Friday, October 9, 2015 7:40 AM EDT
The Obama administration has ended the Pentagon’s $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels, administration officials said on Friday, in an acknowledgment that the beleaguered program had failed to produce any kind of ground combat forces capable of taking on the Islamic State in Syria.
Pentagon officials were expected to officially announce the end of the program on Friday, as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter leaves London after meetings with his British counterpart, Michael Fallon, about the continuing wars in Syria and Iraq.
Sarkisian Meets President Obama at UN
President Serzh Sarkissian poses for a photo with U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (Source: President.am)
NEW YORK—A talk between Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and U.S. President Barack Obama took place on the sidelines of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York.
According to the presidential press service, on the evening of September 28, President Sarkisian took part in a reception held on behalf of President Obama in honor of the heads of the delegations of the nations participating in the General Assembly session.
“During the reception, President Barack Obama and President Serzh Sarkisian had a short conversation, during which issues of pan-Armenian significance were discussed,” Sarkisian’s office said in a short statement on Wednesday.
The press service also released a photograph showing Sarkisian with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Trump Gives Putin an ‘A’ for Leadership, Grades Him Higher Than Obama
Trump on Putin: ‘If He Wants to Fight ISIS, Let Him Fight ISIS’
The US Republican presidential hopeful has praised President Putin’s leadership, giving him the highest grade, unlike his own country’s leader; Trump also criticized US’ Syria policy, bashing Washington for not even knowing whom it is backing. It may even be that President Assad is a better leader than those whom the US is supposed to be backing.
“I will tell you that I think in terms of [President Putin’s] leadership, he is getting an “A” and our president is not doing so well. They did not look good together,” Donald Trump said in his interview with “The O’Reilly Factor” show on Fox News, commenting on the meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The republican presidential hopeful also touched upon Vladimir Putin’s policy in Syria, reiterating “if he wants to fight the Islamic State (also known as ISIL and ISIS), let him fight ISIS.”
“We spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over,” he raged. “And Putin is now taking over what we started. And he is going into Syria and he frankly wants to fight ISIS and I think that is a wonderful thing!”
“I said that a year ago and everybody said “oh, it is terrible!” If he wants to fight ISIS, let him fight ISIS. Why do we always have to do everything? But he wants to go in and he wants to fight ISIS. He wants to keep, as you know the current leadership, Assad, in Syria.”
“Personally, I’ve been looking at different players and I’ve watching Assad and saying may be he is better than the kind of people we are supposed to be backing, because we don’t even know who we are backing, we have no idea.”
When asked by the host to name the downside of President’s Putin fighting ISIS, he said that there is very little.
“Putin wants to keep ISIS out of Russia and therefore he’s become very active with respect to ISIS and I think that’s to our benefit,” Trump said.
“You are going to tell me the downside is that we are losing control of the Middle East,” Trump concluded.
Bill O’Reilly, however, took the conversation in a totally different direction.”Once Putin gets in and starts fighting ISIS on behalf of Assad, Putin runs Syria, he owns it, he’ll never get out. Never,” he panicked.
“Fine, we can be in Syria. Do you want to run Syria? Do you want to own Syria? I want to rebuild our country,’ Trump nevertheless replied.
And no matter how persistent Bill O’Reilly was, Trump continued:
“You have huge oil reserves, you have tremendous wealth in the Middle East that people don’t even know about. By the way, forget about Putin, you have Iran, [which] is going to take over Iraq, I called that many years ago. On your show I said that we should have never got into Iraq, which I should be given a little credit for vision, because I was the only one running who said that.”
“We should have never [done it] because we destabilized the Middle East.”
“Iran is going to take over Iraq, including their vast oil reserves and the leftovers are taken over by ISIS. So, what have we done with our incompetent leadership?” he asked.
“We have given the Middle East primarily to Putin and Iran and they will run it for the foreseeable future,” O’Reilly grimly concluded.
source: sputniknews.com
Putin managed to put US on back-foot – The Financial Times
By Geoff Dyer and Kathrin Hille
Vladimir Putin certainly knows how to steal a show. The Russian president will speak today at the UN General Assembly for the first time in a decade. The rapid build-up of Russian military force in Syria in recent weeks has turned Mr Putin into the centre of attention in New York, as rivals and allies both speculate about his intentions.
To his delight, he has managed to put the US on the back-foot. After a year of trying to freeze out Mr Putin over his military intervention in Ukraine, US President Barack Obama has decided he has little choice but to meet the Russian leader to discuss Syria.
