RUSSIA IN THE MIDDLE EAST: PUTIN SPEAKS TO HIS ...

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Joseph P. Farrell • http://gizadeathstar.com/2015/10/russia-in-the-middle-east-putin-speaks-to-his-officers/

While we're on the topic of the geopolitical earthquake taking place in Europe and the Middle East with Mr. Putin's recent decision to answer calls for military assistance from Damascus, consider the contents - the extremely important contents - of this article shared by Mr. M.S.:
Putin to Russian army officers: operation 'Salvation' shall begin soon, you must prepare to cleanse Syria from Obama's terrorists
Consider the remarks that Moskovskaya Pravda reported that Mr. Putin made to his officers:

"We have nearly two million orthodox Christians in the Levant—Syria and Lebanon— and approximately 5 million Christians across Middle-East. Regardless of America's presidential election outcome, White House craves chaos in that oil-rich region by supporting fanatic Islamist organizations, i.e. ISIS and al-Nusra Front," Moskovskaya Pravda cited the Russian president as saying.

It is morally incumbent upon Russia to change this terrible status quo in the Middle-East , added Mr.Putin ,  prepare for operation 'Salvation' and with God almighty's aid , we shall cleanse Syria from Obama's ruthless terrorists.

This is another geopolitical earthquake, for if Mr. Putin did indeed make such remarks, it is an indication that Mr. Putin's government is prepared to revive the old foreign policy, and role, of Russia under the Tsars, namely, to act as the guarantor of Orthodox Christians within Europe and the Middle East. This comes as no surprise to this author, for I've been insisting for many years both publicly and private(most recently in private correspondence to a friend in Indonesia) that the West's - largely America's - reading of Mr. Putin and his government is entirely wrong. Strong-handed he may be, but he is not a throwback to Stalin, but rather to the late autocracy of Nicholai I or perhaps Alexander II and so on. Notably, in his remarks, Mr. Putin also clearly stated that the USA is ultimately behind the rise of the radical ISIS group. But there is also another target of Mr. Putin's remarks:

Addressing the Russian top brass on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin lambasted U.S. Middle-East policy for being 'disastrous' as Saudi-backed rebels vowed to purge Syria and Iraq from Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities.
(Emphasis added)

In other words, Moscow is simply not going to sit idly by and allow the USA and its radicalized allies to commit genocide against minorities in the name of a foreign policy being dictated by Wahhabism, and thereby to destablize the entire region.

These statements, along with the recent meetings of the French, Russian, and German foreign minsiters in Berlin, indicate that the geopolitical earthquake now taking place in response to what is increasingly perceived as disastrous American meddling in the Middle East, and its unimaginably disastrous policy of backing radical Islamicist groups, is neither a transitory nor illusory phenomenon. It is fast becoming a major and semi-permanent feature of the geopolitics of the region. These statements, couple with Moscow's and Tehran's mutual alliance, and the role that France, Germany, and Russia played behind the scenes in brokering the nuclear agreement with Iran, plus those recent and sudden Saudi trips and overtures to Moscow, indicate just how precarious Washington's and Riyadh's position is fast becoming. Add France, Germany, and possibly even China to the mix, and even London's growing but quietly voiced maneuvering to position itself favorably with China's New Silk Road intentions, and the earthquake is heading toward the upper reaches of the Richter scale.

Clearly, Mr. Putin has now openly stated what has long been argued in the west's alternative press: the radical terrorist group of today was yesterday's "freedom fighters," and their ties go all the way to Washington, Riyadh, and Ankara, and to the old wounds that are still festering from World War One. What remains to be seen is how Paris and Berlin will react to such claims and statements, for react they must. My high octane speculation? I suspect that the reaction, at least officially, will be to attempt toi strike an unrealistic "balance" bewteen Mr. Putin's claims, and Washington's denials. But the real thing to watch will be the French and German populations, and the parties in opposition to their governments, for the average Frenchman and German also is feeling the pressure and fallout from Washington's disastrous policies in the growing refugee crisis in Europe.

And there's one final player in this geopolitical earthquake that we must remember in this context, one who is often overlooked, and who, his nutty pronouncements about climate change notwithstanding, has weighed in on the Middle East, and that's Pope Francis I, for recall, not too long ago, that he made the very un-ecumenical statement to the effect that Christians do have the right to defend themselves against radical Islamcism. Many of the Christians that Mr. Putin refers to in his reported remarks are in fact Maronite Eastern Rite Roman Catholics, particularly in Lebanon and western Syria, and even in Damascus itself. My prediction? Excpect more personal meetings between Mr. Putin and the Pope, and expect them in the near future, possibly even in Moscow.

And that will be - for those familair both with recent Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox history - an earthquake of an altogether different kind, one both geopolitical and religious, all at once.