https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...hters-in-syria
A week old at this point but interesting. The Kremlin testing U.S. forces with deniable troops? Oligarchs overreaching in an attempt to get bonuses for securing oil fields? Also interesting that Russians troops were accompanied by a Christian Syrian militia loyal to Assad. Fun place, the Middle East.
What is our mission in Syria again?
Make Obama look like a pussy?Originally Posted by Suvorov
Edit to add: Prevent the bad guys from destabilizing the Middle East even further. Probably futile.
Possibly related question: Do we still have a brigade (+) in the Balkans?
Last edited by Drang; 02-20-2018 at 01:59 PM.
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
[sarcasm]Fake news! Trump is allies with the Russians.[/sarcasm]
What a mess.
Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right.
Containing Iran.
" La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib
Maybe, but Iran wouldn't really be in the picture had we not had a hand in destabilizing the place to begin with.
I'm not so sure about that. Iran has been funding Hezbollah since the 80s, and Hamas since ... well whenever Hamas was created (late 90s?). The Assad family has depended on Iran since the break up of the Soviet Union (being sort of coreligionaires helped) and the mullahs have, I think, always had this ambition to create the Persian Crescent. They've been at this game of destabilizing the region, and trying to stick it to the Saudis (their religious enemy) since way before our invasion of Iraq.
Mind you the Iraq invasion didn't help things one whit, if anything it made it worse; but containing Iran has been US policy since Khomeini got to power, they were always extremely dangerous.
Last edited by Wondering Beard; 02-20-2018 at 04:41 PM. Reason: clarification
" La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib
Hezbollah yes, Hamas not so much as they sided with the anti Assad forces. Anyhow what was once an ugly sore in the ME is now a festering pustule just waiting to burst largely due to meddling in the area. I don't see how killing a bunch a Russian citizens is good for us or anyone no matter how much high fiving it gets among the Neocon and SF wannabe communities.
Last edited by Suvorov; 02-20-2018 at 04:53 PM. Reason: spelling of pustule
Hamas isn't even Shia but they finance them nonetheless. I don't know by how much compared to Hezbollah but so long as Hamas is making things messy, Iran pays them.
That's quite true
These Russians were meant to be used in the same manner that plenty of other Russians are being used in Ukraine as we speak, a mixture of cannon fodder and deniable combatants. Their lives and deaths, sadly, were never meant to have any other value than as pawns in a contest between various governments for power in a fucked up region of the world. So their lives and deaths are only as useful as a set of moves and countermoves between the Kremlin, the mullahs, Washington and the other players. For us, their deaths put a temporary check on some Kremlin maneuvers, and a show that the US is not afraid to use the stick a bit on top of speaking softly. It's not a great victory for us, it's not a great defeat for the Kremlin and mullahs and it doesn't even appear to have affected Erdogan attacks on the Kurds. it's not anything to exchange high fives over but it's how the game gets played over there. All I can say is that on this messy chessboard the Kremlin and the mullahs temporarily lost some flexibility of maneuver and that's good for us. it ain't much but it'll do for a while.
Does that make it all worthwhile? Probably not but that region has been the tar baby for millenia and we're all stuck to it.
Last edited by Wondering Beard; 02-20-2018 at 05:30 PM. Reason: spelling
" La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
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