Wesley Clark: How to defeat Russia's Syria gambit

[elleng]

Intervention leaves the U.S. with three alternatives to counter Assad resurgence.

With Russia's intervention in Syria, it is time to skip the blame game, move quickly to take stock of where we are and count our blessings, and then act on the opportunity to recalibrate our regional strategy.

From the start, the rising against Bashar Assad in Syria was a leaderless, popular revolt, driven by economic and social issues, against ‎a despotic leader and his avaricious retinue. It occurred at a time of regional instabilities driven in large measure by Iran's hegemonic aspirations against Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Sectarianism was less a cause and more a motif of the struggle.

And so our friends and allies aided the uprising, using zealous Sunni fighters to combat Iranian-backed Hezbollah and the Assad regime. In a war among the civilian populous, terrorism was a common and often successful tactic.

Along the way, some of the fledgling Sunni resistance transformed Frankenstein-like into the Islamic State, driven by former Baathist generals, sucking in tens of thousands of recruits from abroad and posing a threat not only to its Iranian-backed enemies but also to other Sunni fighters, Sunni states in the region and even beyond.

Russia's forceful intervention last week to assist Assad injects a new and potentially transformative element into the mix.

Naturally, Russia has gone after the strongest threats to Assad's regime first, the non-ISIL Sunni groups near Aleppo and the western, more prosperous reaches of Syria — the very forces the U.S. and its friends are supporting. ‎For Russia, biding its time against ISIL has a certain logic: By eliminating more Western-amenable opponents, Russia can prevent the emergence of any leadership capable of challenging Assad. This will lead to a foregone but ultimately disastrous reinvigoration of Assad's regime.

In such circumstances, the U.S. has three alternatives: >>>

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/10/08/russia-syria-islamic-state-assad-iran-wesley-clark-column/73593886/

[plus5mace]

1. Good to know that the mainstream Democratic Party isn't giving up on the empire.

If we stop now, what would happen to our allies like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and ISIS?

[underpants]

2. Great read

[elleng]

3. Glad you like it, underpants.

[dougolat]

4. How ironic, that of all people, Wesley Clark, who exposed the .....

....insane over-reach of the PNAC quest, evidently fails to see that it is still operating, on an extended time-frame!
Syria was a moderately stable and successful secular nation, outside of the Saudi/Sunni fold (like Iraq) and the refugee burden from the "Iraq War" pushed it into partial failure.
Now, ISIS/IS/ISIL/Daesh is acting as a useful tool to take down Syria and oppose the Shia of Iraq, and there is evidence of covert support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and others.
If the US really intended to end ISIS, why aren't it's oil shipments confiscated? Why aren't the buyers in trouble? Why aren't it's funds frozen? Why aren't it's fleets droned? Are the PNAC schemers still calling the shots? Are the MIC and the Homeland Security crew happy with their made-to-order "terrorist enemy" and the associated financial bonanza?

'Seven nations in five years' morphs to 'twelve years in - five down, two left.'

[yurbud]

5. Maybe he got a payday

Don't forget, he's the guy who broke yugoslavia.

[CJCRANE]

6. Wesley Clark has gone to the dark side.

What is this obsession in the Establishment about helping our "sunni friends" even if it means supporting jihadis?

I'm all for respecting other people's cultures but not to the point of helping people who will destroy our own civilization.