54 Comments

LOL. Putin's a great bullshitter. That's not a criticism. After all, he never would have risen to the position he currently holds without having that skill.

There is no way the fall of Assad cannot be viewed as a defeat for Russia, Putin damned well knows that, and comes up with a great face-saving bullshit line anyway. Like millions of other Americans, I've become something of a connoisseur of political and commercial bullshit out of necessity since it is literally unavoidable, and I know good bullshit when I see it.

Few American Presidents have done better in a bad situation than Putin did here. I hope Uncle Vlad appreciates the compliment.

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TL:DR Putin and the Russian leadership are reacting to events and not being proactive. Maybe they have no choice. For example, Turkey toppled a Russian ally and Russia cannot really do anything about it.

Everything else is so much cope.

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BLA ... BLA .... BLA ...

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9hEdited

Destiny weeds off the chaff and the grain gets separated. What has happened in Syria is the outcome of many miscalculations and negligences. It is now time to move forward, as Russia is doing. Building a concensus, instead of the confrontational approach, seems to be the way forward, which Russia in its pragmatic wisdom is pursuing. As for the implacable western observers, they will of course always point fingers at Russia by finding fault in the policies of its leadership, but this has more to do with the anti-Russian bias in their attitude of compulsive denunciation of Russia regardless of whichsoever turn events might have taken. Amidst the din and bustle of callous indifference from the west, Russia has not abandoned its goodwill for the common folks of Syria and concern for their well-being, and this consideration has had a major impact on shaping Russian policy even at the cost of appearing to be erring on the side of political-incorrectness.

Some news channels have reported that Turkish military had used electronic warfare ECM techniques for fooling the SAA cadre posted in Aleppo, giving them false orders on behalf of Damascus, ala the American warship Pueblo in the Korean War. It will have to be conceded though such statements might well nigh eventually turn out to be more of marketing stunts rather than hard facts in favour of ASELSAN's Milkar and ILGAR electronic warfare systems which Turkey has been aggressively seeking foreign buyers for.

The causes behind the unexpected "dissipation" of the SAA cadre without putting up a fight before vastly outnumbered handful of adversaries, are indeed intriguing and might be multitudinal; they could be a subject of ongoing research but whatever eventually transpires in this regard will not detract from the fact that Russia under the able leadership of President Putin has steered itself along the best pragmatic course in the setting of inevitability of the present outcome. A course which prima facie appears to be in the best interests of the common folks both in Syria and elsewhere, and of Russian interests too. Russian policy is not hostage to the Machevalian doctrine which underlies much of EU stance towards global problems; the humane factor has always figured prominently in Russian pragmatism.

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"Putin also took the opportunity to condemn Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine as well as its ongoing military operation in Gaza."

Yeah, that'll scare 'em! Boy, I bet they really regret all the colour revolutions and 50 years of other machinations they've used to create their Greater Israel. Yeah, I'll bet they drop that whole idea now, and go back to their 1948 borders, and then go on to create a Palestinian state, just like they said they would do, before the country came into existence in the first place. They just, quite blamelessly, forgot for a while. It's not like anyone's died or been hurt as a result, e.g. in Gaza.

And I bet that Baker really, really regrets moving NATO any more than an inch eastwards, in '92, because the whole idea of a deal to re-unite Germany just slipped his mind.

Hey, we're all human; I forget stuff all the time.

"...and Turkey needs to somehow ensure its security."

What Ottoman Empire? They were a bunch of pussycats. The Georgians loved 'em! Remember?

"...makes sense for Putin to remind everyone about the pro-Iranian units’ cowardice..."

Yeah, given the butch and foreboding stance he's taken... Makes sense?

"Putin’s responsibility is to ensure Russia’s national interests..."

Well, it's certainly reassuring to learn he hasn't lost sight of that.

"...won’t go to war with Turkiye over this either."

In the long view, 'won't' and 'doesn't want to' aren't quite the same thing.

"Putin’s pragmatic hedging therefore preserves Russian interests."

Yeah... I can't help wondering if there might not be some others closer to centres of power in Moscow, i.e. the Army's General Staff, who take rather a different view. After all, it didn't work very well for Kirillov, and he was one of the good guys.

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President Putin points out that those trying to tear apart the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, happen for the most part to be ethnic "Jews", but few of them attend synagogue if at all.

https://youtu.be/iEBlD2Ufqks?si=OnpQy1bDSjXB8MjA

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8hEdited

Thanks for the URL.

I sort of took a shot from the hip, or shot my mouth off without thinking, with my previous reply.

