Today was the third day of air strikes by Russian planes in Syria. For the first time, the Russians actually hit an ISIS base although most strikes were still on Sunni opponents of Assad rather than on ISIS. In three days, the Russians have dropped one quarter the amount of bombs that the USA has dropped in Syria over the last 14 months. It's not that the Russian campaign is massive; it is not. Rather, the American bombing has been extremely minor. The Russians also are not limiting themselves just to military targets. They have already hit civilians areas and caused significant civilian casualties. The Russians are actually at war and are not waging a legalistic public relations type of war.
We hear now that many countries are protesting the nature of the Russian campaign. That's pretty funny. Vladimir Putin will not care whether or not the Dutch think his forces are being too brutal or not. The Russians will just keep on with their campaign.
It would be nice if president Obama were to learn something from watching what Putin is doing. (For example, it would be great if Obama finally realized that nothing Putin says can be trusted.) Sadly, that is not going to happen. Obama will just continue to tell the Russians that they are on the wrong side of history, and Putin will laugh as he takes over the Middle East.
We hear now that many countries are protesting the nature of the Russian campaign. That's pretty funny. Vladimir Putin will not care whether or not the Dutch think his forces are being too brutal or not. The Russians will just keep on with their campaign.
It would be nice if president Obama were to learn something from watching what Putin is doing. (For example, it would be great if Obama finally realized that nothing Putin says can be trusted.) Sadly, that is not going to happen. Obama will just continue to tell the Russians that they are on the wrong side of history, and Putin will laugh as he takes over the Middle East.
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