... intervention shattered that perception. By decisively altering the course of the civil war, Moscow demonstrated its ability to influence major global crises beyond its immediate borders.
The fall of Assad and its implications
The recent fall of the Assad government, which only survived nine years ago thanks to Russia’s intervention, marks another significant turning point. Analysts will dissect the causes of Assad’s downfall, but the critical question for the Kremlin is what this means for its broader geopolitical strategy.
Russia’s Middle East engagement ...
... when Russia—one of the most powerful nations in the world and with the most centralized power structure at the top of any major world power—would just lie and claim “terrorists,” not at the Syrian military, were to blame for whatever atrocity Assad (or Russia) had perpetrated, or that the atrocity in question had not happened at all, as it has for years? Does anyone think rhetorical flourishes from the West, Turkey, and Arab League members would change anything? When Russia has vetoed seven different ...
... chemical disarmament, announced by John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov today in Geneva, is well short of a victory for America and the West. Lacking any concrete threat of force for non-compliance, it could be used by Syria’s bloody dictator, Bashar al-Assad, to deceive the global community and hold on to his gases nonetheless.
When Russian officials announced their plan for the Syrian government to hand over its chemical weapons stockpiles to the UN for destruction, thus averting an American punitive strike, everybody agreed that it had to be given a chance. Hailed by Russia’s ...
