WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: WHILE AMERICA SLEPT: 1/4: Putin's War in Syria: Russian Foreign Policy and the Price of America's Absence by Anna Borshchevskaya
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2023
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Putins-War-Syria-Russian-Americas/dp/0755634632/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3TR9QZFZUPFIN&keywords=putin%27s+war+in+syria&qid=1662137728&s=books&sprefix=putin%27s+war+in+syria%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1
Putin intervened in Syria in September 2015, with international critics predicting that Russia would overextend itself and Barack Obama suggesting the country would find itself in a “quagmire” in Syria. Contrary to this, Anna Borshchevskaya argues that in fact Putin achieved significant key domestic and foreign policy objectives without crippling costs, and is well-positioned to direct Syria's future and become a leading power in the Middle East.
This outcome has serious implications for Western foreign policy interests both in the Middle East and beyond. This book places Russian intervention in Syria in this broader context, exploring Putin's overall approach to the Middle East – historically Moscow has a special relationship with Damascus – and traces the political, diplomatic, military and domestic aspects of this intervention. Borshchevskaya delves into the Russian military campaign, public opinion within Russia, as well as Russian diplomatic tactics at the United Nations. Crucially, this book illustrates the impact of Western absence in Syria, particularly US absence, and what the role of the West is, and could be, in the Middle East.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batsov with Annabar Chefzkaya. |
| 0:09.2 | Putin's war in Syria, Russian foreign policy, and the price of America's absence are new |
| 0:13.6 | books. It is incredibly deep and careful reporting. I have done what I can in this conversation |
| 0:21.0 | to touch on revelations that are important to understand where we are now, given that |
| 0:27.1 | the Kremlin has no intention of leaving Syria. The Kremlin has no intention of leaving |
| 0:32.6 | them at least. This is a battleground with the Western powers, especially with the United |
| 0:38.4 | States. So, Anna comes to the conclusion so far in 2021, 2022, 2023 going forward. |
| 0:48.1 | The first observation is that the Trump administration was indifferent or uncaring because the president |
| 0:56.5 | was about Syria. Did Putin take advantage of that, Anna? Or was that a surprise that the |
| 1:02.7 | U.S. turned to other concerns during Mr. Trump's time? |
| 1:07.0 | Well, so there was a difference. There was a slight difference between how Trump himself |
| 1:12.4 | looked at Syria and he called it, I think, the land of blood and sand and how Syria |
| 1:20.4 | administration had approached Syria. So, there was a bit of tension there. Certainly again, |
| 1:32.2 | Putin took advantage of is, again, perceiving that from a big picture perspective, the United |
| 1:40.1 | States remains at the very least ambivalent and is overall looking to shift its priorities |
| 1:49.3 | when it comes to the Middle East. Under the Trump administration, Assad still remained |
| 1:55.4 | economically isolated. Unfortunately, the incident where the Turkish offensive was allowed to |
| 2:08.7 | go forth and the United States abandoned its Syrian Kurdish allies was very much something |
| 2:16.1 | that was illustrative of being able to take advantage of American mistakes. And of course, |
| 2:25.4 | looking forward, we're further seeing continued ambivalence. In fact, we still don't really |
| 2:33.2 | understand the current White House Syria policy, which is, again, something that Putin is |
| 2:40.4 | bound to take advantage of. |
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