Posted on 03/20/2017 10:56:47 AM PDT by elhombrelibre
Key Takeaway: Russian President Vladimir Putin's primary objective in Syria is to constrain U.S. freedom of action - not fight ISIS and al Qaeda. Russia's military deployments at current levels will not enable the Iranian-penetrated Assad regime to secure Syria. Moscow's deepening footprint in Syria threatens America's ability to defend its interests across the Middle East and in the Mediterranean Sea. The next U.S. step in Syria must help regain leverage over Russia rather than further encourage Putin's expansionism.
Russia's intervention in Syria in September 2015 fundamentally altered the balance of the Syrian Civil War.Russia re-established momentum behind Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his Iranian allies at a moment when major victories by ISIS and Syrian rebels threatened to force the regime to contract into Syria's central corridor.The capabilities Russia deployed were not limited to the airframes, artillery, and personnel needed to conduct a counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency mission, however. Russia deployed advanced air defense and ballistic missile systems, naval units, air superiority aircraft, and other capabilities in a display of major Russian force projection in the region. Russian President Vladimir Putin is altering the balance of power in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean through sustained Russian military operations and additional deployments of high-end capabilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at campaign.r20.constantcontact.com ...
http://www.understandingwar.org/press-media/staff-bios/genevieve-casagrande
Author one.
http://www.understandingwar.org/press-media/staff-bios/kathleen-weinberger
Author two.
Folks, this is a laugh. It’s two fresh out of college girls. Neither looks over 25 and both have nothing but a new college degree and an opinion. Ridiculous that this is where strategic analysis comes from. No wonder we are so screwed.
They had that port since about 1970 sport.
LOL, deranged. Besides, all rebels are simply variations of ISIS. Same sunni jihadism. Your problem is that the Russians didn’t respect our nutty generals who claim only isis must be hit, and that OUR jihadi rebels must not be touched.
Assad staying in power is good, all alternatives are orders of magnitude worse.
I’d rather have Russia expand than the Islamists.
Russia concievably could be Islamist by 2050.
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/08/predicting-a-majority-muslim-russia
LOL yourself, Russia has been there for what? 18 months and they are still fighting ISIS?
Let’s see, ISIS is pretty much defeated in Iraq but the war goes on in Syria.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/muqtada-al-sadr-iraq-1637609574
Iraq has been planning for post-ISIS Iraq for awhile.
Who buys ISIS oil? Assad;
Iranian/RT prop won’t work here, sorry.
Ms. Casagrande received her B.A. from the University of Florida with a major in Linguistics and minors in both Business Administration and Arabic Language and Literature. She also received a Middle Eastern Studies Certificate from the American University in Dubai as a Clinton Scholar and is proficient in Arabic.
ME Policy is not Rocket Science:
Kill ISIS
Constrain Iran
Control Turkey
Protect Israel
Support Egypt and Jordan
Spy on the Saudis and the rest
Anything else is a diversion including worrying too much about the Russians. Right now they can help us do away with ISIS. There will be price to pay but it will be worth it if we are successful as I expect we will be.
We will have ISIS destroyed and Assad will still be dropping barrel bombs on civilians and Russians will still be bombing hospitals, food convoys, and anyone not backing Assad.
There was a big battle in Damascus yesterday, that’s their capital. Good luck convincing others of Russia’s joke war against ISIS and that the Syrian war is almost over.
You hear of Al Qaeda or ISIS leaders being killed in Syria, it is almost always the USA coalition that does it. Not Syria/Russia/Iran. Look it up.
Other than Israel, what are our interests, now that we can be virtually energy efficient.
That you McCain? The battle for Mosul has been going on since at least November. And the Syrian rebels have been steadily rolled back.
Also, the threat of western direct attacks on Assad were also removed.
And astonishing that you point to an 18 month campaign as proof of failure. We are in our 16th year in Afghanistan now. And nearly as long in Iraq. Can you point us to one of our interventions that was over in 18 months?
Hurry now, go ask the two little girls who wrote your article what they think. LOL
The Russians raped Eastern Europe, literally, for about forty years. They enslaved and killed all over that area. You can blame it on the communist, but they were their willing executioners. If they had decency and honor, they’d throw the neo-imperialist KGB punk putin out.
What a cute girl with a CV from Florida. And what year did she graduate? That’s merely a college girl with a moslem fetish who can do a research paper. Has she done a single thing OUTSIDE academia to make me want to take her opinion seriously?
“You hear of Al Qaeda or ISIS leaders being killed in Syria, it is almost always the USA coalition that does it. “
Yes! We’ve killed their leader about 15 times as I recall. LOL
http://www.understandingwar.org/staff-bios
A hotbed of Neocons, UN and Ukrainian zealots. Most from the Kennedy School at Harvard.
I derisively fart in their general direction.
Their goal is endless war. It’s how they get PAID.
So what?
ISIS puts bounty on US soldiers at battle for Raqqa:
http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=63187
Facts speak for themselves.
“These preparations pushed IS to put a reward 20 golden Dinar, about 4000 USD, for any group that kill an American soldier or a foreigner in SDF.
The IS keep preventing civilians from leaving the city of al-Raqqa, amid raising the number of civilians in the city, amid accuses by civilians against IS in using them as human shields against the SDF and American forces.”
“So what?”
I assume you are referring to my Neocon comment.
It’s important context to their published opinion. After all, Neocons are the most discredited, corrupt class of humans in America today...even beyond the US Congress.
And enemies of the American people. Each and every one of them.
Agreed 100%
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