Putin: No need to distinguish between ‘moderate’ & other terrorists
There can be no "moderate" terrorists, President Putin said, speaking about the situation in the Middle East at the Valdai discussion forum.
RT,
22
October, 2015
"Why
play with words dividing terrorists into moderate and not moderate.
What's the difference?" Putin told the forum.
A
whole "snarl" of terrorist groups act in the region, who
fight also against each other for "sources of income" and
not for ideology, Putin said, adding that the weapons provided to
"moderate" opposition in the region had ended up in the
hands of terrorists
Some countries are playing a double game, the Russian president said, adding that while they fight against terrorism they also "place figures on the board" in their own interests.
“Success
in fighting terrorists cannot be reached if using some of them as a
battering ram to overthrow disliked regimes," Putin told the
forum, saying that this way the terrorists would not go anywhere.
"It's just an illusion that they can be dealt with [later],
removed from power and somehow negotiated with," he added.
Saying
that the efforts of the Russian military in Syria will positively
affect the situation in the country, helping to provide conditions
for political settlement, the Russian president also stressed that
defeating terrorists will not solve all the problems in Syria.
"I'd
like to stress once again that [Russia's operation in Syria] is
completely legitimate, and its only aim is to aid in establishing
peace," the Russian president said in Sochi, adding that the
decision to deploy the Air Force was made following a request from
the Syrian government.
Syrian
President Bashar Assad has also agreed with the possibility of Russia
offering support to the Syrian opposition in their fight against
ISIS, Putin said. "I've asked [Assad]: What would you say if we
support the opposition's efforts in their fight against terrorists
the way we support
Moscow
has been seeking to exchange data about the positions of Islamic
State militants in Syria with western countries for weeks, and now
such cooperation is close, Putin said.
Countries
should perceive one another as "allies
in a common fight, and act honestly and openly,"
Putin said, adding that only in this way can victory against terror
be guaranteed. "Syria...
can become a model for partners... of how to solve problems that
affect everyone.”
The
main task is "not
to let terrorists move their activity into other regions,"
the Russian president said, adding that to prevent such an outcome
all forces in Syria and Iraq, including state armies, Kurdish militia
and various opposition groups, should be united.
US 'deceived' the world about Iran's nuclear program
©
Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters
The
"hypothetical
nuclear threat"
allegedly posed by Iran has never existed, the Russian leader told
the Valdai Discussion Club. Washington was just trying to "destroy
the strategical balance,"
Putin said, adding that the US aimed "not
to just dominate, but be able to dictate its will to everyone – not
only geopolitical opponents, but also allies."
Russia
and the whole world have been "misinformed"
and even "deceived"
by the US regarding Iran's suggested nuclear threat, Putin said. Even
after Tehran has agreed with the world on the peaceful nature of its
uranium enrichment program, missile defense systems are still being
tested by Washington far away from its borders – now in Europe.
RT
#Valdai2015 'Policy of isolating Russia has failed' - Putin's Chief of Staff http://on.rt.com/6uf6
"We
had the right to expect that work on development of US missile
defense system would stop. But nothing like it happened, and it
continues,"
Putin said, adding that the international security system has been
destroyed under the pretext of the Iranian “threat.”
There
is a possibility that US anti-missile shield bases in Eastern Europe
might be used for offensive weapons, the president said, adding that
it may be regarded as a threat to Russia. A dialogue on limitation of
strategic nuclear forces should be continued, Putin dded.
"This
is a very dangerous scenario, harmful for all, including the United
States itself,"
the Russian president told the forum.
There
can be no winner in conflicts involving nuclear weapons, the Russian
leader said.
Combat report: Russian Air Force carries out 53 sorties, strikes 72 targets in Syria http://on.rt.com/6ug0
"The
deterrent of nuclear weapons has started to lose its value, and some
have even got the illusion that a real victory of one of the sides
can be achieved in a global conflict, without irreversible
consequences for the winner itself – if there is a winner at all,"
Putin said.
Europe is America’s ‘vassal’ in US sanctions policy
Trade
and sanctions wars show “unfair
competition”
on the US side, the Russian president said, commenting on current
political and economic relations in the world. Moral norms should be
considered in international, political, military and economic
rivalry, Putin said, adding that otherwise the competition could get
out of control.
“Russia
could also declare the necessity to democratize the USA, but that
would, at a minimum, be impolite,”
Putin told the discussion forum.
Formation
of economic blocs based on conspiratorial principles will not make
the world a safer place, but rather produce a basis for future
conflicts, the President said. Pointing out that European companies
have also suffered from sanctions the US has imposed on other
nations, he concluded that these kinds of measures taken by
Washington demonstrate that it treats other countries “like
vassals who are being punished, rather than allies.”
Commenting
on the situation in Ukraine, Putin said that Russia accepts any
choice made by the Ukrainian people – “who
we really consider as fraternal country, fraternal people,”
but cannot agree with the way the power in the country was changed.
