The recent U.S.-led missile attacks on Russian-backed Syrian forces has prompted widespread speculation that the two superpowers may be on the brink of war.
What most Americans fail to realize is that American and Russian forces were already clashing in Syria before Assad Regime unleashed another stockpile of deadly gas on women and children. The question military and political leaders may be pondering is: at what point does someone actually declare a full-scale war?
American Military Hits Russians
The Middle East has become so complicated that neither boots-on-the-ground troops nor outsiders can tell the players apart. The confusing nature of ISIS, pro-Assad supporters, Syrian Army regulars, Iraqi Army soldiers and Syrian Rebels among many others, has allowed the two superpowers to inject soldiers into the fray without direct attachment to either country.
The United States likes to call these loosely affiliated soldiers “contractors” and refers to their Russian counterparts as “Mercenaries.” In reality, the same brave men that fought to save American lives at Benghazi are paid soldiers, just like the Russians.
Historically, “mercs” are government-funded soldiers of fortune who are in it for the money. Dating back centuries, they have always been considered part of a country’s military force. For example, the British employed Hessians and George Washington is partially famous for engaging them on the day after Christmas. They were crack German troops and enemies of the Colonists. So are these Russian mercenaries in Syria.
In February, airstrikes carried out by the American military hit targets that were a mix of Syrian-government troops and Russian mercs. U.S. General James “Mad Dog” Mattis reported that the effort was done in self-defense and was unsure how many, if any, Russians contractors were among the dead. Russian sources reported that at least five of its “citizens” had been killed.
In what appeared to be an attempt to divert speculation about direct military conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated for the record, “I want to stress once again that we are not talking about Russian servicemen.”
Although both Syrian-Russian and U.S.-Iraqi forces are careful to assert they are fighting the remnants of terror groups such as ISIS, Pres. Trump’s repeated missile strikes could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Chemical Weapons And Obama’s “Red Line” Debacle
Anyone looking to place blame for the recent chemical attacks in Syria and U.S. engagement need not look any further than former Pres. Barack Obama. In his now infamous “Red Line” comments, he gave Syrian Pres. Assad a stern finger wagging about the use of chemical weapons on innocent women and children.
The reason ailing Sen. John McCain calls Assad a “butcher” is because nearly one year to the day after that warning, the Assad regime slaughter upwards of 1,400 people with Sarin gas. After failing to combat Assad for thumbing his nose at the United States, Pres. Obama cut a deal to have former KGB agent, Pres. Vladimir Putin store nearly 600 metric tons of deadly agents.
“It turns out we’re getting chemical weapons out of Syria without having initiated a strike,” Pres. Obama reportedly said.
Four years later, chemical agents are again Assad’s weapons of choice and Pres. Putin is squarely in the mix.
Will Syria Drag The Superpowers Into Full-Scale War?
Despite calls from Pres. Trump and other world leaders for Pres. Putin to abandon Assad, the Russian appears in it, come what may. Pres. Putin avoided making the first strike on Russian mercs an international issue, but he appears ready to push back on any future strikes against Syrian forces.
Russian forces attempted to shoot down the 105 missiles from the U.S., France and U.K. that rained down on Syria. Despite their efforts to defend the Assad Regime, Pres. Trump and the allies claimed “mission accomplished.” More than 40 were reportedly killed, and Assad’s current chemical weapon capabilities have been reportedly destroyed.
The Russian president has so far only engaged in hot words, calling the offensive an “act of aggression” and claiming “chaos” will ensue if any further actions are taken. It seems abundantly clear that Assad has no inclination to abandon the use of horrific chemical weapons and a total disregard for innocent civilians. That being said, Putin finds himself either suffering international embarrassment by turning against Assad or standing his ground. Putin is a stand-your-ground guy.
For decades experts pointed to rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea as potential war instigators. In reality, the U.S. and Russia have already traded blows on the battlefield. Will “the butcher” drag the two nuclear superpowers into a declaration of war?
