Putin is strengthening Isis in Syria, says UK foreign secretary

[uhnope]

Source: Guardian UK

Russian president Vladimir Putin is undermining international efforts to end the Syrian civil war by bombing opponents of Islamic State in an attempt to bolster Bashar al-Assad, British foreign secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday.

In a clear sign of frustration with the Kremlin, Hammond scolded Putin for paying lip service to a political process aimed at ending the civil war while also bombing opponents of Assad who the West hopes could shape Syria once Assad is gone.

When Russia began airstrikes in September, Putin tilted the war in President Assad’s favour, after major setbacks earlier in 2015 brought rebel groups close to the coastal heartland of his Alawite sect.

“It’s a source of constant grief to me that everything we are doing is being undermined by the Russians,” Hammond told Reuters at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, about 10km (six miles) south of the border with Syria. “The Russians say let’s talk, and then they talk and they talk and they talk. The problem with the Russians is while they are talking they are bombing, and they are supporting Assad,” Hammond said.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/02/putin-strengthening-isis-syria-uk-foreign-secretary-philip-hammond-russia

[JackRiddler]

1. Good thing the Tories have a PR agent on this site.

[uhnope]

2. Good thing Putin has a fanboy on this site

a well known one, at that:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014803823#post18

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141033936#post23

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014803823#post22

Yeah, I'll take criticism from a Nuland conspiracy theorist with several grains of salt.

[JackRiddler]

8. Thanks for keeping that dossier of my work, officer.

Now you're trying to present these in the spirit of McCarthy, as the good anti-Communist you are (most of your posts being bloodthirsty endorsements of the right wing in various countries outside the U.S., written in a kind of breathy New York Post style).

Except, of course, I have no problem with your collecting my writing as evidence of my political incorrectness. Since those are totally reasonable things I'm saying at each of those links. Of course, I've written better. Maybe you can continue this excellent work, and produce a longer post with more links by me? I'm for it!

Now the fact is, YOU are approvingly promoting the PR of the UK Conservative Party. I am giving my opinions, which YOU hilariously want to smear as "pro-Putin," commie, blah blah blah, because I do not support the aggressions of the United States in Ukraine, Venezuela, etc. And Nuland? You can drop that magic C word, as if it applies. And there's no theory in it. She spoke for herself, and it got out into the world. Shame on those of you who would defend this neocon war engineer.

[polly7]

18. Yeah ....... he does that a lot. "Pootie-lover!, blah, blah, blah".

His red-baiting day after day, month after month, even while people are suffering and dying gets stale and old.

[elias49]

20. On the money.

[uhnope]

29. Do you actually believe that someone "collects" your posts?

Calling Dr. Snowden, time for vodka! Ever noticed the little box on the top right hand corner of DU that allows an easy search of the site? Hint: It says "Google" next to it.

Sorry if it shatters yr paranoia/self-importance, but no, NSA no care.

[JackRiddler]

10. OOPS, by the way...

Here is a much better example of my work to add to your collection.

A whole thread I started on Nuland's operation in Ukraine, so it's a better introduction. Thanks!

Partners of the Ukrainian coup d'etat prime minister...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024946300

[newthinking]

13. Know your NeoCons: A family business of Perpetual War

A Family Business of Perpetual War
March 20, 2015

Exclusive: Victoria Nuland and Robert Kagan have a great mom-and-pop business going. From the State Department, she generates wars and – from op-ed pages – he demands Congress buy more weapons. There’s a pay-off, too, as grateful military contractors kick in money to think tanks where other Kagans work, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

Neoconservative pundit Robert Kagan and his wife, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, run a remarkable family business: she has sparked a hot war in Ukraine and helped launch Cold War II with Russia – and he steps in to demand that Congress jack up military spending so America can meet these new security threats.

This extraordinary husband-and-wife duo makes quite a one-two punch for the Military-Industrial Complex, an inside-outside team that creates the need for more military spending, applies political pressure to ensure higher appropriations, and watches as thankful weapons manufacturers lavish grants on like-minded hawkish Washington think tanks.


