Fresh off of French President Francois Hollande’s visit to Moscow to try to assemble a “grand coalition” against ISIS, government spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Russia does not believe the US-led coalition is “ready” to merge into a single anti-ISIS coalition.
This was not surprising, as the US had been seen trying to convince Hollande against pushing for the grand coalition on his visit, and insisting that EU nations need to “keep the pressure” on Russia on various issues, including the ongoing ceasefire in east Ukraine.
On the other hand, Peskov said Russia was still willing to cooperate with the US and the rest of the coalition “in any format” they are actually ready for. It seems likely this will mean increased cooperation with individual nations involved in the coalition, like France, even as the US and others keep them at arm’s length.
Russia was angling for a unified anti-ISIS coalition from the beginning of its air war in Syria, but had been repeatedly rebuffed by the Obama Administration. This month’s Paris attack has fueled renewed calls, but so far France appears to still be struggling to get everyone on board.
Obama and Hollande think Russia can be excluded from the Syrian carve up and if not with ISIS then with the Kurds, they can still rout Assad. However, Russia is still the only country with legitimacy inside Syria
Erdogan meanwhile will bust his spleen if he is not included and the Kurds are again 'flavor of the month' and no longer persona non grata. Putin should sideline Erdogan and leave him there.
NATO should sideline Erdogan and leave him there.
The junior partners of nATo, e.g., everyone other than the Us, do nothing and say nothing without approval from Washington.
Suddenly it's "Obama and Hollande"! No more talk of the umpteenth EU-US "split"! Putin and legitimacy don't go together. If Putin had invaded Ukraine, restored Yanukovych to power and then withdrew, he could claim to be a defender of legitimacy. He didn't. He left Yanukovych in the lurch and grabbed Ukrainian land for himself. He'l eventaully leave Assad in the lurch too. Putin is an blundering idiot. Everybody can now see that and Erdogan (and the Ukrainians!) are taking advantage of Putin's weakness. Which is exactly what Putin would have done if the situation was reversed.
Putin is the best of all evils, if a better evil is to be had we must put a cap on wealth, for excessive wealth like Putin's $144 billion is the worst of all evils.
In other words, Putin got nothing. Dressing this up as France "struggling to get everyone on board" just underscores that point.
Putin claims a net worth of about $250,000 a little bit less than 144 billion Maybe he can't count good or doesn't want to brag .