... increase Russia’s global power by
a.) framing the intervention as Russia taking a responsible and leading role in combating ISIS and preserving state sovereignty/the world order; this in turn can hopefully
b.) Relieve pressure/sanctions regarding Russian ... ... that is a small minority in Syria) Bashar al-Assad and is controlled mainly by Alawate Shiites. It is backed by Shiite Persian Iranians and the Arab Shiite Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Sunni Muslims, in general, do not like Shiites, and that is an understatement; ...
... largest and deadliest. Here, as in other situations, we have a crisis in which we must be careful not to blame Obama too much but ... ... were inspired by their Arab brethren in the happier days of the Arab Spring in 2011. This was, generally, a struggle for freedom,... ... and, unlike Qaddafi’s, had strong patrons in Russia and Iran who would complicate and increase the costs of any Western ... ... publicly by several major Western governments (including that of the United States), Human Rights Watch, and later by the United Nations....
... change. While an ostensible explanation for this would be the Arab Spring, in a larger sense, America is like a developmentally ... ... though Joe Biden recently got in trouble for saying so, support for ISIS and other Islamic extremists and terrorists from very wealthy ... ... state-sponsored and ever-present-throughout-the-Gulf religious cult of Wahhabism/Salafism streams out of the Gulf like an oil spill, polluting ... ... world.
4.) There’s a good chance for a thaw/deal with Iran in the near future.
More than any president since the Iranian ...
