Was Putin right about Syria?

by confuzzled dude Sat Aug 23, 2014 8:48 pm

The irony of the moment is tragic. But to some, it doesn't come as much of a surprise. Many cautioned against the earlier insistence of the Obama administration (as well as other governments) that Assad must go, fearing what would take hold in the vacuum.

One of those critics happened to be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned against U.S. intervention in Syria in a New York Times op-ed last September. He wrote:
A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Some of the crises Putin catalogs have worsened anyway, no matter American action or inaction. But Putin's insistence was couched in a reading of the conflict in Syria that's more cold-blooded than the view initially held by some in Washington. "Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country," Putin wrote, suggesting that the nominally secular Assad regime, despite its misdeeds, was a stabilizing force preferable to what could possibly replace it.

Putin decried the growing Islamist cadres in the Syrian rebels' ranks:
Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria?

That's a concern very publicly shared now by U.S. and European officials, who are alarmed by the considerable presence of European nationals among the Islamic State's forces. A British jihadist who spoke with a London accent is believed to have carried out the shocking execution of American journalist James Foley this week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/22/was-putin-right-about-syria/?tid=pm_pop

by Marathadi-Saamiyaar Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:05 pm

Russians have always been better readers of international scenes than the West - especially when it comes to islamic, Asian, African and middle east. US and the West - for all the superfluous holier-than-thou preachings - have been woefully selfish and narrow-minded, not to mention myopic.

US butted in Afghanistan against Najibullah, messed with Saddam, messed with Syria, messed with Mubarak, messed with Rafsanjani and everywhere jehadists and koranists thrived and terrorism grew at all these places.

As I said long back, the state department is run by a bunch of elite school ivy leaguers aided by so-called phoren experts who have not set foot in their mother countries for decades. The result is there for everyone to see.

Was Putin right about Syria?

Was Putin right about Syria?

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