I was particularly interested to read the rabbi, Pinchass Goldsmith's take (~3:55-4:04), "...someone who was forced to flee my [sic] home and community in Moscow..." because I think this is where Putin's gone a bit off-course (regarding Israel, Netanewworld and the Jews): it seems he's thought, if he were nice to them, they would reciprocate in kind. As a representative of ex-Russian Jews in their new homeland, I'm afraid comrade Pinchass' sentiment is far more likely to be what Putin would be wise to expect, despite his loudly and proudly boasted sentiments about his deeper understanding of the Jewish mindset, heartfeel and nature.

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8hEdited

No worries. I had understood. Thanks and regards. Pinchas Goldshmidt perhaps wants to say that Zelensky who is out to exterminate Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine and has banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not MildYew but a Buddhist ascetic from Myanmar, and that the Khazarite-Mingrelian Ziofascist defacto dictator Lavrenti Pavles Dzu Beria, who had directly supervised holocaust of 20 million Russians-Belarusians-Ukrainians, was a Yogi from the Himalayas! Rabbi PinkAss is a rabid anti-Goyist. No matter howsoever hard Mr Putin might try to build a philoSemite reputation, fact remains that Israel's cohorts strive in full throttle to condemn Russia and Putin as an enemy of Israel and Jews, as exemplified by the accusations made on camera by Israel's state-jacent renegade Muslim mouthpiece Moab Hasan Youseff; and it might count as a bit of bending over backwards too much in pandering to a bully who has condemned you for good, in pledging innocence repeatedly with the hope of convincing him. The bully doesn't need any protests or convincing, the case is closed with a sentence of guilty in so far as he is done with it. Being a Rabbi of itself is not such a big deal because even Moses Mordecai Levi alias Karl Marx had been groomed to be a Rabbi by his father who was a Rabbi himself.

The cabal has stolen America from the cowboys by stealth after systematically infiltrating and expropriating democratic civil institutions and transmogrifying the latter beyond repair. Now, in this date, this cabal seems confident in flinging goy zombies who form its proverbial cowboy's horse, as expendable cannon fodder along the line of nuclear fire in its zero sum gamble of rapacious corpimperialist conquest for plunder of Russia, in the belief that its members are so well perched on the most previliged echelons of hierarchy that any wildfire will never reach them even if all of the others were to perish as sacrificials.

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Yeah, go figure... Beyond me, I'm afraid.

What was your point?

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Thats a mealy mouthed statement. Theres absolutely no difference between a "secular" Jew and one that isnt. They bot subscribe to the notion of a " given land", among many other things. Dont fall for the kool aid.

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Actually, it's Turkey, not Turkiye, for the same reason that it is "the Ukraine" and not "Ukraine" (ie. how we speak English has nothing to do with these countries).

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No, actually what was formerly known as Turkey officially changed its name to Turkiye some years back, so it can be written either way in English. The same goes for what used to be known as the Czech Republic, which changed its name to Czechia.

In any case, do you have any constructive critiques or feedback about my analysis or are you just going to nag over your personal preference? You should appreciate that I invest the time into engaging with my audience instead of being obnoxious and wasting it.

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Korybko, you're being rude. I'm English, and I will tell you what good English is - and you have no part to play in the conversation. Turkey is not an official regulatory body for the English language. They have no role to play in this. We will tell them what their country is called in English. What would be say if Russia "informed" us that Moscow was now to be called "Moskva" in English? We would tell them to take a hike. The Czech Republic is NOT called Czechia in English! Hardly any native speakers of English say that. The Czech government is as rude as the Ukrainian and Turkish governments in this respect. Stop being obnoxious. You are clearly mainly of Slavic ancestry - I will tell you what good English is.

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You're the one being rude by acting as a know-it-all on the irrelevant issue of how to write that country's name in English.

I'm a born-and-raised American with native English fluency. My ancestral background doesn't detract from my mastery of the language.

Why waste the opportunity to ask me targeted questions about Russian policy by obsessing over this issue and then doubling down? What a disappointment.

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You're British so here's what your Cambridge Dictionary says:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/turkiye

You're not more of an authority on the English language than they are.

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I'm telling you that no-one in England says that. And no-one in America, Canada, Australia or New Zealand either. That dictionary has included the word as a sop to political correctness.

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I don't care what anyone in England says, I'm an American, proud of it, and I'll write whatever I want. You don't control me, you have zero influence over me, and you're delusional to think that I'll bow to your demands.

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No, you're the one being rude. I'm English, not American - and in the end we speak English better than the Americans. But answer this: how many Americans have you EVER heard call Turkey Turkiye? The answer is zero. So your vaunted claim to a native-level command of English falls flat on its face - because you cannot claim that ANY native speakers of English say Turkiye.

