Fabio Rafael Fiallo, The Compass: Syria May Be Putin's Afghanistan
The United States and other Western powers have voiced concern over Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to send combat fighters, sophisticated weaponry, and eventually troops to Syria. That concern is legitimate. Russia's authorities haven't hidden their readiness to come to the rescue of a brutal ally - Bashar Assad - who has not hesitated to drop barrel bombs and use chemical weapons against his country's civilian population.
Yet no one should be more concerned with Putin's move than Putin himself. For Russia's escalating involvement in the Syrian battlefield may quickly turn out to be a geopolitical millstone for the Kremlin.
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- September 24, 2015
A Strategy to Push Back Iran in Syria -- Kenneth M. Pollack & Ilan Goldberg, Daily Beast
To Progress and Back: The Rise and Fall of Erdogan's Turkey -- Hasnain Kazim, Maximilian Popp and Samiha Shafy, Spiegel Online
Israel and America After the Iran Deal -- New York Times editorial
‘Greatest tide of refugees is yet to come’ -- Jacopo Barigazzi, Politico
Dispatch From Refugee Crisis: Desperate, But Not Defeated -- Megan McArdle, Bloomberg
Migrant crisis stirs historical Croatia-Serbia enmity -- Guy Delauney, BBC
How Xi Jinping can rebrand China for the West -- Andrew Hammond, Reuters
China's 'Non-Interference' Policy Challenged -- Marie-Alice McLean-Dreyfus, Lowy Institute
China: The Superpower of Mr. Xi -- Roderick MacFarquhar, New York Review Of Books
Scotland Proved You Can't Scare Catalonia Away From Independence -- Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg
A big leap towards peace in Colombia -- Economist
After 51 years, Colombia’s bloody, cocaine-funded civil war is almost over -- Corinne Purtill, Quartz
Venezuela’s day of reckoning approaches -- Vicente Fox, Miami Herald
Cuba Visit Shows Pope Francis Is No John Paul II -- Ben Domenech, The Federalist
The 50 greatest Yogi Berra quotes -- For The Win
2 comments:
It's a gamble to be sure. I think he figures he can afford the consequences of escalation, but also won't escalate past a certain bearable point - or will try to avoid it. Remains to be seen whether he succeeds.
One thing Putin definitely has over Bush and Obama though is that he tends to know what he want and to not need to deal with very conflicting foreign policy directives. I think the reason American Middle Eastern policy was such a muddle was because they kept trying to reconcile humanitarian internationalism, democratic evangelism, realpolitik, anti-terrorist paranoia, crony capitalist interests... Putin though is only looking out for himself and his clique, and for Russia inasfar as looking out for Russia helps promote his broader interests. That would make it much simpler for him to maintain flexibility and rationality. Let's hope the Syrian people come out ahead of it rather than being crushed by it.
Russia and China both invest in Israel. They understand that Israel is no.1 in the whole region in science & technology. You are the one who is nuts for your unhealthy obsession with 'zionism' and for thinking that Russia would attack Israel.
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