2, October 2015 Syria & ISIS
In another odd twist to the
Syrian war, Vladimir Putin has decided to lend his support to a much weaker
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is a pity the United States, Britain and
France misjudged the Syrian dictator’s staying power and failed to support a
Russian proposal to end the fighting in 2012 after peace talks started between
the regime and opposition.
Since then, tens of thousands
more have been killed, and ISIL militants have
seized huge swaths of Syria. President Obama reluctantly admitted that only
Syria and the Kurds were committed to fighting ISIS. Thus far, US efforts in
Iraq have netted 5 Iraqi trained fighters at a cost of many millions of dollars
and scores of US trainers.
Recent events have demonstrated
that western interventions for regime changes in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan,
. . , have been unmitigated disasters
creating failed states and a dramatic rise in terrorism. Better to have a
thuggish ruler over a stable state than try to remove a brutal ruler and create
a dangerous vacuum (examples, Iraq, Libya). Foreign interventions have
invariably united foes against the invader (examples, Iraq and Afghanistan).
Putin seems to have forgotten the Soviet’s misadventure in Afghanistan. He
might well be on the slippery slope of another quagmire in Syria.
Obama would be wise to seize
Putin’s initiative and not lay down any preconditions, resisting the slogan,
‘Assad has to go’. The focus should be to bring an end to the fighting and
neutralize the demonic ISIS.
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