Solitudinem fecerunt,
pacem appelunt
Publius Gaius Cornelius Tacitus
Syria - Russian Intervention Background
Mistakes were made. Putin corrected mistakes made by interim President Dimitry Medvedev, who did not employ the Russian veto during the 2011 UN Security Council resolution on Libya and the no-fly zone imposed by the Security Council that led to the toppling of dictator Moammar Gadhafi - a mistake, in Putin's eyes. Nor did Putin agree with the ousting of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by the United States in 2003. The chaos in the Middle East, caused by the Americans, could have been avoided, in Putin's eyes.
In Putin's view, mistakes were made by Gorbachev, who struggled to extricate the Soviet Union from a conflict that he reluctantly inherited, while still trying to maintain Soviet prestige and honor. Initially, Gorbachev allowed the military plans that were already in motion to continue. In February 1989, the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was complete.
The fall of 1989 witnssed peaceful revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe (except Romania) and the fall of the Soviet "outer empire." Shortly after Poland's electorate voted the Communists out of government in June 1989, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would not interfere with the internal affairs of the Eastern European countries. By October, Hungary and Czechoslovakia followed Poland's example.
The centrifugal forces in the Soviet "outer empire" stimulated and accelerated those in the "inner empire", as the Soviet republics sought sovereignty and then independence. As the center disintegrated and Gorbachev opened up the political process with glasnost (openness), the old communist "barons" in the republics saw the handwriting on the wall and became nationalists.
The Soviets left Afghanistan deep in winter with intimations of panic among Kabul officials. Najibullah's regime was able to remain in power until 1992, collapsed after the defection of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostam and his Uzbek militia in March 1992.
In his annual address to the Federal Assembly on 25 April 2005, Russian President Vladimir Putin said "Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century." As a judoka, Mr Putin knows the art of exploiting an opponent’s weakness: when America steps back, he pushes forward. Since March 2011, the conflict had killed more than 240,000 people and forced nearly 12 million others from their homes.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia lost all of its former foreign military bases, save for Tartus, a small depot on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. Tartus allowed Moscow to maintain a presence in the Mediterranean, giving it access to its sole remaining Middle East ally and allowing it to possibly cultivate new ones. The Mediterranean also offers Russia access to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and the Atlantic, via Gibraltar. And it allowed Russia to protect critical shipping lanes from the Black Sea.
Advanced T-90 tanks, multiple-rocket ‘Smerch’ type launchers, and even drones copied from Israeli designs are said to be among munitions provided to Assad. Uralvagonzavod chief Oleg Sienko told Rossiyskaya Gazeta government newspaper in late September 2015 that Russia recently tested the modernised T-90SM model in “an Arab country” and plans to export it to the region.
That support directly conflicts with the US position that Assad has lost legitimacy and needs to step down. For more than four years, Russia had suggested it was open to a political solution to the crisis in Syria, but by expanding military operations there, it has sent a clear signal to the West that dialogue is no longer an option.
Putin billed the buildup in Syria as an effort to combat the Islamic State group – with or without US help. If Putin were merely there to fight ISIS, it wouldn't have sent combat planes or surface-to-air missiles, considering that neither ISIS nor the opposition has an air force.
Putin’s popularity in Russia soared after he annexed Crimea in March 2014. Taking a more active role in Syria could distract the population’s attention away from higher prices and lower living standards.
President Putin suggested the US support for the moderate Syrian opposition is illegal. "In my opinion, provision of military support to illegal structures runs counter to the principles of modern international law and the United Nations Charter. We support only legal governmental structures," said Putin through a translator.
A poll was conducted September 18-21 by the independent Levada Center in 46 of Russia’s 85 regions. Asked whether they supported the Russia government’s policy toward Syria, 39 percent of the respondents said that they supported it fully or to a significant extent, while 11 percent said they definitely or to a certain extent disapproved. Thirty–three percent of those polled said they were not interested in the Russian government’s policy toward Syria, while 17 percent said they had difficulty answering the question.
Asked what kind of aid to Syria’s government they supported, 67 percent of the respondents said “political and diplomatic,” 55 percent said “humanitarian,” 43 percent said “military-technical (consultations, weaponry),” 41 percent said “economic,” 21 percent said taking in and assisting refugees, and 14 percent said “direct military support (sending troops).” (More than one answer was allowed).
Turkish journalist and director of the International Strategic Research Organization Sedat Laciner noted that "with its decision, Russia has almost completely closed any opportunity for Ankara to implement the proposed no-fly zone along Turkey's border with Syria. Russia has effectively said through its actions that 'this is Syrian airspace. Syrian territory belongs to Damascus, which is my ally. Therefore, you will not be able to create a no-fly zone at your own discretion. This territory is open to aircraft of other states according the decision of the UN Security Council.'"
Iraq said 27 September 2015 it was cooperating with Iran, Russia, and Syria to form an information center to fight against the Daesh terrorist group, which has been wreaking havoc on the Arab country since 2014. The Russian government said that the Russian Federation along with Iran, Syria and Iraq have established an information center in Bagdad for more effective campaign against Daesh terrorists. A statement released by the Iraqi military's joint operations command said that Iraqi officials were engaged in intelligence and security cooperation with officials from the three counties in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, told US media outlets on September 28, 2015 that embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must remain in power to fight terrorism. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Rouhani said that in driving out terrorists in Syria, “we have no solution other than to strengthen the central authority of that country.... Everyone has accepted that President Assad must remain so we can combat terrorists".
Putin told CBS network's 60 Minutes that Russia intends to support its longtime ally, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But he said Russia will not participate in any Syrian ground action against Islamic State extremists in Syria at this time.
US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said Assad’s presence attracts foreign fighters to Syria. "The challenge with Assad, in addition to the fact that he gasses his own people and uses barrel bombs, and we haven’t seen a dictator like him in a very long time, put that all to one side, the other challenge is he hasn’t been all that effective fighting ISIL (Islamic State)," she said.
On 28 September 2015 Putin addressed Russia's expanding role in Syria, telling the United Nations General Assembly that the Assad's forces are "valiantly fighting terrorism face to face" and that refusing to cooperate with them is "a huge mistake." He criticized the West for arming "moderate" rebels in Syria, who, he said, joined forces with the Islamic State group.
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