NOVANEWS
The United States and Russia are engaging in what amounts to dangerous war by proxy by arming opposite sides in the Syrian Civil War that further raises questions regarding the attack by Israel on Russian missiles stationed in Syria that was reported by Anthony Gucciardi amid the Trayvon Martin 24/7 media cycle.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – JUNE 16: British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin award the Russian Ushakov medal to Artic Convoy Veterans in No 10 Downing street on June 16, 2013 in London, England. Cameron meets with Russian President Putin for talks on the Syrian crisis amid fears that differences between Moscow and the West are pushing the two sides towards a new Cold War. (Photo by Anthony Devlin – Pool / Getty Images)
By Daniel G.J
This proxy war escalation could lead to Israeli involvement and a dangerous escalation of the war.
The Obama Administration hasannounced plans to arm Syrian rebels (which is already being done), and it has Green Berets training some rebel troops in Jordan. Meanwhile, theRussians have military officers on the ground in Syria and plans to ship 24 ballistic missiles to the country. These missiles will apparently be pointed at Turkey and Jordan, where U.S. troops are stationed.
Arming Opposite Sides
That means even an accidental dispute could lead to a situation in which Russians are firing on Americans or Americans are shooting at Russians. It also means that Russians could be killed if the U.S. and/or Israel starts launching air attacks on Syrian forces. Such air attacks might be employed by the U.S. and Israel to effectively stop Assad’s army from crushing and massacring the rebels.
Any sort of American attack on Syria would cause an almost instant collapse of Assad’s army. The collapse might be followed by the lynching of foreign soldiers caught for Assad, including Russians. That happened in Libya after Gaddafi was defeated; Gaddafi’s African mercenaries were beaten up and killed by the rebels. How would the Russian people react to TV footage of a mob of Syrians tearing up some poor private from Yekaterinburg?
It is not known how President Vladimir Putin or the Russian people would respond if Russian military personnel were killed in Syria. It is doubtful that there’s any support in Russia for an adventure in Syria. The last thing Putin wants is to hand his opponents a popular cause, such as an unpopular war, to undermine his shaky rule.
Yet Putin is serious about supporting and arming the regime of Bashir Assad. He seems to think it is a point of national honor to stand by allies no matter how questionable. The question is, how far is he willing to go in this situation?
War and History
Obama is obviously serious about overthrowing Assad, but he isn’t serious about direct military intervention in Syria (as of right now). The interesting question is whether the grandstanding by Putin is enough to get him to back down.
The situation in Syria is an interesting one that will remind many of us of the Cold War, yet there are some serious differences. There is no real ideological dimension to this conflict; modern Russia and modern America are capitalist empires that claim to be democratic in nature. Both have large military establishments and love to project their power around the world.
Yet lack of an ideological conflict has never stopped a war before. There were no real ideological differences between the powers that fought World War I, yet 37 million people died in that conflict. It’s also interesting to note that World War I began as a proxy conflict between empires (Russia and Austria-Hungary) and spiraled out of control into an all-out conflict. We can only hope that Barrack Obama and Vladimir Putin remember that history and don’t want to repeat it.
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