October 11, 201511 yr Eh. The same people furious about this were also furious about the US and NATO helping out the Libyan rebels. And there were some obvious implications from that the world is still reckoning with. Syria is a disaster at every level. Ignoring the humanitarian crisis there, I say let Putin mire Russia in that quagmire. Unless Damascus reclaims sovereignty over all of Syria in the very near future, which they won't, Putin's Bushian machismo will have Russia there indefinitely trying to save face. Putin doesn't have to worry about anti war protesters and he could care less about the human rights of innocent civilians so he will be able to act much bolder than Bush and will be able to use much more extreme punishment to knock out opposition.
October 11, 201511 yr True but still an inept foreign policy team. I give you todays WSJ: Those who know the Obama White House’s inner workings wonder why this president, who came into office with next to no experience of foreign policy, has made so little effort to hire strategic expertise. Answer: Because he thinks he is always the smartest man in the room. He thinks giving speeches and words will change the world. Kumbaya. Several people have commented that Obamas biggest error has been who he has surrounded himself with as advisers and such. Too many intellectuals/academics and not enough people with real world experience.
October 11, 201511 yr Putin doesn't have to worry about anti war protesters and he could care less about the human rights of innocent civilians so he will be able to act much bolder than Bush and will be able to use much more extreme punishment to knock out opposition. True, Putin doesn't care about what the public thinks, and his approval ratings are faked. But there is one thing that Putin does worry about, keeping the social elite happy, and they have lost billions recently. They were ticked that someone on the inside of the Kremlin killed Boris Nemtsov, and right in front of the Kremlin, he has fractions now, he won't be able to keep all of them happy, then add a drawn out war in Syria with loss of life, on top of the continued sanctions, the social elite will get rid of him. Earlier this year when Putin wasn't seen for a couple of weeks just after Nemtsov was murdered, intelligence said that their was a power struggle in the Kremlin, it wasn't clear who did what, but Putin assured enough of the elite to come out still on top.
October 11, 201511 yr Putin doesn't have to worry about anti war protesters and he could care less about the human rights of innocent civilians so he will be able to act much bolder than Bush and will be able to use much more extreme punishment to knock out opposition. American protesters aren't what's keeping Iraq and Afghanistan from having stable governments. On one hand, Syria is unique in that it still has a government that had previously ruled the country, which could re-govern the country if the rebels lose. On the other, the brutal tactics of Assad's government are what started the civil war in the first place. They are unlikely to pacify the rebels and thus far those tactics have done nothing but cause civilians to flee.
October 11, 201511 yr Author From what I gather, you're talking about the Golan Heights. But this is territory controlled by Israel. Even a regime in Damascus at full strength wouldn't be able to take control of that. Maybe there are reserves that bleed further into Syria, but that's only speculation. On top of this, Russia has been directing its strikes in the north. If they only wanted unrestrained access to the oil they would only need to help the regime take back control of the area south of Damascus near the border, which would likely be somewhat easier as this is where the regime is strongest. There are too many "ifs" in the equation for me. We can agree about that. As I've gotten older my "cares" about policies of The President has dwindled......I car only about economic and foreign policy and someone that will not trample on The Constitution. Foreign policy has been atrocious......from supporting the Arab Spring, to giving hard dates on troop withdraws.
October 11, 201511 yr American protesters aren't what's keeping Iraq and Afghanistan from having stable governments. True but they did cause the US to pull out before the job could be done and if the US was like Russia and we didn't care about innocent civilians, we could have been much more aggressive in eliminating the Taliban and Al Queda. On one hand, Syria is unique in that it still has a government that had previously ruled the country, which could re-govern the country if the rebels lose. On the other, the brutal tactics of Assad's government are what started the civil war in the first place. They are unlikely to pacify the rebels and thus far those tactics have done nothing but cause civilians to flee. While Assad's tactics didn't help, I think rebels saw Assad as not a real Muslim i.e. not extremist enough that is why I am hesitant to say we should arm them because we will probably be fighting them later.
October 11, 201511 yr Syria is to tricky for me to have a clear opinion. I don't feel comfortable with any decision. I don't want to arm the rebels because there are a lot of extremist in that group and Assad is a monster. But I've come of the opinion after Iraq and Libya as long as the monster plays ball with us and keeps the extremist in check , I'd rather deal with the monster.
October 11, 201511 yr Let Russia deal with those idiots in the ME, it will eventually turn out like the 80s in Afghanistan vs Russia and I'm sure they remember how that worked out. Just keep helping keep Israel safe
October 11, 201511 yr Let Russia deal with those idiots in the ME, it will eventually turn out like the 80s in Afghanistan vs Russia and I'm sure they remember how that worked out. Just keep helping keep Israel safe Until the US reaches energy independence, letting Putin gain a strong influence in the Middle East could be a bad thing.
October 11, 201511 yr Until the US reaches energy independence, letting Putin gain a strong influence in the Middle East could be a bad thing. Agreed! It would be a bad thing for the world if the US pulls out of the Middle East, a very bad thing. But, the longer Putin is in Syria, if deaths mount for Russia, it will be a very difficult thing for Putin. Also, as was stated, Putin really doesn't operate on long term goals, but one of his goals now is to create trouble, if there is trouble in the Middle East, oil prices usually rise, which Putin desperately needs.
October 11, 201511 yr At this point, arm as much as possible the ones who are against Assad (not the extreme ones) and who Russia is fighting. As the more Russian deaths there are, it will get bad for Putin at home, this could be his Afghanistan. Aren't most of Assad's enemies extremists like ISIS? Kurds. And arming them creates big problems for the US in Iraq and Turkey.
October 11, 201511 yr True but they did cause the US to pull out before the job could be done and if the US was like Russia and we didn't care about innocent civilians, we could have been much more aggressive in eliminating the Taliban and Al Queda. Where do you get this foolhardy idea that the US could somehow conquer and/or "fix" Afghanistan? That place is hopeless. While Assad's tactics didn't help, I think rebels saw Assad as not a real Muslim i.e. not extremist enough that is why I am hesitant to say we should arm them because we will probably be fighting them later. The only people we could arm in that area and it make an actual difference would be the Kurds. And that creates problems for other US entanglements in that region. Other than a real invasion, there's not much we can do to "fix" things in Syria.
October 12, 201511 yr Author Where do you get this foolhardy idea that the US could somehow conquer and/or "fix" Afghanistan? That place is hopeless. The only people we could arm in that area and it make an actual difference would be the Kurds. And that creates problems for other US entanglements in that region. Other than a real invasion, there's not much we can do to "fix" things in Syria. I say we arm the Kurds. I am not a big fan of Turkey, they support ISIS....as does Saudi Arabia, so there is that too.
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