Reuters: Trump backs Russia, Iran efforts to fight Islamic State
Leading Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said he supported Russian efforts to fight Islamic State militants in the Middle East, including Syria.
Asked whether he backed those like Russia who supported Syrian President Bashar al Assad or those who see him as the source of Syria's current crisis, Trump told NBC's "Today" program: "I side with the group that says if Russia wants to go and fight ISIS, you should let them as opposed to saying were jealous we don't want you to do that."
Update: Trump: 'Let Russia fight ISIS' -- The Hill
WNU editor: Donald Trump is echoing what many Americans feel when it comes to the Syrian conflict .... it is a quagmire .... best to stay out. As to what is my take .... he is probably right.
8 comments:
Winston Churchill thought we should have stopped the Nazi Germans early in their conquests like when they entered the Rhineland. He was however opposed to entering the Spanish Civil War so that the UK would not be allied with either fascist or communist evil.
Syria has three evils: Ba'ath fascists with Assad, Sunni extremists with ISIS and Shiite jihadists led by Iran. If Putin wants to side with two of the three, I say be my guest. Putin is not so clever, it seems.
I think putin makes the right decision
I agree jimbrown, however Russia is not going to get bogged down fighting ISIS, that's just palaver to justify Russian presence in Syria. The real target is the USA.
Caecus,
"I agree jimbrown, however Russia is not going to get bogged down fighting ISIS, that's just palaver to justify Russian presence in Syria. The real target is the USA."
Yes, I agree, but I think that the US is #1 on Putin's list of indirect targets. His moves so far are the type of where the Russians could as you say pull out quick. I think I've got an idea of his main objective, but it's nothing but an idea and I must think on it more.
Jimbrown,
You are quite correct on reminding us of the three evils facing Syria. It helps to be reminded of such things. Since Vladimir Putin has the most effective messaging machine(propaganda machine) on earth, many people are not aware of the evils of either the Iranian or Ba'athist regimes. Iran's calling card is "death to America." With the backing of Russia and China the world's two most powerful countries they are well capable of carrying such threats out;. As for Winston Churchill, he and the UK ultimately ended up supporting the Soviet Union when their survival depended upon it. Perhaps if they would have supported "communist evil" during the Spanish Civil War perhaps WWII could have been avoided. There's no way to know. While certain patterns of history repeat, history itself does not repeat in an exact pattern.
Anon,
This is the "right decision" if Russia dispenses with ISIS relatively quickly AND Russia will reign in their puppet regime of Iran whose calling card is "death to America." With regards to the destruction of ISIS Russian military forces are the best trained and best led on earth. As such, I'd expect ISIS to be completely decimated and gone within six months and perhaps sooner. Unfortunately I don't have any degree of confidence that Russia is going to be reasonable in this area and restrain themselves or their puppet Iranian government's goal of "death to America." As such, it's easy to understand America's apprehension towards Russia.
Caeus,
I agree the USA is Russia's #1 target. Our foolhardy government has managed to become a target of the world's most powerful country. This is due in large part to at least two reasons: 1.) the prior history between our countries and 2.) current US policy based upon unrealistic assumptions.
Specifically Assad and his government are not going anywhere. Any attempts to dislodge this government or Putin's handpicked successor will only result in failure with the best possible result embarrassment and humiliation and the worst result being something reasonable people would not really want to ponder.
In this environment, it might well be realistic for US government officials to approach Russian leaders with an attitude of "how can we help you?" Perhaps if there is a way we can add value to Russia perhaps we can eliminate or at leas minimize the hostility between us and Russia the world's most powerful country.
James,
I will be interested to read what you think Putin's main idea is. I think his main idea is to first and foremost destroy America and secondly to become the most powerful force the world has ever known in both absolute an relative terms. As to the second objective, he's very close to achieving that one if he has not already. In any event, his achievement of this is not something any American leader no matter how competent he/she may be at this point has any hope of preventing even if they wanted to. As such, the big question for most of the world at least would be what does he plan to do with such power. Since he will have such power is not preventable, the world needs to determine how they are going to position themselves in this environment.
As for America, we had better hope Putin's main objective is not the destruction of America. In any event, good places to start would probably be to withdraw all support for Ukraine, withdraw all support for the Baltic States, and perhaps Russia will call off their desire to destroy us. In any event, recognize Russia's potion and act accordingly.
God willing this does not mean we act as Russian cheerleaders and celebrate everything they do. The Ukrainian government seems to be corrupt and oppressive and eastern European nations are users and abusers of American aid. As such, there is little to no cost in jettisoning them and much upside. As such, getting rid of this in the possibility of possibly procuring better relations with the world's most powerful country seems like a no brainer.
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