~ Conservative Zone
As soon as Barack Obama and John Kerry invited Vlad Putin in to solve their “red line” problem, the stage was set for the day when a subsequent American president would have to tell Vlad, “well, that’s enough of your nonsense”. Of course Vlad doesn’t like getting pushback, and it’s true that he rules over a fragile, hydrocarbon-and-military-hardware economy with a giant, modern military attached.
Resetting Vlad’s calculations (and Xi’s) will take some expertise. Will this happen with a man who appears to “respect” Vlad’s autocratic “leadership” style, and who counts as his chief resource his instincts? Who knows? Would it have happened with a woman who offered a red plastic button and a “reset” to Vlad, who skulked around while Vlad bought up 20% of America’s uranium, who saw to it that the Chinese got launch technology to keep their satellites in orbit? I don’t think so.
No, we aren’t going to war with Russia! They don’t want war any more than we do, it’s all bluster and will blow over. Putin is testing Trump’s mettle and determination.
Think you got that in reverse….or have not been paying much attention since 2016….The NWO is pulling out all the stops as some European countries are starting to baulk ( and they are doing everything possible to reverse BREXIT)…and your 2nd Amendment HAS to go…Russia has been in their crosshairs since Putin reversed the trend initiated with the backstabbing of Gorbachev and the imposition of the CIA puppet, Yeltsin…if he does not ‘capitulate’, which he seems not about to do, hold on to your seats…
I sometimes hear people say we should have allowed the Nazi’s to destroy the Soviet Union under Stalin as his defeat would have prevented the Iron Curtain and the enslavement of millions in Russia and Eastern Europe. Russia since falling under the spell of Lenin and Stalin has never been a friend to free people anywhere. Nothing Stalin ever said could be believed and that holds true for Putin. With that said it is my opinion the west should continue to bring the truth to Russian’s in the hope that someday they will stop allowing dictators like Putin to hold high public office. Direct war with Russia is unthinkable and should never be considered. Proxy wars such as Syria should also be waged only when absolutely necessary. The sad truth is if Assad is overthrown what will follow will be far worse.
President Obama displayed such weakness that the Russians felt unconstained and moved in to support Assad’s regime. The Kurds were the most effective in fighting and eliminating ISIS. The Turks do not want an independent or even an autonomous Kurd state/province. The US is ostensively supporting the Kurds. Syria is just one more in a long list of troubles in the Middle East that have existed for centuries. It doesn’t mean the US is headed for war with Russia.
It would be a disaster for Russia. And, Putin knows it! Russia simply is outgunned. They have border countries to their south and west who hate them. Their economy is no larger than Italy’s. Unless Putin plans on blowing up the entire world, he is checkmated. His best bet would be to secretly commit Russia to the Marshall plan.
We are entering either a 2nd or 3rd Cold War with Russia but out and out War I doubt it. One has to have a Real Hard probable cause. Iran, Syria, Russia togetherness won’t do the trick….the World in general is not in agreement to the 3. As to China…there is still too much of a Power Push as China wants to build its country and territory larger yet. A lot of barking going on but again no, I don’t think War Military at this time…more War of Words.
No, Putin does not want war and either do his citizens. It would quickly escalate into a nuclear exchange. On the other hand, if there was an invasion of this country by Putin, we will be in a mess. We have Hitler lefties wanting to disarm private citizens. Our military, not national guard, is spread around the globe. There are maybe 2 or 3 hundred thousand active duty personel in the country. As a collective civilian armed populace we number 140-150 million gun owners. We already have very limited access to machine guns and a lot of towns and counties are banning semi-auto rifles within county and city limits. This is a very real scenario, and that is the founders main purpose for the 2nd amendment.
STOP this madness President Trump!!! Get the troops OUT of Syria. Quit pissing off Putin.
Stop being deceived by warmongers like Nikki Haley. START listening to TruNews.com