Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Eugene

(61,593 posts)
Sun Oct 4, 2015, 01:13 PM Oct 2015

John McCain says US is engaged in proxy war with Russia in Syria

Source: The Guardian

John McCain says US is engaged in proxy war with Russia in Syria

Martin Pengelly in New York
Sunday 4 October 2015 16.53 BST

Senator John McCain said on Sunday the US was now engaged in a proxy war with Russia in Syria, as a result of “an abdication of American leadership” on the part of the Obama White House.

The chairman of the Senate armed forces committee also said Russian president Vladimir Putin was “treating the United States with disdain and contempt” over Syria, carrying out air strikes and “inserting himself into the middle east in a way that Russia has not been since Anwar Sadat threw them out in 1973”.

On Friday, discussing Russian air strikes against both Islamic State militants and non-Isis forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, which began on Wednesday and which he called “a recipe for disaster”, President Obama said: “We’re not going to make Syria into a proxy war between the United States and Russia. That would be bad strategy on our part.

“This is not some superpower chessboard contest.”

Appearing on CNN on Sunday, McCain said: “Of course it is (a proxy war), and when the president says we’re not going to have that strategy, we don’t have a strategy. Excuse me? We don’t have a strategy.”

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]


Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/04/john-mccain-russia-us-proxy-war-syria-obama-putin
5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
John McCain says US is engaged in proxy war with Russia in Syria (Original Post) Eugene Oct 2015 OP
McCain is blood thirsty... quickesst Oct 2015 #1
Johnny Boy sure loves his Wellstone ruled Oct 2015 #2
I always have to ask myself tech3149 Oct 2015 #3
INTERVIEW UPDATE 1-Russia is conducting "asymmetric warfare" in Syria - Britain's Hammond bemildred Oct 2015 #4
For every Russian tank sent to Syria, . . . bemildred Oct 2015 #5

quickesst

(6,280 posts)
1. McCain is blood thirsty...
Sun Oct 4, 2015, 01:31 PM
Oct 2015

He is literally on his last legs, and an all-out nuclear conflict would complete his useless life. "OH YEAH, WHAT A WAY TO GO!!"

tech3149

(4,452 posts)
3. I always have to ask myself
Sun Oct 4, 2015, 02:51 PM
Oct 2015

Why should I care what Grampy McSame has to say? Because no matter how wrong he is on anything and especially foreign relations, he always has a seat at the table.
I only could wish that Green Room Johnnie would ride off into the sunset or the (news?) media would finally realize that he is a belligerent old fuck who can't, and probably never could think straight.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
4. INTERVIEW UPDATE 1-Russia is conducting "asymmetric warfare" in Syria - Britain's Hammond
Sun Oct 4, 2015, 02:57 PM
Oct 2015
Another one.

MANCHESTER, England, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia is engaged in "classic asymmetric warfare" in Syria by using its military clout to prop up President Bashar al-Assad while saying it is attacking Islamic State militants, Britain's foreign minister said on Sunday.

Russia last week began striking targets in Syria - a dramatic escalation of foreign involvement in the civil war which has been criticised by the West as an attempt to prop up Assad, rather than its purported aim of attacking Islamic State.

"It looks like a classic bit of Russian asymmetric warfare - you have a strong propaganda message that says you're doing one thing while in fact you are doing something completely different and when challenged you just flatly deny it," Philip Hammond told Reuters in an interview in Manchester.

He said Britain had held discussions with Russia but kept on getting the same response - that Moscow was attacking Islamic State militants in Syria.

http://www.trust.org/item/20151004175600-8nl3w/

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
5. For every Russian tank sent to Syria, . . .
Sun Oct 4, 2015, 03:20 PM
Oct 2015
Another one. Notice he has Jack Shit to say about ISIL, the EU, or refugees.

---

The Russian incursion does create opportunities as well as cause problems. Unless they overreach, the Russians can likely hold the coastal Alawite region of Syria. And if Syria was all Russia had on its plate, it would have little to worry about. But Syria is not all. There is Georgia, Ukraine, and all the rest.

Collectively, Russia is taking on a lot of commitments. The United States should make those commitments costly, because Russia cannot afford to pay high costs for long. That's not a call for shooting down Russian jets. It's about using all the means at our disposal to make Russia work harder and sweat. For every Russian airstrike, an anti-tank missile to Ukraine. For every Russian plane to Assad, an anti-aircraft missile to Georgia. For every Syrian killer who visits Moscow, a Russian kleptocrat banned from the United States. Syria is not a separate case; it is part of the whole, and we should treat it as such.

But that's not what we're doing. Far from making Russia pay, we're trying to pay them off. Secretary of State John Kerry has suggested the United States would give Russia concessions if Moscow persuaded Assad to stop using barrel bombs to kill civilians.

That's what the administration calls American leadership: paying off one thug to persuade another thug to find a more humane way to kill his own people. That's not leadership. It's certainly not thinking creatively about how to turn Russia's involvement to our advantage. And it's not right.

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/for-every-russian-tank-sent-to-syria-1.10916612
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Foreign Affairs»John McCain says US is en...