As I read this editorial at the Guardian:
Talks on UN-supervised humanitarian access to Aleppo – where reports yesterday suggested that rebels may have broken the siege, at least temporarily – and other stricken areas are staggering on in New York. They must be given top priority by all governments. Discussions are also taking place about resuming the Geneva peace process. They, too, must gain new impetus, not least through a more constructive, non-judgmental engagement between the US and Russia. Countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia must face severe consequences if they continue to use Syria to pursue regional agendas. Most of all, the international community must unite in telling Assad to step down. While he remains in power in Damascus, there can be no peace. His departure could finally break the cycle of violence.
I could only wonder how in the world they think that will be accomplished? The alliance of the Syrian government, the Russians, and the Iranians are convinced that they are prevailing on the battlefield. Do they believe the press releases from rebel groups who claim they’ve broken the campaign to retake Aleppo? Why?
I’ve been saying it, you’ve been saying, so have several others – we should be backing the Russians and their proxies in Syria. Instead, of course, we have the entire foreign policy establishment of the USA trying to start WW III.
I would suspect both IS and the Russian/Syrian/Iran groups to be less than truthful about how the war is going. Doesn’t matter all of that much. We should have given up on dumping Assad a long time ago and made IS our priority. Alas, Israel’s priority is to remove Assad, and they get priority. Please note the Ross and Tabler op-ed. The Obama administration has been pushing to work with the Russians, especially sharing intelligence and coordinating air attacks. Ross and Tabler oppose anything that could help Syria/Russia or Iran, so they are perfectly happy to let IS continue.
Steve
We don’t need to be backing anyone. If the Syrians, opposition, ISIS and Russia want to fight it out, we should stand aside and let them.
Is this the time when famous fiction writers admit that being elegant and black are not qualifications for making foreign policy or national security decisions?
@steve
… work with the Russians, especially sharing intelligence …
Is there any chance President Obama could get the Russians to look into Hillary Clinton’s missing email. Democrats seem to think that the Russians know their way around an email server, and Hillary did reset relations from the evil Bush/Cheney empire.