Posted on 03/15/2016 11:35:47 AM PDT by C19fan
Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Monday that Russia will begin pulling out of Syria appeared to take the White House by surprise, and revived concerns that the Russian leader is outmaneuvering Barack Obama. Just six months after he threw international relations into a tailspin by launching airstrikes in Syria, Putin on Monday declared that "the tasks put before the defense ministry have been completed over all,” adding that he had ordered that "the main part" of Russian forces in Syria would be withdrawn.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
A speedy Russian exit from Syria would confound President Obama's talking point that Putin had walked into a "quagmire" in that country's civil war that he would come to regret. Obama made the case most recently in an interview with the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, in which Obama said Russia was "overextended" and "bleeding" in Syria.
Putin know he is dealing with a fish in Obama<.p>
One is playing chess, the other is playing checkers.
Mission accomplished!
Putin is playing chess, 0bama is playing with himself.
Everyone outfoxes Obama, except for Congressional Republicans.
Well, Putin is running low on cash I think.
A year ago this was more affordable.
The petroleum giveth and the petroleum taketh away.
Wow! That is how you conduct military activities.
It’s a shame our so-called leaders have to make everything political.
One is playing chess, the other is playing golf.
you may be right but what does it really cost?
He has munitions inventory out the wazoo. He has a standing military that must be fed and paid any way. Casualties have been low, He has fuel for free.
I don’t see much cost at all above and beyond the normal support.
The expended munitions provide jobs for the people that make them
The Generals from Africa and South America that visited the war zone to see the weapons in action might actually buy something they see and then actually pay for it.
Putin’s sales gambit thus paid off. The foray into Syria was in reality a live fire sales presentation
Is a bear Catholic?
Does the Pope walk in the woods?
One is playing chess the other is playing golf with the rich and famous.
Everything is not always about Obama, but he doesn’t know that.
One is playing chess the other is playing golf with John Boehner and John Kasich
Agreed. He’s running out of money.
Agreed plus Europe is not longer going to take any more “refugees”. They finally got wise to Putin flooding the country with more Muslim welfare cases.
There are always costs in this sort of thing.
- His men have to be paid extra - these aren’t conscripts. They certainly get foreign duty pay, etc.
- They have to be fed and otherwise supplied there, not at home where its cheap.
- They use up all sorts of things on active duty, not just ammo. Aircraft parts, engines, etc., down to boots and uniforms.
- They have to pay for construction and engineering for ports, roads, airfields, housing, utilities, etc.
- Yes they do pay for fuel, otherwise they could sell it. An opportunity cost is still a cost.
- Ammo stocks need to be replenished if used. Russian arms industries work on a cash basis.
And the Syrian government isn’t paying its way, Russia was subsidizing Assad. Iran was doing only a little, because they were very short of cash. Maybe the Iranians are better off now that we let them have their $150B.
Putin knows the score.
Get in it, get on it, get out.
Mission accomplished.
Putin’s troops just got some combat experience, some target practice, and that’s good for their morale.
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