Such methods “are
bad, no matter where in the world it happens,”
Putin dded.
“How
can we accept coups? You can expect that Iraq and Libya scenarios are
being organized for us here. After all, the US authorities weren’t
shy about openly and publicly saying that they spent $5 billion on
supporting the [Ukrainian] opposition,”
the Russian president said.
The
only way to reconstitute Ukrainian integrity and reach peace in the
country’s southeast is to implement the Minsk agreements, Putin
said, adding that at the moment key points of the peace deal have
still been left unfulfilled by the Kiev authorities. He also stressed
that “endlessly
blaming Russia”
in the conflict is “useless.”
From Zero Hedge
Putin
Just Warned Global War Is Increasingly More Likely: Here's Why
22
October, 2015
Vladimir
Putin is basking in Russia’s triumphant return to the world stage.
What
began with a land grab in Crimea and escalated with support for the
separatists at Donetsk, culminated in Moscow’s dramatic entry into
Syria’s protracted civil war.
To
be sure, the deplorable (not to mention comically absurd) strategy
adopted by the US and its regional allies in Syria set Putin up for
success. The situation was highly exploitable by anyone that’s
strategically minded and thanks to the convoluted set of alliances
Washington has built with groups that later turned out to be
extremists, Moscow gets to achieve its regional ambitions while
simultaneously fighting terrorism. Meanwhile, Washington, Riyadh,
Ankara, and Doha are left to look on helplessly as their Sunni
extremist proxy armies are devastated by the Russian air force. The
Kremlin knows there’s little chance that the West and its allies
will step in to directly support the rebels - the optics around that
would quickly turn into a PR nightmare.
All
of this has provided the perfect backdrop for Putin to begin what’s
amounted to a lecture tour on how to conduct foreign policy.
Soundbites
have ranged from very serious commentary on why the West should not
employ extremists to bring about regime change to comical jabs at the
US and its allies who the Russian President last week accused of
having “oatmeal brains” when it comes to Mid-East policy.
Speaking
today at the International Valdai Discussion Club's 12th annual
meeting in Sochi, Putin delivered a sweeping critique of military
strategy and foreign policy touching on everything from the erroneous
labeling of some extremists as “moderates” to the futility of
nuclear war.
“Why
play with words dividing terrorists into moderate and not moderate.
What's the difference?,” Putin asked, adding that “success in
fighting terrorists cannot be reached if using some of them as a
battering ram to overthrow disliked regimes [because] it's just an
illusion that they can be dealt with [later], removed from power and
somehow negotiated with.”
"I'd
like to stress once again that [Russia's operation in Syria] is
completely legitimate, and its only aim is to aid in establishing
peace," Putin said of Moscow’s Mid-East strategy. And while
he’s probably telling the truth there, it’s only by default. That
is, peace in Syria likely means the restoration of Assad (it's
difficult to imagine how else the country can be stabilized in the
short-term), and because that aligns with Russia’s interests, The
Kremlin is seeking to promote peace - it’s more a tautology than it
is a comment on Putin’s desire for goodwill towards men.
And
then there’s Iran and its nascent nuclear program. Putin accused
the US of illegitimately seeking to play nuclear police officer, a
point on which he is unquestionably correct: The "hypothetical
nuclear threat from Iran is a myth. The US was just trying to destroy
the strategical balance, [and] not to just dominate, but be able to
dictate its will to everyone – not only geopolitical opponents, but
also allies."
Speaking
of nukes, Putin also warned that some nuclear powers seem to believe
that there’s a way to take the “mutually” out of “mutually
assured destruction.”
That
is, Putin warned against the dangers of thinking it’s possible to
“win” a nuclear war. Commenting on US anti-missile shields in
Europe and on the idea of MAD, Putin said the following:
"We
had the right to expect that work on development of US missile
defense system would stop. But nothing like it happened, and it
continues. This is a very dangerous scenario, harmful for all,
including the United States itself. The deterrent of nuclear weapons
has started to lose its value, and some have even got the illusion
that a real victory of one of the sides can be achieved in a global
conflict, without irreversible consequences for the winner itself –
if there is a winner at all.”
In
short, Putin is suggesting that the world may have gone crazy. The
implication is that the US believes it not only has the capacity to
win a war against the nations Washington habitually places on its
various lists of "bad guys" (i.e. Russia, Iran, and China),
but that Washington believes America can win without incurring
consequences that are commensurate with the damage the US inflicts on
its enemies. That, Putin believes, is a dangerous miscalculation and
one that could end up endangering US citizens.
So
once again, this is Putin setting the narrative and jumping at every
opportunity to portray Russia as a nation that's not content to "lead
from behind" (as so many have recently accused the US of doing).
And once again, his assessment seems remarkably sober in a world that
does indeed seem to have lost its collective mind.
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