Russia Seizes Upper Hand as US Flounders in Syria by John Vandiver, Stars & Stripes
Unity between air and ground forces and a clear objective have enabled the Russians to turn the tide of the Syrian civil war, reverse the fortunes of their longtime ally President Bashar Assad and leave the already muddled American strategy in Syria in tatters.
Rather than finding himself stuck in a Mideast quagmire, as was widely predicted in the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has seized control of events and established himself — and not President Barack Obama — as the indispensable power broker in a crisis that has killed more than 250,000 people, displaced half the Syrian population and unleashed waves of refugees whose presence threatens to wreck the European Union.
“They have mastered the game by very effective tactics and they are on the winning side,” said Marc Pierini, a former European Union ambassador to Syria. “The best the West can hope for is a political arrangement dominated by the regime.”…