Said Vladimir Putin.
Turkey and Russia worked together on several ceasefire agreements in the city of Aleppo this month. Most crumbled, but a final one held and allowed the evacuations of tens of thousands of rebels and civilians from the city's east, which had been under the control of rebel groups for more than four years....
Turkey and Russia appear to be sidelining the United States, which has led an international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria and has vehemently opposed any attempt to keep Assad in power. Russia has long accused the US of arming what it sees as terrorist organizations, while Turkey has made similar claims in recent days.....
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Obama, while on vacation, was unavailable to comment.
Obama is trying his hardest to push Israel into Russia's camp. Luckily, he will probably run out of time for that.
Another great victory for Obama and Kerry. Something like 500,000 dead in Syria and over a million displaced.
When has this administration done anything "vehemently"?
With the poor management of resources, and incompetence of the current administration, it's very easy to assume many U.S. resources went to unintended sources. Whether by intent, or not, the U.S. assisted those it publicly opposed.
Trump is going to double down on the lead from behind Russia foreign policy.
Awesome. We don't need to be the policeman. We anyhow weren't as good at it as we thought we were.
Where was Iran in this deal?
Anyway, Syria is now a basket case, and the Assad regime a puppet government. But for whom?
Israel has more serious worries than the PA and Obama's U.N. resolutions.
"Trump is going to double down on the lead from behind Russia foreign policy."
What does this mean ? Does the commenter even know ?
Also, our lefty commenter who says Turkey is a NATO ally is not up yet.
"has vehemently opposed any attempt to keep Assad in power" No.
It would be ironic if Putin becomes the one who actually deserves the peace prize. Not that I trust his motives, but he has stepped into the power vacuum Obama created.
This coupled with the UN vote, and it's Trump who's accused of being Putin's stooge?
Nyah nyah, Syrian horses wear diapers.
I can't wait to see that Nobel Peace Prize in Obama's presidential library.
I but that sucker just SPARKLES.
As a long as we can reconcile our interests, and that of native people, then why not let the Russians lead?
It's Russia's sphere of influence by proximity, which grants them staying power, where others would evacuate and abandon allies and friends alike for political progress.
Obama needs to be kept in an insulated cell until his term runs out. He's trying to do as much damage now as he possibly can.
Who breached the last two cease-fires? Had it been Assad, I'm sure we would have heard. The 'rebels' aren't going to settle for any kind of cease-fire or peace agreement.
Were it not for Israel, my preference would be to let the Middle East fight it out, Shia vs. Sunni, among themselves. Israel has probably the best intelligence ops in the world and they are our only reliable ally in the ME. No Muslim country can be considered a reliable ally in the long term.
David Begley said...
Another great victory for Obama and Kerry. Something like 500,000 dead in Syria and over a million displaced.
Far too low. Of 18M Syrians, it is estimated that more than half (9.5M) have been displaced. Of those, 4M have left the country.
I don't think the Obama Administration could ever determine who was who in the groups they were supporting in Syria- and that is me giving Obama and Kerry the benefit of the doubt. In my darker and more cynical moments, I start to wonder if maybe they knew exactly what they were doing, and just ended up failing when the Russians proved willing to support Assad directly.
A story to keep your eyes on is what is found in East Aleppo over the coming months as the fighting finally ceases.
n.n said...
As a long as we can reconcile our interests, and that of native people, then why not let the Russians lead?
It's Russia's sphere of influence by proximity, which grants them staying power, where others would evacuate and abandon allies and friends alike for political progress.
12/29/16, 10:23 AM
Well, the main reason was between 1973 and 2009, Russia didn't have much of a sphere of influence in that part of the world, and it was US/NATO policy to keep them from having a military base in Syria to exert pressure there. Rolling that back has been one of Putin's big foreign policy successes.
Also, Russia being seen as a strong horse in the region, and the US being seen as weak and untrustworthy is not to our benefit. Yes, it's symbolic, but symbols matter, and having Aleppo get retaken while the US fumes impotently from the sidelines AND is deliberately and publicly cut out of matters there is a very potent one. Especially since our own proxies are bogged down in Mosul in similar circumstances.
"Turkey and Russia appear to be sidelining the United States, which has led an international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria."
No. Our Team Captain summoned the players to the sideline for a time out, but he was out of time outs. Then another team, the Russian Bears, marched on to the field and even changed some of the rules. The Bears also ignored some rules Our Team had applied only to itself, and won the game.
Or so they hope. They probably know it's only half-time.
I thought the rebels were ISIS. Did I misunderstand? And if we are against ISIS why are we not with Turkey and Russia?
Syndey 12/29/16, 1:21 PM
I thought the rebels were ISIS. Did I misunderstand?
Well, yes and no. That' what Assad and Russia were sort of trying oto pretrnd.
Theer are all sorts of different kinds of rebels, and ISIS/ISIL/Daesh/ISlamic State and Original al Qaeda ® ™ aka the Nusra Front were only two of them. Original al Qaeda ® ™ renamed it self and maybe merged. That's why there's sme confusion as to just whom the ceasefire is with. Theere is Saudi backed united group now, and a urkish backed group and Kurds, and what's ;eft of the U.s. backed groups.
The most moderate or democratic rebels have been eliminated or forced to merge with more Islamist groups.
There were several different factions in Aleppo. Some weer preventing people from leaving.
And if we are against ISIS why are we not with Turkey and Russia?
Because Russia isn't or wasn't really against ISIS, but pro-Assad. And you know, they were bombing hospitals and killing doctors and getting rid of any kind of rescue ambulances.
Yes, the rebels are made up of ISIS and Al Qaeda. Just the sort we want to arm and support.
RED LINE!
We should have list of alianes in the middle east, where the enemy of my enemy is my friend, irresptective of religiois belief, or now that religions has inserted itself into these conversacions who has switched sides. my guess is danger trumps religion every time. And the press won't report tis because it goes against their and the elites opinons and desired outdomes. Would tis cease fire saving so many children have happened by itself? not if Mr. O. had his way, but the principals were already moving in this direction (of doing the "right thing", but perhaps it was mr. T. saying the U.S. and Russia were no longer enemies that allowed this silent concurrence of opinion and action to be pushed out of hiding. Strange how much good the devil will do. In a world of haters. mostly in the West. How dare you put your children's and your country's interest's before the grievance lobby! And king George Soros who's arms merchants won't make so much money once one side or the other is decisevly defeated.
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