{"id":1509122,"date":"2024-12-20T23:25:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T04:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1509122"},"modified":"2024-12-20T23:25:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T04:25:00","slug":"interpreting-putins-remarks-on-syria-israel-and-turkiye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/interpreting-putins-remarks-on-syria-israel-and-turkiye\/1509122\/","title":{"rendered":"Interpreting Putin’s Remarks On Syria, Israel, And Turkiye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interpreting Putin’s Remarks On Syria, Israel, And Turkiye<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Putin commented on\u00a0Syria\u2019s regime change<\/a>\u00a0during his\u00a0annual Q&A session<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday. According to him, Russia\u2019s military intervention succeeded in its goal of preventing the creation of an Afghan-like terrorist enclave.<\/strong> The groups that just seized power there, including terrorist-designated and -affiliated ones, have apparently changed their views over the years. That\u2019s why the West wants to establish relations with them. The regime change therefore can\u2019t be seen as a defeat for Russia.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Putin then defended his armed forces\u2019 conduct during recent events by claiming that Russia no longer had any ground troops in Syria. <\/strong>Moreover, the estimated 30,000 Syrian and \u201cpro-Iranian units\u201d that were defending Aleppo surrendered the city to just 350 militants, after which they gave up the rest of the country to them too with few exceptions. He also revealed that Russia evacuated 4,000 Iranian fighters to Tehran while other allied units fled to Lebanon (a reference to Hezbollah) and Iraq without a fight.<\/p>\n

As for the future of Russian influence in Syria, Putin claimed that \u201cThe overwhelming majority of [the groups that control the situation there] tell us that they would be interested in our military bases remaining\u201d. He then proposed that they could be used to deliver humanitarian aid. The main beneficiary of the latest events is Israel, in his opinion, since they\u2019ve practically demilitarized Syria and expanded their occupation zone in the country. He condemned those moves and hoped that they\u2019d leave someday.<\/p>\n

Putin also took the opportunity to condemn Israel\u2019s illegal settlements in Palestine as well as its ongoing military operation in Gaza. <\/strong>These are all consistent Russian positions and nothing new. Observers might have been surprised though that he didn\u2019t also condemn Turkiye. Instead, he explained that \u201cTurkey is doing everything to ensure its security on its southern borders as the situation in Syria develops\u201d, which he said is aimed at returning refugees and \u201cpush[ing] back Kurdish formations on the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

In connection with that second imperative, Putin expressed hope that there won\u2019t be an aggravation of the situation\u00a0like some have reported<\/a>\u00a0that Turkiye is planning.<\/strong> He also said that \u201cwe need to solve the Kurdish problem. Within the framework of Syria under President Assad, this had to be solved, now we need to solve it with the authorities that control the territory of Syria, and Turkey needs to somehow ensure its security. We understand all this.\u201d This basically amounts to giving Turkiye a free pass in Syria.<\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s apparent double standard towards the similar issues of Turkish and Israeli military involvement in post-Assad Syria can be explained by Russia\u2019s complex interdependence with the former. They\u2019re closely tied together through nuclear energy cooperation, air defense systems (S-400s), natural gas, trade, and Istanbul\u2019s prior role in mediating between Moscow and Kiev. By contrast,\u00a0although<\/a>\u00a0Israel hasn\u2019t armed Ukraine nor sanctioned Russia, there\u2019s much less trade and no military-technical cooperation.<\/p>\n

There are also optics to consider as well. Although Syria is still politically divided and Turkiye does indeed back the UN-designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, there\u2019s no denying that many Syrians support Ankara as do many other Muslims in the region. The same can\u2019t be said for Israel, which is universally reviled in Syria, except among some of the Druze that\u00a0welcomed<\/a>\u00a0the self-professed Jewish State\u2019s forces, and fiercely hated by most Muslims in the region.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s therefore better for Russia\u2019s soft power interests to criticize Israel for occupying part of Syria while remaining silent about Turkiye doing the same thing. Likewise, considering the domestic and regional mood, it also makes sense for Putin to remind everyone about the pro-Iranian units\u2019 cowardice in giving up cities without a fight and then fleeing abroad. After all, \u201cRussia Dodged A Bullet By Wisely Choosing Not To Ally With The Now-Defeated Resistance Axis<\/a>\u201d, so it has no reason to sugarcoat what they did.<\/p>\n

Altogether, Putin\u2019s remarks on Syria, Israel, and Turkiye show that Russia eschews responsibility for what just happened in Syria, condemns Israel for its ongoing invasion there, and downplays Turkiye\u2019s own. <\/strong>This is a\u00a0coldly realist and ultra-pragmatic<\/a>\u00a0approach to the latest developments that fully aligns with Russia\u2019s national interests as Putin sincerely understands them to be. It also contradicts the expectations that many members of the\u00a0diverse non-Mainstream Media community<\/a>\u00a0had of him condemning Turkiye.<\/p>\n

As can be seen, Putin doesn\u2019t really care that Turkiye is a NATO member nor that it patronizes terrorist-designated HTS since he\u2019s always insisted that the most important factor in their contemporary ties is the excellent working relationship that he has with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Russian leader\u00a0sang his praises in October 2022<\/a>\u00a0while speaking at the Valdai Club\u2019s annual meeting when he was asked about whether his views on him had changed over the past two years. Here\u2019s what he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a competent and strong leader who is guided above all, and possibly exclusively, by the interests of Turkiye, its people and its economy\u2026President Erdogan never lets anyone get a free ride or acts in the interests of third countries\u2026But there is a desire on both sides to reach agreements, and we usually do it. In this sense, President Erdogan is a consistent and reliable partner. This is probably his most important trait, that he is a reliable partner.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Putin wasn\u2019t playing \u201c5D chess to psyche out Turkiye\u201d like some members of the diverse non-Maisntream Media community imagined at the time but was candidly sharing his views about Erdogan.<\/strong> Those who took his words seriously therefore knew better than to expect him to condemn Turkiye for its actions in Syria. Putin\u2019s responsibility is to ensure Russia\u2019s national interests, not conform to his online supporters\u2019 fantasies about him spewing this or that talking point, which requires maximum flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cNon-Russian Pro-Russians\u201d and even some Russians might be disappointed with his position towards recent events in Syria, but they should at least understand the reasons behind it.<\/strong> Russia couldn\u2019t stop what just happened, which was the result of the Syrian Arab Army\u2019s and pro-Iranian units\u2019 cowardice in the face of the foreign-backed terrorist-driven blitz, and it won\u2019t go to war with Turkiye over this either. By adapting to this new reality, Putin now has the best possible chance of advancing Russian interests.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t mean that he\u2019ll succeed, but there\u2019s no guarantee of failure as would have been the case had he criticized Turkiye after being unable to stop it and unwilling to go to war with it afterwards. Even if things don\u2019t work out like he envisages, Russia\u2019s mutually beneficial bilateral ties with Turkiye won\u2019t be jeopardized, nor will his country\u2019s soft power be damaged since it\u2019s not opposed to the outcome that the domestic and regional majority support. Putin\u2019s pragmatic hedging therefore preserves Russian interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 12\/20\/2024 – 18:25<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/interpreting-putins-remarks-syria-israel-and-turkiye<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interpreting Putin’s Remarks On Syria, Israel, And Turkiye Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack, Putin commented on\u00a0Syria\u2019s regime change\u00a0during his\u00a0annual Q&A session\u00a0on Thursday. According to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1509123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1509122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1509122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1509123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1509122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1509122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1509122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}