Prominent neocon intellectual Robert Kagan. (Photo credit: Mariusz Kubik, http://www.mariuszkubik.pl)

Not only does the broader community of neoconservatives stand to benefit but so do other members of the Kagan clan, including Robert’s brother Frederick at the American Enterprise Institute and his wife Kimberly, who runs her own shop called the Institute for the Study of War.

Continued:
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/03/20/a-family-business-of-perpetual-war/

[newthinking]

14. To understand the events in Ukraine you must understand the "first" Maidan - Orange Revolution 2004

Time to post this again.....

[font size="2"]To understand how we got to where we are now: You must understand that this effort has been ongoing since at least the beginning of the new century.

The first attempt at affecting "Regime Change" was the orchestration, mostly by neo-cons, of the "Orange Revolution".

The Wests choice in 2004? A man by the name of Victor Yuschenko.

His wife? An American Citizen and Far Right Republican who had worked for the Reagan Administration, had been director at a NeoCon think tank (New Atlantic Initiative) (Victor also worked with this group) and also worked for the far right think tank the Heritage Foundation. "Katherine Chumachenko Yushenko worked in the White House Public Liaison Office where she conducted outreach to various right-wing and anti-communist exile groups in the United States.

A very good summary from a post on an older version of DU Tinoire
There are links on the original page:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2870381


Ukraine, Yushchenko, his wife (Bush employee), the US and Soros

"After hearing that the NED had pumped $65 million dollars into this election and that his wife was an American citizen, I thought I'd research this a little. I don't know this handsome US-backed Yushchenko but I'm suspecting that he is going to dismantle the Ukraine Boris-Yeltsin style and sell if off to US & European corporate interests. Germany, France and the US already have their deals in place with him over pipelines, utility companies and national resources.

Just thought I'd throw this information out there so that people can see how these things are done and how the media cooperates into presenting these changes as "spontaneous" changes that the US had nothing to do with.

So here we go. First some of the "meddling" that the media hasn't covered and then in my second post, Yushchenko's "dedicated conservative" US State Department wife.

$61 million for the Ukraine elections to back Yushchenko and $100,000 to the Tsunami victims. Just shameful.
==========================================================

Bush Adminstration Spent $65 Million to Help Opposition in Ukraine

December 10, 2004

By: Matt Kelley
Associated Press

Printer Friendly Version

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has spent more than $65 million in the past two years to aid political organizations in Ukraine, paying to bring opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to meet U.S. leaders and helping to underwrite exit polls indicating he won last month's disputed runoff election.

(snip)

But officials acknowledge some of the money helped train groups and individuals opposed to the Russian-backed government candidate — people who now call themselves part of the Orange revolution.

For example, one group that got grants through U.S.-funded foundations is the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, whose Web site has a link to Yushchenko's home page under the heading "partners." Another project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development brought a Center for Political and Legal Reforms official to Washington last year for a three-week training session on political advocacy.

(snip)
The four foundations involved included three funded by the U.S. government: The National Endowment for Democracy, which gets its money directly from Congress; the Eurasia Foundation, which gets money from the State Department, and the Renaissance Foundation, part of a network of charities funded by billionaire George Soros that gets money from the State Department. Other countries involved included Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Grants from groups funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development also went to the International Center for Policy Studies, a think tank that includes Yushchenko on its supervisory board. The board also includes several current or former advisers to Kuchma, however.

IRI, Craner's Republican-backed group, used U.S. money to help Yushchenko arrange meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney , Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage and GOP leaders in Congress in February 2003.

(snip)

the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), granted millions of dollars to the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), which is administered by the U.S.-based Freedom House. (note: Very hawkish / Dan Quayle is one of their trustees / other names just as disturbing: http://www.freedomhouse.org/aboutfh/bod.htm )

PAUCI then sent U.S. government funds to numerous Ukrainian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This would be bad enough and would in itself constitute meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. But, what is worse is that many of these grantee organizations in Ukraine are blatantly in favor of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko.

