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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 35 October 5, 2015
(front page)
‘Reset’ with US allows Moscow
to send arms, troops to Syria
BY MAGGIE TROWE
Moscow’s rapid military buildup in Syria is a result of the “reset” in
relations forged with the Russian and Iranian governments by the Barack
Obama administration. The deal — reshaping alliances and conditions from
Syria, Iran and the rest of the Middle East to Ukraine and surrounding
region — is the cornerstone of U.S. imperialism’s efforts to establish a
new order in the Mideast, but from a much weaker position than when the
now-disintegrating order was imposed after World Wars I and II.
Since early September, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been sending
fighter jets, helicopters and tanks to Syria and building troop barracks
at bases on the country’s coast. Acting to keep the brutal regime of its
longtime ally President Bashar al-Assad in power — though restricted to
a narrow strip in western Syria — Moscow seeks more influence and
control of the country and its Mediterranean ports and a stronger
political hand in Mideast politics.
For several years Tehran has sent Revolutionary Guard Quds forces to
help prop up Assad, and collaborates with Moscow on operations in Syria.
Alongside these moves, Moscow has consolidated its position in Ukraine,
where it occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula last year and backed
separatist forces that have seized sections of the eastern regions of
Donetsk and Luhansk. Since Secretary of State John Kerry’s congenial
visit with Putin in May, it has become clear that Washington would
accept Moscow’s influence over its “near abroad” in Ukraine and the
Baltics, in exchange for help to nail down the nuclear deal with Tehran.
Moscow has taken firmer political control over the separatist forces in
Ukraine and seeks to maintain a frozen conflict there under the
framework of the Minsk accord with Kiev. While Russian heavy weapons
have not been withdrawn and the border remains under Moscow’s control,
fighting has mostly stopped in recent weeks. Separatist commanders who
opposed this course have been assassinated, and a government shake-up in
Donetsk put Denis Pushilin in charge. He’s seen as more subservient to
Putin’s shifts and goals.
Seeking a new, long-term relationship in the region, Washington offered
to exchange Tehran’s promise to limit production of materials that could
be used for nuclear weapons for a pledge the U.S. and its allies would
commit to end sanctions against Iran.
While bemoaning the brutality of the Assad regime, Obama’s focus in the
Mideast has been to fight against the reactionary Islamic State in Syria
and Iraq without U.S. “boots on the ground.” The effort has centered on
targeted bombing.
For years Washington refused to arm or finance resistance to Assad,
claiming such support might end up in the hands of “terrorists.” With
Islamic State stepping into the vacuum created by the slaughter of tens
of thousands who took to the streets against Assad in 2011, Washington
now says it wants to train local fighters, but its efforts have failed.
Gen. Lloyd Austin III, chief of U.S. Central Command, admitted to
Congress Sept. 16 that “only four or five” Syrian opposition fighter
trainees have entered combat against Islamic State from a $500 million
program launched last December that was supposed to put 5,400 combatants
in the field.
These U.S.-trained fighters — if they ever enter combat — are required
to agree not to attack Assad’s forces, only IS, according to the Wall
Street Journal.
The most effective force combating Islamic State has been the Kurdish
People’s Protection Units in Syria (YPG). The 30 million Kurds living in
Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have long demanded a homeland and an end to
centuries of national oppression. In making gains against Assad and IS,
the YPG now controls about two-thirds of Syria’s 560-mile border with
Turkey.
While Washington has praised these advances, the U.S. and European
rulers along with the governments of Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq and
Turkey are dead set against the Kurds’ national aspirations.
In Iraq, promised government offensives have failed. Part of
Washington’s deal with Tehran is to give it sway over the majority Shia
areas on Iraq’s border.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with U.S. complicity, has used
what was billed as an Islamic State-free “safe zone” in Syria by
Turkey’s border to block Kurdish advances and has focused air attacks on
Kurdish fighters.
Washington’s strategic shift to Iran and Russia, in search of some
stability for its interests and investments, means downgrading its
reliance on relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the Iran deal,
although many of Israel’s generals accept it as a realistic step to
lower the likelihood of a nuclear assault from Iran. Netanyahu met with
Putin in Moscow Sept. 21, saying his concern was to “prevent
misunderstandings” between Israeli and Russian troops. Tel Aviv has
carried out airstrikes in Syrian territory targeting weapons being
transported to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
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