Guile
Replaces The Stick: Washington’s New Approach To Russia
Paul
Craig Roberts
20
November, 2015
Washington
has learned that threats and coercion do not work against Russia. All
the threats have done is to build Putin’s public support to
astronomical levels and to unify Russia against the West’s assault.
This is a failed policy that Washington is abandoning as Washington
sees a new opportunity in Russia’s desire for Western cooperation,
not only against ISIL but also on a wide range of other issues.
Realizing
that guile can be more effective than the stick, the West is moving
toward drawing Russia into the Western system by offering a coalition
against ISIL. Once Russia is in a coalition against ISIL, Russia will
lose control. This is Washington’s strategy for counteracting the
initiative that Russia seized in Syria.
Once
Russia is in a coalition against ISIL, Russia will have to make
compromises. Putin will be told that Russia can have ISIL, but Russia
has to turn Assad’s fate over to the West. If Putin balks, the
Western media will blame Putin for topedoing the war against ISIL.
Getting
rid of ISIL is more important to the Russian government than saving
Assad. If a jihadist Islamic State is established, there will be a
base for exporting turmoil into the Muslim regions of the Russian
Federation.
Once
Russia accepts “cooperation” with the West against ISIL, more
“cooperation” will be used to gradually erode bit by bit Russia’s
independence and to bring Russian policy in alignment with
Washington’s.
Many
in Russia believe that the Paris attack proves that Putin was right
and that the West now realizes this and will accept Russian
leadership in the fight against ISIL. This belief is delusional.
Washington will take advantage of Russian desire for Western
cooperation and will use this desire in order to bring Russia under
Western influence, thus reestablishing Washington’s hegemony.
Russia ‘must change strategy’ in Syria if it wants to join US-led ‘anti-ISIS’ coalition – State Dept
21
Novermber, 2015
Russia
is not welcome to join the US-led coalition in Syria, as France has
proposed, until it changes its “focus” and stops “propping up”
President Assad, the US State Department said. Yet, Washington
continues to insist their goal isn’t defeating Assad.
“If
other nations not in the coalition [the US-led coalition] want to
join it and become part of it and focus on the fight against ISIL
[Islamic State/IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] that’s a conversation we’re
certainly willing to have,” US
State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.
An
appeal to expand the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State came
from French President Francois Hollande three days after deadly
attacks in Paris a week ago. Stating that “France
is at war,” Hollande
called for the creation of a “large
coalition,” which
could unite forces with Russia “to
achieve a result that has taken too long.”
The
grand coalition is going to be the focus of separate talks President
Hollande will have with his American and Russian counterparts in
coming days. The French leader is expected to hold talks in
Washington on November 24 and in Moscow on November 26.
However,
the US State Department says that Russia’s involvement in the
coalition would depend on Moscow’s“commitment.”
“But
in order for that to work, every member of the coalition has to have
the same focus on defeating ISIL, and thus far we, talking about
Russia, haven’t seen that same commitment,” Kirby
said, referring to Russia’s support for the Syrian President Bashar
Assad. “It’s
inconsistent with the goals of the coalition, which is to defeat
ISIL, if you’re also propping up the Assad regime.”
Washington
has reiterated that there would be no discussions until Moscow
changes its strategy: “If
Russia is serious about this, about going after ISIL, and changing
the calculus of military activities it’s conducting inside Syria,
then it’s great and we will be willing to have a discussion with
them about how they might be able to contribute to the coalition
operations.”
The
statement has prompted Said Arikat, Washington Bureau Chief for
Al-Quds, to ask Kirby to clarify what the coalition’s priority
actually was, because “the
issue of Assad keeps coming up all the time.”
“So
what’s the core goal? To beat Assad or ISIS? On a scale of one to
ten – is one larger than the other?” Arikat
asked Kirby.
Despite,
as is claimed by the State Department, the main goal of coalition
being defeating Islamic State and curbing terrorism, President Assad
remains a serious concern for Washington.
“There
is nothing in the coalition’s mandate to remove Assad from
power,” Kirby
responded, adding that removing the current Syrian government would
be “mutually
supportive” in
beating IS and “keeping
them out.”
“But
militarily, specifically militarily, the goal of the coalition to
counter ISIL is about countering ISIL,” the
State Department spokesman said.
‘We want to make no mistake’
Part
of Friday’s press briefing was dedicated to the US-led mission’s
efforts in and around Syria.
“We
started the coalition last year, and didn’t focus on foreign
fighters and other issues initially,” Special Presidential Envoy
for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, Brett McGurk, said. The US
is now going to focus on putting pressure on the “heartland
of ISIL” and
its links with Raqqa and Mosul.
“That
was not possible about a year ago, even six months ago, but it is
possible now,” McGurk
said, adding that there is now an opportunity “to
galvanize the entire coalition.” “We want to make no
mistake,” McGurk
said.
Outlining
further steps the coalition will take in fighting IS, the
presidential envoy specifically stressed two: “Suffocating” IS
in Iraq and Syria and “suffocate
the global networks.”
“That’s
all I’ll say about that now, but the fact that last week we went
after Jihadi John, Junaid Hussein getting slaughtered in an airstrike
– that’s all going to continue. As we pressure ISIL, they make
mistakes, do stupid things. So we’ll dial up the pressure in the
coming weeks,” McGurk
said.
Despite
claiming significant progress, the US has been criticized, most
vocally by Russian officials, for failing to stem the growth of IS
despite a year of airstrikes, and even for “sparing” the
terrorists’ units. Crucially, the US-led coalition refrained from
bombing the oil trade ‘lifeline’ of Islamic State until this
week.
“There
were almost 8,000 military flights. Almost quarter of the time the
jets came back without striking, taken to mean that they found no
targets to attack.
Meanwhile, ISIL continued to receive oil …
thousands of tanker trucks drove all across the region,” the
head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New
Challenges and Threats, Ilya Rogachev, told the Kommersant newspaper.
The
official believes it was only Moscow’s intervention that made the
US finally target the terrorists’ oil tanker vehicles.
“It’s
impossible not to notice, that even this [US move to bomb IS tankers]
was compelled by the decisive and effective actions of the Russian
Air Force. Taking [the Russian strikes] into account, one can’t
help but wonder: has the US-led coalition actually set a task of
militarily defeating ISIL?”
By
comparison, Russia destroyed some 500 IS tankers over the past few
days, disrupting the flow of illegal petrodollars to the terrorist
group, which, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is
selling oil to some 40 states. The Russian Defense Ministry has
released a video as proof of some of these strikes.
Russian
warplanes disrupt ISIS oil sales channels; destroy 500 terrorist oil
trucks in Syria.
In
the latest development, warships from the Russian Caspian Fleet
launched 18 cruise missiles at seven IS targets in the Syrian
provinces of Raqqa, Idlib, and Aleppo on Friday. According to Russian
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, over 600 terrorists were also killed
in airstrikes involving cruise missiles in Syria’s Deir Ex-Zor
Province.
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