mick silver
4th June 2016, 01:03 PM
Source: Moon of Alabama (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html)
Syria: The U.S. Is Unwilling To Settle - Russia Returns For Another RoundThe Obama administration does not want peace in Syria. The Russians finally have to admit to themselves that the U.S. is no partner for a continuation of a cease fire, a coordinated attack against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda and for peace in Syria. Indeed, as Lavrov explains (https://southfront.org/lavrov-ukraine-usa-qa/), the U.S. has again asked (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d5682585f9ef460aa0eb8b5d41d8a0ae/us-asks-russia-not-hit-nusra-front-syria-moscow-says) to spare al-Qaeda from Russian air strikes even as two UN Security Council resolutions demand its eradication. Huge supply convoys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKufuUi33cQ) (vid) from Turkey are again going to the "rebels" who will, as always, share them with al-Qaeda and other terrorists.
The current renewed Syrian Arab Army attack towards Raqqa is being obstructed not only by sandstorms but also by a timely attack (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-aleppo-idUSKCN0YP1RJ) of al-Qaeda, Ahrar al Sham and Turkestan Islamist Party forces against (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-aleppo-idUSKCN0YQ0GY) government positions in the south Aleppo countryside.
More than 1,000 militants have begun an offensive against Syrian army positions southwest of Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire monitoring center in Syria said in a statement on Saturday. The center also reported civilians in Aleppo as saying armed groups partly made up of Turkish soldiers had appeared north of the city.
The exactly same scheme happened in March and April when a move towards eastern Syrian by the Syrian army had to be stopped to prevent further losses against al-Qaeda south of Aleppo. It seems obvious that these moves U.S. supported forces are planned to prevent any gains of the Syrian government in the east.
Today Lavrov again (https://www.yahoo.com/news/kerry-russias-lavrov-discuss-syria-crisis-phone-111734134.html?nhp=1) talked to Kerry:
"Lavrov expressed concern about attempts to delay the resumption of political negotiations under various pretexts," the [Russian foreign] ministry said.As the U.S. is unwilling to settle the Syria conflict Russia will have to retake the initiative.
Is this a trap? Does the U.S. want Russia to sink into a quagmire in Syria? That is certainly a possibility but it is hard to see how this could happen when Russia comes back with a vengeance and strikes hard and fast.
Russian airstrikes against terrorists in Syria have tripled (https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/739089024309207040) over the last days. Additional resources have been silently dispatched (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2016/06/russia-syria-united-states-war-sukhoi-storm-truce.html):
Without stirring a buzz similar to that of their first military intervention in Syria, the Russians this week disembarked ground forces and paratroopers in the port of Tartus to support more than 3,000 Russian volunteers dispatched to the region in the past few weeks, in a bid to revive coordination with the Syrian army.
...
Syrian sources stated that the Russian joint command staff, which coordinated aerial support operations last fall, had returned to the Hmeimim military base in Latakia province to begin preparations for new operations.One can only hope that the Russian leadership has learned its lesson. That it will not stop to pursue the enemy for no political gain when it is again, as it likely will soon be, on the run.
Posted by b on June 4, 2016 at 02:11 PM | Permalink (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html)
>> Is this a trap? Does the U.S.
>> want Russia to sink into a
>> quagmire in Syria?
Could the "trap" be in reverse?
Which empire's people are growing angrier and angrier at the government and the political choices? Which empire can afford to continue investing so much while the misery index climbs sharply? (The drop in oil mitigated the misery. But, I suspect the price oil has bottomed. The fracking "weapon" is nearly exhausted, because people are growing angrier over water supply poisoning.) One empire's people has known misery and endured it. Another empire has mainly heaped it on others and not known it for itself, in 150 years.
Posted by: dumbass | Jun 4, 2016 2:59:22 PM | 1 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb090c19c1970d)
One question that I'd love to know the answer to is this.
If insufficient military manpower is the reason for this back and forth useless ceasefire game played by Russia/Iran/Syria, then why not solve them manpower problem and have the Syrians invite Chinese participation in the conflict with perhaps 50,000 troops dispatched to Syria to mop up the terrorists?
