Not of course to be confused drunken barbarians Russia sent into Georgia a few years ago specifically to spread terror. These Russian troops are anti-terror specialists which is convenient since Assad is saying he’s fighting terrorists.
Which is of course true since the insurgency is a Muslim Brotherhood/Al-Qaeda supported government overthrow. But Syria is a Baathist (National Socialist) dictatorship so either way the victor will be an enemy of the West. We should be staying out of this one and building up our forces for the inevitable world war that will start once the MB announces the formation of a new caliphate, but we’re apparently pursuing a policy that would require sending 300,000 troops in. Smart power!
From The Blotter:
A Russian military unit has arrived in Syria, according to Russian news reports, a development that a United Nations Security Council source told ABC News was “a bomb” certain to have serious repercussions.
Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s strongest allies despite international condemnation of the government’s violent crackdown on the country’s uprising, has repeatedly blocked the United Nations Security Council’s attempts to halt the violence, accusing the U.S. and its allies of trying to start another war.
Now the Russian Black Sea fleet’s Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency. The Russian news reports did not elaborate on the Russian troops’ mission in Syria or if they are expected to leave the port.
[…]
RIA Novosti, a news outlet with strong ties to the Kremlin, trumpeted the news in a banner headline that appeared only on its Arabic language website. The Russian embassy to the U.S. and to the U.N. had no comment, saying they have “no particular information on” the arrival of a Russian anti-terrorism squad to Syria.
Moscow has long enjoyed a cozy relationship with the Assad regime, to which it sells billions of dollars of weapons. In return Russia has maintained a Navy base at Tartus, which gives it access to the Mediterranean.
Last week Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had no plans to send troops to Syria.
[…]
Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov denied reports that Russian special forces were operating inside Syria. He did say, however, that there are Russian military and technical advisors in the country.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the U.S. government had not heard of the reports of Russian troops in Syria and declined to comment.
This is an escalation of the situation in the middle east. With Obama firmly in the corner of the Brotherhood/Al-Qaeda take over of the region it will be a matter of time before the “revolutionaries” ask America for support against the increasingly belligerent and imperialistic Russians. Then all hell will break loose.