• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Robert Gates Praises Putin's Syrian Gambit

Hawkeye10

Buttermilk Man
DP Veteran
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
45,404
Reaction score
11,746
Location
Olympia Wa
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Other
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is Putin gaining influence?

GATES: I think that Putin certainly has reasserted Russia's role. You know, we basically excluded them from the Middle East in the early 1970's and they've had no real influence or presence there ever since, until the intervention in Syria. Now it's pretty clear that any negotiation on Syria, if there ever is one, Russia will be at the table.

BRENNAN: So his bet is paying off?

GATES: I think it is. I think that he has gotten in there with a limited military intervention, you know? Everybody thought he was crazy. Everybody that he was going to get sucked in and just be more and more involved in this military conflict in Syria. And he's managed to limit their military intervention but maximize its influence in Syria in terms of propping up the Assad government.

Former Defense Secretary: Next president must "lay down a line" with Russia - CBS News

WOW, you gotta wonder now if Gates is beginning to understand where Trump came from....this is a huge failure of the DC Elite Foreign Policy Brain Trust Middest Division. As Gates says, nobody get to the right answer till after Putin had done his work and won. I mean we have long been able to count on the CIA to be wrong, but usually there is some smart person around talking sense.Not this time.

We are not challenging Putin because we are not up to the job, and that is so very sad.
 
Last edited:
Former Defense Secretary: Next president must "lay down a line" with Russia - CBS News

WOW, you gotta wonder now if Gates is beginning to understand where Trump came from....this is a huge failure of the DC Elite Foreign Policy Brain Trust Middest Division. As Gates says, nobody get to the right answer till after Putin had done his work and won. I mean we have long been able to count on the CIA to be wrong, but usually there is some smart person around talking sense.Not this time.

We are not challenging Putin because we are not up to the job, and that is so very sad.

I don't know if what he did was to praise Putin, more like he recognized Putin getting Russia at the table that the US had excluded them from since the 1970's. Not praise, as much as recognition of facts.

Also, I agree that currently, the US has no answer for Putin and his global grab for power. We have become so weak and ineffectual regarding international relations that the other major countries in the world have stopped caring what we may think or do, and have realized that they can no longer rely on us to have their backs.
 
Former Defense Secretary: Next president must "lay down a line" with Russia - CBS News

WOW, you gotta wonder now if Gates is beginning to understand where Trump came from....this is a huge failure of the DC Elite Foreign Policy Brain Trust Middest Division.

Actually, as Gates makes pretty clear in his books, the older wiser heads have consistently tried to advise the President against what he's done, and he's continually overruled them in favor of younger, less tested backbench advisers.

We are not challenging Putin because we are not up to the job, and that is so very sad.

:lol: says the man who wants to elect a President who won't challenge Putin not only because he isn't up to it, but because he thinks Putin's a great guy.
 
I don't know if what he did was to praise Putin, more like he recognized Putin getting Russia at the table that the US had excluded them from since the 1970's. Not praise, as much as recognition of facts.

Also, I agree that currently, the US has no answer for Putin and his global grab for power. We have become so weak and ineffectual regarding international relations that the other major countries in the world have stopped caring what we may think or do, and have realized that they can no longer rely on us to have their backs.

That is unfortunately quite true :(
 
Actually, as Gates makes pretty clear in his books, the older wiser heads have consistently tried to advise the President against what he's done, and he's continually overruled them in favor of younger, less tested backbench advisers.

.

Gates says "Putin did successfully what no one on our team thought that he could do successfully"(paraphrase).

That Sir is high praise coming as it does from Robert Gates.

:prof
 
Gates says "Putin did successfully what no one on our team thought that he could do successfully"(paraphrase).

That Sir is high praise coming as it does from Robert Gates.

:prof

No, it means that our government is beginning to capitulate to the Kremlin. That wouldn't have been good during the Cold War, and it is still not good now.
 
No, it means that our government is beginning to capitulate to the Kremlin. That wouldn't have been good during the Cold War, and it is still not good now.

Evaluation and action are two different things.

I am talking about how the ELITE fail to comprehend reality correctly, as is Gates.

To be fair Gates is a straight shooter, he admits at the top that he was wrong about Putin along with all the rest, Let's stipulate that.
 
Here's where the candidates stand:

Hillary Clinton has called Vladimir Putin a bully, and vowed to stop his meddling in Ukraine and Syria by punishing Russia with more financial sanctions.

Donald Trump has praised Putin, calling him a strong leader. He also wants to cut back on funding NATO and shift its focus away from countering Russia. He plans to leave Putin alone in the war in Syria.


Frankly, I don't care for either of those plans. But of the two...Hillary's plan seems more sensible than Trump's plan. But I wouldn't sanction Russia for helping Syria...unless the US plans to sanction our US allies as well.

France softens stance on Assad departure: Figaro | Reuters

I think not focusing on the ouster of Assad and include Russia in a coalition to fight ISIS is not a bad idea.
 
THE PROFESSOR OCT 2 2015

No, but I think it’s really interesting to understand. Russia is not stronger as a consequence of what they’ve been doing. They get attention. The sanctions against Ukraine are still in place. And what I’ve consistently offered -- from a position of strength, because the United States is not subject to sanctions and we’re not contracting 4 percent a year -- what I’ve offered is a pathway whereby they can get back onto a path of growth and do right by their people.

So Mr. Putin’s actions have been successful only insofar as it’s boosted his poll ratings inside of Russia -- which may be why the beltway is so impressed, because that tends to be the measure of success. Of course, it’s easier to do when you’ve got a state-controlled media.

But this is not a smart, strategic move on Russia’s part. And what Russia has now done is not only committed its own troops into a situation in which the overwhelming majority of the Syrian population sees it now as an enemy, but the Sunni population throughout the Middle East is going to see it as a supporter, an endorser, of those barrel bombs landing on kids -- at a time when Russia has a significant Muslim population inside of its own borders that it needs to worry about.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/10/02/press-conference-president

Not only was he completely wrong, which lets face it is normal, but he had to be a sanctimonious prick about it too.

We got the Full Obama.


Now, last point I just want to make about this -- because sometimes the conversation here in the Beltway differs from the conversation internationally. Mr. Putin had to go into Syria not out of strength but out of weakness, because his client, Mr. Assad, was crumbling. And it was insufficient for him simply to send them arms and money; now he’s got to put in his own planes and his own pilots.

It was cheap, plus his military got good training, plus he got a great look at his new command structure....Oh what's the use, this is OBAMA.....
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom