31 October 2016

By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Russia has been looking for right opportunities to regain its lost status as super power by resorting o all sorts of combinations and permutations with some success. President Putin could not make much of his open support for the USA over Sept-11 hoax. Later, Russian actions in Crimea further complicated its relations with USA wanting to control entire Europe as the winner of World war and Cold war. Syrian war has now provided Moscow with the much needed edge and prestige plus the anticipated advantage to Russian foreign policy as it supported the ruler Assad by selling terror goods and guidance.

Russia hopes the position it has assumed now would help increase its diplomatic profile in Mideast and elsewhere. But whether or not USA and Russia plays a joint war in Syria is not very clear as yet

For years since the collapse of mighty Soviet Union, Russia has been trying to stay an equal power to US super power and made policies to appease US capitalist system without much success in coming closer to Washington, except a few ''adjustments'' with regard to attack on Muslim nations like Syria. Nothing could help Moscow to come to the close position it sought because USA denies that comfort zone not only to the Kremlin but, for that matter, to any nation, including its closest ally UK. Once it became apparent that It cannot be an equal power to equally ''share'' profits globally, Moscow adopted confrontational cum cooperative policy towards USA but even that could not make Americans trust Russians.

Apparently, Russo-US relations are strained, presumably, forever. USA remembers the Cold war more than Russia for its negative consequences as Russia boldly threatened the US supremacy and dominance.

However, the mindset of Cold war animosity in which they almost ''missed'' a nuke-missile war, is too strong for both to completely get away from that ''proxy'' mindset.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted a ''fresh'' start in bilateral ties when secret ''terrorists'' attacked New York as per the preplanned Sept-11 hoax agenda, but supporting the so-called War in Terror'' but which in fact means a permanent war on Islam until perhaps the religion of God (Prophet Muhammad's Islam) is gone – factually many Muslim nations also lend support to the anti-Islamic war. That only reveals the faith deficit among global Muslim rulers and leaders, mainly in Arab world.

When Russian strongman Vladimir Putin met US President Barack Obama in 2015 at the World Climate Change Conference in France the temperature between the two was less than warm. Mutual suspicion and hatred is rampant. Later, on the sidelines of a recent conference in Brussels, media asked a Russian diplomat to explain their strategy in Libya, where Moscow has been cozying up to a former Qaddafi-era general with strongman ambitions who opposes an UN-backed unity government. His response was Kremlin boilerplate, claiming a ''balanced'' policy dovetailing with national interests and national defense. For Moscow national defense means playing very tactfully with US-NATO moves to contain the Kremlin and breach the Russian borders at some points with the help of their allies. This is a standard line trotted out by Russian officials when it comes to foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin.

As USA, owing mainly to Israeli problem, is fast losing its traditional influence world over, Russia is trying to occupy the spaces left over by Washington maybe in order to stabilize the war torn zones. President Putin's way of dealing with the world has jangled nerves in many quarters as he seeks to tip regional balances of power in Europe, the Middle East and beyond to Moscow's advantage.

Putin is in his third term and likely to have fourth term as well as president of an aspiring super power in Eurasia – by far the longest-serving leader in the G20 – and Putin's confrontational approach to diplomacy – accompanied by a military iron fist in Ukraine and Syria – have won him fans at home while causing alarm abroad, particularly in Europe and the USA.

Russians seek to revive the old Soviet or Russian Empire and Putin fits the Russian bill for a strong presidency to challenge the USA and EU. In an address to Russia's parliament in 2005, Putin famously declared the collapse of the Soviet Union as a ''major geopolitical disaster'' and it is this notion – regret for what was lost and frustration over what he and his compatriots see as the subsequent loss of international standing for Moscow – that drives his thinking on foreign policy.

Russians are indeed proud of their president. Russia's annexation of Crimea, and its war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, etc have resurrected security anxieties in Europe not seen since the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s but Russians feel safe and secured and equally proud of their president because nobody can even think of attacking Russia. In that sense Russia is a super power in its own security rights, though its economy has been wrecked by the western sanctions. Since it is rich nation traditionally, Russia is able to withstand all pressure tactics of NATO-USA.

Moscow's military intervention in Syria – including devastating air strikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo which have killed many civilians – shifted the momentum in favour of its long-standing ally in Damascus Bashar al-Assad who considers his own presidency the most important factor and would see Syria in ashes in order to stay in power. Though his regime is still mired in a vicious, multi-faceted five-year-old war Assad doesn't think he should step aside and save Syria and its people. His own life more precious than thousands of Syrians who have been slaughtered by his military, USA, Russia and other anti-Islamic forces.
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In Egypt, where USA and Arab allies successfully planned to oust an elected government of Mohammad Mursi representing Muslim Brotherhood, the military replaced the first ever elected government. Now the general Sisi regime has been increasingly at odds with allies like the USA, Moscow has stepped in offering military cooperation.
Kremlin officials announced this month that Russia is hoping to re-open its Cold War-era naval base on the Mediterranean coastline near the border with Libya. Some European diplomats believe Russia's meddling next door in Libya – where it has discussed weapons supplies with forces opposed to a unity government despite the UN arms embargo – is aimed at maintaining enough instability there to ensure the country remains enough of a headache for Europe to the north.
Putin was personally incensed by the NATO-led intervention that helped rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011.

It is no coincidence that the growing challenge of Russia's muscular policies overseas is happening at a time when the US-led post-Cold War order has weakened, with the undermining of institutions that have helped underpin it, like the EU and NATO. It is no surprise that, according to US sources, Moscow has funded populist anti-EU political parties and movements across Europe, including the National Front in France, which is experiencing a surge in support.

Putin's geopolitical adventures have proved popular with Russians still smarting over the shrinking of Moscow's global clout along with the demise of the Soviet Union. Since the Crimea takeover, public support for Putin and his foreign policy has remained high. One poll shows Putin's approval rating has hovered between 80 to 90pc since 2014. Another survey found almost two out of five Russians believe the government's primary foreign policy goal should be to bring back the superpower status it had during the Soviet era.

Moscow oversees an economy that is struggling because the existing model is considered by many to be no longer fit for purpose. Without a more robust economic foundation, the gap between what Russia aspires to and what is capable of being – both domestically and internationally – will grow. Others argue that Putin's style of hard-headed diplomacy mixed with military clout, while bringing him some successes in the short-term, may prove more difficult to pursue in the long-term in a multi-polar world shaped by more fluid and unpredictable dynamics than in the past.

Putin's presidential term extends until 2018 and many observers argue that if he is to maintain his momentum on the international stage – outmaneuvering Western rivals on certain issues to applause back in Russia – and consolidate recent gains, it must be bolstered by better economic strategy at home. The fact Putin is expected to be re-elected in two years' time says much about his ability to play the domestic scene. Whether he can continue to do so on the world stage is another question.

Vladimir Putin's power play in the wider Middle East region – not just limited to Syria – has upended Western calculations and prompted concerns in Washington and Brussels. Moscow may have got a map ready to recapture all those Muslim nations that have been destabilized by USA and NATO- starting with Afghanistan all over again.

USA and Russia are fighting for military domination worldwide that began when Soviet Russia occupied Afghanistan and USA used all powers it could muster to oust the Red Army from Afghanistan which it later occupied on some false pretexts following the Sept-11 hoax, meticulously engineered by anti-Islamic elements.

The research showed that respondents believed the biggest obstacle to Russia becoming an even more powerful global player was resistance from the USA and EU, a claim repeatedly echoed in Russian state media. The obstacles to Russian strive for bigger status than USA would remains in place may be not be easy because of counter measures by the USA, EU and NATO. 

©  EsinIslam.Com

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