HAS PUTIN CHECKMATED OBAMA IN SYRIA OR IS HE OFFERING A FACE SAVING FOR THE U.S.?

CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS: Article 2
'The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.

1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members. 

4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations'.

U.S., Canada & Europe's interference in Syria runs contrary to the U.N. Charter. Nowhere in the Charter, members are permitted 'regime changes' in other countries.  President Assad's brutal regime is not the business of United States or its allies. It is a problem for the Syrian people.

President Putin's actions by default may offer a way out to the U.S. from the mess it created in Syria. Instead of protesting, it may be better to let him destroy ISIS and and anti Assad rebels, so this unholy civil war comes to an end. Ultimately, it is for the Syrian people not the United States to decide if a regime change is required.

This is not the first time U.S. has violated the U.N. charter. It invaded Iraq illegally, overthrew Qaddafi in Libya under the guise of 'no fly zone' and helped overthrow an elected Government in Egypt.  Some say U.S. did all this on Israel's behest. True or not, the outcome of these actions have been disastrous. The entire Middle East has been destabilized. Iraq is fractured probably beyond repair, Egypt has a draconian dictator who has sent thousands of protesters to the gallows, Libya is run by a bunch of terrorists and Syria is in turmoil.

Over ten years since U.S. started its actions in the Middle East, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in Iraq, Syria & Libya, many times more than the tyrants rulers of those countries killed over forty years. Iraq alone caused five million refugees and a third of Syrian population is refugee now.  

U.S. accomplishments to date are:
A fractured Iraq:

Picture courtesy aljazeera.com

A Libya controlled by a bunch of terrorists:

Picture courtesy morrocotomorrow.org

A Syria destroyed causing massive refugee crisis.

picture courtesy vocfm.co.za

A splintered Afghanistan after 12 year occupation & tragedies like the Kunduz Hospital bombing.
picture courtesy denverpost.com

Surely, this is not  the outcome U.S. had in mind before launching these wars. Still it begs the question, why have they learned no lessons and why do they keep making the same mistakes over and over?

CRUSHING OIL PRICES - DO NOT PUSH THE BEAR TO THE WALL. IN A DESPERATE MOVE, HE COULD RETALIATE & TURN OIL TAPS OFF TO WESTERN EUROPE, DESTROYING THEIR FRAGILE ECONOMIES AND IN TURN THE WORLD ECONOMY.

President Putin, picture courtesy Wikepedia.org

The decline of oil prices from $100 in mid 2014 to $57 now is no coincidence, nor does it have anything do with supply and demand as oil demand has certainly not halved in six months.

It is seriously suspected that oil prices are being manipulated by U.S. to crush Russia and to make them pay for re-possessing Crimea from Ukraine. When sanctions and all else failed, U.S. seems to have decided to hit Russia, where it hurts most - in the pocket. The Russian Ruble is in a free fall and despite a recent raise in Russian Central Bank rate from 10 to 17%, the Ruble is not even half its worth what it was a year ago.
According to some estimates, it is costing Russia around $70  a barrel to extract oil, if that is accurate, Russia is in net loss of $13 per barrel it produces and sells. This could hit Russian economy hard, inflation could sky rocket, post Soviet style bread lines could form again with possible loss of popularity for Putin from its current 85% level. And that is exactly what U.S. may be hoping to accomplish. Such a policy may have a short term impact, but long term, it could have a devastating effect on the world economy.
A desperate Putin with his back to the wall could adopt 'Destroy West' policy by turning off oil taps overnight to Western Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil. The already fragile European economies will not be able to withstand such a shock and may go into recession or even a depression, which in turn would hit all the economies of the world, including that of the U.S. resulting in a 1930s style worldwide depression.
The Obama Administration needs to reign in its anti Russia hawks and think long and hard about the consequences such a policy. Better sense should prevail before the bear hits back with a vengeance.

IS THE U.S. RESPONSIBLE FOR RUSSIAN MILITARY INTERVENTION IN UKRAINE?

(This Reuters picture of Russian troops in Crimea, courtesy Voice of America website)

Only a couple of weeks ago, Henry Kissinger had warned that Ukraine is very important to Russia and it being their backyard, they will never accept a hostile regime in that country.

The hawks in Washington D.C. were obviously not listening. In a recorded conversation (aired on CNN and other media), an American diplomat was caught red handed, trying to incite anti Ukraine President elements when Russia and Putin were busy putting on a good face at Sochi Winter Olympics.

It is the second time within a year that a legitimately elected President has been run out of office with U.S. backing through street protests, gun toting criminals and thuggish Generals, just because U.S. did not like the legally elected regime.

First it was Egypt, where Mohammad Morsi's Government was overthrown by the criminal, crooked and corrupt Egyptian Generals who have stolen billions of dollars over the last fifty years to fill their own pockets, while masses get poorer. Now it is Ukraine, where a legitimately elected Pro Russian Presidnet - Viktor Yanukovych has been run out of office. In his place, a Prime Minister has been appointed who could only get less than 9% votes in Presidential election against Yanukovych.

This is not to say that Morsi and Yanukovych were innocent. They had taken many unpopular decisions  that turned majority of their populations against them. However, there is still no reason for U.S. or any other country to interfere in another country's internal affairs. These are (or were) nascent democracies and it is a process that the people of those countries have to go through to elect better leaders.

Nikita Kruschev had handed over Crimea to Ukraine in the 50s probably under the assumption that that USSR will remain intact and Ukraine will always be a component of it. Did the U.S. really think that Russia will standby and watch from a distance while U.S. sponsored the overthrow of Ukrainian Government? If policy makers in the U.S. believed that, then they couldn't be more naive or ill informed. If this is a game to bog Russia down in Ukraine, it may work for a time, but eventually it could backfire on the West and on the people of Ukraine.

These actions have resulted in Russian troops entering Crimea and they are probably itching to enter the rest of Ukraine. Regardless of what President Obama says or how much noise his bumbling Secretary of State makes, they should have known better. They should have known that the outcome will be exactly like this. Instead of helping the people of Ukraine and strengthening democratic institutions in that country, they may just have added to their miseries for a long time to come.  

They should have heeded Henry Kissinger's advice.