[RealJustme]

Putin Defies Obama in Syria as Arms Fuel Assad Resurgence. President Vladimir Putin, condemned by NATO for annexing Crimea, is now defying the U.S. in Syria by sending more and deadlier arms to help Bashar al-Assad score a string of advances against insurgents, military experts say.

Assad’s army, seeking to end a three-year civil war that’s killed 150,000 people and displaced 9 million, started using longer-range Russian Smerch and Uragan rockets for the first time in February, according to Jane’s Defense Weekly and Stratfor, a U.S. geopolitical research company. Syria has also intensified the use of MiG-29 fighter jets with ground-attack capabilities, Stratfor said, citing analyses of video footage.

“Russia is now doing everything to ensure that Assad wins convincingly,” Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said by phone. “If Russia can show it’s capable of carrying out its own foreign policy, regardless of America’s wishes, it will be a major achievement for Putin

But, but, but wait, Obama and Kerry told the American public and the world they had an agreement with Putin on Syria :o

[RealJustme]

“Russia’s confidence in Assad’s hold on power has increased as the conflict has evolved in his favor,” Zotov said in an interview in Moscow. “No one is talking about Geneva III or IV now,” Zotov said, referring to the next possible rounds of talks after Geneva II collapsed in February with no consequences for Assad. Assad has managed to retain over 90% of his chemical weapons.

Syrian rebels are claiming the Obama Administration not only abandoned them, they provided false hope with promises that weren't kept; which has resulted in over 280,000 rebel fighters being slaughtered. When Assad crossed Obama's redline, Syrian rebels, expecting U.S. support went all out, but that support never came and those warriors were slaughtered, their calls for help to the Obama Administration went unanswered.

It is already clear that the advantage is with Assad at this point, thanks in large part to the support he receives from Iran, Russia and Hezbollah,” Omar Lamrani, a military analyst at Austin, Texas-based Stratfor, said by phone from Bangkok.

The U.S. has information about an increase in the “quantity and quality” of Russian arms flows to Syria, Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson said on March 26.

“If the regime continues to receive support from Russia and is able to continue to seize strategic ground around the Syrian core between Damascus and the coast, then the regime would have largely solidified its grasp in power and will take all of Syria back,” Lamrani said.

[johnforbes]

Look for Putin to also get the ethnic Russian-dominated part of Ukraine as well.

[RealJustme]

Yep, that and more, Putin knows there is no one that will stop him, yeah they'll give speeches and draw pink lines, Putin will ignore them and take what he wants. His approval among Russians has never been higher, he invaded another country, took what he wanted without even a twisted ankle. When asked last week what he thought of Obama, Putin said "Obama is a politician, he is not a leader"

[lumpster]

We shouldn't have ever gotten mixed up in Syria in the first place..

[johnforbes]

"Saturday Night Live" is doing a skit with Putin and Palin.

That tells you right there how Obama is doing as a "leader."

A busy housewife in Alaska was absolutely correct about the Russian geopolitical threat, and Obama was absolutely wrong.