Introduction — Oct 18, 2015
President Obama is beginning to sound like a desperate man in his response to Russian moves in Syria. He claims Russian intervention “will not work” — even though it has achieved more in two weeks than the U.S. has done in more than a year.
Indeed, Russian efforts against ISIS are exposing how little the U.S. actually accomplished since it began its campaign. In contrast the U.S. achieved next to nothing.
Naturally this raises the question as to why? Why hasn’t the U.S. inflicted more damage on the militants?
Didn’t it want to? Was it really trying?
The following article doesn’t tell us but it does reveal, in addition to considerable gains on the battlefield, how on the public relations front the Russians are completely outmanoeuvring Obama.
Next to the following brief article is a little survey which asks readers: Is Putin outmanoeuvring Obama in Syria?
The response to the Washington Post’s question of the day says it all: at the time of writing more than 90% answered Yes against 3% No and 4% Don’t Know.
Obama is adamant: Russian and Iranian military meddling ‘won’t work’ in Syria
Dave Boyer — Washington Times Oct 16, 2015
President Obama declared Friday that military intervention by Russia and Iran in Syria’s civil war “will not work.”
“Iran is going to send more people in, but it’s not going to work,” Mr. Obama said at a White House press conference. “Their basic premise … about Syria has not worked and will not work.”
He said Moscow and Tehran are supporting a regime in Syria “that is not legitimate.” The U.S. wants Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down; Iran is sending hundreds of troops to support the regime and Russia started a bombing campaign against Assad’s opponents on Sept. 30.
Mr. Obama said the U.S. and Russia have reached a basic understanding about “de-conflicting” each other’s military in Syria, where the U.S. is bombing the Islamic State militant group. But he said there is “no meeting of the minds in terms of strategy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They’re not going to be abler to bomb their way to a peaceful solution” in Syria, Mr. Obama said of the Russians.