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Oct 11, 2015
Foreign Policy
Obama Says Putin’s Syria Strategy Motivated by Weakness
* Article
* Comments (62)
* Barack Obama
* Bashar al-Assad
* Military
* National Security
* Russia
* Syria
* Vladimir Putin
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President Barack Obama, seen boarding Air Force One prior to his
departure from Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday,
said Russia is devoting its own military to barely hold together
its sole ally, Syria. Photo by Pablo Martinez
Monsivais/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Russia’s nearly two-week-long
military offensive in Syria comes from a position of weakness, after
his administration was criticized for appearing to be caught
flat-footed by Moscow’s mobilization.
In an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, Mr. Obama said Russia’s
land, air and sea military campaign in Syria aimed at propping up
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime demonstrates that Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s Syria strategy has failed.
“Today, rather than being able to count on their support and maintain
the base they had in Syria, which they’ve had for a long time, Mr.
Putin now is devoting his own troops, his own military, just to barely
hold together by a thread his sole ally,” Mr. Obama said, according to
a CBS transcript of the interview to be aired Sunday night. “The fact
that they had to do this is not an indication of strength, it’s an
indication that their strategy did not work.”
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Russia began airstrikes in Syria in late September and Russia escalated
its assault on Mr. Assad’s opponents last week with its first naval
bombardment on Wednesday.
Russia’s burgeoning military campaign is at odds with U.S. goals to
bring about a political transition away from Mr. Assad, stoking
tensions between the two powers.
Mr. Obama said in the interview that Mr. Putin’s actions in Syria don’t
amount to Russia challenging U.S. leadership in the Middle East.
“If you think that running your economy into the ground and having to
send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally is leadership, then
we’ve got a different definition of leadership,” Mr. Obama said.
The U.S. and Russia held a second round of military discussions this
weekend aimed at avoiding mishaps between aircraft operating in Syria.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the technical talks yielded
progress and another round is expected soon.
Messrs. Putin and Obama met last month in New York on the sidelines of
the U.N. General Assembly, their first meeting since last November and
their longest face-to-face conversation since 2012. Mr. Obama left the
recent exchange with clarity on Russian’s intentions on Syria,
officials said, but Russia’s launch of strikes in Syria shortly after
caught the U.S. off guard.
In the wide-ranging interview, Mr. Obama also discussed the failed U.S.
program to train and equip Syrian rebels, which the U.S. said it would
halt Friday. The president said he had been skeptical of the program
from the start, but he felt it was worth trying.
“My goal has been to try to test the proposition, can we be able to
train and equip a moderate opposition that’s willing to fight ISIL? And
what we’ve learned is that as long as Assad remains in power, it is
very difficult to get those folks to focus their attention on ISIL,”
Mr. Obama said, referring to Islamic State by a different name.
“There’s no doubt that it did not work.”
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* Barack Obama
* Bashar al-Assad
* Military
* National Security
* Russia
* Syria
* Vladimir Putin
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Comments (5 of 62)
View all Comments »
*
+
o 4:53 pm October 15, 2015
o Anonymous wrote:
Putin's Syria campaign definitely is motivated by weakness.
Obama's weakness.
*
+
o 6:25 pm October 13, 2015
o chino wrote:
Mr Obama said ? I say Mr Obama failed at Libye where a US
ambassador was killed and chaos is left , i say Mr Obama
failed at his Syria plan to arm and train secular groups and
arm Al qaida related groups and now is not attacking ISIL
cause he hoped they would kick out Assad so who is the loser
here ?
Most Syrians dont want Assad out now because they dont want al
qaida , al nusra or Isil in Syria and they are right...so whos
strategy is weak ....
*
+
o 12:08 am October 13, 2015
o Wayne wrote:
It's really hard to understand why his past supporters still
support him, unless of course they are naive, stupid or
indoctrinated. Or a mixture.
*
+
o 11:54 pm October 12, 2015
o Christopher Holland wrote:
According to Obama, the next time you get stuffed into a
locker by a guy like Putin, he wedges you in front of all the
girls and he takes your lunch money, you just tell him that he
is weak, he is on the wrong side of history and his strategy
is failing. Can't wait to see how that goes down.
*
+
o 11:11 pm October 12, 2015
o Wayne wrote:
What a fool. He bargains down military options to practically
nothing and ineffective, then says he never agreed with the
strategy. Makes me think of Donald Duck or Alfred E Newman
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