U.S. President Barack Obama’s failed policy in the Middle East have entered its final, the most horrifying, stage.
By conducting airstrikes in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed the U.S. out of the region, where it used to have the biggest influence and play the most essential role.
Putin has also unleashed a conflict that already bears the resemblance of the World War I by the number of countries participating in it. And the next President of the U.S. will have to inherit the chaos that Obama has created.
But how have we gotten into this chaotic situation? It all started with a reckless and ill-designed U.S. military operation in Iraq and Afghanistan, which was followed by the interference into Libya’s affairs, where airstrikes that were aimed to stop the bloody regime of Muammar Gaddafi did nothing but gave birth to the chaos, in which ISIS militants feel like at home.
Besides, Obama has been unwilling to cooperate with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for years, and this year, the U.S. President signed the Iranian nuclear deal that was so strongly opposed by Israel.
But Syria is the turning point in U.S. interferences in the Middle East. Obama initially promised that the bloody dictator Bashar al-Assad would be forced to step down, and that the U.S. would take care of ISIS militants by wiping them off the face of the earth.
Putin Rubs Mud All Over Obama’s Face
But the idea to destroy ISIS went down in flames. Well, at least with the help of U.S.-led coalition, the airstrikes of which had little to no effect on “wiping ISIS off the face of the earth.” But now that Putin has stepped into the game, it seems like we are about to see some real action against ISIS.
Russia has already started bombing moderate U.S.-backed rebels, which is nothing else but rubbing mud all over the face of the Obama administration.
Russian airstrikes show that Putin’s appetites are continuing to grow. There have been numerous predictions that after annexing Crimea from Ukraine, Putin would shift his aggression onto another European country – with most analysts saying it would be the Baltic states – but he decided to show off his might more effectively by jumping into the Syrian war.
Accidentally or otherwise, a clash between U.S. and Russian forces is of high possibility, which is why American officials have been urging the Kremlin to coordinate their actions in Syria. But it’s not enough to coordinate actions with just Moscow anymore, since other Middle Eastern states have already gotten involved into the Syrian war.
And with the Kremlin admitting that it is targeting groups other than ISIS militants in coordination with the Assad regime, it raises concerns that we might be standing on the verge of the World War 3.
What about the next U.S. President? Will he/she be able to fix Obama’s mess in the Middle East?
Marco Rubio would risk war with Russia
GOP 2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio said he would be willing to risk unleashing a war with Russia in order to establish a no-fly zone in Syria.
The Senator said during his Monday interview with CNBC’s John Harwood that doing nothing would only encourage ISIS and other terror groups to be more active in the region, while the number of refugees fleeing to Western countries would go through the roof.
“I am confident the Air Force can enforce that,” Rubio said, referring to a safe zone in Syria. “I believe the Russians would not test that. I don’t think it’s in the Russians’ interest to engage in an armed conflict with the United States.”
When asked what would be his response if Russian forces entered the safe zone, he said that we would then “have a problem,” adding that it “would be no different than any other adversary.”
Enforcing a unilateral no-fly zone right when Russia is actively occupying Syria’s airspace would dramatically increase the risk of military confrontation between Washington and Moscow, military experts told the Christian Science Monitor last week.
However, Rubio said he would be willing to accept the consequences of a military conflict with Russia, because the alternative “is worse.”
“The alternative is Assad will remain in power but never control the whole of Syria again,” he noted. “The alternative is the continued growth of non-ISIS terrorist groups in addition to ISIS itself.”
Rubio argued that the U.S. cannot cede to Putin as “becoming the most influential geopolitical broker in the region.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is a GOP presidential contender, also supports the enforcement of a no-fly zone in Syria.
Donald Trump likes that Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIS
Another GOP presidential candidate, Donald Trump, said he likes the way Putin is “bombing the hell out of ISIS,” while criticizing failed U.S. Middle Eastern policies that have turned Iraq and Libya into a total mess.
“It is not even a contest!” Donald Trump said on NBC in response to the question about whether it had been better when Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein were in power.
Trump argues that the Obama administration is “destroying our country” by wasting too much money on Middle Eastern policies that fail all the time. “We have spent $2 trillion in Iraq, probably a trillion in Afghanistan…”
Syria “is going to be the same thing,” Trump said, criticizing U.S. support of Syrian rebels, whom Russia has admitted targeting with its airstrikes in Syria.
When the interviewer mentioned that Russian airstrikes could be “hitting people we’ve trained,” Trump interrupted him by saying that “We are talking about people we don’t even know!”
Trump concluded that he likes that “Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIS,” adding that he believes that Russia is targeting ISIS with its airstrikes.
