Elbowing a Superpower – Russian Style
Posted on October 7th, 2015

Hemantha Abeywardena writes from London Courtesy – Asian Tribune –

The fact that a 3-star Russian general gave his US counterparts in Syria just an hour’s notice to move American aircrafts out so that Russia can launch air strikes, undoubtedly, is the most significant watershed moment in the post-Soviet, geo-political landscape.

In fact, the alarming development was a bolt from the blue as far as the Western alliances, both at political and military level, are concerned. At stake, among many things, is the invincibility of the alliances that often went unchallenged, following the Second World War.

Having been caught off-guard, the West can only breathe a sigh of relief from a certain sections of the media, the usual suspects, which started highlighting the civilian casualties, dropping bombs at wrong targets and of course, consequences of the war – both for Russia and the wider world.

The West has been pushed against the wall by Russia by stubbornly refusing to make a distinction between the Islamic State – Isis – and other militants. To make matters worse, Russian’s targets on the very first day were the hideouts of the latter, indeed. The aerial attacks, however, were conducted across most parts of Syria since then, fairly reflecting Russia’s military objective.

Judging by the number of multiple explosions and the extent of the spread of debris in the aerial footages published by the Russian defence ministry, most attacks, if not all, seem to be accurate. No aerial campaign, however, has ever been carried out without inflicting collateral damage and the Russian won’t be able to break that trend despite the extensive use of SUKOI SU-34, the state-of-the-art aircraft, which can attack under both favourable and adverse conditions, both naval and ground targets.

The West made a disastrous mistake with the notion that it could win a well-funded, intensely-determined guerrilla organisation like Isis that thrives on religious ideology, by a campaign of air attacks, coupled with occasional lucky hits with drones, while ruling out the involvement of ground troops – for obvious reasons.

When the politicians, with the aid of certain media organizations, overplayed this strategy, most of the general public in the West saw through the futility of these missions. As a consequence, they didn’t buy the arguments that they heard for waging these wars, even if the culprits in question were ruthless despots. In the wake of recent migrant crises, the public wanted someone who really could deal with the issues – and at the source.

In this context, it is understandable why Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, enjoy a significant support among the general public in the West, as someone who is prepared to take the bull by the horns. The admiration of Mr Putin, both by Donald Trump in the US and Nigel Farage in the UK, meanwhile, has already become a catalyst for pro-Putin sentiments in the West.

Although, the right-wing media keeps attacking Russia against its Syrian campaign, the columnists find it increasingly difficult to find loyal supporters among their respective audiences, according to the responses that they get in the form of comments; a strong pro-Russian trend could be seen among comments, perhaps, much to the annoyance of the media organizations in question.

In the wake of the rise of Isis, the Western public saw a power vacuum in the Middle East and the involvement of Russia at the eleventh hour, has become the only glimmer of hope in a region, distinctly polarized along the Sunni-Shiat’e fault line.

Since the Sunni camp, led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Turkey are already up in arms against the Russian attacks there is a possibility of military objectives being eclipsed by geo-political sandstorms.

Since Mr Putin is not known for finishing a job halfway through, especially after his Chechnya campaign against a formidable uprising, which almost brought the Russian Federation to its knees during Yeltsin era, there is a potential danger of getting the Syrian conflict out of hand.

In addition, if Iran and Hezbollah got involved in the conflict by assisting President Assad in ground warfare, it would leave Israel rattled to its core with the anxieties over inevitable consequences. President Putin allayed the fears of Benjamin Netanyahu before Russia’s offensive by saying that Syrian state was not in a position to open a second front.

With Shia dominated countries in the Middle East firmly behind Russia in the latest military campaign, political observers are watching the evolving loyalty of Iraq, which is currently at the mercy of Isis.
If Russia managed to deal with the militants against President Assad in Syria, it would certainly transform the nation to a force to reckon with. So, Iraqi government may be tempted to ask the Russians to extend the campaign over its air space too – as a last resort to eliminate Isis.

