Russian jets in Syrian skies
 

Russia has begun its military intervention in Syria, deploying an aerial contingent to a permanent Syrian base, in order to launch attacks against ISIS and Islamist rebels; US stays silent.

Russian jets in Syrian skies - Israel News, Ynetnews

good or bad?

Yes.

But maybe not.

Russian fighter pilots are expected to begin arriving in Syria in the coming days,

yabba yabba yabba

Looks like Obama inspired regime change might just get harder.:E. I'm sort of thinking the request the Aussies take part in the Syrian Arab spring be declined and we just stick to helping out the Iraqi government.

Very good indeed. If you are Assad..

These ISIS lunatics need to be stopped, and if the Russians have at it, that's all well and good.

Had the US-led initiative quickly disposed of ISIS, then perhaps Assad could then be brought into line or disposed of, without the ISIS question muddying the waters. Sorting out Assad becomes immeasurably more difficult with Russian forces stationed on his soil.

Vlad will be able to get whatever he wants from Assad once ISIS is no more.

"OK Bashir, we're outta here, job done".

"No, no, please stay. The Americans will kill me".

"Well that comes at a price. I want, X, Y and Z".

"No, it's too expensive"

"Ok, seeya"

"Oh alright then".

Gee, I don't disagree with you, but declining because it's getting 'messy' sends a profound message doesn't it?

:confused:

Of course Vlad is willing to help out his old mates in Syria. Gives a warm fluffy story of him being a "good guy" helping to sort out the evil nastiness of ISIS, before he tries to take another chunk of a former eastern block country.

Cynical moi? :}

Yes, but as far as ISIS is concerned, I'll bet he's not prepared to put 'Boots on the Ground'.
It's a shame, because the Russians use methods which are particularly effective when dealing with 'miscreants'.

Mmm! Didn't seem all that effective in Afghanistan. History has repeatedly shown that these methods just breed more "miscreants". Wasn't it Assad's "methods" that started this whole problem in the first place?

Much worse methods are being applied in Saudi Arabia and nearby countries yet there seems to be no (or very low) unrest. I guess western countries wanting to change governments not obeying them has more to do with it.

Afghanistan was another story. Talibans had lot of western support back then, now west will have hard time helping ISIS as they have created a very bad picture about them.

Russian jets in Syrian skies
 

Like Putin or not, he's only in this for Russian interests and not out of the goodness of his heart. Much in the same way that the UK, US and various other nations are involved - national interests of one form or another.

The obvious reason for Russian involvement is that Russia wants to secure it's Mediterranean access through the port at Tartus. However, there are other economic and geopolitical factors at play with oil and gas a key driver.

Gazprom signed a deal to market Israeli liquified natural gas earlier in the year as well as having it's eye on a long term strategic and economic position in the eastern Med, most likely by tapping into the Eastern Mediterranean Levant basin's holdings, estimated by some at 1.7bn barrels of oil and 120 trillion cubic feet of gas. Given dwindling efficiency in domestic energy production, competition from US shale and western European nations wanting to look elswhere to reduce the threat from Russian dominance, Russia's economic future now lies in being able to secure influence over and access to oil and gas fields and secure methods of production and supply. And this is where a compliant state within its southern sphere of influence and with access to the Med comes in handy.

Politically there is also an imperative. With a large number of ISIL's toughest fighters coming from Chechnya, he wants to prevent them returning to foment even more problems in the Caucuses. As such, don't expect his tactics to be particularly restrained; if it means wiping out a few towns and villages or bombing the odd mosque, I'd wager he'd happily do it if he thinks it removes the threat. Cue what western liberals might view as less than precision or discriminate bombing.

Saudi Arabia and neighbours have considerable, unreported, unrest.

No, it's because we thought there was no place in a modern world for those methods but we were wrong.

"Saudi Arabia and neighbours have considerable, unreported, unrest"

if it's unreported how do you know?????

I think it is the case of bogus news. It used to be Debka that generated these type of stories.

This has come up before and quite recently. I expect that there will be a similar press release?

From 4th August 2015.

https://www.rt.com/news/311583-russi...ps-syria-isis/

I am disappointed. It would be nice to work together on something our countries have in common. :(

If it happens it will make the ROE interesting given that you are going to have US and coalition forces targeting ISIS along with the Russians but with the US then offering air support to its tame allies on the ground which presumably will then be targets for the Russians should they threaten Assad's troops.

Unreported in the mainstream press, but widely reported in security briefings given to visiting workers who are interested enough to enquire.

That's because large elements of the western have missed many of the nuances of an incredibly complicated conflict, instead often persuing their own particular western liberal agendas. Have a look at some of the less well known in the west less western oriented outlets such as The Jordan Times for a regional rather than western perspective.

Totally ballacks unbacked invented story from a source worthy of the Angling Times.