By Walid Shoebat
The recent arrival of the Russian Marines and Air Force to the Syrian port-city of Tartous has generated a significant amount of interest around the world, as the possibility of Russia’s direct military intervention becomes the focal point of the war on ISIS. To add to Russia piling up its military strength in Syria, on tuesday morning, a Chinese naval vessel traveled through Egypt’s Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean Sea scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks (6 weeks) to the port-city of Tartous in Syria that will join the Russian presence in Syria. And to add more salt to Obama’s injury, Russia is now getting militarily involved not jut in Syria, but also in Iraq as it moved without radar detection, 24 attack jets from bases in Russia through Iran before traveling into Iraq.
Putin to show he means business the air strikes on ISIS began earlier this week which were also accompanied by ground attacks near the Kweiris air base in the east of Aleppo province, where government troops have long been surrounded by ISIS, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Vladimir Putin’s explicit promise to go ahead with airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria with or without the help of the US effectively marks the end of Washington’s years-old effort to destabilize and ultimately remove the Assad regime.
To send the clear message to Washington, Putin appears to have a contingency that involves another world power that was absent from the U.S. led Anti-ISIS Coalition: China.
Russia has made it abundantly clear that they are taking an active role in this conflict, but the news of the Chinese military to Syria provides more insight into their contingency.
Many are excited about more force coming to Syria to destroy ISIS and ask since Russia is beginning military operations: will Russia begin to coordinate with the U.S. to destroy ISIS?
Such cooperation or intent to destroy ISIS is food for the sheep. If Russia or the U.S. are bent on destroying ISIS why then is Russia not joining U.S. led Coalition and why is Russia not seeking the assistance of the neighboring Arab countries to combat ISIS? If the idea is to destroy ISIS, why would the United States which is also waging its own aerial campaign against ISIS reject help? While the media argues on the strategy of both sides to combat ISIS, everyone knows that the U.S. is able to squash ISIS in few weeks. Why then the U.S. had minimal success in obstructing ISIS growth in Syria and Iraq?
Obviously, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf would object on Russia’s involvement since their main goal is to destroy Shiite expansion represented by Iran which Bashar Al-Assad is their stronghold in the Levant.
So as it seems, the evidence is clear, the military buildup has nothing to do with fighting ISIS. Simply put, the two major military superpowers, Russia and the U.S. appear to be at it again; both are actively flexing their muscles through their proxies where the U.S. supports the rebels while Russia supports the Syrian Army. With Russia moving its chips, dare any Sunni extremists and/or CIA-trained “freedom fighters” or Turkey intent on seizing control of the country will now need to go through Russia and Iran.
The third players, Turkey, Saudi Arabia including the Gulf states fear Iran’s encroachments and the loss of their sphere of influence on the Sunni Muslim world. This is what will become the crux of the whole matter.
So to answer our original question is that all the players have a use for ISIS. To completely destroy ISIS would prevent all the excuses for one party or the other to wield its global dominance.
The sooner the sheep put this equation in their head, the sooner they will begin to understand Armageddon which is a world conflict centered in the Middle East.
ISIS is useful for the U.S. as well as for Russia and Turkey even as far as Japan which has major use for ISIS where ISIS is the excuse for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s re-interpretation of the Japanese constitution in regards to weapons allowing Japan to also play a stronger role in global affairs.
Again, Armageddon is a global affair where global powers arise in a showdown that is centered on the Middle East.
The crucial issue to understand is that the strong Russian military commitment to redress the military balance on the ground would jeopardize Turkey’s calculations concerning Syria.
During Erdogan’s latest visit to Moscow, which came on the heels of Russia’s latest military buildup in Syria, Putin shunned Erdogan. Turkey’s quest to create a safe zone within Syrian territory is hampered by Russia’s involvement. To add more problems not only for Washington, but for Turkey as China (the biblical “armies from the east”) showed up. Beijing made a concerted effort this year to project the growing power and influence of the PLA navy. That effort has so far involved an unprecedented land reclamation effort in the Spratlys, a “rescue” operation in the Yemeni port of Aden, and a surprise appearance off the coast of Alaska.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Sept. 22 said of his then-upcoming trip to Moscow, regarding “The Syria question” now that Russia (North to Turkey) and China (east of Turkey) have Erdogan’s plans in check. What Erdogan said sounded right from Daniel 11:44 “But then unpleasant news from the east and the north will alarm him” (Daniel 11:44):
“The first topic of my visit that will take place tomorrow is about the inauguration of a magnificent mosque built in Moscow. It is a gigantic mosque that can accommodate around 10,000 people. After that, we will have talks with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Naturally, the Syria question will be at the heart of our talks. … The news we receive [from Moscow] is not pleasant. We do have a special relationship with Russia and having such a relationship and then hearing the unpleasant news naturally made us unhappy. I hope to leave Moscow after reaching an agreement with Putin.”
China is east and Russia is north of Turkey
The media commented:
“Erdogan sounded hurt when he mentioned the “unpleasant news” from Russia.
As we have been stating all along, Daniel says it also, Russia and Turkey will end up at odds when it comes to the power play in the region. Even after Erdogan’s visit. The two leaders, accompanied by their delegations, Turkey and Russia talked before leaving disappointed as darkness fell over Moscow and the Turkish president left Russia’s capital. There was nothing tangible offered in terms of Turkey’s foreign policy objectives in Syria.
The media covered this story like this:
No joint statement was issued. In the tradition of Turkish-Russian relations — including during the Soviet period — there have always been joint statements or communiques following top-level meetings. In very rare cases when they were not issued, it signified that the parties respectfully disagreed on the issue at hand.
The power struggle between Putin and Erdogan is beginning to show Erdogan envies Putin. Only a few days ago, a Foreign Policy article on Erdogan contained the following lines:
“Erdogan’s ambition is nothing less than to be a modern-day Sultan, a near-absolute executive whose power and authority cannot be challenged or checked. Think an Anatolian version of Russian President Vladimir Putin and you’ll begin to get the idea.”
Russia does want to combat ISIS, but only to protect Assad’s regime from Turkey and the U.S. The plan is similar to the U.S.’ idea of a “coalition” of air forces, but unlike the U.S. Russia is far more involved on the ground; this is something the U.S. and their allies have avoided since the inception of their war against ISIS. As it seems, we are getting closer to seeing the Middle East situation escalate where world powers play the game of chess dreaming that the winner keep all. What they are unaware of is that the chess game is being played from above, where the devil moves Obama and Erdogan while God does His move and has them all in check. In the end, the devil will lose and is cast out forever.