The General Russia Thread

Yes, in Homs.

Huh. Twitter is abuzz with messages that what Russia airstruck weren't "ISIS strongholds." I wonder to what degree is this true?

Daesh doesn't have a strong presence near Homs, though that doesn't mean they don't have a presence there at all. In other words, either could be right.

Honestly, no point trying to determine it. The western media will never give Putin the benefit of the doubt and the Russian media ain't free. Nevermind the fact that the battlefield there is rather fluid.

Well a number of American pundits are already trying to blame Russia for "propagating the war," so yeah. Also, if I recall correctly, non-daesh Syrian rebels are splintered into many different factions, very few of which are actually moderate, though I might be wrong here.

edited 30th Sep '15 10:55:03 AM by KnitTie

I am sure those strongholds did something to deserve it anyway

Irony so derishoos I can taste it from here.

edited 30th Sep '15 10:57:20 AM by Aszur

Actually quite a few are moderate. It's just they aren't the ones leading the rebels since they lack the experience of most jihadists.

Oh, I see. It's just that the American media switching from cheerleading for the rebels to lamenting the fact that so few of the rebels are moderate had me confused.

Western media is probably just trying to keep up their bread-and-butter outrage by framing Russia's choice of targets as somehow unexpected. They're there to protect their interests and prop up the regime, not fight ISIS. Those two are not mutually exclusive, but ISIS will be pretty far down the list for them, as the other rebel groups are putting the screws to Damascus much harder.

edited 30th Sep '15 8:14:45 PM by Artificius

prop up the regime, not fight ISIS.

Unless I missed something, fighting ISIS is part of "propping up the regime", they have become a threat lately.

It is in Russia's best interests to defeat ISIS. I have no idea why anyone thinks otherwise.

And the modern Russia exists only to further her best interests. This intervention of theirs has nothing to do with taking any moral highground or humanitarian efforts.

Not that much of one, the more moderate rebels are a much bigger threat. Keep in mind that Assad has deliberately allowed ISIS to flourish so as to keep himself in power (as if ISIS are the alternative people will side with him, both internally and internationally). The problem now is that there's getting a bit to strong, I doubt Asssad wants ISIS gone, they're to good for him, he just wants to cut down to size a bit.

I should mention, the Kurds continue to slowly push Daesh further southwest, mostly from the areas near Harasta and Qamishli. Eventually, with the exception of Raqqa and the immediate surrounding areas, it's looking like Daesh will be pushed across the Euphrates.

Then Assad will have to do more than simply try to prune them.

The problem with attacking those groups is how it undermines any kind of deal with the other powers trying to get rid of ISIL, and completely screws any prospects of removing Assad from power if the situation stabilizes because he will have a lot more breathing room and gain an upper hand to bargain compared to the FSA and other rebel groups.

I really do wonder how much are both Assad and the rebels are willing to cooperate with ISIS to achieve their goals.

It goes against the interests of the USA, yes, which is why they are waxing wroth about it.

That's the description of pretty much every single country nowadays with the possible exception of Germany. Look at how the USA did a complete 360 in Ukraine where pro-Western self-determination is heroic and anti-pro-Western self-determination is apparently evil.

edited 1st Oct '15 5:48:32 AM by KnitTie

Aside from Al-Nursa, the rest of the rebels have been fighting ISIL. The FSA had Assad on their front and ISIL pushing from the Syria/Iraq border from their back, essentially getting the FSA and the moderates stuck between Assad and ISIL.

Against the Interests of USA, UK, France, Jordan, Iraq, etc.

No one else really wants to see Assad get enough power to bargain his permanence in Syria, specially since his fervent clinging to his power is one of the main reasons why this war is being dragged for so long.

Assad isn't really better than the people he is fighting, ISIL manages to be worse, but Assad still a complete monster.

Perhaps you should discuss this in the Arab Spring thread?

Yeah, let's move this to the Arab Spring thread. Welcome to join us there Knit, since I know you usually don't post there.

No, I prefer to lurk since I don't believe that I know enough about the topic there to be a meaningful part of the conversation.

Now see, I sort of wanted to reply to your point about Assad-ISIS cooperation but the reply would not be on topic here.

Hey now, if only people who knew what they were talking about replied the entire thread would consists of Shinra posting news, believe me, we've got armature opinion over there and more is welcome.

Take me, for example. All I know about Russia are memes, Putin, That Russian Squat Dance, Hitler and Napoleon, and hot tennis girls.

And here I am.

Great. Now I am ashamed of myself.

But anyways I have also asked some questions despite my lack of knowledge. precisely to fix that lack of knowledge.

I also don't really want to talk about Syria, really. The Ukrainian civil war alone is as much politics as I can stomach.

Continue in P Ms?

Russia introduces chemical castration for pedophiles.

On the one hand, I find it hard to be against this policy. Heck, it might be quite sensible.

It's all in the execution, I guess?

It's not a meat cleaver to the balls, so....