Putin’s October 24 speech accurately criticizes the U.S. concerning Syria. It is doubtful that his accurate criticisms on Syria or other issues will receive a fair hearing in the Western media. Instead, his remarks are being called a rant, a tirade, and anti-American. Putin said the following:
“In Syria, as in the past, the United States and its allies started directly financing and arming rebels and allowing them to fill their ranks with mercenaries from various countries. Let me ask where do these rebels get their money, arms and military specialists? Where does all this come from? How did the notorious ISIL manage to become such a powerful group, essentially a real armed force?”
Putin also blamed Obama directly, saying “President Obama spoke about the Islamic State as one of the threats. But who helped to arm the people who were fighting Assad in Syria? Who created a favourable political and informational climate for them? Who pushed for arms supplies?”
And he said “We heard that we need to support the civilised democratic opposition in Syria, and so they got support, got arms. And the next day half the rebels went off and joined the Islamic State. Was it so hard to foresee this possibility a bit earlier? We are opposed to this kind of US policy. We believe it is misguided and harmful to everyone, including to you.”
On November 2, a new example was reported when U.S. supported Syrian rebel forces collapsed. This Washington Post article says “The Obama administration’s Syria strategy suffered a major setback Sunday after fighters linked to al-Qaeda routed U.S.-backed rebels from their main northern strongholds, capturing significant quantities of weaponry, triggering widespread defections and ending hopes that Washington will readily find Syrian partners in its war against the Islamic State.”
11:10 am on November 5, 2014