Consider the Ukrainian NGO International Center for Policy Studies. It is an organization funded by the U.S. government through PAUCI. On its Web site, we discover that this NGO was founded by George Soros' Open Society Institute. And further on we can see that Viktor Yushchenko himself sits on the advisory board!

(reluctant snip)

This May, the Virginia-based private management consultancy Development Associates, Inc., was awarded $100 million by the U.S. government "for strengthening national legislatures and other deliberative bodies worldwide." According to the organization's Web site, several million dollars from this went to Ukraine in advance of the elections.

(snip)

Note from the USAID page on Ukraine: "Beyond the power sector, USAID plans to identify and assist in removing the obstacles of proper market functioning in other segments of the energy sector such as the privatization of the oil and gas transportation systems."
https://web.archive.org/web/20040826143304/http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cbj2003/ee/ua/121-0150.html

==================


Yushenko administration lost the presidency 15 months later:

Notably, one of the things that lost him the Presidency only 15 months later was his turn toward the same brand of extreme nationalism. He elevated Stephen Bandera, (a very controversial figure who is revered by extreme factions that Europe and others warned were tied to Social Nationalist Fascist groups) to "Hero" status.

A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/feb/24/a-fascist-hero-in-democratic-kiev/
[/font]

[JackRiddler]

32. Good piece. Thanks.

[newthinking]

12. Columbia University Researchers Confirm Turkey’s Links to ISIS

Everyone kept asking why Russia was doing bombing runs south of the border with Turkey.

Well, turns out that has **EVERYTHING** to do with ISIS. The trafficking route for mercenaries and money was through that border. Sealing the border is critical to weakening ISIS.

Columbia University Researchers Confirm Turkey’s Links to ISIS

http://asbarez.com/142150/columbia-university-researchers-confirm-turkeys-links-to-isis/

Here are brief excerpts from the extensive research documenting the direct links between Turkey and ISIS:

Turkey Supplied Military Equipment to ISIS

An ISIS commander told The Washington Post on August 12, 2014: “Most of the fighters who joined us in the beginning of the war came via Turkey, and so did our equipment and supplies.”
Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), disclosed on Oct. 14, 2014, documents from the Adana Office of the Prosecutor, revealing that Turkey supplied weapons to terrorist groups. He also produced transcripts of interviews with truck drivers who delivered the weapons to the terrorists.
According to CHP Vice President Bulent Tezcan, Turkish agents drove three trucks loaded with rockets, arms, and ammunition to ISIS in Syria, on January 19, 2014.
Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Fuat Avni as stating that Germany and the United States had audio tapes confirming that Turkey provided financial and military aid to terrorist groups associated with Al Qaeda on Oct. 12, 2014.
Documents made public on Sept. 27, 2014, revealed that Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan financed the transportation of arms to ISIS through Turkey.

Turkey and ISIS connection

Turkey and ISIS connection

Turkey Provided Logistical Assistance to ISIS Fighters

According to a June 13, 2014 article in Radikal newspaper, Turkish Interior Minister Muammar Guler issued the following directive: “Hatay is a strategic location for the Mujahidin crossing from within our borders to Syria. Logistical support for Islamist groups will be increased, and their training, hospital care, and safe passage will mostly take place in Hatay.”
The Daily Mail reported on August 25, 2014 that many foreign militants joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq after traveling through Turkey.
Britain’s Sky News obtained documents showing that the Turkish government stamped passports of foreign militants seeking to cross the Turkish border into Syria to join ISIS.
A senior Egyptian official indicated on Oct. 9, 2014 that Turkish intelligence is passing to ISIS satellite imagery and other data.

Turkey Trained ISIS Fighters

CNN Turk reported on July 29, 2014 that in the heart of Istanbul, places like Duzce and Adapazari have become gathering spots for terrorists.
Turks who joined an ISIS affiliate were shown on July 28, 2014, at a public gathering in Istanbul.
A video showed an ISIS affiliate holding a prayer-gathering in Omerli, a district of Istanbul.
According to Jordanian Intelligence, Turkey trained ISIS militants for special operations.

