Had it not been for Russia's meddling, Assad would have been ousted back when he used chemical weapons against civilians. As an ally, when they saw that the end approaching they now directly offer their aid to the vile dictator. Putin is sending military advisers, tanks and artillery to the Assad regime and it is believed that Russian troops [stationed in Syria] will be fighting for Assad. But who exactly will they be fighting? The rebels or ISIS?
Topic previously opened: https://www.bullmarketboard.com/threads/6002-Russia-to-start-fighting-in-Syria HTH.
First of all, it hasn't been proven that Asad used the chemical weapons, in fact I read somewhere that someone else framed Asad with that. beside that, you're right. Russia is making the Syria's problem worse.
I read somewhere that Russia has stopped cooperating with the UN. This is bad news for the international community in general we can't have another player in these war games. I think Putin is just providing weapons-- he wouldn't want a whole nation getting involved in a civil war but still...
More involvement, more violence is only going to make the situation worst. The area is already so destabilized, so destroyed and so fragmented. Also, I think a lot of people forget how complex this issue is. In Syria, the West was anti-Assad pro rebel. One faction of the rebel movement is ISIS/ISIL! So the West initially helped ISIS/ISIL. Just across the border in Iraq, we were pro-regime anti rebel. So you literally have the West supporting the same group in one area that it opposing in another.
Well yes of course more military units will lead to the escalation of the conflict, but whether or not that is a good or bad thing... hard to say. Quite frankly I'm happy someone is stepping up against ISIS... whether that is their real motivation or not. And no, I don't think it's their job to do it... but if they want to then I say let them.
Russia is becoming a real negative influence in the world. It is no secret that Putin want to restore the old Soviet Union. Failure to do that, I think he wants to rule as many countries as possible. I don't know what it is going to take to get Putin under control, but failure to do that I think is going to lead to further chaos and strife in the world at large.
Russian involvement with Syria, though hardly surprising, could portend some serious stuff going down. Imagine an incident in which US forces accidentally took out a Russian unit? It doesn't leave much to one's imagination what could happen. Tangentially, an interesting classic book Alas, Babylon features an American fighter plane accidentally blowing up Russian equipment in Syria. The result, in the fictional work, was World War III.
Wouldn't be the first case of "friendly" fire. Regardless, talks have opened between both defense ministers/secretaries to ensure we're not running into each other in Syria. This should be pretty easy to do in the air but obviously a little difficult to tell who's who on the ground.