Putin and Obama in Syria

Greetings my fellow Observers,

There has been much discussion about Russia's presence in Syria and the effect that it's having on the ongoing intentions of the United States and the Obama administration.

Rather than enter into a long dissertation regarding this fight for control of the region, Mad Man thought that he would just give his Observers a few highlights of the fight for control of the Middle East.

1. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia is aghast that the United States is and has always been forcing its brand of capitalist democracy on those who may not desire to live it.  

2. He as decided to support the rebels who are fighting Bashar Assad, Syria's President instead of ISIS.

3. Putin is still worried about ISIS and will eventually have to deal with these terrorist hoodlums because, according to Russian officials, 2,000 Russian citizens have joined this terrorist group.

4. The Assad regime has been Russia's most dependable ally in the Middle East for more than 40 years. President Assad's father Hafez Assad asked the Soviet Union for military aid and gave the Russian Navy a base in Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea in 1971, when Bashar was 6 years old.

5. Left in isolation after the bombing of the Ukraine, Putin and Russia felt isolated and he needed an audience with President Obama and the bombing of Syrian Rebels who are fighting against Assad accomplished that goal.

6. Unfortunately, the United States policy in Syria is much less clear than Russia's. The United States has sent planes, but refuses to put troops on the ground to fight ISIS.

7. Putin's policy of constant bombing has been barbaric with many civilian casualties, while Obama's policy, as is being reported, is "rather high-minded and ineffective. 

8. Officials in the United States feel that Putin's tactics will eventually earn him lasting enmity from the Sunni Arabs who are a majority in the region.

9, If there is a political solution, Russia does not want the United States and its allies to set the terms. The show of force is to make sure that they are taken seriously and offered a seat at the table.

10. This creates a serious problem for President Obama because his choices will be to accept Assad as an impalpable choice or provide more power and support to those who are trying to oust him.

11. In an OP-ED piece in the Los Angeles Times, Doyle McManus who provided much of this information, ended his commentary by stating this.....................

The President is right that putting U. S. troops on the ground in Syria is a bad idea; a decade of war in Iraq taught the United States that lesson. And he's right that options his critics have proposed, such as a no fly zone, are not cost free. But the continuation of Putin's assertiveness and Obama's hesitance has condemned Syria to any more months of war with no clear path towards a solution.

Mad Man