The Russian intervention in Syria — in support of the isolated regime of President Bashar al-Assad — has come at a time when Washington’s own strategy for resolving the conflict is in tatters. The US-trained force of Syrian fighters numbers in the dozens, not the planned thousands, while air strikes have had only a limited impact on the Syrian operations of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIS.
Mr Obama, who has done his utmost to stay out of the Syrian civil war, now finds himself facing two potentially perilous choices — either trying to work together with Mr Putin to find a political solution or expanding America’s own involvement in the conflict.
“The military significance [of Russia’s build-up] may still be unclear but the political significance is dramatic,” says James Jeffrey, former US deputy national security adviser and ambassador to Iraq. “Everyone is waiting to see what if anything the US might do.”
Mr Putin will present himself to the international community in New York as a potential solution to the wretched misery of the four-year-old Syrian civil war, which has left more than 300,000 dead, displaced some 11m people and left the Assad regime in control of just one quarter of the country. He will argue the conflict is the product of a decade of irresponsible US policies in the region. Many politicians in Europe, overwhelmed by refugees from Syria, might quietly welcome his intervention, especially as the fighting in eastern Ukraine has entered into at least a temporary lull.
“The approach of the west will change at [the] UNGA because Russia is giving more weapons to the Syrian government, because of the refugee wave and because of the failure of the US policy in the region,” says Veniamin Popov, a former ambassador and Middle East expert at MGIMO, the foreign ministry’s university where most of Russia’s diplomats are trained. “This is only the beginning. The Europeans are telling the US: we can’t do this without the Russians, we can’t defeat this horrible monster [Isis] without them.”
In a short space of time, Mr Putin has effectively built up a surrogate air force for an Assad regime whose own ability to wield air power has been significantly depleted. Western intelligence officials estimate that Russia now has at least 28 Sukhoi fighters in Syria, including jets with air-to-air combat capability and ground attack aircraft, plus at least two dozen attack helicopters. The US government has said Russian equipment also includes ground-to-air missiles, weapons that Moscow argues it needs to defend forward bases.
Using satellite images, analysts believe construction is under way at two further military facilities at Istamo and al-Sanobar, both near Latakia, and Russia is refurbishing and strengthening its naval base at Tartus. Although the newly-arrived Russian contingent does not appear to have conducted combat operations yet, analysts believe it has the capacity to launch attacks against Isis or some of the other Islamist groups involved in direct fighting against the Assad regime.
Two Russians briefed on the matter told the FT last week that Moscow planned to send about 2,000 military personnel to Syria in the first phase of its build-up mainly to equip, run and secure the air base it is building near the port city of Latakia.
“Apparently, these forces are largely already in Syria,” says Mikhail Barabanov, editor-in-chief of Moscow Defense Brief, a magazine specialising in the Russian military. “This number does not involve the deployment of any large ground forces.” US officials think it much less likely that Russian forces would be involved in ground operations, in part because of the risk of a domestic backlash at the inevitable casualties.
Obama and Putin See Closer Ties With Armenia
Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin spoke of Armenia’s deepening relations with the United States and Russia respectively as they congratulated the South Caucasus nation on the 24th anniversary of its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union marked on Monday. “Armenia is an important partner with which we share a dynamic and expanding agenda,” Obama said in a congratulatory message to President Serzh Sarkisian.
ANCA urges Obama to stop flashing Baku green light
The Armenian National Committee of America has called on U.S. President Obama to abandon demonstrably failed policy of false parity.
ANCA issued the following statement in regards with the recent escalation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and line of contact:
“The Obama Administration flashes Baku the green light each time it chooses to limit the U.S. response to Azerbaijan’s unilateral aggression to generic calls upon all sides to refrain from violence.
Everyone – ranging from the senior officials who run U.S. intelligence agencies to bright 9th graders who follow foreign affairs – knows that it’s Ilham Aliyev who is initiating these attacks. Pretending otherwise is a transparent farce, one that is being perpetrated with deadly consequences.
President Obama should abandon this deeply flawed and now demonstrably failed policy of false parity, and instead undertake concrete, common sense steps to avert war and put in place the foundations for a just and lasting peace. Among these are international proposals – already agreed to by Armenia and Artsakh, but not by Azerbaijan – such as agreements on the non-deployment of snipers, the addition of OSCE observers, and the internationally mandated deployment of gunfire-locator systems along the line of contact.”
Obama secures Senate votes to ensure Iran nuclear deal
WASHINGTON Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland on Wednesday came out in support of President Obama’s Iran nuclear accord, the 34th Democrat in favor. Her vote assures the deal will be implemented.
