ON THE ISSUE OF SYRIA, RUSSIA IS RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS

The Kremlin said on Friday that it is still attempting to stop a western military assault on the dictatorship of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but it looks that Moscow is running out of options to preserve its old friend at this point. As a result of the Kremlin’s desire to avoid the possibility of a wider conflict with the west, they have consistently denied the possibility of a direct military involvement. Moscow has provided weaponry and financial support, but it has not been enough to reverse the course of the conflict. Regular Russian vetoes of United Nations Security Council resolutions that would have increased the pressure on the assad administration have driven the United States and its allies to seek authorization for potential military action elsewhere, sidelining Russia in the process jimmy choo shoes. An expert working at the Moscow Carnegie Center think tank named Alexei Malashenko described the current situation as “pretty embarrassing.” In the event that a military attack is carried out against Syria, he and other observers believe there is a little prospect of serious reprisal from Russia beyond heated rhetoric and continued stonewalling in the security council. Damascus would further sour its ties with the west and risk an even larger escalation in the conflict if it received significant additional weaponry or financial aid. It has been reported by diplomats and analysts that the Kremlin does not appear to have sent advanced s-300 air-defense systems to Syria. These are the types of weapons that could assist the assad regime in shooting down western or israeli planes, which could potentially shift the balance of power in the region. These weapons would make it more likely that Israel will launch a preemptive strike, which may endanger Russian forces already on the ground. According to ruslan pukhov, head of cast, a military-analysis institute in Moscow, “whatever russia intended to transport to syria, it has.” “there is nothing more that we can do.” This week, authorities from the Russian military said that the country’s navy is sending numerous ships to the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. However, observers argued that the modest Russian force, which is dwarfed by the presence of the United States Navy in that region, is mostly symbolic. Analysts believe that the most that it will be able to do militarily is to offer security in the event that Russia vacates the modest resupply facility that it has in the syrian port of tartous. Any significant steps that are taken to remove Russian troops or equipment from Syria might have the unintended consequence of weakening the assad government by giving the impression that Moscow is losing confidence in the country’s ability to maintain its grip on power. According to western diplomats who, in recent days, have been quietly sounding out their russian counterparts on moscow’s likely response to a strike, the initial indications are that Russia’s actual reaction—though probably not its rhetoric—is likely to be measured. This is in contrast to the likelihood that Russia’s rhetoric will be aggressive. During a briefing on friday in the Kremlin, yuri ushakov, the senior foreign-policy advisor to Vladimir Putin, refused to be led into a discussion of potential responses by the russian government in the event of a strike by the west. According to what he had to say, “for the time being, Russia is actively seeking to prevent any type of scenario involving force.” Mr. Putin made this point clear to Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, during a phone chat on Thursday. He stated that the vote that took place on thursday in the uk parliament against military action was a sign of growing skepticism in the west with calls to punish the assad regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons against its own citizens on august 21. He said that this vote was a sign of growing skepticism in the west with calls to punish the assad regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons. It seems to me that people are starting to understand how dangerous these scenarios are, especially without sanction, he said, referring to proposals to use military force without backing from the United Nations. “it seems to me that people are starting to understand how dangerous these scenarios are,” he said. Russian officials contend that they are not attempting to maintain the assad regime, but rather reject the notion of intervening in a sovereign nation’s internal affairs without prior authorization from the united nations. Mr. Ushakov said that “we do not want the situation to become one where a single state or group of states charges, convicts, and imposes their own punishment.” “We don’t want the situation to become one where a single state or group of states charges, convicts, and imposes their own sentence.” If anything of this like were to occur, it would be very detrimental to the functioning of the international system since it would sidestep the United Nations Security Council. He also reaffirmed that the Kremlin does not believe the claims made by the United States that the government of Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the deployment of chemical weapons on August 21. “We have not received any intelligence information from the Americans. We don’t buy into it at all “he said. Moscow is concerned that a weakening of the Assad administration would bolster islamist radicals in the area, which will lead to an increase in instability and terrorism beyond the boundaries of Syria. Russian officials contend that the United States’ claims of humanitarian reasons are really a cover for attempts to remove a hostile government in Damascus, and they make this argument in response to assertions made by the United States. russia’s ambassador to the european union, vladimir chizhov, stated on friday in an interview with the interfax news agency that the parallels to the u.s. intervention in yugoslavia and iraq were unmistakable. Both of these interventions were strongly opposed by russia as being aimed at changing the regime in the respective countries. He said that “it is difficult to resist the sensation that history is repeating itself again.” At the summit of world leaders that will take place in St. Petersburg the following week, tensions about Syria are expected to play a prominent role. According to mr. ushakov, the matter is not on the agenda for the formal meeting, but it is likely to be brought up during talks.