{"id":61844,"date":"2015-09-15T11:45:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T15:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=61844"},"modified":"2015-09-15T11:53:48","modified_gmt":"2015-09-15T15:53:48","slug":"61844","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=61844","title":{"rendered":"Russian Combat Equipment, Troops in Syria – Along With Iranian Troops, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know that the current\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 group of feckless fools and tone-deaf tools running things in DC<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Administration has been somewhat reluctant to become involved in Syria\u2019s civil war \u2013 at least, when it came to sending US troops.\u00a0 I have to admit I think that\u2019s the right call.\u00a0 Or at least, it was when inactivity on the Administration\u2019s part made it the de facto<\/em> US response.<\/p>\n

Hey, even a stopped clock is right twice daily.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n

But other nations aren\u2019t so reluctant to become involved.\u00a0 Take Russia, for instance.<\/p>\n

Russia has apparently sent combat troops to Syria.\u00a0 They\u2019ve recently (as in last week) been reported to have participated in combat operations<\/a> on the side of the Syrian government.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly a minor\u00a0\u201cjust to show the flag\u201d deployment, either.\u00a0 The Russians have made a serious logistical effort\u00a0to support operations in Syria, and appear to be setting up airfield\/basing facilities IVO Latakia \u2013 including billeting for up to 1,500 troops<\/a>.\u00a0 They\u2019ve conducted numerous Antonov 124 flights to deliver troops and\/or key other items.\u00a0 They\u2019ve also delivered tanks (including T-90s), APCs, and artillery pieces via ship. \u00a0Components for the SA-22 SAM system have also reportedly been assembled in Syria.<\/p>\n

Russia also isn\u2019t the only foreign nation supporting the Syrian government. Iran has also sent a number of troops to \u201csupport\u201d Russian forces in Syria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US government \u2013 or, at least those currently in DC pretending to perform that function \u2013 are reacting predictably to these latest developments.\u00a0 They have publicly expressed \u201cdeep concerns\u201d over Russian forces in Syria, and also indicated they are \u201cclosely monitoring the situation<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s just dandy.<\/p>\n

This last tells me that the introduction of forces was both unforeseen and undesired by the current Administration. \u00a0Otherwise, why draw attention to the fact you couldn’t prevent it from happening by expressing your “deep concerns”?<\/p>\n

And\u00a0unforeseen?<\/em> \u00a0GMAFB. \u00a0The Russians have been arming Syria for decades; the Iranians have been similarly close recently as well.\u00a0 The fact that either or both could decide to intervene on Syria’s side should have been foreseen, oh, maybe about 24 hours after the current Syrian troubles began.\u00a0 Yet all this Administration can manage to do is call attention to an unwanted and apparently unanticipated foreign action \u2013 and wring its hands after-the-fact.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s effective leadership.\u00a0 Just like we had back in 1977-1980.<\/p>\n

Let me be crystal clear here: \u00a0I\u2019m not calling for US forces to be deployed to Syria. And maybe having Russian and Iranian forces there to do something we\u2019re not willing to do (e.g., fight ISIS on the ground) is the correct course of action. \u00a0Dunno.<\/p>\n

But calling attention to your own major diplomatic failure probably isn\u2019t going to get us much respect in that part of the world – or anywhere else, for that matter.\u00a0 And I do wonder what quid quo pro<\/em>\u00a0Assad will give to his Russian and Iranian benefactors afterwards to show his gratitude for saving his butt.<\/p>\n

As I’ve said before about the current Syrian civil war: \u00a0\u201cI got a bad feeling about this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know that the current\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 group of feckless fools and tone-deaf tools running things in … Russian Combat Equipment, Troops in Syria – Along With Iranian Troops, Too<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,9,238,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-your-tax-dollars-at-work","category-foreign-policy","category-government-incompetence","category-military-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}