I can think of 3 reasons, which one is it, or if more than one of them, what proportion is with each possibility.
1) The Chinese don't believe they have force projection capabilities to put any number of troops in harms way on the other side of the world lest these troops be cut off and suffer heavy losses.
2) The Chinese simply don't want to insert themselves in a meaningful way into a Middle Eastern conflict by putting 'boots on the ground' as this has all sorts of unpredictable geo-political consequences and at this stage it is simply their view that it is infinitely more prudent to keep their powder dry for when it might possibly really be needed, or not, but it's good to have the option rather than make a perhaps unnecessary commitment (from their point of view).
3) The Russians have made it clear they don't want any Chinese involvement as Syria is their backyard and they will 'solve' this problem without Chinese assistance (which would undermine Russian claims to be the major bulwark against the West). If this third point is the reason, I believe that is a 'macho' mistake to adopt that attitude and dissuade the Chinese from getting involved. It seems clear to me that there is no clear path to a unified Syria under the Government of Assad anytime soon. Russia has been involved in Syria hardcore since September - nearly 9 months - and what major cities have been recaptured in that time?
Idlib? Nope. Aleppo? Nope. Raqqah? Nope.
Palmyra has - but that is an outpost in the desert, hardly a major city.
What is the timeline? It seems infinite, and that can only breed resentment amongst the Syrian people if they see a Russian intervention doing nothing to halt the prolonged suffering in the country. If a solution is not provided quickly it merely becomes a part of the problem.
Posted by: Jules (http://worldcashday.com/) | Jun 4, 2016 3:35:08 PM | 2 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb090c1c0d970d)
Seems unlikely Putin will return to hit them "hard and fast." His capitulation to Washington on Syria (often obscured by pro-Putin pundits) has been obscene & unforgivable, especially recently. Don't forget, it took Putin over 4 years before he chose to intervene in Syria at all - a 2012 intervention would've nipped the whole thing in the bud. But no, it looks like Donbass 2.0. He'll do anything to avoid serious conflict with USA, it appears, even selling out his own people in eastern Ukraine. As many have noted, Putin is now doing what he had previously said could not be done: demanding the separation of "moderate" terrorists from "extremist" terrorists. The head of Russia's top security body Evgeny Lukyanov signaled that (https://www.rt.com/news/344214-russia-killed-isis-militants/) Russia wasn't planning to stick its neck out for Syria: "[Syrians] must solve their issues for themselves."
Posted by: Mark | Jun 4, 2016 3:35:25 PM | 3 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01b8d1f283b5970c)
Russia on Friday, May 20, called for joint operations against Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front with the United States. US officials, however, didn’t respond kindly to the idea. Instead, Pentagon Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said, “We do not collaborate or cooperate with the Russians. The US has different military objectives in Syria than the Russians do.”http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950302000653 (http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950302000653)
The US stalling is obvious to everyone, and was evident at the fall of Palmyra, when the US state department could not decide who was worse, the Syrian army or ISIS. The gloves must come off,or the US will try and partition Syria.
Posted by: harrylaw | Jun 4, 2016 3:39:38 PM | 4 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb090c1c39970d)
But B told us that some of the previous ceasefires were a victory for Russia !!! At least in the PR department, and worth next to zero.
And too many Syrians had to be slaughtered by the rearmed US empires terrorist proxies - in part thanks to The stupid and cowardly Russian leadership - for the message to finally get through. More slaughter is Exactly what some of us were saying would happen.
Too bad so many had to die while Putin-bots thought Putin was too genius to be outplayed by the evil US Empire.
Oh and how many here at Moon of Alabama including B was singing Putins presience when Putin ludocrisly said that this war would take only 4 months. And I called it be an obvious BS timetable, day 1, just like all first announced war timetables.
The whole insane idea of Russia out working with the greatest evil the world has ever seen and intent on Russia's subservience if not destruction, should finally be put to bed FOREVER. In Syria, or anywhere else.
Share This Article...
