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Putin Says Air Strikes Violate Syrian Sovereignty
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
September 23, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Condemning U.S. air strikes in Syria, 61-year-old
Russian President Vladimir Putin pleaded his case to U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-Moon, proving hypocrisy has a new champion.
Putin thinks nothing about stealing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine
March 1 but rails against U.S. air strikes against the terror group known as the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Putin says nothing about French air strikes on the same targets or the joint
military help from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and
Jordan, all participating in strikes against ISIS targets in Raqqa, Dayr az
Zawr, Al Hasakah and Abu Kamal.
While condemning U.S. air strikes, Putin announced he’s adding 80 new ships to
Russian warm-water fleet in the Black Sea.
Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney looks all the more
prescient when he called Putin America’s biggest geopolitical threat in 2012.
Debating Obama on foreign policy Oct. 22, 2012 at Lynn University in Boca
Raton, Fl., Romney was criticized by Obama for insisting that Russia was
America’s biggest geopolitical foe.
Obmaa insisted that al-Qaeda continued as America’s biggest threat, despite
killing Osama bin Laden May 1, 2011.
With Putin seizing Crimea March 1, threatening to take more territory in
Southeastern Ukraine and announcing a major build-up of naval forces in the
Black Sea, it looks like Romney was right.
Putin sees his aggressive Cold War-like military buildup as defensive
measures against NATO’s continued expansion in former Soviet republics. Putin shows now regard for the independence and sovereignty of former Soviet satellites
now leaning toward the European Union and NATO.
Condemning U.S. actions against ISIS and al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria,
Putin show his true colors.
Isolated and sanctioned by the U.S. and EU for seizing Crimea, Putin
tries to play all sides against the U.S. and NATO. Putin pretends that Syria’s Bashar
al-Assad opposes U.S. air strikes against ISIS in Syria, when, in fact, he
welcomes anything that helps evict terrorist groups from Syria. U.S., French and allied Arab air
strikes target both ISIS and al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front, both working at
cross-purposes but both committed to toppling al-Assad. Putin’s geopolitical strategy,
ranging from South America, the Caribbean, to Africa, Asia and all points in
between are designed to counter U.S. geopolitical global strategy. Despite Syrian rhetoric seeking
approval before foreign air strikes, Putin’s been left on a limb pleading his
case at the U.N. Security Council.
Not only does he show hypocrisy about respecting Syria’s sovereignty, al-Assad
backs foreign strikes against terrorist targets.
If there’s anything Putin got right in Syria, it was the fact that
leaving al-Assad in power helps maintain stability in the region. While the White House hasn’t yet
admitted Putin got that one thing right, U.S. attacks on ISIS and al-Nusra help
al-Assad stay in power. “Any
international anti-terrorism effort,” said al-Assad is backed by Damascus,
leaving Putin in the cold. “The
Syrian Arab Republic says its stands with any international effort to fight
terrorism, no matter what group is called—whether Daesh [ISIS] or Nusra Front or
something else,” said the Syrian Foreign Ministry. Like so many other Arab states, they
condemn publicly U.S. efforts while, behind the scenes, backing the strikes. Pulling together a coalition of
other Gulf States, Obama has gotten cover from Putin’s attacks, making the
Russian leader look even more oblivious to his aggression in Ukraine.
Whatever the Pentagon does to deal with ISIS, Romney’s proved right
that Russia under Putin represents the U.S.’s biggest geopolitical threat. Seizing sovereign Ukrainian
territory in Ukraine sends chills through other former Soviet republics,
especially the Baltic States, now concerned that NATO lacks the firepower or
will to resist a Russian advance.
When Putin seized Crimea March 1, the U.S. and NATO could only look on
helplessly, realizing that Putin could get away with the biggest land grab since
seizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia in 2008. Countering Putin’s expansion won’t
be easy from the U.S. or NATO, not prepared today to challenge the Russian
Federation in its own backyard.
Showing that he can dominate any local or regional military, there’s currently
no way to stop Putin’s advance short of going to war against the Russian
Federation.
Bombing Syria with an Arab-state coalition, Obama has started to deal with
formidable foe in the Middle East.
Cautioning the American public that the battle won’t be easy-or-quick, Obama’s
forced to evaluate whether or not air strikes alone can drive ISIS from its
current entrenched positions in Iraq and Syria.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his view that the
mission will require boots on the ground.
British Prime Minister David Cameron left the door open for possible
British involvement, after it became clear that a British national beheaded U.S.
journalists James Foley and Stephen Sotloff.
Looking at the bigger picture, Obama must confer with NATO to discus how
to deal with a growing Russian threat.
Left to his own devices, Putin shows no interest in returning to the
international community, making the Russian Federation a clear-and-present
danger.
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