It really, really sucks (and hurts my head) that I’m not sure who to believe. Our own Pentagon, or the Russians.
"Jihadi" does not necessarily mean "ISIS". Russia struck who they wanted to, and isn't inclined to be perfectly clear & honest when explaining their intentions to anyone else.
This is war, you (Mr. Kerry et al) see. It's not about talking until others agree to consent to you, it's about killing anyone who doesn't abjectly submit.
Russia is simply killing off Sunnis in general and trying to get control of Syria for Hezbollah and Iran. If allowed to complete their effort in Syria, they’ll focus more on Israel.
Really?
Well they first need to understand what the Russians goal is before they can legatametally critique their strategy.
And their goal is to side with Assad and Iran against us.
Then steam roll both take control of oil assets that they like, and blow up the ones that will result in benefit for their economy.
O, and to mock and discredit the U.S. So our allies will no longer believe in us.
I’d say they are being very successful so far.
I wonder if they bombed any aspirin factories.
Syria is 74% Sunni Muslim.
Assad is an Alewite which is a Shia sect of Islam.
The Alewites and Shias (Assad’s power base) are outnumbered 4 to 1.
Trust that Assad populated the the officer corp (certainly the pilots) with Alewites and Shia. Assad would NOT want a disgruntal Sunni pilot dropping a bomb on his palace or defecting with a fighter jet.
Given the demographics, we can assume Assad’s infantry (the grunts) was majority Sunni. They have long since deserted or otherwise have no interest dying for Assad.
You CAN NOT take back and hold territory with air strikes, tanks and/or artillery strikes => UNLESS you have infantry to occupy the territory.
Russian air strike are not a game changer. There is a sniper rifle sticking out of every rat hole in Syria, Russian air strikes won’t change that.
Should have TAKEN THE MESSAGE of their “brothers in arms” that are re-populating Europe...rather than trying to dodge Russian bombs, as the Russians don’t care if they “break a few eggs” to achieve their objectives. But they did not - Jihad in the Middle East was JUST TOO TEMPTING, now they pay.
“doomed to failure” because the Pentagon finds sitting on your hands much more effective in dealing with mad dog terrorists.
What isn’t mentioned here or in any postings I’ve read so far is that both the U.S. and Russia have entered into a religious war between the Sunni sect and the Shiite sect of the Islamic religion that has been ongoing now since the 7th Century AD.
Russia’s obvious motive for taking part in this Muslim religious war on the side of Syria’s Shiite President Assad and Shiite Iran is clearly to establish Russian influence and control in the Middle East. The United States’ just as obvious motive for taking sides with the Syrian Sunni rebels who are attempting to remove Syria’s Shiite President from power and install a Sunni leader can only be attributed to Sunni Saudi Arabia’s influence within our government.
The fact that the Syrian Sunni rebels are almost indistinguishable from the Sunni ISIS/ISIL Jihadists who are also actively striving to remove Syria’s Shiite President and install Sunni leadership seems to be apparent to the Russians but obtuse to the U.S.
Your guess is as good as mine as to why these facts aren’t being openly discussed by our government spokesmen and our Main Stream Media.
Obama drama queens love words like “doomed”.