Discussion for article #242889
Well, I do hope they take dubya to the meeting so he can gaze into Putin’s eyes and examine his soul…
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Too bad it took a tragedy to get us all working together, but hopefully might start seeing some progress.
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With the historic yet separate ties France has with both the US and Russia, I’m interested to see if this changes the balance of power dynamic that’s been building in the Fertile Crescent and how Syria/Assad will be used as a foil.
If the imperialist adventuring must continue, it would be good for all concerned to work together instead of accidentally engaging in proxy wars against each other.
France has been trying to push over Assad for many years, for good reasons mostly involved with their historic relationship with the Christian 10%, in alliance with the large community of secular Sunni and the Druze. Note that the named spark for the Crimean War, joining the UK, France, and the Ottoman Empire, was the Ottoman granting of defense-of-the-Christians duties to the French, overturning the Russian Orthodox church’s long standing in the position. The Assad family rule has, indeed, been very bad; I remember when Daddy Assad’s tanks and planes attacked Allepo, where the Christians are concentrated. If the civil war is a great evil, then French policy to encourage it deserves scrutiny.
The Assad regime has for many years had two primary sponsors: Russia (before that the Soviet Union), and Iran, based partly on the Alawi Shia ethnic identity of the regime and its primary base of support, and on its related willingness to join in support for the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon and points south and west. Before the Great Crushing of Humpty al Dumpty in neighboring Iraq, the ethnic split within the Baath Socialist movement—Alawi Shiite in Syria, Sunni in Saddam’s Iraq—certainly served Iran’s purposes, and probably Moscow’s (of course Moscow also liked a strong Iraq threatening its southern neighbor Iran, as it thought it would like a puppet Afghanistan). Byzantine, to say the least.
The French and the Russians may have the ability to cause a suspension of the Syrian civil war. That is the best imperialist meddling I can imagine. Next best would be for the U.S. and U.K. to sit on Riyadh and demand a stop to Saudi continuing efforts to export Salafi Islam, and to crack down on Saudi citizens who participate in the extreme Salafi program (formerly under the name of Al Qaeda, now its successor organization IS).
Strange how things come around isn’t it. Putin is in an odd position compared to the others. The French and the US are likely partners but Russia getting on board is a strange one.
Personally, I’m all for it, lets band together and end this world wrecking crew of maniacs. We can go back to playing cold war after the hot war if Putin still has the need to play BMOC.
yeah. but don’t stop there. coalition needs to include brits, germans, turks, kurds, jordanians, saudis, iraqis, egyptians, aussies. and other willing countries. put a massive hurt on these assholes.