Lavrov: US-led Coalition Airstrike On Government Forces Means Desire To Prompt Oppositionists And Extremists To Fight Syrian Government

Well-said!

Well Russia’s isolation is far from total. Nonetheless surely you have a point, but why is that? Not so much because the rest of the world buys into “Putin baby-eater” NATO propaganda. Instead, the (well-deserved) impression is that Russia doesn’t stand by its allies. The priority for the Russian elite seems to lie in acceptance by the West, at almost any price. This is not something that those elites can get by force, and begging only makes them more of a joke. What the Kremlin *could* get is a certain respect based on its own strength; alas, in recent weeks we haven’t seen much of that in the face of western encroachment on Syria.

“Respect based on strength” , that is the only thing they understand . That’s why I am amazed that the airport bombed by the USAF last Oct., has not been reclaimed . Russia could use it as a training mission , fly in with paratroopers in large enough numbers to secure the airport , and fly out a week or two latter.
The Russian elite needs to understand with more respect , they will also achieve more .

I place the blame squarely on the western elites. Russian elites historically wanted Europe’s acceptance but always on Russian terms. Last time they tried to conform to outside dictate was during Yeltsin era – and no Russian politician will ever repeat that mistake. No, it’s our own elites that have wholeheartedly accepted US dictate – economic, political and military – and existence of de facto US global Empire. It’s Munchen all over again, only this time the Fuhrer lives on the other side of the Atlantic and owns the most devastating weapon in history – dollar printing machine.

Well yes and no. Western elites are greedy cowards, but are they irrational? I’m still withholding judgement whether Trump is a dummy, but “his” generals are not. They have repeatedly delivered exactly the intended message to Syria and the world: “You should just have given us our pipeline. At the end of the day, the house always wins: Russian allies still get bombed, American allies don’t.”

Or take the episode where Erdogan stepped out of line in his dealings with the Russkies, and apparently got a call “Goons with big guns are en route to your current location. You have ten minutes.” Shrewd survivor that he is, he got out; any of Europe’s empty suits would have been dead meat. They may cheer as loudly as us when the Empire finally goes down; but until then, they may feel they have no alternative.

Rational or not the western elites surrendered to the ideology of New American century and do the best they can to help. You know the saying: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” In that sense Russia is isolated from most other important world countries. But if US strategy works in Syria and Russia, you think the Empire will fold and say we’re through with war, or start looking for the new enemy – and just maybe they find it in the heart of Europe, among their “allies”.

Well if President Michele Obama manages to whack both Syria and Russia, her challenger Chelsea Clinton would still say that Obama policies are dangerously weak: we need a base on the moon, and we have to arm moderate Martians before China does! Permanent war is now integrated into the structure of the US economy, seems nothing anybody can do about it.

Hardly efficiently though. The French wasted most of their time and money on the Maginot line, neglecting their mobile formations, much needed motorization of their infantry, communication equipment and a piss poor military doctrine. And the British lost ALL their equipment at Dunkirk.

So in a way by sacrificing their allies to appease Germany to buy time to rearm they sacrificed them for nothing and basically gave the Germans time to further build up their forces and refine their better military doctrine. In hindsight they might have even stood a better chance if war had erupted a few years earlier.

The Maginot Line was a logical way to counter German numerical superiority. By economising on men with steel and concrete, the French could form high-quality armoured and motorised divisions. The Dyle Plan and the breda variant threw it all away.