[Archived] Syrian Conflict And Russia's Involvement

[RibbleValleyRover]

Are we on the brink of another Cold War here?

Tensions rose with Russia's involvement in Ukraine and the Crimea, now they are getting involved in Syria. Russian bombing so far hasn't targeted ISIS in fact by the looks of it they have been targeting the rebel movement against Assad, with strikes today on CIA trained rebels.

[yoda]

Are we on the brink of another Cold War here?

Tensions rose with Russia's involvement in Ukraine and the Crimea, now they are getting involved in Syria. Russian bombing so far hasn't targeted ISIS in fact by the looks of it they have been targeting the rebel movement against Assad, with strikes today on CIA trained rebels.

All part of Putin's plan to destabilize Europe/NATO by creating more refugees. Putin is playing the west like a fiddle.

His way of getting back for the sanctions.

No doubt Jeremy would like to sit down and have a cup of tea with Putin

[K-Hod]

Probably best to 'have a cup of tea' rather than bombing the heck out of Russia first though eh?

Dave has already had a few 'cups of tea' with Putin already hasn't he?

[yoda]

Probably best to 'have a cup of tea' before bombing the heck out of Russia first though eh?

It won't come to that, the Crimea proved it.

Just to be clear, I wasn't advocating it too.

Just pointing out that Putin will exploit the situation to his benefit, Ukraine look out

[K-Hod]

In any case, Putin is someone we need to keep an eye on massively imo.

[Baz]

All part of Putin's plan to destabilize Europe/NATO by creating more refugees. Putin is playing the west like a fiddle.

His way of getting back for the sanctions.

No doubt Jeremy would like to sit down and have a cup of tea with Putin

Its ok, we are sending in Elton John for talks.

Russia is obviously playing the card of getting Assad back in control of the country. The problem is that I can't see the Syrians accepting that either, given his chemical weapons usage against them. That would leave the choice to remove both Isis and Assad, but that without proper planning will only at best create another Iraq, given the US record on creating a stable exit strategy.

Given the instability in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine its beginning to look like an unsolvable puzzle.

[Audax]

Are we on the brink of another Cold War here?

Tensions rose with Russia's involvement in Ukraine and the Crimea, now they are getting involved in Syria. Russian bombing so far hasn't targeted ISIS in fact by the looks of it they have been targeting the rebel movement against Assad, with strikes today on CIA trained rebels.

It will be hard for Assad/Russian/Iranian forces to win that whole country back. I think this is to fortify Latakia, the Alawite homeland. They have lost a 3rd or more of the country and a lot of it is probably desert but it will be difficult to get all that land back and it could take Russia's attention off of Ukraine actually.

Here are a few links I periodically read:

Under the Black Flag from Radio Free Europe: http://www.rferl.org/archive/under-the-black-flag/latest/17257/17257.html

The organization quoted in many stories, located in London, the Syrian Human Rights Observatory: http://www.syriahr.com/en/

All sources are biased but Lebanon who is right there has newspapers I think that are probably worth a look:

http://www.naharnet.com/

http://dailystar.com.lb/

[joey_big_nose]

I'd say a cold war has been going since the late nineties. Certainly since the Ukrainian conflict.

I'm not sure what Corbyn could do, or want to do, differently in so far as Russia is concerned. The west has played a pretty straight bag on that front.

The real foreign policy mistakes have all been in how the West has handled the Middle East issues, ultimately undermining stability and the democratic world's originally significant moral authority. Putin, as well as ISIS etc, are exploiting those failures as you would expect them to.

The West are now profoundly on the back foot and it is hard to see how stability can be found again in any time frame.

[Audax]

ISIS left so weakened by airstrikes and desertion it could be wiped out in just HOURS

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/609680/Islamic-State-ISIS-Russian-bombing-terror-Syria-Caliphate-defeat

ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS) is now so fragile that its so-called Caliphate could be wiped out in a matter of HOURS, a top terror expert said today.

I'd definitely welcome this if it is so but I do tend to doubt it.

[Steve Moss]

Putin's forces will be a lot more aggressive, a lot more brutal and, in the end, probably more effective than US forces for those same reasons.

[Jimmy612]

Four Russian cruise missiles landed in Iran according to reports. Rather worrying for all the world and not least the Russian military commanders given that Iran is the entire width of Iraq away from Syria.