... Hybrid War threats through economic, informational, military, and other tactics and strategies such as the action plan that was proposed in the present piece. “Democratic Security” approaches vary by country as evidenced from the differing ones that Russia’s practicing in Syria and the CAR, but the concept could attract many more African partners if it’s successful in Ethiopia by next fall’s summit. Russia must therefore do everything in its power to bring this best-case scenario about. Rehabilitating Ethiopia won’t ...
... gets more focused on the region and invests more resources and political capital in eroding Russian partnerships (e.g. by incentivising Turkey to become a more disciplined member of the NATO Alliance).
Andrey Kortunov:
A Tale of Two Interventions: Why Russia Succeeded in Syria When U.S. Failed in Afghanistan
Standing by Legitimacy vs Promoting Change
Russian leadership has traditionally taken a consistently legalistic approach to political developments in the world at large and in the Eastern Mediterranean region in particular....
... Turkey into an independent regional player. Although Ankara sought to assert a separate position from the United States, it still found itself on the same side of U.S. policy on the Syrian Civil War, albeit with different aims than Washington. Turkish-Russian competition in Syria was especially intense, culminating in the
Turkish shootdown of a Russian
Sukhoi
Su-24
over the Syrian airspace on 24 November 2015.
Pietro Shakarian:
Karabakh—A Delicate Matter
The
Sukhoi
incident marked the lowest ebb in the Russo-Turkish ...
... positions on key issues of the regional agenda. Within the framework of the workshop two sessions were held. The first session was devoted to the regional policy of Iran. The second one was dedicated to the views of Russia and the UK on the situation in Syria.
Leading Russian and British experts took part at the meeting.
... operation in the Panjshir region and wants it to respect the Shiite minority, while Dushanbe remains concerned about its co-ethnics in that country. Russia must therefore see to it that these fault lines don’t provoke any proxy conflicts. Unlike in Syria, Russia is not the kingmaker of Afghan affairs because it has no military involvement in the country and thus is not capable of leading the political process there. Rather, it must creatively leverage its diplomatic capabilities to improve the socio-economic ...
... infrastructure in Central Asia? Yet, no matter how important these and other questions might be, they should not distract Moscow’s attention from strategic collaboration with the principal regional actors in Afghanistan. The preliminary results achieved by Russia in Syria give us grounds to hope that the Kremlin might well succeed in avoiding obvious miscalculations in Afghanistan.
First published in the
Republic
.
... Syria becoming a failed state (which the West has let happen in Libya), let alone starving civilians to death. This accusation fails to consider the mechanisms of aid distribution. It’s a propaganda effort aimed at discrediting Russia’s role in Syria.
Russia is feeding Syrians
, delivering regular shipments of wheat since March 2021 when the resource’s demand became an emergency.
Rogin’s analysis relies on an interview from Raed al-Saleh, chairman of the Syrian Civil Defense or White Helmets—a ...
... the whole region. As a matter of fact, after a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan and a severe confrontation with Iran, the U.S. is upset and confused further. The U.S. is losing its grounds in the entire Muslim world, as its aggression of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and some other Muslim countries has created anti-American sentiments around the globe. The Muslim world sees Russia as a friend and seeking protection and refuge from Russia. It is time for Russia to show solidarity with the Muslim world and rescue the whole region from America’s evil designs.
Zamir Ahmed Awan
... strong response from the Turkish citizenry. Russia’s support of the Kurds, whom the Turkish believe are linked to domestic terrorists and separatists, and carpet bombing of Sunni civilians has led 55% of Turkish citizens to view Russia as a threat. Russian and Syrian forces have also targeted Turkish soldiers in Idlib, and private military contractors (PMCs) from both sides have clashed throughout the Syrian conflict. The use of PMCs in both Libya and Syria have the potential to escalate conflict between Turkey ...
... campaign to its own ends, openly accusing former “partners” of inadequacy.
The decision to engage in the Syrian file was based on several factors, and none of them was truly perceived by the West. The first and the most important was terrorism. For Russia, Syria was too close to the borders for comfort to allow terrorist activities to go unimpeded. It was imperative not just to put an end to groups like ISIS and JN but to eliminate the most active terrorists physically so that they would not be able to ...
