U.S. And Russia Cannot Even Agree On Who is A Terrorist

James Rosen, McClatchy News: Even with translators, U.S. and Russia can’t agree on definition of terrorism

WASHINGTON: While they confer about “de-conflicting” their bombing raids in Syria, U.S. and Russian military officials also might want to discuss what the word “terrorist” means.

That would be an easier discussion for the Russians, who began conducting airstrikes Wednesday, than the Americans, who’ve been bombing Syria for more than a year.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals, the definition of “terrorist,” when it comes to the increasingly turbulent Syrian civil war, is simple: anyone who uses violence to try to topple President Bashar Assad.

Assad is a dictator, but he’s Moscow’s dictator. Just as the late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was Washington’s dictator, for decades, before President George W. Bush turned against him and launched an ill-fated March 2003 invasion whose consequences are still playing out more than a dozen years later across the Middle East, from Syria and Iraq to Libya and Iran.

For President Barack Obama and his top military aides, it’s becoming more complicated by the day to say just who is a terrorist in Syria.

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WNU Editor: The Syrian conflict is now one of those conflicts where everyone has become radicalised along sectarian lines .... there are no moderates or a group to talk to for a political settlement .... this is now a fight to the finish where one side (and only one side) will be victorious. I think Moscow now realizes that, and so do most of the countries in the Middle East. For the White House .... I think they are still hoping for a political settlement .... but I will not be surprised if in the coming months they will realize that Syria is one of those conflicts where all you can do is hope that the carnage will be contained within its borders.