It would appear that our NATO allies are doing that on their own. Most of NATO is now thoroughly Islamicized. To criticize Islam is a crime. NATO is no longer worth protecting. Obama and Merkel have done more to destroy What Reagan achieved than anyone could have possibly imagined.
9/11 was a much larger victory for the forces of evil than we could possibly imagine. There was no such word as Islamophobia before the twin towers went down. Bush immediately began calling the Evil religion of Mohammed "The Religion of Peace" and fake stories of hate crimes against Muslims have proliferated and now it is a crime to even state the truth.
We have enough problems here that we don't need to concern ouselves with what Russia is doing to consolidate power in the Middle East. Frankly I'd rather see Russia influencing the area than our so called NATO allies. At least Putin understands the risks that Islam represents. I don't think anyone in power in Western Europe does. Hungary seems to be the only other country in the region that does.
Correct. But that's another story.
“At least Putin understands the risks that Islam represents.”
Russians in Syria are fighting alongside Iran and Hezbollah. Recently they have deployed Chechens over there. The same Chechens that they were sending to fight in Georgia and Ukraine. Islam is made of different sects, dozens of nations, hundreds of tribes, +1 billion people, economies worth trillions. There will never be a united front against islam, too many people, too much money. Russia just have their own “moderate islamists”.
“Frankly I'd rather see Russia influencing the area than our so called NATO allies.”
999 out of 1000 security analysts would disagree. If Russia is allowed to control the ME, together with their own resources, they would control 2/3 of global oil & gas and thus control the global market.
Same goes for China. US military bases in Japan or South Korea are not any charity as some think. Withdraw them and both of these countries will bow to Beijing, they will have no other choice... and If China adds 3rd and 11th economies to the powerhouse they already have... well, 20-30 years from now they will be the first to build a base on Mars and lead also in military and commercial technologies.
Countries like US, Russia, China can't be allies just like Boeing and Airbus can't be allies. Trump will not abandon old alliances because Putin sent him Christmas greetings - which all seems to be nothing more than another big game of the KGB folks. Most likely he will be putting pressure on them to put their acts together + offset some costs of US military deployments through additional purchases of US made military hardware. In case of Russia it will be a common sense “peace through strength” approach, instead of pathetic “we can do stuff to you” of the current wuss. But folks who's been reading too much of Zero Hedge, Alex Jones and all these conspiracy/pro-Russian websites and believed that Putin is some sort of “defender of Christianity” and Trump is his man, are going to be disappointed.