The Editorial team at the Wall Street Journal puts a different slant to the clash of forces in Syria where some Russian “ contractors” were killed in US air strikes. Their view is that the attack was intended to kill US servicemen who support the Kurds. Hezbollah came along for the attack, which made it more interesting for Syria which is not exactly best of friends with those guys. The Journal saw this an intentional attempt to kill Americans so the US would back out of Syria altogether - and since it failed, to repeat it and try again. That is an interesting view. I wonder where they got that idea?
If they are right Mr. Putin is putting his forces out with the intent of promoting a fight with the US, a fight he would have to believe he can win. Perhaps that is a little presumptuous, given that the US is teamed up with a group of Kurds who win more often than they lose. Sooner or later, if the Russians insist on this conflict being resolved by direct action, the US and Russia will be engaged in an escalating conflict where their bombs will fall on the others forces. Putin seems to underestimating the pilots and ground forces. The US has a lot of capabilities they have yet to show, and they haven’t given the Kurds all the weapons they could use to fight.
Israel, Turkey, Iran and Syria itself have conflicting interests that can draw them into this fight. Putin needs to consider the broader conflict that might result. The Saudis are not likely to stand by if Iran is involved. Many wars have been fought over that land and in most conflicts somebody thought they could win an outright victory by killing a few opposition troops. That has turned out to almost always be wrong.
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