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Has Putin Won?
commentarymagazine.com ^ | Nov. 17, 2015 | Noah Rothman

Posted on 11/18/2015 7:39:54 AM PST by Trumpinator

Moscow’s brazen intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the beleaguered Assad regime was laughed off by Western leaders as folly. In another effort to deflect from his myriad failures in the region, Barack Obama insisted that Putin had committed Russian soldiers and heavy weapons to a “quagmire.” American political commentators suggested that Russia might have stumbled into a second Afghanistan. Support for Putin’s regime would ebb, they said, as the Russian Federation bled itself white on Syria’s battlefields. These commentators forgot that Russia would only experience a second Afghanistan so long as the West was willing to make Syria into a killing ground for Russian troops. It was not.

The hope that the Western world might impose on Syria some punishment for violating the norms that prohibit the battlefield use of chemical weapons is forever lost now. Putin’s ongoing proxy war in Ukraine, too, is unlikely to be resolved now on terms favorable to the West. The hundreds of Russian souls who perished over the skies of Egypt after an ISIS-linked bomb destroyed their civilian aircraft render Moscow a functional ally in the war against ISIS, but that is a temporary alliance borne out of convenience. Russia and the West continue to be at cross purposes in the region, and Moscow now finds itself holding the best hand.

"Mr. Putin had to go into Syria not out of strength, but out of weakness," Obama averred in October. He was only fooling himself. In the short term, it is Putin who is operating from a position of strength in Syria while the American-led alliance finds itself on its heels.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: agitprop; astroturf; paidrussiantrolls; putin; putinsbuttboys; russia; russianstooge; russianstooges; syria; vladtheimploder
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1 posted on 11/18/2015 7:39:54 AM PST by Trumpinator
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To: Trumpinator
I don't know of Putin has won, but the world certainly has forgotten all about his annexation of Crimea.
2 posted on 11/18/2015 7:45:31 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Trumpinator

Vladimir has balls of steel, and Barack is neutered. End of discussion.


3 posted on 11/18/2015 7:45:59 AM PST by fredhead (Join the Navy and see the world.....77% of which is covered in water.)
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To: Trumpinator

This writer is bummed because Putin is helping Assad stay in power. This writer prefers the jihadists, I guess. This writer is an idiot


4 posted on 11/18/2015 7:46:05 AM PST by WilliamIII
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To: Trumpinator

Yes, Putin knows how to cover his rear. Obama presents an open invitation. /double entendre alert...I know. I get it...I wrote it.


5 posted on 11/18/2015 7:46:16 AM PST by SC_Pete
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To: Yo-Yo

Why should his annexation of Crimea concern the US?


6 posted on 11/18/2015 7:47:26 AM PST by WilliamIII
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To: Trumpinator

Here’s a clue:

Nobody is asking whether Obama has won!!!!!!


7 posted on 11/18/2015 7:47:35 AM PST by G Larry (ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS impose SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL Immigrants.)
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To: Trumpinator

I wouldn’t agree but he is making Obama look like an unqualified affirmative action president. I often wonder how a President Trump and Putin would get along.


8 posted on 11/18/2015 7:48:36 AM PST by McGruff (Trump-Cruz 2016. Make America Great Again.)
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To: Trumpinator

How would those on plane answer the question? Or their families and friends?


9 posted on 11/18/2015 7:49:14 AM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: Ben Ficklin

The Russian victims would blame the West for arming Syrian jihadists against Assad. Would they be wrong?


10 posted on 11/18/2015 8:11:04 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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To: WilliamIII
Why should his annexation of Crimea concern the US?

Because we and the European Union still have economic sanctions against Russia for their actions in the Ukraine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_sanctions_during_the_Ukrainian_crisis

11 posted on 11/18/2015 8:13:49 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo
Because we and the European Union still have economic sanctions against Russia for their actions in the Ukraine

For how long?

12 posted on 11/18/2015 8:17:32 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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To: Trumpinator

If these Putin-gasms continue, I’d say not for very much longer.


13 posted on 11/18/2015 8:24:06 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Trumpinator

Putin has discovered that the Junior Varsity is not ISIS. It is Barack Hussein Obama and his incompetent team. Maybe even calling them the JV is giving them too much credit.


14 posted on 11/18/2015 8:25:41 AM PST by doug from upland (The ultimate in foolishness -- "'Romney is just as bad as Obama" WTF?)
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To: doug from upland
Putin has discovered that the Junior Varsity is not ISIS. It is Barack Hussein Obama and his incompetent team.

******************************************

Putin Laughs Off Obama At G20 Summit: "He's A Child He's A Child."

15 posted on 11/18/2015 8:37:20 AM PST by Qiviut
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To: Trumpinator
"Would they be wrong?"

Obviously yes, but probably not your demented mind.

The issue is that Puntin entered the war on the side of the Shia. The fact that bomb was "homemade" indicates that a local sunni, not ISIS, built the bomb locally. I haven't heard Puntin blame the West.

The NeoCon who wrote the article doesn't even mention the airliner, much less that Paris is/was an exceptionally soft target while the airliner was an exceptionally hard target.

When you read the article you have to get to the last paragraph before he mentions that Congress is not likely to issue a new AUMF. The issue of a Syrian AUMF has been at the forefront for over 2 years, and has been the focus of debate in Congress 4 separate times. Just a week ago the AUMF was discussed in Senate committee and on the floor of the Senate.

They even asked Hillary about the Syrian AUMF in the democrat debate last Saturday.

16 posted on 11/18/2015 8:43:10 AM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: Ben Ficklin
"Would they be wrong?"

Obviously yes, but probably not your demented mind.

-----------------------------

Your view is just opinion and not fact. I don't see the Russians empowering Sunni jihadis in Syria and beyond.

17 posted on 11/18/2015 8:51:45 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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To: Yo-Yo
Of course Putin has won. Don't you find yourself breathing a sigh of relief that somewhere, someone who knows what's going on and has the guts to do something about it?

You know things have changed when you find yourself cheering on the President of Russia and hoping that the President of the United States falls flat on his face.

18 posted on 11/18/2015 8:53:40 AM PST by Savage Beast ("Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad." Then they watch them self-destruct.)
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To: Ben Ficklin

How would those on plane answer the question? Or their families and friends?

-—Already posted actual responses from Russian tourist to Egypt:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3359442/posts

This week, The Times painted a characteristic reaction, quoting a Russian tourist in Egypt:

They shrug off the risks, exhale cigarette smoke and talk about destiny.

“Russia is dangerous and not safe either,” said Svetlana Golobitz, a pediatrician from St. Petersburg sucking on a cigarette just outside the terminal gate. “You can have an accident driving in a car or walking in the night; this is your fate,” she said. “I like this place, so I want to spend my winter here.”


19 posted on 11/18/2015 8:56:38 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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To: Ben Ficklin
Also:

Trapped in Sinai, proud of Putin

20 posted on 11/18/2015 8:57:48 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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