Turkey Extended Medical Care to ISIS Fighters

An ISIS commander told The Washington Post on August 12, 2014, “We used to have some fighters — even high-level members of the Islamic State — getting treated in Turkish hospitals.”
On Oct. 12, 2014, Taraf newspaper reported that Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, a founder of Pres. Erdogan’s ruling party (AKP), divulged that Turkey supported terrorist groups and still supports them and treats them in its hospitals.

Turkey Supported ISIS Financially Through Purchase of Oil

On Sept. 13, 2014, The New York Times reported on the Obama administration’s efforts to pressure Turkey to crack down on the extensive network of oil sold by ISIS.
Fehim Taştekin wrote in Radikal on Sept. 13, 2014 about illegal pipelines transporting oil from Syria to Turkey.

Turkey Assisted ISIS Recruitment

Kiliçdaroğlu announced on Oct. 14, 2014 that ISIS offices in Istanbul and Gaziantep are recruiting fighters. On Oct. 10, 2014, the Mufti of Konya stated that 100 men from his city had joined ISIS four days ago.
OdaTV reported that Takva Haber served as a propaganda outlet for ISIS to recruit Turkish-speaking men in Turkey and Germany.
Minister of Sports, Suat Kilic, an AKP member, visited Salafi Jihadists who are ISIS supporters in Germany. These Jihadists recruit supporters by distributing free copies of the Quran and raising funds to sponsor suicide attacks in Syria and Iraq.
OdaTV released a video showing ISIS militants riding a bus in Istanbul.

Turkish Forces are Fighting Alongside ISIS

American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh asserted in the London Review of Books that “Prime Minister Recep Erdogan was known to be supporting the al-Nusra Front, a Jihadist faction among the rebel opposition, as well as other Islamist rebel groups.”
On Sept. 20, 2014, Demir Celik, a Member of Parliament representing the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), stated that Turkish Special Forces had joined ISIS in the battlefield.

Turkey Helped ISIS in Battle for Kobani

Anwar Muslim, Mayor of Kobani, revealed on Sept. 19, 2014 that trains full of Turkish forces and ammunition were delivered to ISIS. On September 30, 2014, a CHP delegation visited Kobani, where locals declared that everything from the clothes of ISIS militants to their guns comes from Turkey.
A Nuhaber video showed on Sept. 25, 2014 Turkish military convoys, carrying tanks and ammunition, moving freely under ISIS flags in the Jarablus region of Syria and the Karkamis border crossing.
Salih Muslim, PYD leader of Kurdish fighters, reported that 120 militants had crossed into Syria from Turkey on Oct. 20-24, 2014.
According to an op-ed written by a YPG Kurdish commander in The New York Times on Oct. 29, 2014, Turkey regularly allows ISIS militants and their equipment to pass freely over its border.
Diken reported on Oct. 1, 2014: “ISIS fighters crossed the border from Turkey into Syria in full view of Turkish soldiers.”

Turkey and ISIS Share a Worldview

RT reported on Oct. 3, 2014 on Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks detailing Turkish support to ISIS.
Hurriyet newspaper quoted a Turkish civil servant on Sept. 26, 2014: “I was shocked to hear words of admiration for ISIL from some high-level civil servants.”
An AKP council member posted on his Facebook page: “Thankfully ISIS exists…. May you never run out of ammunition….”
Erdogan’s son Bilal and Turkish officials met with ISIS fighters, according to Sariyer Gozlem.


Here is a Huffington post link (in case you also don't like Armenian Americans who publish the newspaper in Fresno)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html

[JackRiddler]

16. I wish they wouldn't say "Turkey" though.

There are multiple Turkeys. The turkey in charge, Erdogan, is the one who has a shared worldview with ISIS - though he imagines himself as the Sultan of the new empire, rather than them as the caliphs.

