Russia S Use of Syria to Outsmart the US

¶ … Russia Is Outplaying the United States

Countries in the West including the United States have numerous difficulties when dealing with Russia because of confusion regarding Russia's intention. An example of a situation that demonstrates difficulties in dealing with Russia is the Syrian conflict. Russia's intervention in Syria generated a new and multifaceted period in the Syrian civil war given the difficulties in determining its intentions. Since its first intervention measure in the Syrian civil war, Russia has been strategically and chronically lying through public statements, talks, and negotiations. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has utilized these strategies in order to hide his country's intentions in the crisis when dealing with West, particularly the United States. Therefore, Russia has utilized the Syrian civil war to outplay and outsmart the United States and other countries in the West.

Causes of Russia's Intervention

The situation in Syrian has generated considerable attention across the world, especially among countries in the West. These countries, particularly the United States, have adopted several diplomatic measures to help deal with the crisis and prevent global security issues that may arise from it. Russia's involvement in this crisis has exacerbated problems for the United States and the other countries in the West. This is primarily because of the difficulties America has in identifying Russia's motivation and intentions in intervening in Syria.

Based on its interests in the Middle East region, Russia's intervention in Syria in order to outplay the United States is caused by several factors. According to Gobry (2015), one of the reasons behind its intervention in Syria is the fact the country's President considers America as an enemy rather than a partner or adversary. Consequently, Russia enjoys frustrating the geostrategic interests of the United States. Actually, Russia intervened in the civil war in order to frustrate the United States plans for strategic dominance over the Middle East region. This is evidenced in the perceptions of local regimes in Syria that view Russia as a power-broker and more reliable as compared to the United States. Secondly, Russia's intervention is motivated by its clear interests in the Middle East region. For a long period of time, Russia has been increasingly interested in warm waters and ports in the region. Third, Russia is currently faced with its own domestic terrorism challenge in the Caucasus as stated by Vladimir Putin (Gobry, 2015). The intervention is necessitated by the fact that many Russian Islamic terrorists have joined ISIS. However, Russia's main intention is its desire to outsmart or outplay the United States by exploiting and capitalizing on its mistakes in the Syrian civil war.

Development of this Event

Russia started bombing Syria in October 2015 through a military campaign that was geared towards supporting Syria's authoritarian ruler. When Russia deployed it military to Syria, the country's authoritarian ruler (Assad) was in serious trouble to an extent that many people thought the regime could collapse. Through the help from Russia, Assad recaptured major territories in the south and north within a period of five months. In addition to seeking to help Syria's authoritarian leader, Russia's bombing campaign was also targeted towards the United States. According to Shapiro & Daniels (2015), Russian military struck directly at American-supported groups in Syria instead of targeting ISIS. Moreover, this military launched offensive attacks against traditional American allies on the ground in Syria like Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

President Obama initially dismissed and ignored Russia's military intervention in the Syrian civil war by arguing that such an initiative would get Russia stuck in a quagmire and will be ineffective in the long-run. However, when Putin announced Russia's withdrawal from the conflict, it was quite clear that the intervention was a huge success. The head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, stated that Russia's intervention significantly transformed the calculus completely (Cohen, 2016). Unlike earlier anticipated by the United States, Russia's military intervention in Syria was a huge success with considerable diplomatic impacts.

Russia's military intervention not only helped Assad to recapture lost territory but also generated important diplomatic results for Russia. Sunni rebels from the Free Syrian Army, which received support from the United States, suffered the most from Russia's intervention. The bombing campaign enabled Assad's forces to nearly eliminate supply lines from the United States to the Sunni rebels through Turkey. As a result, Russia changed the Syrian civil war into a binary choice for the United States and other countries in the West. These countries had to choose between the brutality of the Assad regime and the terror of the Islamic State. Since the West support for the Islamic State in unrealistic and impossible, Russia hopes the United States and other countries in the West will embrace the long-term role of Syria's authoritarian ruler, Assad, in the country's development and progress.

Resolution of the Event

The resolution of Russia's military campaign in Syria shows how Russia successfully managed to outplay the United States. President Vladimir Putin achieved his most significant diplomatic objective for intervention in Syria by forcing the United States to recognize Russia's role in determining Syria's future (Cohen, 2016). At the beginning of Russia's bombing campaign in Syria, the United States stated that its coordination with Russia would be limited to military de-confliction. America's stance was motivated by the desire to avoid an accidental clash between U.S. and Russian forces in the Syrian crisis.