Sam Nunn on Russia in Syria: He told you so
Before Paris, before Beirut, before the airliner was shot down over the Sinai, there was a September interview with former U.S. senator Sam Nunn, who said the newly enhanced Russian presence in Syria might not be the catastrophe that everyone thought:
If the U.S. can put aside, at least temporarily, its insistence that Assad be forced out, "that may be a bridge" that could lead to a joint effort to combat ISIL, he said.
Assad may be a very bad fellow, Nunn said, but the Muslim radicals are "a nightmare." And remember that we held our nose and linked arms with Joe Stalin once, to go after Adolph Hitler.
I asked Nunn what his personal impression of Putin was. "He's a guy that has extreme pride in his own country. I think he reflects the Russian population in that he has been embarrassed by the collapse of the Soviet Union," Nunn said. "I do believe he is a sober guy, he's a smart guy, and he's going to do what's in the Russian interest. He's the card the Russian people have dealt."
Here's the lede of a New York Times piece that just moved:
For a second straight day French warplanes hit a command post and a recruitment center for jihadists in an Islamic State stronghold, Raqqa, the French Ministry of Defense announced on its website, while Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at Islamic State targets in the same area.
U.S. officials report that the Russians gave us a heads-up before they struck. So we could have something new, or rather World War II-ish: An alliance of France, Russia and the U.S. in the Middle East.
About the Author
Jim Galloway, the newspaper’s former political columnist, was a writer and editor at the AJC for four decades.
