... the belief that Syria should remain a united country. While deep disagreements exist in the military domain, looking forward, Syria could – and I would say should – become a key testing ground for the potential of EU-Russia cooperation in the Middle ... ... Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed during a U.S. raid. What do you make of his death and what consequences could that have for ISIS and international terrorism as a whole?
Andrey Kortunov, Michel Duclos:
Helping Iran to Make the Right Choice
The killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is definitely a further blow to ISIS as it eliminated its operational ...
... its own security interests. Those who want Iran to toe the line need to reassure it and engage it in a dialogue. Conversely, Iran has to appreciate that the way it is spreading its influence, the way it is actually engaging non-state actors, and allies in Syria and elsewhere in Yemen is not helping. So, basically, neither side is doing it right. That is why we are in a mess. We need ... ... global and regional powers.
In your opinion, what are the most critical risks for security in the region? Is there any chance for ISIS to come alive again?
Timur Makhmutov, Ruslan Mamedov:
Russia and the Arab Mashreq: The Post-Conflict Period in Syria
ISIS ...
... how to cope with three recent developments that call for significant adjustments in the Russian strategy.
First, the defeat of ISIS, which is definitely a positive development for everybody engaged in Syria and in neighboring countries, has an important downside. Old regional rivalries, animosities, fears and conflicts that were ... ... for Russia to forge even tactical alliances in the region, not to mention strategic coalitions.
Second, the current Israeli-Iranian and US — Iranian rift immensely complicates Russia’s role as an ‘honest broker’ in the region. Neither Israel,...
... at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, RIAC expert, and Vasily Kuznetsov, Director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the RAS Institute of Oriental Studies, RIAC expert, represented Russia at the meeting. Iranian side was represented by the following speakers: Mahmud Shuri, Fellow for Russian Studies, IRAS, and Hassan Ahmadian, Research Fellow, IRAS.
Experts name the Syrian crisis and its resolution among the key factors for the future setting of the entire Middle East. The parties noted that the existence of ISIS had been uniting players with very different interests for the sake of one goal.
The victory over ISIS deprived ...
... situation is quite different: Assad has obliterated many of the rebel strongholds, most notably (and most tragically) Aleppo, and ISIS, too, has been severely weakened, facing its final days in Mosul, Iraq, one of its two last major strongholds, and in the process of being encircled in its other stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, its “capital;” furthermore, not only does Assad’s government have the active of support of the Shiite Lebanese militia Hezbollah and of Iran’s military on the ground (among other Shiite militias), but it also enjoys the robust military support of Russia and its ...
... a lot more for Saudi Arabia than a new alliance with Russia ever could. In general, Russia hardly has a strong position in the Middle East; Putin's desperation to help Assad, his one main ally in the region (it would be a stretch to say that Iran and Russia are general allies even as they are allies in the Syrian Civil War), even at the expense of empowering ISIS, is a reflection of this weakness. And as Putin cozies up to dictators like Assad and Sisi, he risks severely undermining any chance of real long-term gains where he and Russians seek them the most: in Europe. Democracy-loving Europe will not sit ...
..., so intractable, and so long; it is about so much more than just Syria when you throw the age-old Sunni-Shiite sectarian rivalries into the mix, which have been red-hot since the Lebanese Civil War, continuing through the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War, through the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and now through conflict in Yemen and Syria.
Recruits are coming from all over the world—even young girls from the West—to join ISIS in Syria (some 30,000 over the past few years, according to a recent major report). Some of the older people involved in this will have been veterans of the conflicts in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq. All of those conflicts lasted about a decade; ...
... required for big payoffs in recent months, most especially with Cuba and Iran, so such talk should also not be immediately written off. Furthermore, there is at least a chance that the recent agreement with Iran will spur further cooperation between Iran and the United States, with Syria perhaps being the most pressing and obvious case for such cooperation apart from the problem of ISIS. Only time will tell, especially given the conflicting messages coming out of media and official sources. But if some sort of a safe-zone is established by two (or more) NATO countries like the U.S. and Turkey, it could be a game changer for Assad,...
... response from Team Obama has diminished the prestige of and respect for the office of the presidency, not to mention Obama himself.
*****
That’s it for Part I, in the next two parts: first the Obama Administration’s policies on the Syrian Civil War, then (overall) Arab Spring, ISIS, reducing America’s dependency on Mideast oil, and Iran (saving the more positive for last). If you think your site or another would be a good place for this content please do not hesitate to reach out to me! Please feel free to share and repost on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (you can follow me there ...
... back to haunt us: though Joe Biden recently got in trouble for saying so, support for ISIS and other Islamic extremists and terrorists from very wealthy individuals motivated... ... the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid, Obama and Americans, as was/is the case in Syria and Iraq, seems to prefer a “don’t do stupid shit” (to quote... ... pariah within the Western world.
4.) There’s a good chance for a thaw/deal with Iran in the near future.
More than any president since the Iranian Revolution in 1979...
