Pretending that the war in Syria is a “civil war,” Saudi Arabia and Turkey have dragged the U.S. into the worst relations with Russia since the Cold War. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman demanded various states stop “interfering” in the Kingdom, when, in fact, Saudi Arabia, and now Turkey, have sponsored the Syrian conflict to topple the Shiite government of Bashar al-Assad. Turkey’s Salafist regime is joined at the hip with Saudi Arabia’s extreme Sunni Wahhabi sect, spreading strict sharia law around the globe. When Turkey shot down a Russian SU-24 fighter jet Nov. 24, 2015 for allegedly straying into Turkish air space, 63-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin has been on the war path. With the NATO Munich Security Conference [Feb. 14–16] urging NATO to beef up security in Eastern Europe, Putin has reacted harshly with land, air and sea deployments from the Black to Barents Sea.
Meeting in Geneva for Syria peace talks Feb. 1, U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura, ended the talks Feb. 4 in failure because Russia wouldn’t stop bombing so-called Syrian opposition groups. Since bombing Saudi-and-Turkey backed opposition groups on Sept. 30, 2015, Russia has tipped the five-year-long conflict back to Damascus. Participants at the Geneva peace talks claimed they want a ceasefire and end to the Syrian War to stem the untenable flow of refugees to neighboring states and Europe. Turkey’s already received some 3.3 billion euros from the European Union to warehouse some 2.5 million Syrians already in Turkey. If al-Assad succeeds in beating back the Saudi-backed insurgency, the war ends. Yet, as much as the Saudis and Turks say they want peace, they want even more to topple al-Assad. Ridding the region of insurgent groups puts Damascus back in control.
U.S. foreign policy under President Barack Obama has rubber-stamped the Saudi-Turkey proxy war against al-Assad. Had Putin not stepped in Sept. 30, 2015, there’d be no end to killing and mass human suffering. Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter buy the Saudi-Turkish propaganda that Russia’s playing bully in the region. Whatever happened in Crimea has nothing to do with the Saudi-funded proxy war in Syria. Putin told the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 28, 2015 that toppling al-Assad would repeat the mistakes of Iraq, further destabilize the region and lead to more chaos. While al-Assad’s no angel, he’s preferred over creating another power vacuum opening Syria up to more Islamic terrorism. Joining al-Assad’s fight against the Saudi-backed proxy war is the fastest way to end the war and process the safe return of refugees.
If de Mistura’s Geneva peace group were really serious about ending the Syria War, he’d join Russian and Iran effort to stop the Saudi-backed proxy war. With Putin applying air support to Syrian troops, al-Assad could retake Aleppo soon, Syria’s second largest city overrun July 19, 2012 by Saudi-backed anti-Assad forces. Now that Aleppo teeters of falling back under al-Assad’s control, Kerry leads urgent ceasefire talks. Blaming the Russians for aiding al-Assad or aggression in Ukraine, NATO’s tough talk has reopened the Cold War. “I sometimes wonder—are we in 2016 or 1862?” asked Russian Prime Minister Dmitriv Medvedev at the Munich Security Conference. NATO’s Supreme Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove said Russia could “dial up and down” the Cold War rhetoric and military moves, insisting NATO didn’t want another version of the Cold War.
Taking sides with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the White House turns back the clock on U.S.-Russian relations. Instead of berating the Kremlin about Crimea, the White House should look at the big picture, noting a closer relationship with Moscow helps the U.S. in various hotspots around the globe. If Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu can back, though quietly, Russian actions to keep al-Assad in power, the U.S. can certainly find common ground with Moscow. U.S. officials know that the Feb. 22, 2014 pro-Western coup in Kiev that toppled the regime of Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovich, violated the sovereignty of a duly elected government. However Russia and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko work out their problems, it’s not worth plunging U.S.-Russian relations to new lows. Whether admitted to or not, Putin’s helped al-Assad end the five-year-old Saudi-backed proxy war.
Stubbornly refusing to face defeat in Syria, 53-year-old Saudi Foreign Adel al-Jubeir openly aired Saudi’s dog-in-the-fight in Syria. Speaking in Munich Feb. 12, al-Jubeir insisted that the ISIS would not be defeated until al-Assad goes. “Unless or until there is a change in Syria, Daesh will not be defeated in Syria,” said al-Jubeir, linking removing al-Assad to defeating ISIS. Faced with his proxy troops routed in Aleppo, al-Jubeir can no longer call the shots in Syria. If the U.S. or European Union really want to end the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII, stretching EU’s resources to the breaking point, then it’s time back Russia’s goal in Syria. Al-Jubeir made it clear his aim is not to end the war, only get rid of al-Assad. Whatever link exists with ISIS, it’s not with Iran or Russia, it’s with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Ending the Syrian conflict only aids the eventual end of ISIS.
.