[newthinking]

34. Absolutely. Most Turks are moderate in their lifestyle and/or faith

and would want nothing to do with any Jihadi group.

[ErisDiscordia]

3. Either the headline is wrong, or the UK foreign secretary is insane

Bombing ISIS makes it stronger? Cutting off its oil route and therefore its cashflow?

[karynnj]

5. The problem is that almost all of their bombing is not of ISIS -- not even close to where they are.

nt

[Cayenne]

15. Enough has been

ISIS stopped taking territory when the Russians entered the war.

True that most of the rebels bombed are al Qaeda, al Nusra, Jaysh al Islam, or some other moderate head chopping wannabe caliphate. Russian bombs are not wasted on any of them. Should the rebels win, women will lose their rights and the place is run like Saudi Arabia.

[karynnj]

19. your timeline is wrong

First of all, there are a few areas where ISIS expanded in Syria since the Russians started their inititive and the hard won areas gained against ISIS are mostly in Iraq or near the Turkish border in Syria. Those gains were done by the Iraqis or the Kurdish troops with help from the US led coslition. In all, those gains represent winning back 20 to 30 percent of the ISIS held land in Syria and 40 percent of the land they held in Iraq. Those are numbers sited at yesterday's talks in Rome.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Holy damn... Even the Guardian is starting to get it...

And they have been in love with Putin for a long time now

[daleo]

6. Conservative politicians make strange arguments

This is rather like saying that the Allies in WW2 helped Nazi Germany by making war on fascist Italy or Imperial Japan.

[JackRiddler]

9. The safe way to be a right-winger on DU...

is to support the right-wingers of other countries.

[uhnope]

11. RWers like Putin

talking about yrself lol

[JackRiddler]

17. Rightwingers like your friends of the Venezuelan oligarchy...

and "Yats" and Nuland and their fascist allies doing the fighting in the Ukraine,

...and, as in this thread, the "moderate" head-chopping Al-Qaeda terrorists the US calls its friends in Syria. And the Tories. Of course.

I presume also the Cubans who want to return to Batista? Surely you were also all for Clinton's coup in Honduras? I don't remember every damn thing you post.

I'm not collecting your posts, although I'm certainly not surprised you collect mine, since mine are worth the trouble!

[uhnope]

21. lol. no kidding, could you please list some more conspiracy theories that you believe,

maybe some non-political ones? It would be interesting to know how far the RW pro-fascist Putin DUers go in these things. Bigfoot? Alien abduction? Bilderberg/Protocols of Zion?

Do you actually believe, also, that someone "collects" your posts? Calling Dr. Snowden, time for vodka! Ever noticed the little box on the top right hand corner of DU that allows an easy search of the site? Hint: It says "Google" next to it.

[JackRiddler]

31. Blather of bankrupt thinking.

Little capability for irony shown.

Of course you used Google, you just don't get jokes, even though you think you're funny and clever. In the spirit of McCarthyism, your anti-communist and pro-right-wing boilerplate certainly is. (On this site, long as you're a professed Democrat, you can support the reactionaries elsewhere.)

I believe you believe the shit you say, by the way. I do not need to attribute it to emotional problems or paranoia - don't know you well enough - just total wrong-mindedness will do.

Live long and prosper!

[uhnope]

33. Where do your "jokes" start

and where do they end? What is the joke I don't get--the hilarious one about Nuland orchestrating a coup in Ukraine while the benevolent Putin was forced to bomb, invade & annex against his better, honorable nature? Oh I get it now HA HA HA thx you're hilarious

[JackRiddler]

35. The one about your doing systematic surveillance, obviously.

We know you're just another Google Detective.

The parts about the civil wars fostered or expanded by U.S. policy in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, etc., causing thousands and thousands of dead, are certainly not funny to me, although apparently you get a laugh out of it.

[jeff47]

28. No, because those were allies. Syria is a 3-way civil war.

Attack either non-ISIS side and you're inherently helping ISIS by weakening their enemies.

