The WSJ (paywall):
Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, catching U.S. and Western officials off guard and drawing new condemnation as evidence suggested Moscow wasn’t targeting extremist group Islamic State, but rather other opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime..
Any opponents in particular? Well..
In Syria’s multi-sided war, Mr. Assad’s military–aided by Iran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah–is fighting both Islamic State and opposition rebel groups, some of which are supported by the U.S. and its allies.
Ruh-oh. The BBC’s Jon Sopel:
Extraordinary. A 3-star Russian general went to US embassy in Baghdad this am, saying bombing starts in 1 hour, clear Syria airspace.
The Obama administration responded forcefully with a George Bush reference:
“Russia will not succeed in imposing a military solution any more than the United States was successful in imposing a military solution in Iraq,” spokesperson Josh Earnest said.
I thought it was just last week that Mulcair and Trudeau were telling Canadians how wonderfully Putin and obama were working together on the Syrian crisis?
Oh well Josh. Great advice for Putin. Except his intent isn’t anything close to that of George Bush and company. This a power grab plain and simple, for dominance in the Middle East and all it has to offer. Putin understands there is a vacuum, with the absence of any significant US interest, so he and his redesigned axis of evil can easily clean up and take over.
Apparently the White House believes Putin is unaware that Bush won the war in Iraq, and Obama lost it.
What’s Val say.
Good for Putin.
Somebody’s got to do the dirty work.
Even George Bush now admits going into Iraq was a mistake.
That was compounded by Obama’s adventures in Libya and Egypt.
The former leaders may have been dictators, but they managed to keep the neanderthal Muslims at bay. Saddam Hussein was even a regular visitor to an Orthodox convent in the area. Most of the Christians there, including Syria, are Orthodox, not under the Bishop of Rome.
Anybody here see any sign of Jeffersonian Democracy breaking out in the Middle East?
What a mess the U.S.A. has made of the world. What a bunch of BS that’s being fed to the ignorant masses on the US media.
David Burge on Twitter:
I’m guessing that Obama’s water Kerry-ers in the media “can’t remember.” (*cough-cough*)
Never thought I could say this, but I’m “rootin’ for Putin”.
We begin bombing in five minutes
/itsajoke
That’s the difference with a real leader. Right or wrong he’s going in to kick some ass and doesn’t give a damn what Obama thinks. He also knows he’s got a full year to help Assad stabilize Syria and that’s what friends are for. Obama the weenie is being called out but will do nothing. Which is probably a good thing because it’s already far too late.One lesson learned. …..never draw a line in the sand unless you mean it.
The fact that Obama is a narcissistic weakling doesn’t make it OK that Putin is a violent authoritarian thug. The underlying problem is a vacuum of principled and moral leadership in the west.
It was meant as a joke, but it’s prescient. The last western leader with a set of balls can turn out the lights.
One country’s violent authoritarian thug is another country’s brave patriotic leader. Just depends from which side of the fence you’re looking.
The burden of Damascus is getting closer. Isaiah 17:1 Behold Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Everyone can stand down…nothing to worry about…this is an opportunity.
I have it on the best authority:-
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09/30/kerry-views-russian-bombing-syria-opportunity-u-s/
It’s always good to put aside your personal prejudices.
I’ve never heard Putin say a bad word about you.
Putin was invited by Syria to take care of the situation, since the US coalition has been doing a less-than-effective job against ISIS.
Putin says OK, then tells Obama to piss off.
Capice?
Putin’s effectiveness at mitigating this mess, or the aggravation of it, will become evident in coming months. As you might say we should not prejudge it.
One potential benefit is that it will distract him from his slow motion annexation of eastern Ukraine.
Oh if you ask a successful general’s men about him, you may get the violent thug (a general is authoritarian more or less by definition).
Putin is Cleaning up ALL the militants in Syria.. Full Stop…Obama & Kerry get to put their opinions in the Management Suggestion BOX….Trump predicts that ALL Syrian refuges will be able to return to a stable Country if he is elected, the EU will be happy to hear that. Go get them all Putin
When your free weekends are spent oiling your boyfriend, a few things can get missed…….
I’m so glad i’m Canadian because having this putz in the white house leading me i would seriously contemplate cutting my own head off
Power abhors a vacuum, all the fans of Pootin and Hezbollah’s favorite sugar daddy Assad rejoice. Sing and dance useful idiots.
Just try not to remmember that the first thing Assad (Pootin’s favorite thug in the middle east) did when the revolution broke out, was to release from prisons all the islamists. He knew they would dominate the opposition and useful idiots in the west as well as professional Pootin felliators would close ranks behind him fighting the evil he helped to create.
“One country’s violent authoritarian thug is another country’s brave patriotic leader.”