Waste the opportunity to ask you targeted questions? Look! I like most of your analysis, as many of my comments show, but you are also a paid propagandist for Putin. So you have been asked to write that Putin has pulled off a masterstroke in Syria, and you have been paid for writing that. I suppose your next article will be that it is a masterstroke not to take Odessa and Kharkov - and a masterstroke for Putin to misrepresent a strategic defeat in the Ukraine (yes! THE Ukraine) as a win. Why don't you go and ask your Ministry of Defence handlers what to say to this post?

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You're crossing the line by personally insulting me, which I don't accept anyone doing on my Substack. You can do it on X, but not here. You'll be blocked if you continue.

To address what your wrote:

1. Yes, I have indeed heard Turkey be referred to as Turkiye since it officially changed its name.

2. You being English is irrelevant since the English language is does indeed allow for calling Turkey Turkiye as I proved from the Cambridge Dictionary.

3. I'm not a "paid propagandist for Putin", I receive absolutely no government funds whatsoever and nobody tells me what to say.

4. My views have always exclusively been my own and I constructively critique Russia whenever I feel that it's warranted. Here's proof:

https://korybko.substack.com/p/korybko-to-azerbaijani-media-all

https://korybko.substack.com/p/20-constructive-critiques-about-russias

https://x.com/AKorybko/status/1849426825937653780

You're delusional and dishonest if you think that anyone here would pay me to countersignal the official narrative on such sensitive issues.

5. Again, I don't have any "handlers", you're defaming me and I won't tolerate it. Do it again here and you're blocked.

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Brits went all over the world “discovering” and naming lands already named by the indigenous populations, who wished they were never found by the violent invaders who looked strangely translucent to them.

We all know the story. 400 years of plunder and pillaging, still stored in the Bank of England, royal palaces and the British Museum among many other places.

The empire on which the sun never sets is no more. But the empire language survived and morphed into the international language. It is not a suitable language for the purpose. Esperanto would have been much better.

The world is changing. The „discovered” lands want to be called according to their language and wishes.

Who gives a damn about what the „proper English” called it?

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Fuck off with your colonial rot🤡

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The sentence "His pragmatic hedging preserves Russia’s national interests and even stands a chance at advancing them in the new regional reality." at the beginning has said it well. Nobody can win all the time, especially in international geopolitics. Recognizing a misstep, keeping the self-confidence, examining the mistakes, and proceeding forward cautiously are probably the best reactions. Putin can say what he said mostly because Syria was in an unsustainable state. Either Russia pushed for a regime change (bad precedence in Afghanistan), or offered maximal help for free (and got rejected) or shipped Assad away and offered him asylum. Using sufficient forces to pop up Syria without changing the working of the then Syria government is likely to fail in the long run. From the economic point of view, it seems miracle to me the old Syria lasted this long given its condition.

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How many "mistakes" can Putin make before one is forced to ask, " What is going on ? "

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Johnson CIA w/ Krainer NDB: Woke West Lost Against Russia-Iran-China. About money. If you have time to watch just one video, this is the one!

https://rumble.com/v613992-johnson-cia-w-krainer-ndb-woke-west-lost-against-russia-iran-china.-about-m.html

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This is not a defeat but a political victory. The US under Trump will not enarmor with Syria much. Turkey will soon bare the costs of meddling over there because Kurds are hard nuts to crack.

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The difference between Turkey and Israel is that as opposed to Israel, Turkey doesn't want to exterminate its minorities. Israel is conducting genocide, ethnic cleansing, and settler colonialism, while Turkyie doesn't do any of this things. Now the islamists in power in Syria might be splurging in killing religious minorities, but that is on them, not on Turkyie.

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I'm surprised to see geopolitical events explained, in part, by military and paramilitary units' acute cowardice. I mean, I'm surprised to hear it from you, Andrew.

Surely there has to be a more systematic explanation than that all the government affiliated fighters suddenly turned cowardly for no apparent reason.

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It was indeed cowardice, how else to explain them surrendering the country to groups that they consider to be sectarian jihadists with a history of slaughtering civilians?

Nothing like this has ever happened before. Even Alawite members of the SAA gave up, ran away, and put up no resistance to their country's takeover by such groups.

I'm sure there were some exceptions, but by and large, what we saw was them surrendering the country to their ideological enemies.

It seems like you're lending credence to the hypothesis that they were ordered to lay down arms, but that doesn't account for why there wasn't a mutiny.

No self-respecting and patriotic individual would hand over their country to terrorists. Everything you were told about the SAA up till this point by pro-Assad folks was false.

You can continue believing whatever you want to, but describing the SAA and its allies' surrender as anything but cowardice will only detach you further from reality.