Syria: The U.S. Is Unwilling To Settle - Russia Returns For Another RoundThe Obama administration does not want peace in Syria. The Russians finally have to admit to themselves that the U.S. is no partner for a continuation of a cease fire, a coordinated attack against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda and for peace in Syria. Indeed, as Lavrov explains (https://southfront.org/lavrov-ukraine-usa-qa/), the U.S. has again asked (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d5682585f9ef460aa0eb8b5d41d8a0ae/us-asks-russia-not-hit-nusra-front-syria-moscow-says) to spare al-Qaeda from Russian air strikes even as two UN Security Council resolutions demand its eradication. Huge supply convoys (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKufuUi33cQ) (vid) from Turkey are again going to the "rebels" who will, as always, share them with al-Qaeda and other terrorists.
The current renewed Syrian Arab Army attack towards Raqqa is being obstructed not only by sandstorms but also by a timely attack (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-aleppo-idUSKCN0YP1RJ) of al-Qaeda, Ahrar al Sham and Turkestan Islamist Party forces against (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-aleppo-idUSKCN0YQ0GY) government positions in the south Aleppo countryside.
More than 1,000 militants have begun an offensive against Syrian army positions southwest of Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire monitoring center in Syria said in a statement on Saturday. The center also reported civilians in Aleppo as saying armed groups partly made up of Turkish soldiers had appeared north of the city.
The exactly same scheme happened in March and April when a move towards eastern Syrian by the Syrian army had to be stopped to prevent further losses against al-Qaeda south of Aleppo. It seems obvious that these moves U.S. supported forces are planned to prevent any gains of the Syrian government in the east.
Today Lavrov again (https://www.yahoo.com/news/kerry-russias-lavrov-discuss-syria-crisis-phone-111734134.html?nhp=1) talked to Kerry:
"Lavrov expressed concern about attempts to delay the resumption of political negotiations under various pretexts," the [Russian foreign] ministry said.As the U.S. is unwilling to settle the Syria conflict Russia will have to retake the initiative.
Is this a trap? Does the U.S. want Russia to sink into a quagmire in Syria? That is certainly a possibility but it is hard to see how this could happen when Russia comes back with a vengeance and strikes hard and fast.
Russian airstrikes against terrorists in Syria have tripled (https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/739089024309207040) over the last days. Additional resources have been silently dispatched (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2016/06/russia-syria-united-states-war-sukhoi-storm-truce.html):
Without stirring a buzz similar to that of their first military intervention in Syria, the Russians this week disembarked ground forces and paratroopers in the port of Tartus to support more than 3,000 Russian volunteers dispatched to the region in the past few weeks, in a bid to revive coordination with the Syrian army.
...
Syrian sources stated that the Russian joint command staff, which coordinated aerial support operations last fall, had returned to the Hmeimim military base in Latakia province to begin preparations for new operations.One can only hope that the Russian leadership has learned its lesson. That it will not stop to pursue the enemy for no political gain when it is again, as it likely will soon be, on the run.
Posted by b on June 4, 2016 at 02:11 PM | Permalink (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html)
>> Is this a trap? Does the U.S.
>> want Russia to sink into a
>> quagmire in Syria?
Could the "trap" be in reverse?
Which empire's people are growing angrier and angrier at the government and the political choices? Which empire can afford to continue investing so much while the misery index climbs sharply? (The drop in oil mitigated the misery. But, I suspect the price oil has bottomed. The fracking "weapon" is nearly exhausted, because people are growing angrier over water supply poisoning.) One empire's people has known misery and endured it. Another empire has mainly heaped it on others and not known it for itself, in 150 years.
Posted by: dumbass | Jun 4, 2016 2:59:22 PM | 1 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb090c19c1970d)
One question that I'd love to know the answer to is this.
If insufficient military manpower is the reason for this back and forth useless ceasefire game played by Russia/Iran/Syria, then why not solve them manpower problem and have the Syrians invite Chinese participation in the conflict with perhaps 50,000 troops dispatched to Syria to mop up the terrorists?
