Stephen Lendman

It’s hard fathoming Russia’s Syria strategy. Scaling back its aerial operations last March gave US-supported ISIS and other terrorist groups time to regroup, rearm and replenish their ranks for new attacks ongoing.

A previous article said Moscow continues the futility of negotiating with Washington in good faith, its adversary, not partner.

Believing diplomacy with a sworn enemy can work is foolhardy and fruitless, risking the opposite outcome of what’s sought.

The only language America understands is force. It’s time to stop believing otherwise and start going all-out to liberate Syria from the terrorist scourge it created and supports.

Otherwise it’ll flourish, grow, likely spread to Russia’s heartland and elsewhere, making it much harder to contain and defeat.

It’s vital to crush all armed groups in Syria waging war on its sovereignty and people, fighters imported from scores of countries. Syria is Obama’s war, not civil as widely misreported.

International law affirms the right of self-defense. Russia is involved in Syria at the behest of its government, combating US-supported terrorists, vital to eliminate or face endless war, mass slaughter and destruction.

Peace talks were dead-on-arrival. Cessation of hostilities proved farcical. Washington wants war, not peace.

Yet Russia announced a 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo, another exercise in futility US-supported terrorists won’t observe - on Wednesday its Defense Ministry issuing a statement saying:

“On Russia's initiative, a ‘regime of silence’ has been introduced in Aleppo for 48 hours from 00:01 on June 16 (2100 GMT Wednesday) with the goal of lowering the level of armed violence and stabilizing the situation” - despite no possibility of achieving this objective.

Moscow’s action followed John Kerry warning about US “patience…not (being) infinite” - saying it’s “very limited with respect to whether or not Assad is going to be held accountable.”

“(W)e are not going to sit there while Assad continues to assault
Aleppo and while Russia continues to support that effort…We are not going to allow that to continue.”

“It is very clear that the cessation of hostilities is frayed and at risk and that it is critical for a genuine cessation to be put in place” - unattainable because Washington wants war, not peace, and Russia knows it.

So why does it keep fiddling while Syria burns? It’s time to call Kerry’s bluff, challenge US imperialism responsibly, go all-out to free Syria from the scourge of terrorism, aid other regional countries battling it.

The alternative is letting it flourish and spread to Russia’s heartland, a far greater challenge to confront than involvement in ongoing Middle East wars.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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