Why Are We Concerned About Russia

[fudgefudge]

Russia's cruise missiles are seen speeding through the skies on their way to 'destroy ISIS targets' as Syrian army begins 'major attack' on towns held by 'terrorists'
WHY are we concerned are ISIS the bad lads why is everyone against Russia

[dave50]

At least they have the guts get in there and something about them rather than standing on the sidelines wringing their hands.

[Togo]

//The Russians need the price of oil to rise very soon. They cannot influence the price without a massive presence in the Middle East. Syria is just a blind. They already have a massive naval force on hand and are as we argue the toss are getting ground forces in place, starting with special forces which they admitted to only today. America has filled every available storage facility to the brim. Russia waits for the onset of winter in Europe. I for one, am very concerned, and aware of the coming crisis.//

21:19 Tue 06th Oct 2015
This is part of something I posted on a different thread. It possibly has some relevance to the question.

[ToraToraTora]

because Russia are not only targetting ISIS, they are trying to shore up the Assad regime by targeting anti Assad rebels too. It's complex, there are the bad guys, the goodish bad guys, the really bad guys and the very very bad guys.

[Gromit]

Probably history.
The US and Russia were locked in a Cold War for decades, and fought proxy wars with each other in Korea and Vietnam.
So even though the Soviet empire has gone, there is still suspicion on both sides. The US regard any country which allies its self with Russia as an enemy. So Syria under Assad was distrusted, and in 2011 the US saw an opportunity to remove him under the guise of the Arab Spring. So they began to at first encourage the Rebels, and then to arm and finance them.
The Russian want to maintain their indluence in Syria, so have been helping Assad from 2011.

The US, against popular opinion, have let IS prosper. The Russians have exploited this disparity by upping their military game using the excuse that they are sorting out IS. A popular move which rather wrong foots Obama and Cameron.

But the Russian's endgame is to keep their naval base on the Mediterranean which is strategically important

[Gromit]

The low price of oil which is harming the Russia economy is the result of Saudi Arabia over producing. I don't really see how the Syria situation changes that one way or another.
The low price is harming everyone including Saudi Arabia, so they will probably have to cut production. OPEC meets on December, and the over production will be cut then.

[youngmafbog]

It is the west's fault, in particular the right-on left wing liberal 'elite'. If we had done something about ISIS in Syria maybe Russia would not have had the excuse.

[Togo]

//The low price of oil which is harming the Russia economy is the result of Saudi Arabia over producing.//
The Saudis have not been 'over producing' but they have refused to cut production. The Americans are not buying oil on the world market, being self sufficient since their fracking programme in the States and the development of the Alaskan oil fields, so the demand for oil has reduced bringing down the prices. The Saudis cannot just turn off the taps due to the technical issues, neither do they need to do so, because their production costs are much lower than every other producer, they can ride the low price storm. But if the Russians can disrupt the supply lines, or destroy enough oil producing facilities, the price will rise to a level that makes their own oil and gas production viable again. An even worse case scenario is that China, being happy with low priced oil, intervenes if it feels the prices are likely to affect them unduly.

[ichkeria]

The Russians are well placed to do good in Syria, if only they would behave responsibly.
They've hardly touched ISIS so far, but what they should be did my is using their considerable influence to help end the fighting, not stir it
The fact that what they say they are doing bears little relation to what they are actually doing also gets people suspicious.
Worried about non ISIS jihadists hitting Rusdia in the future? Why not say so
What they are actually doing is making themselves a target

[mikey4444]

Its quite clear what Russia is doing here...it is propping up its ally in the area, ie the butcher Assad. If they were only attacking ISIL, I wouldn't mind but all the reports say that they are only attacking Assad's long-standing opposition.

[Hypognosis]

Hateful as he may be, Assad cannot fight ISIS effectively while simultaneously fighting on multiple other fronts with the other rebel factions, particularly if the less-bad-bad-guys are geographically between his forces and ISIS.

Logically, he should attack his nearest and weakest opponents first, as they will be easiest to defeat. ISIS have access to oil revenue and will be far more tricky to dislodge than rebel bands with no such income stream.

[ichkeria]

Assad's regime was doomed from the moment he started shooting and bombing the people who had already had enough of him in 2011
It's a complete mystery to me how people can think that, even in the unlikely event that he was able to defeat militarily all his enemies, that he could ever again be accepted by his own people as ruler of Syria.
The best he could hope for is a rump state in the west, dominated by Alawites, propped up by Russia, and probably at the mercy of God knows what from his neighbours.

[Hypognosis]

If we learn anything from history, it is that imperialists always take advantage of rebellion and civil war to march in and take the territory. Fomenting unrest would appear to be central to such a strategy.

Note: By fomenting unrest, I am not alluding to radical preachers; they are among the after-effects.

[Gromit]

Mikey,
Assad is a Tyrant.
The alternative is Islamic State. Do you think they will ge better on the human rights?

[DaisyNonna]

Isis Bad? Yes.

[tonyav]

Looks like a few Russian missiles were off target.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/russian-missiles-aimed-at-syria-reportedly-hit-iran/ar-AAffLrG?li=AAaeUIW

[jourdain2]

Assad = Bad, very bad ISIL = worse, much worse, evil.

I honestly don't see there is any option other than helping Assad to defeat ISIL, before turning attention to him.

[Togo]

One of those stray cruise missile looks to have struck tony's av and turned it into a pile of rubble in Wigan.

[tonyav]

Oi, that pile of rubble !, is now a shopping mall.

[Gromit]

// The mistaken bombing, launched from a Russian warship in the Mediterranean Sea, was first reported by CNN, which received the information from two unnamed U.S. officials. //

Er, the Russian Cruise missiles were fired from ships in the Caspian Sea.

[ichkeria]

I'll say it again: nobody's listening but no matter:
The war in Syria isn't Assad v ISIS
Mikey is correct : the Russians are propping up Assad pretty blatantly obviously.WHY they are doing that is less obvious as is where it will lead