Russia pursuing consistent policy on Syria unlike US: Pundit

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Weber, director of the Institute for Historical Review from California, to get his take on the US criticism of Russian airstrikes against Takfiri terrorists in Syria.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We’re both having the same goal here talking about the West and Russia. We’re all fighting a common enemy, which is ISIL, which is creating fear in the world, terrorizing people. So, why is it that the West is apparently very scared about Russian airstrikes on ISIL positions? What are they afraid of?

Weber: Because the recent decision by Russia to carry out these airstrikes really brings in the sharper focus not only overall situation in Syria but the confusion and really the incoherence of the United States’ policy. The United States’ policy is a chaotic one. It says that it is opposing both Daesh and ISIL on one hand and the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad on the other.

So the question arises of course of who exactly is the United States supporting,… other than the groups that it is opposing. And the answer of the United States is it is supposedly supporting a mythical force, which it wants to have in place, which is a so-called moderate opposition to President Assad. But no such force really exists. The reality is that there’s support for President Assad of Syria or there’s support for ISIL or Daesh, and there’s no really viable alternative as the United States’ policy has shown.

So the United States’ policy is an incoherent one and it reflects the bad miscalculation of the United States made four years ago when it insisted that Bashar al-Assad has to go and that he would go. But in fact the United States miscalculated about the strength of the Syrian government, the Syrian army and also miscalculated in the scope and depth of support for the Syrian government by both Russia and Iran. And the Russian airstrikes now underscore, highlight this problem for the United States and for Britain too, which is following the United States in the same way.

Press TV: So, where do you think this situation is heading towards? Are we going to see a proxy war between the United States and Russia eventually, something that President Obama has clearly denied, saying it’s not the case, but do you think it would lead to that?

Weber: The United States has very few real viable reasonable options in this time, because there’s no one else really does support. The United States is against both the Syrian government and, it says, against ISIL, and it has no real players to support. So, the United States is going to complain and protest about what Russia is doing. But Russian policy has been entirely consistent over the last several years, it’s been consistent in supporting the government of Bashar al-Assad.

Now, of course Assad’s power is not as great as it was, but it is formidable. It’s the most important military force in Syria. The United States is going to protest, it is going to huff and puff, but this is one more reflection, one more manifestation of a kind of not only diplomatic but also military and overall political defeat for the United States in the region as we’ve seen already in Iraq, in Afghanistan and throughout the region.

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