Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Speaks - TTG

Moscow and Washington are in direct talks to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Syria, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “We are in a very active phase of talks with our American counterparts both in Geneva and in Amman; we are frequently in touch with Washington,” Shoigu told TV channel Rossiya 24 on Monday.  “We are moving step by step closer to a plan – and I’m only talking about Aleppo here – that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace so that people can return to their homes in this troubled land.”

Russia and the US are working to resolve the situation in Syria in a very concrete and organized way, according to Shoigu, who explained that all of the suggestions are aimed at preserving the country’s territorial integrity and fighting terrorism, while the sides believe that the rest can be worked out at the negotiation table.

Shoigu said that, despite being feared in the West, Islamist militants are actually unaware of what they are fighting for. “If we look at [their] nationalities... they would hardly know five cities in Syria by heart. They don’t know the names of those cities, and they hardly wonder what they’re fighting for. It’s obvious and clear to everyone.”

State Department officials told a CBS News correspondent that there is presently nothing to announce on US-Russia cooperation in Aleppo. Direct talks on the issue are continuing in Geneva, but there is no “deadline” for any agreement on cooperation, they said. (RT)

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What is Shoigu talking about here? He has never struck me as one given to idle chit-chat or speculation. My guess is that he is not talking about the city of Aleppo. That would be a stretch. He is referring to the coming battle for al-Bab and the closing of the link between IS and the Turkish border. They are preparing for a "Meeting on the Elbe" moment which will require close air-ground coordination. It is militarily prudent to discuss such things.

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A French member of the SDF told ARA News that their forces aim to liberate as much as territory from ISIS as possible. During a press conference, the al-Bab Military Council announced that they follow the example of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council that liberated Manbij city from ISIS last Friday.

“Drawing on the experience of our neighbours in liberated Manbij and it’s countryside, it has become necessary for us to work together to liberate our people, as a step to the liberation of all of Syria, and to build a common home,” the council said. “That’s why we announced the founding of the military council of al-Bab and its countryside,” the organization said. (ARA News)

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The SDF has announced the formation of the al-Bab Military Council on Sunday. This is in line with the YPG desire to continue the offensive to al-Bab and on to Afrin. The US desire to seize Raqqa will have to wait for another day. The SDF and the new al-Bab Military Council give the US the fig leaf needed to continue supporting the Kurdish drive to unite Rojava. I also believe the Kurds and the Arabs of the SDF are not of the "Assad must go" camp. They may be ambivalent of his continued regime in Damascus, but they desire a united Syria with some hard won federated semi-autonomy. They know they live in a tough neighborhood. The US will have to look elsewhere for their new unicorn army.

TTG

 

Comments

[The Beaver]

@ TTG

Quote from Elijah Magnier on his Twitter a/c:

That is his wish perhaps. Shogun can't decide without forces on the ground in harmony with his Air Force. A problem he is facing Note : Typo Shoigu
https://twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/765279477152813056

In addition, from Haidar Sumeri

#Russia has deployed bombers and other aircraft to #Iran's Hamedan AB in an expansion of its air campaign in #Syria.
https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/status/765286655989313538

[Sam Peralta]

It looks like the Russians are getting even more deeply involved if they are going to base aircraft in Iran for combat roles.

What's in it for them?

And, are they getting into a situation that the Borg Queen and her neocon fellow travelers can exploit to create further chaos?

[mike]

Shoigu is an interesting person. He reportedly speaks Turkish. But I wonder if it is the Tuvan version of Turkic that he must have learned as a boy in Siberia?

[Brunswick]

Russia's not closing any doors, they will keep talking as long as their is somebody to talk to,

meanwhile, they will continue to act.

They don't treat Diplomacy like a soap opera, marital melodrama complete with edicts, slamming of doors, long silences and then make up sex, unlike other Diplomat's we know.

[different clue]

Sam Peralta,

What's in it for them? If Putin's article in the NyTimes about "no such thing as an exceptional nation" and "sovereignty and rule of law should be respected" and other things was sincere, a successful "enforcement" of those things as realizable principles where Syria is concerned is a goal in itself. If it can be enforced with regard to Syria, it can be more easily enforced elsewhere. Also, the Borg and its Global Axis of Jihad may be dissuaded or even prevented from trying such an overthrow and dismantlement elsewhere.

Then too, preserving Syria and its legitimate government would achieve the narrower goal of denying the Global Axis of Jihad a free zone for setting up yet more training camps for yet more jihadis to attack yet more regimes targetted for changing . . . as well as depriving the GAG of a base to train and send jihadis from Russia back into Russia.

[Aka]

interesting and independent. Seems he has very little to do with Putin. And he became a minister when Putin was a non-entity in Russian politics.

[Ghostship]

It's the Tu-22M3s which so far have been operating out of southern Russia, so instead of a 2,800 mile round trip with reduced load to bomb Aleppo, they now have a 1,300 mile round trip with full bomb load (26 short tons). They could partake of two missions in a day and still be back in time for tea. So reduced cost and increased destruction - surely the neo-cons would approve.

[Dubhaltach]

In reply to Sam Peralta 15 August 2016 at 09:18 PM

Adding to the comments of Different Clue & Ghostship below:

Take a look at a map. You can get to Syria from, for example, Chechnya by motorbike. In fact by motorbike is exactly how Chechen jihadis who've been captured in Syria got there.