Yeah especially when that other country is a drunken psychotic whore of nations populated with bootlickers.
“Putin is Cleaning up ALL the militants in Syria.. Full Stop…”
Oh really? ALL? Including Hezbollah? You sure about that Koni?
Putin understands there is a vacuum,
–
The only frigging vacuum is in the Brown Clowns empty head.
The Exulted One will eventually cause the deaths and displacement of millions with his failed policy in the Mid East.
Russian occupation in Crimea,
Arab Springy, Iraq withdrawal, Egypt, Libya, ISIL JVs.
Remember when these dope smoking idiots called Nam vets Baby killers?
Well…..
The same bastards have giving us Planned Parenthood Baby killers, and Brown Clown head chopping death squads.
Idiots……
Payback is such a Bitch..
Overheard* during a meeting at the Kremlin
“Have no fear Bashir I vil handle this”
hangs up phone
“Dimitri, saddle my bear”
*english translation
If the Americans are good enough to target only ISIS and the Russians amazingly can target the other Syrian opponents they should have the country cleaned up in a few weeks, right?
“‘Russia will not succeed in imposing a military solution any more than the United States was successful in imposing a military solution in Iraq,’ spokesperson Josh Earnest said.”
With 476 days left, the Obama administration seems increasingly hollowed out, defeatist and empty of any inspiration or engagement.
The eagle has been grounded and now we discover it is actually a duck – and a lame one at that.
What didn’t get reported in our MSM is the Russians also notified the IDF at the same time. It turns out Israel and Russia had previously arranged an agreement to do this to prevent unintended incidents. The Israeli’s didn’t freak out, they just thanked them.
“Anybody here see any sign of Jeffersonian Democracy breaking out in the Middle East?”
No more chance of that than there is of it breaking out in Russia.
By the way, how is Putin’s personal hunt for the assassins of Boris Nemtsov, Russian opposition party leader going?
You remember, the one that was gunned down in Moscow in broad daylight this February 27?
*crickets*
The US media running around desperately trying to obfuscate the obvious with the inane. Russia bombing US supported insurgents, not attacking ISIS!!!! The obvious? Obama’s failed foreign policy of pin prick bombings to only slow down ISIS enough weaken Assad and give him headaches in the attempt to allow US backed insurgents overthrow him in the meantime.
Russia’s plan, let the US continue to bomb ISIS which helps Assad and Russia will take care of the US backed insurgents … to help Assad. Because we all know the US isn’t going to bomb US backed insurgents. Well duh! The Russian plan is to end the civil war by destroying all terrorists, not just the non PC ones.
Obama’s feckless incompetence? He didn’t want to do the dirty work himself and wanted others to do it for him. He should have bombed the crap out of Damascus like he did to Tripoli to depose a dictator. However, the truth be told, he should have kept his ego out of the M.E. and kept his mouth shut in 2011 and 350,000 people would still be alive in Syria and Iraq.
A kick me sign on his backside:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/09/obamas-u-n-message-kick-me-i-wont-feel-a-thing.php
Obama’s Red Lines have all turned to shit-brindled yellow lines. Somebody had to do something about the JV team and its affiliates. I doubt that most of the so-called Syrian rebels are much better than ISIL.
Here comes ARMAGEDON brought on by a Dictator(Obama)and a so called bunch of world leaders group(United Nations)the fools they be many too many
I find the current situation uncannily like 1938-1939, to wit:
– Mr. Obama in the role of Neville Chamberlain;
– the “Ayatollahs” in the role of Adolph Hitler;
– Mr. Putin in the role of Joseph Stalin (although Mr. Putin’s cunning and nerves of steel also remind me greatly of Hitler’s after 1935);
– the US-Iran agreement on nuclear issues in the role of Munich;
– the Russia-Syria-Iraq-Iran rapprochement in the role of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact of 1939;
– Continental Europe in the role of Austria (Angela Merkel will cave to her masters, and happily join them);
– Ukraine and Jordan in the role of the Sudetenland (they stand to be sacrificed);
– the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia in the role of Poland (the formers’ take-down, or impending likelihood thereof, will prove the last-minute casus belli);
– Israel and the UK (and the original Dominions, to one degree or another) in the role of the British Empire (they’ll mostly fight); and
– the United States in the role of the United States (usually comes in, just before it’s too late, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat).
Just an admittedly imperfect way of thinking about it, but it’s nonetheless an exceedingly eerie and grim tale: as Churchill said of Chamberlain, “He’s sown the wind; he’ll reap the whirlwind.”
I hope you will still be able to say the same thing after Oct 19 and that we don’t have our own “putz” residing at 24 Sussex.
I hope we keep our miserable few jets out of the line of fire.