Posted on 08/23/2018 11:57:56 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Russia is "stuck" in Syria and looking for others to fund its post-war reconstruction, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said, describing this as an opportunity for Washington to press for Iranian forces to quit the civil war-wracked country.
Bolton said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had told the United States that Moscow could not compel the Iranians to leave Syria.
"But he also told us that his interest and Iran's were not exactly the same. So we're obviously going to talk to him about what role they can play," said Bolton, who meets his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in Geneva on Thursday.
Washington wields leverage in its talks with Moscow because "the Russians are stuck there at the moment," Bolton said.
"And I don't think they want to be stuck there. I think their frenetic diplomatic activity in Europe indicates that they'd like to find somebody else, for example, to bear the cost of reconstructing Syria - which they may or may not succeed in doing."
The Idlib region, a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as powerful jihadist forces, was hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month, in a possible prelude to a full-scale government offensive.
Asked if there was any U.S.-Russian understanding about such an operation, Bolton said: "No. But we're very concerned as we look at the military situation and we want to be unmistakably clear to Assad that we expect there will be no use of chemical weapons or biological weapons if there are any additional military hostilities in Idlib."
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
"And I don't think they want to be stuck there. I think their frenetic diplomatic activity in Europe indicates that they'd like to find somebody else, for example, to bear the cost of reconstructing Syria - which they may or may not succeed in doing."
Best part of a muzzie civil war? Everybody wins. Thanks CondoleezzaProtege.
The Mideast is one big sh*t sandwich that every administration seems to delight in taking a bite out of.
The USA is stuck in Afghanistan. Pakistan must go.
Just send in the B-52s to plow a few new poppy fields.
Rattle the Taliban down to their slippers. And come home.
And cut off all foreign aid to Pakistan.
***Rattle the Taliban down to their slippers. And come home.**
In case you haven’t been watching, the Taliban is gaining ground in Afghanistan.
In case you havent been watching, the Taliban is gaining ground in Afghanistan.>>>>
Yes, thanks to 2000 Red Force jihadi trained “commandos”
B-52s, baby, B-52s.
*** And I don’t think they want to be stuck there. I think their frenetic diplomatic activity in Europe indicates that they’d like to find somebody else, for example, to bear the cost of reconstructing Syria - which they may or may not succeed in doing.”***
Putin & Merkel have been in talks about the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline.
OMG, when you were little did a Russian touch you in a way that made you feel icky?
In another article Syria should be turned over to the Ottomans. Break off a big chunk for the Kurds.
*** Break off a big chunk for the Kurds. ***
Yeah, those lovely Kurds who have blocked Yezidis & Christians from returning to their homes in the Nineveh Plains in Iraq. I am sure they will behave much more nicely in Syria.
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