[Nihil]

37. Maybe someone should point that out to Obama?

Preferably before approving the next major (50% budget uplift) donation
of taxpayer money to the Pentagon ...

The primary US (+ UK + France) engagement in Syria is directed against
the sovereign ruler of that country and so has been actively helping ISIS
from the start.

Some people didn't learn the lesson from funding Al-Qaeda did they?

[jeff47]

38. No, our attacks are pretty well split between ISIS and Assad.

It's the Russians who are only fighting on one side of the 3-way war.

[Nihil]

41. Ah, only 50% spent illegally supporting terrorists then (rather than the 70% I had thought)?

That makes it all so much better.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner my arse.

He's just another corrupt member of the oligarchy, happily following
the PNAC plan and the overt aggression policies laid down by Kissinger
(HRCs buddy) & co.

[uhnope]

42. lol. spouting "oligarchy"

while you always show up to run interference on behalf of the Russia oligarchic-fascist kleptocracy, even if you have to resort to mocking someone's English.

Money is way too strong in US politics, but it's not an oligarchy (yet). The ballot is still the currency of power. Look at the $billion$ the RW has spent in the last two US elections against Obama--and still they lost.

[Nihil]

44. Wow ... that was a surprise ...

A right wing disruptor learning how to use Google Site Search in order to
personalise his lies? Whatever next?




On edit: Was the illiterate (banned) anti-semite that I apparently upset
you in a prior incarnation by any chance? I couldn't help but notice a
certain similarity in his rabid anti-Russian drivel ...

[daleo]

43. By that reasoning, the non-ISIS anti-Assad forces are helping ISIS when they attack Assad

[Little Tich]

7. Putin is up to no good as usual. n/t

[Monk06]

22. Since the Blair / Bush bromance nobody believes the Brits anymore

[pampango]

23. Anyone (US, Russia, UK, France) that bombs non-ISIS fighters 'strengthens ISIS'.

Many support Assad in spite of his record as a repressive dictator because he represents the lesser of two evils compared to ISIS. He is a smart strategist when it comes to staying in his office. It is useful to him to have the greater evil not disappear too quickly - particularly since ISIS is largely not engaging in combat with Syria's army but with other rebel groups. That is a win-win for Assad.

He is not dummy. He knows that when ISIS is defeated the question of 'who is now the greater evil' becomes a much tougher question to answer.

[killbotfactory]

24. He's attacking "moderate rebels" because they are actively engaging in combat with the Syrian state.

And they are only moderate in comparison to ISIS.

[pampango]

25. Agreed. And in doing so he is weakening them thus 'strengthening ISIS' relative to its opponents.

ISIS enjoys watching 'moderate' rebels and the Syrian army fight each other. Similarly, Assad enjoys seeing 'moderate' rebels and ISIS fight with each other. Hypothetically, the 'moderate' rebels would enjoy watching ISIS and the Syrian army fight each other.

And they are only moderate in comparison to ISIS.

Again, agreed. And Mr. Assad is only 'moderately' evil compared to ISIS.

[jeff47]

27. Well, yeah. It's a 3-way civil war.

ISIS is one of the parties. Attack either non-ISIS party, and that inherently helps ISIS.

[Blue_Tires]

30. Only 30 responses and 2 recs for this

figures...

[JackRiddler]

36. Thirty is plenty, there will be more.

Four makes sense. It's a copy-paste of a legit story - the Guardian transmitting what the Tory party's line is. Always interesting, but one wonders why we are supposed to take the Cameron government at face value around here.

[Blue_Tires]

40. FWIW, Cameron isn't the only one saying this

or even the first:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkish-prime-minister-davutoglu-says-russian-airstrikes-against-rebels-strengthen-islamic-state-1449674122

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34431027

[jakeXT]

39. I think they are still frustrated to not have intervened in 2013, maybe even against Russia

The US would do the heavy lifting, as usual.