Because Assad does not care for the Saudis and was in the way of the pipline deal.
They intended to tie that line up with the Turks to go across the straights also I suppose. That is why they are supplying Isis.
Russia is in there for two things. Their Naval base in Syria, and to try and control the flow of OIL. Why? Because Russia needs to keep the price of oil up. They are getting killed right now because the price is down.
The Kurds actually operate the oil pumping and pipe in Kirkuk. They have no problem selling on their own volition to the the Turks and they have done so many times.
The Iranians, in the recent past, have run a convoy of tanker trucks of oil they purchase from the Kurd well operators and they sell on the black market. But it’s only been for $5 to 6 million a pop, not a real cash cow business for them. Trying to make a revenue stream from small tanker trucks is nothing compared to a Suez Max tanker vessel that can load a million barrels of crude. But that small stream was big to the small-time bastards that ran it. It would be big to most any individual but it was not big enough for a government to purchase black market nuke tech which is the prize for Iran.
Now that Obama has given billions and billions to Iran, I expect this little black market activity is not as lucrative.
The Russians in this oil biz are usually rogue operators, the type that would sell their ‘friends’ out for less than 6 figures. One must pack heat to get these bastards to pay attention when negotiating, or have a couple of 300-lb gorillas standing in back of you as you lay out who gets what cut.
The Russian government has a problem with the oil prices but they are unable to do anything about it because the USA has for example in the Bakken alone proven reserves that are much more than 10X those of OPEC; the US Crude out of the Bakken is also light and sweet making it even more valuable. The only advantage the Saudis have is they are able to extract oil from their ground at about $6 to $10 per bbl whereas it can cost $25 to $35 for US drillers in the Bakken. But that only means the price they can get is maybe 50 or 65 at most. They are not going to see 100 per bbl again. So longterm they are screwed.
Donald Trump in his amazing way is able to get the truth out which is that prior to Obama/Clinton, Iraq was stable, and the rest of the region was hesitant to make trouble for fear the Americans would drone them or blast them in a number of ways. The monitoring ability of the US is awesome. Terrorists can barely take a crap without it being seen, as long as the President insists on tracking them.
Trump was also 100% correct in his statement that Obama/Clinton created ISIS.
The Russians, referring to their government, not their rogue bastards, will not take crap from the Clintons. They know from Serbia, Kosovo, Belgrade bombings, that Hillary Clinton is crazy, reacts emotionally, flies off the handle, is reckless. It was Hillary on one of her expensive ‘tours’ in Morroco in the late 1990s that told Madeleine Albright over the phone to bomb away. Homophile Wesley Clarke clicked his heels and carried it out. That was while the debauched co-President was tied up with his lies about abusing the 20-year old intern under his desk.
The whole goddam situation with the Clintons is beyond awful. I am sorry to say I don’t blame Putin here. The Russians are preparing for war because Hillary Clinton is a mad woman, she really is. She risks all of our lives in the process of throwing one of her insane fits. And she and her dems have the gall to talk about Trump and his lack of ‘temperament’.