Syria (9/11/15)

I wanted to take a few moments to discuss the latest of developments coming out of Syria, as the situation on the ground is shifting rather rapidly. About a year ago, I mentioned the fact that the U.S. was begining a campaign to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels in the campaign against the Assad regime (whom Barack Obama tried to frame with chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians in order to justify toppling his regime, but we can talk about that later). Due to the strict vetting process now implemented, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter claims that the U.S. has only since trained roughly 60 fighters, which is nowhere near our goal. Seeing that we are running short on time, Russia has decided to step up its efforts in Syria, in order to work backwards to that peaceful picture painted in Isaiah 17, namely mentioning a Christian remnant in Syria. It could not ever co-exist with the Islamic State. Quite frankly, we would be here for years if we waited on the current U.S. strategy, so this is quite welcomed. As indicated by the transportation of SA-22 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, and their impending boots on the ground, the U.S. strategy of supporting the rebels is going to have to be abandoned. The Islamic State does not have such aircraft to speak of, so the message is clear: "We've got it from here." Honestly, Russia has pursued the correct route in order to prevent further losses on the ground by the Assad regime and to assure the outcome that we all have been expecting. By doing this, I am certain that Russia plans to be there for the long term. It's all a bit clearer with each passing day. Now that this seems to be a foregone conclusion, maybe we can begin the discussion concerning regime change in Syria. It is in both nations' strategic long-term interests.

Regime change would hasten the end of the war by satisfying the grievances present there. It would also help to offset future Iranian influence on the ground inside the counry if Assad were to be replaced by a pliant, compliant Russian puppet. To a certain degree, Russia would begin the long and arduous process of choosing the West over Iran for the long term. It kills two birds with one stone, and it's a lot simpler than "shooting your way to victory." The latest developments acknowledge that the current strategy of placing trained moderates on the front lines outright is being discontinued. The US and Russia are meeting up for talks on how to usher in "deconfliction" in the country, actually. The new strategy will include training and equiping moderate Syrian rebels and embedding them in already-existing Kurdish and Arab units in northeastern Syria. How exactly will this mesh with Russian aims in the nation? As I have mentioned previously, maybe the defeat of al-Qaeda and ISIS can be achieved by uniting the(se newly-trained and vetted units from the) Free Syrian Army with Syrian state power. Now, we also have to throw Russian boots into the mix. Honestly, we've been having rapport with the Free Syrian Army through backchannels for some time, so I assume (with good reason) that this is being included in the talks. Maybe some sort of truce or agreement can be reached between Russia/Syria and the FSA, so all energies can be directly focused on eliminating the problem in Syria.