Russian airstrikes on Syria

Influence

If Ruusia is able to lead in the destruction of ISIS, while propping up a sitting Middle East Govt. (Syria), then Putin will have put the final nail in the coffin for U.S. Policy in that region and become the country with the biggest influence on the region.  He knows that....and so does President Obama.

The interesting part is it now appears Putin didn't attack ISIS at all.  I've seen two or three news articles that are saying they attacked the US backed Militants that were trying to take out Assad...  <Insert dramatic music>

I think he's been pretty clear that he will ally with "the rightful govt. of Syria" in the fight against militants and ISIS.  His position is that the U.S. policy has created a vaccum that gets backfilled with terrorists whenever we get involved in sitting govts.  Kind of hard to argue with that. 

Yep, I agree.

When we pull out and the Russians straighten things out I wonder how long it will take for Obama to take credit for fixing everything.  lol

Just saw this on facebook.  lol

History Lesson circa 1979.

USSR invades Afghanistan.....nothing good came of that except Rambo 3. 

If they want to wade into this mess,  I'm good with that.  I think it's time we leave Middle East policy to Middle Easterners.

I'm totally with you.  I know the US has done a lot of work to try and get Assad out of business so I hope our leaders don't get prideful and push this into an even bigger mess.  Even iCarly Fiorina is wanting to engage Russian troops because they're attacking Al Qaeda whom we're supporting because they want to overthrow Assad.  You can't make this stuff up.

There is so much misinformation in your post.  Russian troops haven't engaged anyone, they are just bombing.  They aren't bombing Al Qaeda, they are bombing so called "moderate rebels" that we support to overthrow assad.

They are there because their friend is on his way out and are using ISIS as an excuse to bomb the rebels that we like......superpower pawns.

lol, I think in the real world bombing somebody is considered engaging them.

I'll see your misinformation and raise you.  

The Russians are bombing Talbiseh which is controlled by the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.  You are correct that they want to overthrow Assad and that's why Russia is bombing them.  The US doesn't directly support al-Nusra because they are al-Qaeda, but the rebels we support have been giving them US equipment and ammunition.  There was just a big embarrassment last week in the news about the "US Backed rebels" giving them a bunch of ammunition and equipment.  
So it's probably not correct for me to say they're bombing US backed al-Qaeda, but our policy there has been so jacked up that we're indirectly supporting them.

Actually, It's profoundly correct to say that.  al-Qaeda are directly related to the US backed mujahedeen that fought the Soviets throughout most of the 80's.  See how sticking our noses in the Middle East can come back to haunt us.

Does anyone else find it interesting that Russia has virtually wiped ISIS out of Syria in a matter of days?  The US has been "bombing" them for how long?
I don't want to get all conspiracy theory on this, but it appears as though we were doing next to nothing to prevent the growth of ISIS because there's no question the US is far superior to Russia militarily.

Russia Decimates ISIS In Days - Where Was U.S. All This Time?

Russia Claims ISIS Now On The Ropes As Fighters Desert After 60 Airstrikes In 72 Hours

Admittedly it's difficult to find any mention of the attack effectiveness in our mainstream media (for whatever reason) so these source articles are a pretty weak.  However, I can't find anything to dispute them either.

I don't get all conspiracy theory on this, but it appears as though the US had no intentions of fighting or slowing down ISIS.  I'm guessing it's because we wanted Assad gone and ISIS could potentially do that for us.

Pravda had quite an opinion piece on the US in Syra (and the middle east as a whole).  wowzers
The sad part is, I'm having a hard time disagreeing with him on the Syria part.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/01-10-2015/132209-western_insolence-0/

Whoops.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-conflict-russian-cruise-missiles-crash-in-iran-a6686856.html

lol Thanks for posting that.

I was in the Navy from 91-97 and my job was to maintain the anti-air radar and also manned the console that fired all our missiles.  We used to hear all kinds of stories about how horrible the Russian missile systems were compared to ours.

When i saw in the news yesterday that the Russians started using their cruise missiles my first thought was I hope the heck they're not flying over any cities on the way to Syria.  haha   Guess I was right.  

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34488087

From the sounds of this BBC article, IS is advancing.

Of course ISIL is advancing, the Soviets are attacking US backed REBEL positions.

Sooooo.....give the rebels Stinger missles and inform the Soviets that the rebels will use them to DEFEND their positions. 

This is why I laugh when people say that we effed up and now the Russians get the credit. 

If they're winning then why are so many surrendering?

http://www.mintpressnews.com/over-1000-militants-surrender-to-syrian-army-in-last-24-hours/210151/

In all seriousness it's really difficult to get accurate information out of Syria because everybody is spinning it.  The US media is either ignoring it or talking it up like Russia is invading somebody.  The Russians are talking it up like they defeated ISIS in one week, The rebels and ISIS are talking it up like they're stronger than ever and taking over new meaningless cities.  Who do you believe?

There's no question that Russia or the US could easily wipe out ISIS if they wanted to, but it requires more than simply bombing.  The US did not have any resolve to take down the rebels because they were attacking Assad and our administration wanted him out.  You'd think we'd have learned our lesson after Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Egypt that even though these leaders are bad we typically end up with somebody much worse in charge after we take them out.  

Russia does appear to have the resolve to fully engage ISIS with air and ground troops and if they do they will handily push them out of Syria.  There will certainly be pockets for a long time to come, but nothing substantial like the world has let go on without resistance.