If it happens, the political landscape will be transformed overnight beyond recognition with the epicentre of Sunni Muslims, Saudi Arabia, bearing the brunt of dreadful consequences. With rapidly falling oil revenue and a range of potential problems on economic front, such a scenario cannot come about at a worse time as far as the custodian of the two holiest mosques is concerned.

– Asian Tribune –

4 Responses to “Elbowing a Superpower – Russian Style”

  1. aravinda Says:

    Europe is has no natural gas. They depend on Russian supplies. When Putin says shit, European leaders squat.

    Americans are trying to change this. They plan to supply Qatar/Saudi oil and natural gas to Europe. Qatar and Saudi are American client states. America is in verge of bankruptcy. Americans can make 50 years commission out of this if they can get a pipeline to Europe from Qatar and Saudi. Also they can hold European leaders by their balls if they control this dream pipeline. Pipe line has to go across Syria. No other way. Has to go across Syria.

    Assad junior is the Syrian President. Assad senor and junior were friends with Russians for 45 years. Russia got a massive base in Syria. Russians will not allow a pipeline across Syria to protect its captive European natural gas market.

    Americans created Free Syrian Army to topple Assad. They are Good guys in Western eyes. Actually they are hired killers. Paid 100 dollars a month. They can’t do the job. Then Americans and Saudis created Islamic State controlled by Pentagon. They act as bad guys. They are paid to kill Assad, destroy Syrian Government Army, depopulate Syria and make ground work to get US backed Syrian puppets come to power.

    Then a puppet Government in Damascus will allow a pipeline across depopulated Syria. American pretend to bomb ISIS while secretly supplying arms via Saudi and Qatar. Russians had enough of this. They are going to bomb shit out of both Free Syrian Army and ISIS, and it is CHECHNYA mark 2.

    Putin has Syria, Iran and most of Iraq behind him. If I am a betting man, I will back him now. All he has to do is make sure no pipeline is build. EASY for him. So hard for Americans. Once again Americans are fighting a unwinnable war.

  2. Siri Says:

    Aravinda is correct.

    USA was trying to set up a no fly zone over Syria so that Syrian planes could not fly to provide support to the ground forces, like they did in Libya. Then the US or ISIS mercenaries would overpower the Syrian forces and topple the Syrian regime like in Libya. This is a tried and tested tactic of the USA. They took too much time implementing it. The Russians got wind of it and beat the USA to it. They went in so fast that the USA was taken by surprise. Now the Russians are bombing the ISIS and all other Terrorists in Syria. This is the right thing to do.

    The definition of a terrorist is someone who attacks a government or innocent civilians for what ever the reasons maybe. The Americans have a different standard. Hillary Clinton when she was Sec. of State said “Those who attack America are Terrorists – Those who attack other countries are Freedom fighters.” This was when the LTTE issue came up. Fortunately Russia does not believe in it.

  3. Lorenzo Says:

    Siri,

    State-of-the-art Russian electronic warfare system KRASUKHA-4 deployed in Syria.

    This can jam radar, cruise missile path, jets that rely on radar, etc. and other near electronic gadgets within a radius of 300km.

    Supposed to be the best in the industry.

    This means an UNOFFICIAL NO FLY ZONE!!!

    Aravinda,

    Putin MUST bomb SAUDI oil fields to dust. Otherwise the Saudi-Jordan-Syria-Mediterranean oil pipeline to Europe will become a reality. Then Russia is OUT. Russia will be a very poor country if that happens. This is the Americunt plan.

  4. Kumari Says:

    Biggest strength Putin has is Russian people. They stand by him. When one woman was asked by BBC whether she supports the bombing campaign in Syria, she said “yes and added that we are happy Russia is standing up to Obama”.

    When NATO saw Russian fighter jets they got scared, Americans, British and the French must be even more scared worried about loss of sales if the world turn to Russia for war weaponry.

    Saudis are training all the Jihadis with the weapons these stupid Saudis buy from the US, UK and France. It is high time somebody stood up to this bullying. ISIS terrorists too have the same type of underground bunkers just like our LTTE. I am sure the Americans transferred the know how through Norway.

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