http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/0...H720150909
I'm sure those of you who follow the news have heard by now- Russia has begun to build airfields and housing for troops inside Syria. So far they haven't confirmed or denied much of anything, but as we saw in Ukraine, telegraphing his plans in advance isn't really Putin's style.
So far we haven't heard much from the US externally, though I'm sure the CIA and other intelligence agencies must be furiously busy at work. US officials asked (perhaps threateningly) the governments of Bulgaria and Greece to not allow Russian transport planes to fly through their airspace. Russia countered by just asking their Iranian buddies to give them overflight access, which the Iranians were more than happy to provide given Russia's support during the nuclear negotiations earlier this summer.
We'll have to wait and see how successful they are in their plans. Their primary goals would include protecting their strategically important naval base in Tartous, Syria and providing some relief to the tired Syrian army forces.
The American position all along has been to do anything needed (including funding Islamist extremist militia) in order to simply get rid of Assad. It looks like the militia who promise to only fight Assad are funded by the West. The ones who are more religious/nationalistic and want nothing to do with Western intervention are branded as "ISIS" and are then designated to be bombed. Well now Russia has put their money where their mouth is, so to speak, and raised the stakes. With Russian troops fighting against the Western supported rebels and most likely some American special forces teams, an already volatile situation has somehow gotten even more dangerous. Who knows how the governments of either Russia or the US reacts when their soldiers or their rebels start getting killed.
What are your thoughts?
I'm sure those of you who follow the news have heard by now- Russia has begun to build airfields and housing for troops inside Syria. So far they haven't confirmed or denied much of anything, but as we saw in Ukraine, telegraphing his plans in advance isn't really Putin's style.
So far we haven't heard much from the US externally, though I'm sure the CIA and other intelligence agencies must be furiously busy at work. US officials asked (perhaps threateningly) the governments of Bulgaria and Greece to not allow Russian transport planes to fly through their airspace. Russia countered by just asking their Iranian buddies to give them overflight access, which the Iranians were more than happy to provide given Russia's support during the nuclear negotiations earlier this summer.
We'll have to wait and see how successful they are in their plans. Their primary goals would include protecting their strategically important naval base in Tartous, Syria and providing some relief to the tired Syrian army forces.
The American position all along has been to do anything needed (including funding Islamist extremist militia) in order to simply get rid of Assad. It looks like the militia who promise to only fight Assad are funded by the West. The ones who are more religious/nationalistic and want nothing to do with Western intervention are branded as "ISIS" and are then designated to be bombed. Well now Russia has put their money where their mouth is, so to speak, and raised the stakes. With Russian troops fighting against the Western supported rebels and most likely some American special forces teams, an already volatile situation has somehow gotten even more dangerous. Who knows how the governments of either Russia or the US reacts when their soldiers or their rebels start getting killed.
What are your thoughts?