Putin’s Strategy In Middle East Conflicts And Syria Way Better Than Obama’s [Opinion]

President Obama is no doubt one of the most celebrated presidents in the world, but as have previous American leaders, he has made a few highly controversial decisions especially in relation to the Middle East. And they are mostly related to interfering in the affairs of Muslim dominated countries, especially during the Arab Spring.

The unrest that started in Tunisia in 2010 led to the fall of regimes such as those in Libya and Yemen, leading to untold suffering, especially for women and children. However, US bias aside, it has in recent times become clear that American interference in the region’s conflicts by undercutting dictators and supplying opposition rebels with guns has caused an ongoing problem that may take more than a few decades to resolve.

Starting with the decision to eliminate dictators such as Muammar Gaddafi by Obama, and the strategy to supply rebel forces in Libya with guns, the two led to a conflict-ridden country with no clear leader and were guided only by the principle of removing him from power. To weigh the balance, yes, Muammar did carry out brutal executions against those against him while in power, but the number of deaths of women and children after his fall are stratospheric.

Going only by the number of people who have died off the coast of Libya alone trying to sail to Europe using dilapidated boats, they numbered about 3,000. This is according to figures released by ANSAmed last year. The three thousand were mostly innocent civilians seeking to flee from the conflict in Libya due to the threat of warring factions hungry for power.

On the other hand, the number of people that have died directly as a result of the fighting is still largely unknown as Libya still has no properly working institutions or head of state. And once, when a de facto president was in place — Mohamed al-Magariaf, he immediately experienced an assassination attempt. This was in 2013. The following is an excerpt of the report as reported by Reuters.

“Mohamed al-Magariaf’s residence in Sabha, 800 km (500 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, came under gunfire on Thursday evening. ‘(He) was unharmed and escaped the attack but three of his guards were injured,’ spokesman Rasmy Burwein said.

Magariaf was in Sabha for meetings with local officials and community leaders after Tripoli declared the region a closed military zone to try to curb rampant lawlessness.

Sabha and the rest of the Saharan south has been plagued by tribal violence since the start of the armed uprising in 2011 that ousted and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi.”

In this case, Obama and NATO aggravated the situation by funding disorganized opposition groups who follow no rule of law, and that ultimately provided fertile ground for the encroachment of ISIL, which has recently started asserting its dominance in the region. Same case applies to Syria.

The Obama government seems to think supplying arms to everyone against President Assad is the solution to bringing peace and democracy in Syria, but of course it clearly isn’t and only serves to offer incentive to radical groups who if given power will no doubt prescribe a somewhat dictatorial form of leadership. In worst case scenarios, the groups join ISIL and use the same weapons against innocent civilians.

Looking at President Putin’s current strategy in Syria, he has used military power to destroy groups against President Assad and greatly pushed back the front lines. This is not a perfect strategy, but is far more logical than that of the US, in that the single most influential leader is supported to regain control of the country. And if the opposition is defeated, there will be less conflict, and with less conflicts, less deaths.

Ultimately, President Obama’s strategy of simply supplying arms to whoever is against leadership just creates a highly unstable environment for democracy and simply indirectly supports jihadists and jihadist movements, which in turn bring terror to the west.

[Photo by Alexey Kudenko/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images]