What happened was an epic and cowardly collapse. I'm not going to defend people who give up cities and Russian weapons to terrorist-designated groups.

Civilians are being killed right now because of what they did. They betrayed their oath, their country, and their own fellow citizens. I have zero respect for the SAA after this.

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We also now know as an indisputable fact that the SAA wasted the nearly half-decade of peace during the ceasefire by not building any fortifications whatsoever along the Line of Contact to protect against a terrorist invasion.

The terrorists effortlessly crossed into other parts of Idlib Province and Aleppo without any obstruction. There were no barriers, no ditches, no fortifications, nothing. That's unacceptable and no serious military would ever behave so irresponsibly.

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The Russian army was training, advising, and somewhat equipping the SAA. Whats that say about it ?

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Which is turn raises the question of what changed since the last flareup of fighting?

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"You can continue believing whatever you want to"

I have no idea what happened there. But something had to happen, other than just a sudden fit of cowardliness. Some of the military commanders were bribed, bought off? The government behaved so revoltingly in recent months that its fighters lost any respect for their high command? I don't know, but I feel that something had to have happened.

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Okay, and so what if some high-level officials were bribed? The rank and file didn't have to surrender their country to terrorists, betray their people, and thus become partially responsible for the crimes that are now taking place.

No soldier has to obey treasonous orders to surrender their second-largest city to terrorists without a fight. That's legitimate grounds for a mutiny. They could have at the very least reassembled in the coastal hills to wage guerrilla warfare.

None of that happened though. They just went along with everything and gave up. That's cowardly, treasonous, and in my opinion, unacceptable. Again, the SAA wasn't whatever brave institution you thought it was. They're cowards.

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Do you have any idea how disrespectful it is to Russia for the SAA to surrender Aleppo, which Russia spilled blood liberating, without a fight?

In this zero-sum debate -- and yes, it is indeed zero-sum-- I'm on Russia's side but I acknowledge that many in Alt-Media remain on the SAA's.

That's fine, I don't care what anyone thinks, but I'm explaining what I believe happened and elaborating on what Putin just revealed.

350 militants took over the second-largest city that was being defended by over 30,000 troops. That's a crazy statistic, I would never have believed it if someone made that prediction the day before all of this happened.

That's because I too was under the influence of Resistance propaganda and falsely thought that the SAA was braver than it proved itself to be. Now that we see what happened, I recalibrated my views of them in hindsight.

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" 350 militants took over the second-largest city that was being defended by over 30,000 troops. That's a crazy statistic, I would never have believed it if someone made that prediction the day before all of this happened. "

When something sounds too good to be true ..............

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You make it sound very black and white, but didn't even Mr. Putin (among many others) say yesterday that the jihadists who are taking over Syria are "new and improved" jihadists?

And if they are indeed a sort of "nice jihadists", then (for example!) for a religious Assad fighter (and I assume most are), dying for a secular regime may not seem too attractive.

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It most definitely is black-and-white in this respect: cowards run away from terrorists, leave their (in some cases Russian) weapons, surrender entire cities, and let terrorists slaughter civilians afterwards, while the brave and truly patriotic continue to fight even if the leadership sold out.

To your second point, the SAA has had pious recruits this entire time, but they never surrendered en masse like this before. What changed was that they took their allies' support for granted as they did the ceasefire and then fled in the face of this terrorist blitz.

I don't know why you won't deprogram yourself from all the false claims that you internalized about the SAA. They were ultimately exposed as cowards for the most part, but I accept that maybe this is an important pillar of your beliefs and thus you can't accept this for personal reasons.

In any case, I can't continue investing my very limited free time (daily analyses, lots of research that goes into them, family affairs, etc.) into continuing to elaborate on my views and understanding of Russia's approach. I'm therefore politely leaving this subthread. Cheers.

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The jihadi takeover of Syria is a fait accompli.

Putin has no choice but to issue cope.

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Well, if it were me, I think I would have a choice:

1. everything is fine, goes according to the plan (which is what Mr. Putin did),

and

2. the usual suspects (i.e.: the West) committed a horrible crime there, but we will prevail in the end.

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There are many things could have happened and any two or three of them could have caused the effect. Unfortunately, we don't know all the truth and likely we never will. If Andrew was to write a detailed analysis about all the possible reasons for the Syria collapse, I think he would have mentioned quite a few more. I read multiple channels, and everyone says a few common things but has their own unique angle which I find very probable. However, in this article, Andrew focused on analyzing Putin's speech and what Putin said about events.

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"Some of the military commanders were bribed, bought off?"

It also beggars belief that counterintelligence had zero clue.

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