Tror vi er nærmere det enn narrativet til russerne skulle tilsi.
En interessant øvelse (ikke nødvendigvis knyttet til innlegget ditt @riskypick ) - om man bytter ut “Assad” med “Putin” i denne artikkelen skrevet 18 november i år er det mulig å argumentere for at “vedtatte sannheter” er sanne helt til de plutselig ikke er det lengre.
Assad is sitting tight as Syria burns
"Watching all this with great trepidation is President Bashar al-Assad, who owes his continued hold on power to the involvement of Iran and Hizbollah during the Syrian war. Weak and easy to punish, Assad is acting out of self-preservation. He has acquiesced in the use of southern Syria for the firing of rockets and drones into Israel by Iranian-backed militias, but his military is in no state to join the fight and his security apparatus is penetrated by Israeli intelligence. He runs the risk of a larger Israeli attack otherwise, one that could decapitate his regime. This is why Assad has been conspicuously silent over Gaza, even as he lambasts Israel. He never forgave Hamas for siding with the Syrian rebellion.
The Syrian president now sees an opportunity in the great resetting of the regional balance currently under way. "
I tillegg, høres denne strategien kjent ut ift. å få europeiske styresmakter til å bekymre seg for indre anliggender?
"Attempts to rehabilitate Assad are picking up steam. Several European countries — including Italy, Hungary and Greece — are keen to abandon the current policy of isolation. They want to return Syrian refugees to the country despite the unwillingness of the regime to pursue genuine reconciliation. They hope that in exchange for financial support and political cover, Assad will agree to allow back large numbers of refugees living not just in Europe but also in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
These expectations are misplaced. For Assad, negotiations over security, refugees and drugs are means to entangle foreign governments in drawn-out processes in which the other side pays and concedes as he talks and cedes nothing. Assad hopes that the incoming Trump administration will withdraw its troops from Syria and lift stringent sanctions without requiring it to engage in a political process."