“Some have suggested we reject this deal and impose unilateral sanctions to force Iran back to the table. But maintaining or stepping up sanctions will only work if the sanction coalition holds together. It’s unclear if the European Union, Russia, China, India and others would continue sanctions if Congress rejects this deal. At best, sanctions would be porous, or limited to unilateral sanctions by the U.S.,” wrote Ms. Mikulski, the longest serving woman senator in history.
Obama: Israel is the only country opposing Iran nuclear deal
US President Barack Obama has signalled out Israel as the only country in the world to oppose Iran’s nuclear deal.
In a speech at the American University in Washington on Wednesday, Obama warned that rejecting the nuclear deal between the world’s major powers and Iran will lead to only one option, which is another war in the Middle East.
Obama further pointed out that Congress’s opposition of the deal with Iran would mean an inevitable war.
“Let’s not mince words. The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy or some form of war. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon,” the US president stressed.
Obama outlined the ability of the deal to “hold Iran accountable if it practices deception in the nuclear file,” further stressing the necessity of such diplomatic measure and the potential benefits for the international community.
The US president described the Iranian regime as “dangerous and oppressive” and added that there might be a possibility that some of the unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to finance “terrorist activities”; but he stressed that this alone should not be a reason to pull out of the deal as even a flawed agreement is better than full-out war.
‘Erdogan, Obama in collusion against Syria’ #BoycottTurkishProduct
The AFP photo shows Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and US President Barack Obama meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in 2014.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama have colluded to take advantage of the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey and carry out a regime change plot against Damascus, says an analyst.
According to an article written by Mike Whitney and published on Eurasia Review, the US president “seems to have realized that his Takfiri proxy-warriors aren’t ruthless enough to remove Assad, so he’s decided to team up with Sultan Erdogan instead.”
Turkey has been one of the countries accused of supporting the militants operating against the government in Syria since early 2011.
Erdogan claimed on October 1, 2014 that Turkey will fight ISIL and other “terrorist” groups in the region, but that Ankara will not relent in its determination to work for the removal of President Assad.
“Obama has… thrown his lot with Erdogan, because the Pentagon bigshots finally realize they’re going to need boots on the ground if they want regime change in Syria,” Whitney wrote in his article.
‘Spin and propaganda’
Kurdish forces have been fighting the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.
Whitney said Erdogan has “launched a war against the Kurds.”
“The media’s view of events–that Turkey has joined the fight against ISIS–is mostly spin and propaganda,” he said, adding, “The fact that the Kurds had been gaining ground against ISIS (ISIL) in areas along the Turkish border, worried political leaders in Ankara that an independent Kurdish state could be emerging.”
Whitney also pointed to the relationship between Washington and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which, he said, has been the subject of the US administration’s shift in policy.
‘Using a terrorist attack as an excuse’
In the so-called fight against the Takfiri ISIL terrorists in Iraq and Syria, he said, the YPG and the PKK “have been Washington’s most effective weapon.” The Obama administration, however, “has sold out the Kurds in order to strengthen ties with Turkey and gain access to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base.”
The Turkish government on July 29 gave formal approval for the United States to use the base in southern Turkey for conducting attacks against purported ISIL positions in Syria.
The green light came in the wake of the July 20 bomb attack in Turkey’s southern town of Suruc, located on the Turkish border with Syria and close to Kobani, a Kurdish town in Syria that experienced days of battle between ISIL and Kurds earlier this year.
‘Who doesn’t know what they are after?’
“All the while,” Whitney said, “the media has been portraying this ruthless assault on a de facto US ally (Kurds), as a war on ISIS. It is not a war on ISIS. It is the manipulation of a terrorist attack to advance the belligerent geopolitical agenda of Turkish and US elites.”
He said Washington wanted Ankara “to do the heavy lifting while the US provides logistical support and air cover” against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“That’s the basic gameplan. Naturally, the media can’t explain what’s really going on or it would blow Obama’s cover. But who doesn’t know that this whole campaign is aimed at removing Assad?” he said.
Source: presstv.com
Obama Authorized Turkey to annex northern Syrian & kill Kurd #BoycottTurkishProduct
A Turkish F-16 fighter jet takes off from Incirlik airbase,
Deal on buffer area adds pressure on UK parliament to allow British military involvement in Syria and raises questions about Kurdish peace process,
After several days of prevarication, US officials have confirmed the Obama administration’s agreement to Turkish demands to set up a coalition-protected “safe zone” inside northern Syria in return for permitting US aircraft to use Turkey’s military bases to attack Islamic State.
