Grain of salt for that one. But it is true that the Shiite Iranians, Assad, Shiites Iraqis, and Hezbollah are all pretty much on one side and Russia is supporting that side. The other side is the rich Sunnis like the Emirates and Saudis and Turkey and of course, ISIS. There is no difference really between the Saudis, our so-called allies, and ISIS other than the Saudis have institutionalized the Islamic State and have no more opposition. The question is whether we tolerate Russia's expansion into the Middle East when it takes the side of the Shiites.
I would argue yes for now. The alternative is the old status quo of Sunni authoritarians suppressing the Shiites and every other religion. If it is contained in non-expansionist regimes like Saudi, that's ok. They have run out of Christians and Jews and people of other religions to kill. But not ISIS, that has been completely unacceptable and we have done little to stop it. Not Muslim Brotherhood and Obama promoted them.
OTOH Shiite dominance isn't good for the long run and nobody knows that more than Israel. They have been threatened by Assad in the past, are threatened by Iran in the present and for them the stable Sunni governments like Jordan's are the least worst alternative. Russia could eventually upset that balance. But it's a longer term threat than ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood and all the other Sunni-funded Sunni extremists are right now.
It's likely that Netanyahu green-lighted Russia's expansion into Syria when he went there last Sept: With Moscow Visit, Netanyahu Signals Era of post-American Middle East where Haaretz says "And yet, one of the most significant geopolitical moments in recent years, Israel's acknowledgement of Russia's return as a major player in the region, took place without American participation"
And as I've pointed out above, they continue to this day, arming and supporting various Marxist dictatorships in Latin America. In addition, they have forged a very close military and economic alliance with the ChiComs, who have also been flexing their muscles of late. They and the ChiComs have been conducting joint military exercises since 2005 in preparation for war with US and our NATO allies.
At least with Ted Cruz we'd have someone fully aware of the complexities of this situation. Trump is either grossly naive or in cahoots with Putin.
"If we want to actually dismantle ISIS, we need to dramatically change course. We need a real, robust campaign that maximizes our overwhelming air advantage.
We need to focus our efforts not on trying to create friends, but on supporting our real ones, especially the Kurds in Iraq and Syria who have actually had success against ISIS."
-snip-
"We can redouble our efforts to develop the defensive weapons that neutralized the offensive Soviet threat -- particularly missile defense, which has seen a 25% budget reduction under Obama, according to an analysis from the conservative Heritage Foundation, and has been constrained by bad arms deals like New START.
We should not only move quickly to install the canceled interceptor sites Putin opposed in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also to develop the next generation of systems that will only increase his discomfiture.
These options do not entail a ground war in Syria, yet would effectively shake us free from the failed policies that have brought us to our current impasse.
These options set us on a new path that puts Putin on notice that the United States is reclaiming our traditional role as leader of the free world."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html
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"I think it would be a mistake to get involved in the Syrian civil war. There have been voices in Washington eager for us to send our sons and daughters over to fight that civil war for some time. I haven't been one of them. I think the touchstone of U.S. military policy should be protecting the national security of this country."
"What we're seeing Putin in Russia do is a direct response to the profound weakness of Obama over six and a half years.
Putin views Obama as weak, as ineffective, and frankly, as a laughingstock. And, as a result, he is moving in, he is invading his neighbors, like Ukraine, he's kidnapping Estonians, and he's moving into Syria to gain a stronger foothold in the Middle East."
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Ted Cruz:
"We need a coherent plan to address both the specific crisis in Syria and the challenge posed more broadly by Putin's resurgent Russia.
The good news is that America still has options, if our leaders can summon the will to exercise them.
For starters, in Syria we can't double down on the failed strategies that have given Putin his opportunity to intervene.
We are now two years out from President Obama's proposed intervention after al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. ..."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html
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Republican US presidential front-runner Donald Trump is apparently "honored" that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers the real-estate magnate a "flamboyant" and "very talented" man.
"It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond," Trump said in a statement, according to Politico.
He continued: "I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
"Romanian intelligence defector Ion Mihai Pacepa alleged that an operation for the removal of chemical weapons was prepared by the Soviet Union for Libya, and that he was told over thirty years ago by Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, KGB chairman Yury Andropov, and later, Yevgeny Primakov, about the existence of a similar plan for Iraq.
It is 'perfectly obvious', wrote Pacepa, that the Russian GRU agency helped Saddam Hussein to destroy, hide, or transfer his chemical weapons prior to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. 'After all, Russia helped Saddam get his hands on them in the first place.'[13]
John Loftus, director of The Intelligence Summit, said in the November 16, 2007 issue of FrontPage Magazine that many documents from Iraq point to WMD being transferred to other countries such as Syria: 'As stated in more detail in my full report, the British, Ukrainian and American secret services all believed that the Russians had organized a last minute evacuation of CW [chemical] and BW [biological] stockpiles from Baghdad to Syria.'
His researchers allegedly found a document ordering the concealment of nuclear weapons equipment in storage facilities under the Euphrates River a few weeks before the invasion.[14]"