due to irresponsible policies of the United States. Instead of concentrating joint efforts on fighting terrorism, the United States and its allies decided to fight against the lawfully elected president of Syria Bashar Assad…The sensible policy in the Middle Eastern countries, be it Syria, Egypt or Iraq, for all countries, including the United States, should entail support of the legitimate authorities, who are able to ensure the integrity of the state, and not destabilize the situation.â€
This is obviously a blow towards French President Francois Hollande who is hoping to be the “middle man†in getting the Bear and the Eagle to sit down for a chat about fighting ISIS. But The Hill reported on Saturday it’s not just the Obama Administration which isn’t interested in working with Russia.
“The one issue that would prevent further cooperation is not getting to an agreement at some point on the future of Assad,†Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this week.
“If [Russia is] really committed to being full partners [against] ISIS, they have to understand that Assad is a big part of the motivation around ISIS in the first place.â€Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, [says] Putin needs to demonstrate his commitment to fighting ISIS.
“Partnering with Russia in Syria is something we should consider if, and only if, the Russians show that they are interested in truly taking on ISIL, and not using the terrorist attacks in Paris and the Russian airliner bombing as an excuse to attack the moderate opposition in the region,†Smith said in a written statement to The Hill.
“If Russia is willing to help manage and negotiate a political transition that moves aside Assad, then the international community would have an opportunity to consider cooperation with Russia.â€
So basically Hollande is up a creek, even if he’s going to lobby the White House with as much la jugeote as he can muster. Of course, Assad isn’t going to step down or allow some sort of political transition to happen until “the terrorists†are defeated. ABC News has that and Obama’s reaction.
“Nothing can start before defeating the terrorists who occupy parts of Syria,” Assad recently told Italian state television. Assad considers anyone fighting him, including moderate rebels, to be terrorists.
Obama countered: “I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power. … Even if I said that was OK, I still don’t think it would actually work. You could not get the Syrian people, the majority of them, to agree to that kind of outcome. And you couldn’t get a number of their neighbors to agree to that outcome, as well.”
That’s ignoring the fact the Arab League hasn’t really been focused on Syria or ISIS recently. I’ve already written why it’s shortsighted for the Obama Administration to say, “Assad has to go or else we won’t team up with Russia to fight ISIS†because no other country seems to think this. There may also be a point to keeping Assad in power until ISIS is gone. It can certainly be argued things got worse in the Middle East after the Iraq War toppled Saddam Hussein and NATO toppled Moammar Gaddafi in Libya. This isn’t suggesting Hussein and Gaddafi were good guys, but there is something to be said about dictators being able to keep certain elements under control. This doesn’t mean the U.S. should openly (or covertly) support bad regimes through foreign aid, but the federal government should be more willing to let individual companies do business with foreign companies or businessmen in "bad countries." Things could have gone completely different in Iraq, Syria, Libya, or Egypt if companies were able to promote free markets from within. Remember, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set off the Arab Spring in 2011 because he decided to self-immolate himself in protest of the government confiscating his fruit. If more American businesses were able to promote free markets in other countries, it would probably shift the tide from totalitarian to a more freedom-loving country. This is going to take time and it’s not something which happens overnight.
But the big question from all of this is whether those aligned with the U.S. on Syria will abandon them if they refuse to keep working with Russia. If that’s the case, then the U.S. may end up being forced to either go along with Russia or get out of Syria entirely. It’s anyone’s guess what will actually happen because Obama seems pretty adamant about Putin and Assad. Hollande’s got his work cut out for him if he really wants to get that U.S.-Russia alliance to happen. Tuesday can’t come soon enough.
He f###ed up egypt and lybia with his arab spring and is hell bent on assad. I say this imposter has to go he owns it, IT’S OBAMA’S FAULT!
Who the freak gave Obama the right to tell other sovereign nations that their leader needs to go? Perhaps it is a function of the PC police tribe. Obama was the catalyst that created the Syrian refugee crisis by giving incentives to rebels to turn their country into a hell hole of trash. Too many are blind to realize that civil war and terrorist events create profits and power for the few, and disaster for average citizens. This anarchy is coming to America. Our government needs to mind its own business and quit creaking refugee crises for Americans and Europe around the world.
Assad must go?
Why wasn’t Obama so eager to get involved with the Iranians Green Revolution? They were gunning down Neda and he never said a word.
Not that long ago, the USA was friendly with Bashar Assad, so what brings this stubborn streak now?
Whilst the Obama administration supports "moderate" terrorists who kill Christians, Assad protects Christians in Syria. In addition, Obama refuses to grant asylum to Christian refugees from Syria.
Who can connect the dots here?
B.O. would support Assad if only he would get busy killing Christians.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Al-Zarqawi:_The_Second_Generation_of_Al_Qaeda
The Arab spring was all about a second caliphate.
Obama is complicit in this.
obama is responsible, yes. But this guy was elected twice. So Russia is right in that sense.
The whole regime is such a sick joke, and so are those that voted for him.
+1
The slightly over half of the USA that put Zero in power is to blame. We cannot escape that fact. Sadly they have the power legitimately to the extent that they did not cheat to win. Our responsibility is to replace that power with a wiser and more honest regime.
Russia ?
Remember that red reset button ?
Yeah that one, Hillary gets as much blame for ISIS, remember Benghazi ?
Funneling arms to ISIS groups in Syria.
Might want to blame John McCain too.
Darn, I really did not know how to feel about Assad. To me, he’s always been bad choice # 1 out of many bad choices. But, if Obama now says “Assad’s got to go” that about seals it for me. I now know what to think. Assad MUST be the better of all the other available evils!
You can’t win a war against an enemy you see as “troubled souls” a “JV team” or already “contained” when they see you as a great satan who must convert or die, preferably die and die a horrific, savage death.
I find it curious, too, that Obama pulls out all the stops to take out Assad but he does nothing much against the broader terrorism picture? There is something rotten behind the scenes, in my opinion. I’m not saying Assad is a great guy, but that the targeting of him by Obama is very very curious.
Yes, there’s definitely something odd about the entire thing. Obama has to know that Putin is not going to negotiate on that point. Syria must be some sort of symbolic cornerstone of the Caliphate - it’s like the Nazis seeking the Ark of the Covenant, or something.
Saudi Arabia wants a natural gas pipeline to Europe through Syria. Europe and US want it too, in order to undercut Russia.
Obama says there’s no way “Assad can regain legitimacy in a country in which a large majority of that country despises Assad.” Then how in the hell is Obama still in office?
And when did the democrats begin to support nation building?
Is the Boland Amendment still in force?
So may questions. So many idiots in charge.
Obama is a mouthy idiot and Russia is correct. Obama did create Isis.
Why did obama start this war in Syria?
Why Libya?
You know if you really follow 0bama’s thinking and what we know about him, he is both petulant and power seeking.
He’s done pretty well for a first term Senator from Illinois, becoming president. At the same time, the idea that he could, for Islam, quite literally subjugate the United States; would confer near religious status upon him. He’s kind of blase about being president most of the time. Except when he can tantrum out. Is it too much to consider that in his mind, being a near-religious figure in the religion he prefers would be astronomically better, to him?
I hope America wakes up this before we know how deep this plot and scheme have reached, how long it has been going on, and how diabolically well thought out it is. It frustrates us at almost every turn and other than stacking bodies (which is not a bad thing) we cannot seem to get our hands around its throat.
History says we shall not get it in time.
Assad must go??? More importantly, Clown Prince nobama must go.
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