Exit from Syria seen as triumph in Russia

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/2016/03/exit-from-syria-seen-as-triumph-in-russia/

Exit from Syria seen as triumph in Russia
By Sergei Blagov on March 16, 2016

MOSCOW–As the Kremlin suddenly moved to exit from the Syrian conflict, the military action and the subsequent withdrawal were presented for the domestic audience as a major foreign policy achievement.

The Russian officials and media described the developments as “mission accomplished” because the country’s military involvement in Syria proved to be relatively short and painless. The sudden exit from Syria apparently allowed Moscow to avoid prolonged hostilities with rising Russian casualties.

The Russian government-backed Sputnik International news wire described the pull-out decision as a “strategic triumph for Russia,” and “a brilliant move taken at exactly the correct time.” The Russian military TV channel Zvezda described the military operation in Syria as “168 days that changed the world.”

Russia started withdrawing military equipment from Syria on March 15. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial pul-lout of the Russian military from Syria on Monday, arguing his troops largely achieved their goals. The Kremlin insisted that the Syrian armed forces gained a fundamental turnaround in the fight against terrorist with the assistance the Russian military.

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For some unknown reason the United States seems to be unable to end wars after we start them.

I would have thought we learned the lessons of Vietnam.

[bemildred]

1. We think leaving is a sign of weakness.

That's Trump-like thinking, by the way, never back off.
Foch destroyed his army with that approach in WWI. Those machine guns will fall eventually.

Ferdinand Foch was the most inspired of the Western Front generals in World War I, sometimes to his detriment. He could be almost mystically reckless with lives, initiating attacks when restraint would have served him better or prolonging offensives beyond all hope of success. His own pronouncements had a tendency to catch up with him. Fortunately for his permanent reputation, he will be remembered more for his presiding role in the victory of 1918 than for his sanction of the futile hecatombs of 1915 and 1916.

He was born in 1851, the son of a civil servant. In the summer of 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, he enlisted as a private in the French infantry but never fought. (But he did gain peacetime fame for massing 100,000 men at a review in a rectangle of 120 by 100 meters.) He rose steadily in rank and in 1885 became a professor at the [Eacute]cole Sup[eacute]rieure de Guerre, the command college in Paris that he would eventually head. He was now in his element, and his pronouncements would influence a generation of French officers, as well as the opening events of 1914. Foch wrote two widely read paeans to the offensive, The Principles of War (1903) and The Conduct of War (1905). “A lost battle,” he proclaimed, “is a battle which one believes lost[ellipsis4] A battle won is a battle we will not acknowledge to be lost[ellipsis4] The will to conquer sweeps all before it[ellipsis4] Great results in war are due to the commander.” In argument, Foch tended to win by intimidation and deliberate arrogance–irresistible, perhaps, because he never admitted to doubts.

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/ferdinand-foch

That sounds very familiar to me.

[DetlefK]

2. Russia left just in time to avoid getting dragged into the post-war clean-up.

Their lackey Assad is still in power and still rules Syria's ports. That's all that matters to Russia. Negotiating a lasting peace? Rebuilding a destroyed country? Not so much.

[yourpaljoey]

4. As I understand it, BRICS might be involved in the re-building of Syria

Shutting the IMF and US out of the picture.
The game is changing.

[yourpaljoey]

3. Chess Master Putin

I am guessing Russia has greatly fortified their permanent base in Tartus, Syria;
maintains control of the air space between Turkey and Syria with greatly beefed up anti-aircraft
systems; maintains a considerable advantage as far as number of tactical nukes in the area (I believe they
have referred to the deployment of those as an absolutely viable Plan B).
From a cold start they can have bombers on the Turkish border in ten minutes.

Remember, Russia is there at the request of the sovereign nation of Syria.
Putin, I assume, is allowing troops from Iran, and Iraq, as well as Syrian regulars
to replace Russian soldiers in the field.

Russia has replaced the US as the major player in the area.
The Chess Master has entered in.