The Enemy of my Enemy Is Making It Difficult To Be Friends

The U.S fights to prevent the Syrian Government from attacking their own Syrian people but the U.S. is also standing in the way of attacks against ISIS.

Trump and Russia continue to be in crossfire over the Syrian Government. As Trump tries to prevent the Syrian government from another attack of their own people, actions to attack the Syrian Army are also standing in the way of victories over ISIS. The Russian government warns the U.S. of retaliation if they continue to fight against Syrian army and “support the terrorists”. America asks, how threatening is Russia if we continue to stand our ground in Syria. Russia receives its reputation of being a strong military force due to the history of the Soviet Union.

We can take a closer look at the Russian government as is stands under dictation of Vladimir Putin today. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union Russia works to create more balanced military with the use of modernized nuclear forces and conventional precision strike weapons that were recently tested in combat in Syria.

According to the annual Global Fire Power, Russia ranks number 2 of 131 countries with a PwrIndx rating of 0.00941 compared to a 0.0000 perfect rating. The US is currently ranked No. 1 with a rating of 0.00871 which displays a strong force from both sides. The alliance that Russia and Syria have has importance and benefits according Andrew Parasiliti, director of the Center for Global Risk and Security at the Rand Corporation. These include the country’s strategic geographic location in the heart of the Middle East; Russia’s naval base in the Syrian port city of Tartus, which allows access to the Mediterranean; the Hmeimim Air Base currently operated by the Russians; and the Assad regime’s role in helping to counter terrorism from jihadists who could inspire Islamist extremists on Russia’s doorstep in Central Asia, Parasiliti said.

However, the miscommunication in Syria is pulling issues in many different directions. The U.S., Russia and Syria all have one common goal, to stop the ISIS “takeover”. The U.S. intervenes because accusations have led U.S. military to believe that the Syrian government is attacking and killing their own people including women and children. As an act of humanity and good will the U.S. involves itself to assist in protecting the innocent people of the country. Americans reminisce on the words of Donald Trump, “radical Islamic terrorists” when he attempted to ban all Syrian refugees at the beginning of his presidency. It wasn’t until the chemical attack that Trump had a change of heart for the children in Syria and stated, “It crossed a lot of lines for me. When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people are shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line, many, many lines,”

The Russian government is involved due to their long-standing relationship and friendship they have with the Syrian government and denies all accusations of Syria attacking their own people. As shots are literally being fired from every party involved the interest of each country is extremely different causing continued fuel to the flame. The greatest prediction is the start of World War III and the US and Russia are not backing down from the fight.