The Bloody Game of Chess Surrounding Syria

The situation in Syria is becoming increasingly unstable. As Putin tests new high-tech weapons, the U.S. is continuing to pull back. The power vacuum also threatens us Europeans.

Yesterday, Oct. 11, Russia and the United States brought the nuclear armament of Iran into their joint control. Today, they lead a proxy war in Syria against each other. Putin’s Russia, mindful of the defeat in Afghanistan, is testing high-tech weapons and is doing everything to bomb away the rebels who fight the greatly reduced forces of Syrian President Assad.

The U.S. wants to achieve the exact opposite: Assad conceding to the rebels and pushing back Iran’s influence upon the Shiite axis stretching from Tehran to southern Lebanon.

Until now, both sides had avoided the domestic political considerations of sending combat troops to Syria. Now the Russians are building airfields, securing them militarily and strengthening their only naval base in the Mediterranean, in Tartus, which also lies in the heartland of Assad’s power.

America’s Support of the Kurds

After the disappointment caused by weapons and troops falling into the hands of Islamic State following CIA training for Syrian rebels, the Americans now focus their assistance on materials and training for the Kurds in northern Iraq near the Turkish border. This, in turn, causes distrust in Ankara, where the Islamic State group is being used as a pretext for another war against the Kurds, as well as political capital for the current election campaign.

Europe’s refugee crisis is the result of a chess game with three players. The end of the game only arrives when Syria’s neighbors, Saudi Arabia and Iran, can’t stand for one more Syrian to flee to Europe nor for the world powers to threaten each other with nuclear weapons. The side effects are no less serious — the shooting star that is the German chancellor’s newly visible strength fades, and her crisis management fails.

European neighbors are witnessing the collapse of the Schengen system and realizing the importance of bureaucracy in Brussels. Meanwhile, Putin may further destabilize the situation. And despite all of this, American leadership acts as if the situation itself is painless to them, as if the U.S. presidential election campaign is enough excuse to forget the Middle East and the balance of power, let alone the security of Europe.