I can think of 3 reasons, which one is it, or if more than one of them, what proportion is with each possibility.
1) The Chinese don't believe they have force projection capabilities to put any number of troops in harms way on the other side of the world lest these troops be cut off and suffer heavy losses.
2) The Chinese simply don't want to insert themselves in a meaningful way into a Middle Eastern conflict by putting 'boots on the ground' as this has all sorts of unpredictable geo-political consequences and at this stage it is simply their view that it is infinitely more prudent to keep their powder dry for when it might possibly really be needed, or not, but it's good to have the option rather than make a perhaps unnecessary commitment (from their point of view).
3) The Russians have made it clear they don't want any Chinese involvement as Syria is their backyard and they will 'solve' this problem without Chinese assistance (which would undermine Russian claims to be the major bulwark against the West). If this third point is the reason, I believe that is a 'macho' mistake to adopt that attitude and dissuade the Chinese from getting involved. It seems clear to me that there is no clear path to a unified Syria under the Government of Assad anytime soon. Russia has been involved in Syria hardcore since September - nearly 9 months - and what major cities have been recaptured in that time?
Idlib? Nope. Aleppo? Nope. Raqqah? Nope.
Palmyra has - but that is an outpost in the desert, hardly a major city.
What is the timeline? It seems infinite, and that can only breed resentment amongst the Syrian people if they see a Russian intervention doing nothing to halt the prolonged suffering in the country. If a solution is not provided quickly it merely becomes a part of the problem.
Posted by: Jules (http://worldcashday.com/) | Jun 4, 2016 3:35:08 PM | 2 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb090c1c0d970d)
Seems unlikely Putin will return to hit them "hard and fast." His capitulation to Washington on Syria (often obscured by pro-Putin pundits) has been obscene & unforgivable, especially recently. Don't forget, it took Putin over 4 years before he chose to intervene in Syria at all - a 2012 intervention would've nipped the whole thing in the bud. But no, it looks like Donbass 2.0. He'll do anything to avoid serious conflict with USA, it appears, even selling out his own people in eastern Ukraine. As many have noted, Putin is now doing what he had previously said could not be done: demanding the separation of "moderate" terrorists from "extremist" terrorists. The head of Russia's top security body Evgeny Lukyanov signaled that (https://www.rt.com/news/344214-russia-killed-isis-militants/) Russia wasn't planning to stick its neck out for Syria: "[Syrians] must solve their issues for themselves."
Posted by: Mark | Jun 4, 2016 3:35:25 PM | 3 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01b8d1f283b5970c)
Russia on Friday, May 20, called for joint operations against Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front with the United States. US officials, however, didn’t respond kindly to the idea. Instead, Pentagon Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said, “We do not collaborate or cooperate with the Russians. The US has different military objectives in Syria than the Russians do.”http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950302000653 (http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950302000653)
The US stalling is obvious to everyone, and was evident at the fall of Palmyra, when the US state department could not decide who was worse, the Syrian army or ISIS. The gloves must come off,or the US will try and partition Syria.
Posted by: harrylaw | Jun 4, 2016 3:39:38 PM | 4 (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/syria-the-us-is-unwilling-to-settle-russia-returns-for-another-round.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb090c1c39970d)
But B told us that some of the previous ceasefires were a victory for Russia !!! At least in the PR department, and worth next to zero.
And too many Syrians had to be slaughtered by the rearmed US empires terrorist proxies - in part thanks to The stupid and cowardly Russian leadership - for the message to finally get through. More slaughter is Exactly what some of us were saying would happen.
Too bad so many had to die while Putin-bots thought Putin was too genius to be outplayed by the evil US Empire.
Oh and how many here at Moon of Alabama including B was singing Putins presience when Putin ludocrisly said that this war would take only 4 months. And I called it be an obvious BS timetable, day 1, just like all first announced war timetables.
The whole insane idea of Russia out working with the greatest evil the world has ever seen and intent on Russia's subservience if not destruction, should finally be put to bed FOREVER. In Syria, or anywhere else.
Share This Article...