The safe zone will stretch for 68 miles along the Turkey-Syria border, from the town of Jarabulus to Marea, and will be about 40 miles deep, reaching to the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria’s second city. Under a deal agreed last week by Barack Obama and and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, US and coalition air strikes will attempt to clear the area of Isis fighters.
US officials said the still evolving plan envisaged occupation of the zone by “moderate” Syrian rebel forces including western-trained units from the Free Syrian Army, protected by coalition air cover. The area is largely beyond the control of Damascus, so the danger of clashes with Syrian regime forces or air defences is reduced. The Syrian military will in any case be told to keep out of the zone.
Erdoğan’s government has long been pushing for a buffer zone or no-fly zone inside Syria, similar to those imposed by the US, Britain and France over northern and southern Iraq in the 1990s, partly to create a safe haven for Syrian refugees. Until now the US has refused, fearing it could trigger clashes with forces loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and enrage his Iranian and Russian backers.
Washington is still resisting use of the term “no-fly zone”, preferring the more innocuous “safe zone”. But after initially ignoring Turkish media reports that a deal had been struck, US officials told the Washington Post and New York Times a protected area could soon be a reality.
Over the weekend, Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said: “When areas in northern Syria are cleared of the [Isis] threat, the safe zones will be formed naturally. We have always defended safe zones and no-fly zones … People who have been displaced can be placed in those safe areas.”
US officials did not dispute the Turkish description and said American and coalition air cover would effectively operate around the clock while Isis targets were located, the Post reported.
The US-Turkey agreement on a safe zone will increase the pressure on Britain’s parliament and government to allow UK combat aircraft to go into action over Syria alongside the US, as they do in Iraq. David Cameron has already signalled willingness to fight Isis in Syria, a proposal he repeated on Monday.
Turkey hopes some of the two million Syrian refugees who have fled across the border may find safe haven in the new zone. But Erdoğan’s government is also anxious to prevent the area being taken over by Syrian Kurdish forces known as People’s Protection Units (YPG), if and when Isis is driven out.
Many Kurds seek an independent region in northern Syria, which they call Rojava (Western Kurdistan) – an aspiration which Ankara regards as a security threat. The YPG has made significant advances in recent months.
Western allies are worried about the consequences that recent Turkish air strikes on Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq will have on the overall Kurdish peace process. US officials, however, are said to be more sympathetic to Ankara’s concerns about Syrian Kurd forces moving west and taking control of large sections of the border adjacent to Turkey.
Erdoğan used last week’s volte-face, when Turkey finally began targeting Isis after months of inaction, to initiate a simultaneous offensive against the PKK on the grounds that they are all terrorists. Turkey denies it is also targeting the Syrian Kurds’ Democratic Union party (PYD) and its armed wing, the YPG, despite a border shelling incident overnight in which YPG fighters were injured.
More than 800 alleged Isis sympathisers and Kurdish activists have been arrested inside Turkey. Kurdish politicians accuse Erdoğan of “setting the country on fire” as a prelude to calling a snap election, in a bid to reverse his party’s losses in last month’s polls.
This has led some analysts to suggest the US tacitly agreed to the new assault on the Kurds in return for Erdoğan’s cooperation on Isis, a claim that is impossible to prove. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s prime minister, said at the weekend that Turkey would not send ground troops into Syria. The deal with the US has “changed the regional game”, he added.
“Now the question is whether [Turkey’s] priority is to join the western alliance in its struggle against Isis or target the PKK in Iraq and Kurdish political circles including the Peace and Democracy party (HDP) inside the country. The other question is whether Turkey brokered a deal with the US to have a free hand against the PKK,” said Hurriyet newspaper columnist Nuray Mert. “What is clearer is that the Turkish government considered using this policy change as a chance to suppress Kurds by including them as part of its ‘war against terror’.”
The growing crisis along the Turkish border has raised international alarm bells. Nato will discuss the situation on Tuesday, at Turkey’s request. After ignoring alliance concerns about Isis for almost a year, Ankara now wants its full backing and support.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, told Çavuşoğlu that Turkey’s efforts to fight terrorism were welcome but the Kurdish peace process should be kept “alive and on track”. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, delivered a similar message to Davutoğlu in a phone call on Sunday.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was also in touch with Erdoğan at the weekend. Moscow and Tehran are certain to resist any development that threatens their ally, Assad, and the regional power balance. From their perspective, it looks like the de facto territorial partition of Syria has begun.
source: the Guardian