Commentaries, Analysis, And Reaction To The Partial Russian Military Pull-Out From Syria

1

Michael Weiss, Daily Beast: Maybe Putin’s Telling the Truth About Winning Syria

Only suckers take the Russian president’s word at face value, but it’s hard to deny his intervention likely saved Bashar al-Assad—and that was always the goal.

The war in Syria that the Russian government denied it was starting, then swore it was prosecuting against ISIS and “terrorists,” has suddenly been won and will come to an expeditious end, beginning today. Vladimir Putin, the man who said that local “volunteers” seized Crimea and who still disclaims any Russian military involvement in east Ukraine, asks to be taken at his word that he’s had enough of bombing the Middle East.

The difficulty in parsing any major Kremlin announcement lies in chivvying the kernel of verifiable truth out of the carapace of lies and disinformation it typically comes wrapped in. Already I see enough loopholes and caveats in Putin’s meekly delivered “mission accomplished” declaration to qualify it as just another misdirection, one the Western media has again abetted by editorially framing what Putin says as a fait accompli.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Reaction To The Partial Russian Military Pull-Out From Syria

Putin Got Exactly What He Wanted in Syria -- Evelyn N. Farkas, Defense One
Don't Trust Putin's Syria Pullback -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg
Analysis: Why Putin Picked This Moment to Pull Out of Syria -- Cassandra Vinograd and Alexey Ermenko, NBC
Putin Got Exactly What He Wanted in Syria -- Evelyn N. Farkas, Defense One
Rationalizing Putin’s Syrian Victory -- Noah Rothman, Commentary
The Strategy Behind Russia’s Moves in Syria -- Nikolay Pakhomov, National Interest
Analysis: Putin's power move in Syria puts Russia on par with US -- Jerusalem Post
Putin withdrawing Russian forces from Syria: why now and why it matters -- Max Fisher, VOX
Analysis Putin Takes Syria Fight to the Diplomatic Arena -- Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz
ANALYSIS: Enough is enough... Russia's message to Assad -- Middle East Eye
Analysis: How Putin saved Assad and re-established Russia in the Middle East -- Ron Ben-Yishai, i24 News
Russia's Unexpected Withdrawal from Syria: Analysis -- Stratfor
Putin's Pullout: Behind Russia's New Syria Surprise -- Steve Gutterman, RFE
With Campaign in Syria, Russia Tested Hardware, Prowess -- WSJ
Syria withdrawal: Which of Russia’s forces are being pulled out? -- RBTH
Russian media term Syria pullout a political victory -- AFP
Russian Pilots Returning From Syria Welcomed With Fanfare, Pomp -- IBTimes
Russia drops the mic: Syria pullout comes at perfect moment -- Mark Galeotti, Reuters
Moscow is winding down its presence in Syria. Why? Why now? -- Vladimir Mikheev, RBTH