Moscow, from International Space Station (NASA)
WASHINGTON – Iran is expected to let Moscow take the lead as it plays a supporting role to Russia’s massive military intervention in Syria, retired U.S. Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely says in a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Tehran will ride the political coattails of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is extending Moscow’s influence in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt and Jordan, said Vallely in an interview.
Vallely said Russia’s action forces Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Sunni government has been supportive of ISIS and sought the forced ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to take a back seat in the region.
Erdogan also has lost influence in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of Mohamed Morsi was overthrown in 2014 by the Egyptian armed forces, led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is now the president. Egypt has sought Russian military assistance after being turned down by the United States.
Vallely, who once was commander of the Army’s U.S. Pacific Command, is a personal friend of Sisi, who has outlawed the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Erdogan, meanwhile, has allowed members of the Brotherhood leadership to reside in Turkey.
Go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin and get the rest of this, and other, stories.
Syria solution
Vallely recently met in Paris with Putin’s special representative on the Middle East and Syria, Mikhail L. Bogdanov, proposing a solution to the Syria crisis that unites Russia and the Free Syrian Army, whom the general has supported.
In an interview with G2Bulletin, Vallely said he told Bogdanov he could arrange for about 10 generals and ministers who had defected from the Assad government to meet with the Russians.
Valley said Bogdanov took the proposal seriously and is confident he will receive a response.
‘King of the chessboard’
The retired general said Iran is content for now to play a supporting role in Syria, seeing that Moscow has used its military power to reestablish its influence in the Middle East. Russia has been overshadowed for 20 years by the United States, but now U.S. involvement in the region is largely dismissed as too little, too late.
“The Iranians are looking at how to gain advantages with all the money they’re going to get” as a result of the release of $150 billion in sanctions money following agreement with the West over Iran’s nuclear program, Vallely said.
“The Iranians haven’t been very aggressive at all, even in working with the Iraqis in northern Iraq – not much going on,” he said.
Vallely said Tehran also sees Moscow’s resurgence as an opportunity to ensure its own lasting influence in the region. Iran has been at odds with Sunni Saudi Arabia, which along with other Arab countries, is concerned about Shiite Iran’s outreach.
“The Iranians also realize that Putin is king of the chessboard now and not them,” he said.
Go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin and get the rest of this, and other, stories.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/u-s-general-iran-submitting-to-russias-lead-in-mideast/
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