With US officials gleefully planning a massive escalation in Syria the moment the ceasefire collapses, many in the Obama Administration are being more direct about their desire to turn the Syrian Civil War into a proxy war against Russia, and more vocal when they see obstacles.
Officials familiar with the debate are now openly describing National Security Advisor Susan Rice as a “fly in the ointment,” claiming she has effectively vetoed plans by other officials to escalate the war even further, and target Russia more directly with arms shipments.
President Obama had previously rejected the notion of a proxy war, but with others in the administration hyping Syrian moves against al-Qaeda as ceasefire violations, they are now suggesting that not starting a proxy war would be a sign of “timidity,” and might anger Saudi Arabia.
Which doesn’t mean Obama is going to take the bait, but historically accusing him of timidity or suggesting the lack of an unwise military action would be criticized by a major ally have been successful in sucking the US into such efforts, and the hawks within the administration seem very genre-savvy to that end.
There must be guys in the military who know that both sides always indulge in that escalation game once started, and shooting down airplanes is something the Russians can do, and that would cripple the US way of war.
It would be nuts.
Good to know there is at least one level headed person in the administration.
A proxy war against Russia- why, exactly? To punish the Russians for stopping our faithful allies, Al Queda, from advancing in Northern Syria? To prevent the Russians from continuing to block the flood of 10 million or more additional refugees out of Syria and into Europe if Al Nusra takes Damascus? To stop the Russians from continuing to defy us by bombing ISIS more effectively than we can? To distract the Russians so that ISIS is free to resume its offensive against our friends in Iraq, and maybe take Baghdad?
Call a spade a spade. Only the Israelis want this war to go on forever, to turn Syria into a failed state, grab as much additional territory as they can (they just claimed the Golan Heights in perpetuity) and keep the Middle East boiling forever. The part of the administration that is in favor of this insane policy is simply taking orders from Tel Aviv.
Exactly – the neocons are afraid (probably for valid reasons), that the Mid East, excepting Israel, is willing to accept an honest broker. If that honest broker ever becomes Russia, Israel’s bs will become very thin.
I would think that Europe might have something to say about (another) “proxy war” near its borders, with public venues being blown sky-high by irate islamists (and further down the road irate commies and nazis and other riffraff) using US-sourced gear. It’s going to go down like a bomb. Maybe they will want to approach Russia to get some consulting on this.
The Europeans are vassals. They don’t have a say.
It’s really hard to tell who is who in the Obama administration. Probably it’s old Ash Carter pimping for war. Still can’t tell which side of the fence Kerry is in. I’m sure Joe Biden is up for it. First we’ve heard from Rice in a while. Overall I get the impression that Obama is trying to clean up the mess he created to salvage his reputation.
Obama hates Putin and wants Syria destroyed as per his masters in Chicago…so since when does he “resist” a proxy war? The only reason he might resist a PUBLIC proxy war is because it might jeopardize his “Nobel Peace Prize legacy” bullcrap. That’s no problem for Obama – he just does this stuff behind the scenes. And he has been doing this behind the scenes for the last four years as we all now know – you think the CIA has been sending arms since the fall of Libya to Syria without his knowledge?
Obama will do ANYTHING as long as he thinks he can avoid being publicly blamed for it. Stop trying to prop up his Han Solo “It’s not my fault!” line of bull.