Ted Cruz: How U.S. must push back Putin in Syria (Cruz-Op Ed- CNN)

CNN ^ | 10/9/15 | Sen. Ted Cruz

[VinL]

Over the last week, the world has once again looked on aghast as President Vladimir Putin has taken violent advantage of regional instability to re-establish Russia's influence, this time in the Middle East. Despite promises to join the United States in a counterterrorism effort against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Putin is on a mission to protect Russian assets in the Mediterranean by propping up his client, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ted Cruz Ted Cruz

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been caught flat-footed as Putin's actions threaten to inflame and destabilize an already acute crisis.

Enough already. We don't need a reset. We need a reality check.

Putin has been unmoved by the Obama administration's threats of isolation on the international stage, and economic sanctions have on their own been no deterrent to his opportunistic behavior. More of the same will not result in success.

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 [snip]

[VinL]

FYI

[MNDude]

for once I disagree with Cruz. The most stable situation they could have in Syria is that Assad remains in power.

[dp0622]

obama’s plan to get rid of every secular regime in the middle east has hit roadblocks in Egypt and Syria. good.

i hope the russians slaughter the “moderate” and non-moderate mmuslim terrorists.

i know putin is dangerous and am not naive as to what he is.

But for now, let him slaughter them.

a majority of syrians wanted assad to stay in power. i know, i’ve heard before, his father slaughtered 100k syrians.

hoe many has this war slaughtered.

and assad was good for us. to hell with muslims and to hell with jihad.

[Crucial]

It looks to me like it’s Russia versus Iran. Why not let Russia stop Iran from taking over the entire ME?

[ETL]

You left out the important CNN Editor’s Note disclaimer:

“Ted Cruz is a U.S. senator from Texas. He is seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.”

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html

[MNJohnnie]

Well shows even brilliant men can be wrong on some things.

Sorry Senator, Syria has been a Russian client state since the 1950s. Not our circus, not our monkeys.

[ETL]

It looks to me like it’s Russia versus Iran. Why not let Russia stop Iran from taking over the entire ME?

Russia vs Iran?? What the hell are you talking about??

Trump: Iran Deal Requires U.S. Protecting Iran in Event of Israeli Strike

by Jacob Kornbluh
Sept 2, 2015

In a phone interview with CNN Tuesday evening, Trump claimed that there’s “something in the Iran deal” that “people don’t understand” saying if someone attacks Iran, “we have to come to their defense.”

“Does that include Israel?” Trump asked. “And most people say yes, they don’t have an exclusion for Israel. So if Israel attacks Iran, according to that deal, I believe, the way it reads, unless they have a codicil or they have something to it, that we have to fight with Iran against Israel.” ..."

Trump was most probably referring to language highlighted by the opponents of the deal. On page 142, the deal includes a clause that states, “Co-operation through training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage, as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems.”

Washington-based Center for Security Policy asserted that Annex III appears “to commit the United States and other world powers to the defense of Iran’s nuclear program.”

http://jpupdates.com/2015/09/02/trump-iran-deal-requires-u-s-protecting-iran-in-event-of-israeli-strike/
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Aug 2015...

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Russian build-up in Syria part of secret deal with Iran’s Quds Force leader

September 11, 2015
Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson
FoxNews.com

As the Pentagon warily eyes a Russian military build-up in Syria, Western intelligence sources tell Fox News that the escalated Russian presence began just days after a secret Moscow meeting in late July between Iran’s Quds Force commander — their chief exporter of terror — and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fox News has learned Quds head Qassem Soleimani and Putin discussed such a joint military plan for Syria at that meeting, an encounter first reported by Fox News in early August. ...”

The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, involved in exporting terrorism to Iran’s proxies throughout the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. ...”

Officials who have monitored the build-up say they’ve seen more than 1,000 Russian combatants — some of them from the same plainclothes Special Forces units who were sent to Crimea and Ukraine. Some of these Russian troops are logistical specialists and needed for security at the expanding Russian bases.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/11/russian-build-up-in-syria-part-secret-deal-with-irans-quds-force-leader/

[DoughtyOne]

How do we win situations like Libya and Syria? We stay out of their problems in the first place.

What we are seeing now is one of the reasons why.

There is no real super-fix to this current situation.

We have a president that is dead set on destroying U. S. regional and global influence. He is being successful in that effort.

Obama voters, this is what we tried to tell you.

[MNJohnnie]

Actually it is Iran and Russia against Saudi Arabia.

Iran and Syria are Shia, Saudi Arabia is Sunni. Syria is a Russian client state. Yemen and Syria are proxy wars between Iran and Saudi Arabia to see who will be the regional power.

[demshateGod]

I guess it’s good that someone is saying it. If anyone will do it, it’ll be president Cruz.

[ETL]

Cruz is absolutely the guy we need in charge, especially at this most critical time.

Russia moving in under the pretense of ridding the region of ISIS is like the Mafia moving to your neighborhood under the pretense of moving out a violent street gang, then setting up a permanent base there to do Mob “business”.

