Obama laying Syria groundwork for Clinton ‘militarism’
US President Barack Obama’s policy towards Syria is laying the groundwork for the kind of “militarism,” represented by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the US 2016 presidential election, an analyst says.
In an interview with Press TV on Saturday, American author and radio host Stephen Lendman speculated that lame duck Obama would not take any “radical” steps in Syria and would instead prepare the war-ravaged country for his ally and former secretary of state, running for president.
“I don’t expect Obama to take radical increases in militarism in Syria,” he said. “I think the groundwork is being laid for the kind of militarism that she [Clinton] represents: escalating war in Syria, threatening Russia, [and] risking the possibility of a nuclear war.”
Apart from that, noted the Chicago-based analyst, the US policy seeks continuation of “endless wars” in Syria until President Bashar al-Assad is forced to step down.
The US and Russia, along with some other countries including Iran, have been engaged in negotiations to put an end to the Syria crisis but to no avail.
The latest round of talks came to an end in the Swiss lakeside city of Lausanne without even the release of a joint statement by the participants.
After the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov just told reporters that the participants agreed to meet again in the near future.
Following the talks, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari said that almost two-thirds of the meeting was spent on the discussion of separating the so-called “moderate opposition” groups from the terrorists.
According to Lendman, “there’s no such thing as ‘moderate rebels’ in Syria.”
“All armed groups fighting the Syrian government are terrorist groups,” he said, concluding that any support by the US and its allies amounts to support for terrorism.
He further noted that the “legitimate opposition” in the Muslim country remains “non-violent.”
Lendman also outlined several possible US measures, including imposition of a no-fly zone and attacks on Syrian forces, which he said, are likely to lead to “direct confrontation with Russia.”
Russia, on the other hand, is concerned that terrorism is spread to its heartland, which has made the country come out in support of the Syrian government, he said.
Syria has been the scene of a foreign-backed crisis since March 2011.
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