Richard Fernandez, PJ Media: Full Speed to Disaster
While the US media's attention remained focused on the presidential elections, developments in Syria continued to take a dramatic turn. Saudi Arabia announced "it was ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the U.S.-led alliance decides to start such operations." Russia warned that Turkey might intervene to break the siege of Aleppo to save its clients from annihilation and prevent a renewed flood of refugees from taking the road to Europe.
Not only is the situation threatening to escalate, the Washington Post described the situation of the non-ISIS rebels in Aleppo as nearly catastrophic. Liz Sly and Zakaria Zakaria write: "Syrian rebels battled for their survival in and around Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Thursday after a blitz of Russian airstrikes helped government loyalists sever a vital supply route and sent a new surge of refugees fleeing toward the border with Turkey."
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The above video describes how dire the situation in Syria is right now, and Richard Fernandez in the above commentary is correct in describing how much of a defeat this is becoming for US policy and strategy. Sighhh .... President Obama and his allies have certainly misjudged the situation in Syria .... starting with the premise that the Russian military intervention would end up as a quagmire. President Assad is not liked .... but neither are the radical jihadists who are on the other side who trough their barbarity and radicalism have alienated much of the non-Sunni and even Sunni populations. And while I expect this war to go on for a long time, you cannot help but feel that the momentum of this conflict has shifted in favour of the Assad regime, and that time is now on their side. But here is the scary part .... the situation on the ground is fluid, and I would not be surprised if countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and a few Gulf sheikdoms (with U. S. support in the background) are right now contemplating a serious military intervention that would shift the balance away from the Assad regime .... or to at least stop their military advances. The next few weeks are going to be very dangerous .... and my eyes are specifically on what Turkey will do .... will they order their military to enter Syria to save their rebel allies. In the event that there is such an intervention .... we will then be on the brink of a major war that will engulf the entire Middle East .... and maybe beyond.
5 comments:
WNU Editor,
See my post in the previous article.
President Assad is not liked by the US, that's for sure, because he is an ally of Iran and even though he supported the US torture program he defies US control.
Locally Assad has the loyalty of his troops and has administered a government in defiance of the US, so he is obviously liked locally. Plus he is elected, which is more than any Gulf potentate can claim.
It's Fareed Zakaria, normally a rather sensible analyst.
The Russian milutary is the most powerful in the world. US policy needs to operate with this reality in mind. As such, it is hardly surprising that this hasn't been a "quagmire" for Russia. While it's taken a bit longer for Russia than I expected, the current results are no surprise.
As for the situation being "fluid", this may very well be. The opposition to Assad may make adjustments the same as ISIS has been known to. They may be able to delay the inevitable Russian victory. If the US is stupid enough to send ground troops, this won't change the end result. Delay it perhaps while only further angering Russia.
ISIS does need to be defeated. We need some way to deter Iran from harming the United States but a policy calling for Assad's removal was never going to be realistic. I knew this from the start of the Syrian Civil War. It's a shame that apparently US leaders didn't realize this.
I've come to expect stupidity from US and "western" leaders but would have expected Saudi leaders to be smarter than this. If the Saudis decide on this course, perhaps they will impale themselves on Assad's Russian backed forces. That would be one enemy down.
As for what to do about the others, the key is probably Russia. Essentially adopt a policy that finds ways to add value to Russia along with a mikitary posture that would make a military effort against the United States to pyric for them or their allies to consider. This does NOT mean we should blindly do whatever they tell us to do.
There is no reason to believe that Saudi leaders are smart, given that it's a corrupt family of ugly misogynists who subsist principally on oil profits and US support despite (or because of) their funding of wahabbi schools and terrorism..
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