Russia will grow wealthier, more powerful, more aggressive in their overall expansionist agenda (Eastern Europe, eventually elsewhere), and much more of a threat to the US and its allies throughout the region and the world.

Sure it’s great IF they actually do get rid of ISIS (we shall see). But having a country like Russia step in and gain such huge strategic advantage over the US and its allies is nothing we should be cheering about.

If Obama was serious about wanting to take out ISIS, which I don’t believe he ever was—I think him and Putin are actually in cahoots on this whole thing despite his and Kerry’s public moans and groans about it, it might not ever have come to this. But then Russia would likely have come up with some other rationale or excuse for moving into Syria and taking control of it, and ultimately the entire Middle East. Makes me wonder if ISIS was a KGB-like invention of the Russians, created to give them cover for expanding.

Putin has stated that he believes the demise of the (mass-murdering, communist [my words]) Soviet Union was the "worst geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century". He has also said he thinks Stalin deserves to have statues in his honor. He clearly seeks to restore the old Soviet Union, or something not too far different from it.

[MNJohnnie]

Pretty interesting to note the latest round of Hillary emails show that Libya was all about getting a group in power who would sign on to a business deal with Clinton crony Sydney Bloomenthal.

The ME spun into a complete mess just so a Clinton Crony could make money. Wonder what price the Clinton charged for that action? Wonder how many tens of thousands will have to die for this deal?

[BuffaloJack]

The US should leave Putin alone. He’s doing good in Syria and saving Christian lives. Even the Israelis are working with him.

[ETL]

Kremlin pays internet trolls to flatter Putin
Ben Hoyle - Moscow
October 11 2013

Russian investigative journalists and bloggers have uncovered an army of internet trolls paid to pour invective on the Kremlin’s opponents and heap praise on President Putin.

Posing as job applicants, the reporters discovered the government hacks working at a small company called the St Petersburg Internet Research Agency. ...”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article3891720.ece

[Navy Patriot]

Cruz is dead wrong on this one, when we could just quit trying to pick “good guy” Muslims to arm and bribe, and let Russia destroy the World Caliphate in it’s youth.

[ETL]

From Aug 23, 2015:

"a recent investigation conducted by Novaya Gazeta, one of the few independent newspapers left in Russia, complicates this cozy tale of counterterrorist cooperation. Based on extensive fieldwork in one village in the North Caucasus, reporter Elena Milashina has concluded that the “Russian special services have controlled” the flow of jihadists into Syria, where they have lately joined up not only with ISIS but other radical Islamist factions.

In other words, Russian officials are adding to the ranks of terrorists which the Russian government has deemed a collective threat to the security and longevity of its dictatorial ally on the Mediterranean, Bashar al-Assad."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/23/russia-s-playing-a-double-game-with-islamic-terror0.html
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Understanding Provocation [Provokatsiya]

March 29, 2014

One of the most powerful tools the Kremlin has in its secret arsenal of Special War is provocation, what they call provokatsiya.

While Moscow cannot claim to have invented this technique, which has existed as long as there have been secret services, there’s no doubt that Russians have perfected the art and taken it to a whole new level of sophistication and deviousness. At times, it can become a strategy all on its own (not always, mind you, with edifying results).

Provokatsiya simply means taking control of your enemies in secret and encouraging them to do things that discredit them and help you. You plant your own agents provocateurs and flip legitimate activists [in this case, dupe actual Jihadis -ETL], turning them to your side.

When you’re dealing with extremists to start with, getting them to do crazy, self-defeating things isn’t often difficult. In some cases, you simply create extremists and terrorists where they don’t exist. This is causing problems in order to solve them, and since the Tsarist period, Russian intelligence has been known to do just that.

While this isn’t a particularly nice technique, it works surprisingly well, particularly if you don’t care about bloody and messy consequences. ..."

http://20committee.com/2014/03/29/understanding-provocation/
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In other words, it's like starting a fire, or pouring gasoline on a fire, in order to be the 'big hero', being first on the scene to put it out. Except in this case, you get to grab control over the buildings and town you helped 'saved' from the fire you helped to start.

[BuffaloJack]

> Russia moving in under the pretense of ridding the region of ISIS is like the Mafia moving to your neighborhood under the pretense of moving out a violent street gang, then setting up a permanent base there to do Mob “business”.

30 years ago the Mafia did move into my neighborhood and eliminated the gangs and local crime. They were very good neighbors and took care of things. The neighborhood was quite, reserved, clean and safe.

[BuffaloJack]

> Russia moving in under the pretense of ridding the region of ISIS is like the Mafia moving to your neighborhood under the pretense of moving out a violent street gang, then setting up a permanent base there to do Mob “business”.

30 years ago the Mafia did move into my neighborhood and eliminated the gangs and local crime. They were very good neighbors and took care of things. The neighborhood was quiet, reserved, clean and safe.

[Romulus]

Shut up, Ted. This is why you’re not getting my vote.

[ETL]

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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CNN Editor’s Note (disclaimer):

“Ted Cruz is a U.S. senator from Texas. He is seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.”