By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Aided by a massive Russian bombing campaign and Hizbullah and Iranian (or likely actually Afghan) reinforcements, the Syrian Arab Army has broken out of the siege imposed on West Aleppo by rebel forces toward the north, and now seems positioned to besiege East Aleppo, which is […]
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Russia
Could Saudi Arabia’s grip on oil prices bring Russia to its knees?
James Henderson | (The Conversation) | – – When Saudi Arabia led an OPEC decision to end a restraint put on oil production in November 2014, it marked the beginning of a new era in oil economics. It has given us a tumbling oil price, prompted huge losses and job cuts at oil firms like […]
Turkish-Russian Airspace Conflict as Ankara-backed Turkmen flee Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia rejected as “propaganda” on Saturday renewed Turkish charges that its fighter jets had crossed Turkish territory. NATO asked Moscow to respect its joint airspace. A promontory of Turkish territory sticks down into northern Latakia, and it would be very difficult to conduct the sort of […]
Top 5 Ways Putin has won big in Syria and why Europe is embracing him
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia is so far winning big in Syria, and making Moscow’s projection of force in the Middle East a reality that the other great powers have to recognize. As Russia has emerged as a major combatant against Syrian al-Qaeda and against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), it is […]
Putin: Syria’s Al-Assad welcome to Refuge in Russia
Vladimir Putin | (Der Bild) | – – Excerpt from part II of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interview in the German publication, Der Bild, on Jan. 12, 2016, according to the Kremlin website. Highlight: Putin admits that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has made many errors, and says that if necessary he can have asylum in […]
Russian Strike on al-Qaeda Lair kills 51 at Prison, as US hypocritically slams Moscow
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian air war against al-Qaeda in Syria (the Nusra Front or the Support Front) took a tragic turn on Saturday when a missile hit a downtown government building complex and prison in Maarat al-Numan. It left some 51 or more dead and 70 wounded. The […]
How his Syria Intervention brought Putin in from the Cold in 2015
By Carl Schreck | ( RFE/ RL | – – In December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama fielded a question about Russia while addressing a group of American business leaders in Washington. President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine and “backward-looking” policies, Obama said, are “isolating Russia completely internationally.” If it was Russian expansionism last year […]
The Regime Strikes Back: Syrian Gov’t advances, Bolstered by Russia
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Russia’s aerial intervention in Syria is apparently yielding some modest battlefield advances for the Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad. Russia is also resupplying the Syrian Arab Army, training it in tactics, and giving it strategic advice. The big news is that Russia airstrikes on the secret […]
Flash Point: Could Turkey block Russian access to Mediterrranean?
By Tony Wesolowsky | ( RFE/ RL) | – – Could Turkey block Russia’s access to one of the world’s most strategic waterways? That question has arisen with mutual relations in a southward spiral since the Turkish air force downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on November 24. It arguably took on added […]