One of your more disastrous presidents had a slogan about fighting them over there so you don't have to fight them on your homeground. It was never more than a slogan used to justify hamfisted dimwittedness as taking a look at any map showing where the USA is locate will soon reveal. But it's entirely applicable to Russia and to the former Soviet republics.

What's in it for them?

Denying their enemies a base from which to train and launch attacks. That's what's in it for them.

[SmoothieX12]

Seems he has very little to do with Putin

It is a very wrong impression.

[Walrus]

Russian defense ministry confirms Syrian airstrikes out of an Iranian airbase. looks like checkmate for the "'bomb Iran" advocates.

'http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-16/first-time-russian-strategic-bombers-strike-isis-irans-hamadan-air-base

[The Beaver]

@ TTG

A bit controversial to some but it paints the reality:

http://warontherocks.com/2016/08/washingtons-sunni-myth-and-the-civil-wars-in-syria-and-iraq/

"In the first of two articles, a Westerner with extensive on-the-ground experience in Syria and Iraq explains how the West’s understanding of sectarian identity in the Middle East is fatally flawed. He reveals new information on these civil wars and their participants."

[The Beaver]

According to Elijah Magnier today:

Strikes on Aleppo, Idlib and Deir-Ezzor by RuAF from Hamedan

[Babak Makkinejad]

That slogan is revived and is being used in Iran in regards to the war in Syria.

[Fred]

Walrus,

I'm sure the neocons will try to spin this as a danger to our "ally" Turkey.

[Margaret Steinfels]

Do you have a link for the Putin statement? I'd like to read the whole thing. Thanks.

[Sam Peralta]

"..a base to train and send jihadis from Russia back into Russia."

Makes perfect sense.

If the Borg Queen gets crowned in November do you think Russian forces in Syria are in danger of attacks with sophisticated US arms provided to the jihadis? How would the Russians likely respond to such provocations?

[SmoothieX12]

Russia, forget Middle East, which is very open country, with freedom of speech Western Europe can only dream about, with millions of tourists. It seems that it wouldn't take much to get it right, right? Forget it. It is like a Wheel Of Fortune--West can get some, of even all, letters right and yet, fails time after time to come up with the right word. The problem is not in complexity of ME (or Russia, or wherever)--the problem is West's "elites", their "education", world-view and a combination of other malaise so well noticed by Alexis De Tocqueville 180 years ago. In simple words--US (and West in general) lives through Chalabi moment non-stop and not just in the last 25 years.

[Aka]

Sorry. Not "has". "had"

[Liza]

Margaret Steinfels:

I believe he was referring to Putin's editioral in the NY Times, published at the time of the agreement to remove chemical weapons. Putin wrote that it was dangerous for any nation to view itself as exceptional.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?_r=0

[Liza]

Another interesting development: China will provide Syria with humanitarian aid and may provide training to the Syrian military.

https://www.rt.com/news/356161-china-syria-military-training/

[Dubhaltach]

In reply to Babak Makkinejad 16 August 2016 at 09:44 AM

For Iran it's entirely apposite.

[michael brenner]

Since we are all experts on ISIL, al-Qaeda, Assad, Iraq, Iran - and even Washington, I feel uninhibited about speculating as to what's going on in the Kremlin. Obama, and the administration that he nominally heads, has been trying to square circles in Syria. In this cause, they repeatedly have tried to marginalize (if not eliminate) the Russia factor since Moscow keeps doing and saying things that highlight the contradictions in Washington's actions. Kerry's ploys over the past few months have aimed at doing this by trapping the Russians in phoney cease-fires, the rebranding of al-Nusra & Assoc, and related maneuvers. This strategy has had a few tactical successes but seems to have reached the end of the road after the latest fiasco of the 'war party" pulling the rug out from under the Oslo-dreaming Kerry.

Now, it's Putin's turn to try trapping the Americans. In effect, the Shoigu message is saying: if you are really concerned about the humanitarian situation in Aleppo, if you really are dedicated to achieving "Syria for the Syrians," if you really want to crush the terrorist groups - then, we're prepared to help you militarily, politically inside Syria and diplomatically by doing "X & Y & Z." I suspect that the expectation in Moscow is that this will go nowhere. but were Obama to bestir himself to seek a genuine resolution of some sort in the interests of his famous "legacy," Putin would be glad to cooperate.

Live by smoke-and-mirros; die by smoke-and-mirrors.

[oofda]

He was the Minister of Emergency Affairs, under both Yelstin and Putin, from 1991-2012. He got a reputation for competency and hands-on leadership in handling emergencies.

[PeteM]

I wonder if the YPG/SDF Kurds after fighting for and expanding their Rojava will favor returning it to a United Syria ruled by Assad even with some semi-autonomy? The Kurdish Nationalist goal is the creation of Kurdistan with Rojava being one province in that larger dream.

[The Twisted Genius]

PeteM,

The Rojava Kurds have formally called for a federated system for the northern cantons with those cantons remaining in Syria earlier this year. Damascus wants a united Syria without federation. The difference lies in the degree of autonomy. This is doable. Turkey is more opposed to any kind of Kurdish federation than Damascus.

https://www.rt.com/news/335774-kurds-federal-system-syria/