America's Failure — and Russia and Iran's Success — in Syria's Cataclysmic Civil War

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/americas-failure-russia-success-in-syrias-war

 

TPM Cafe: Opinion

America's Failure — and Russia and Iran's Success — in Syria's Cataclysmic Civil War

 

Joshua Landis is head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and publishes the influential blog “Syria Comment.” He is, perhaps, the nation’s foremost expert on Syria. He has been consistently right about the events of the last five years. When most Washington policy-makers were predicting that Syrian President Basher al-Assad would fall, Landis warned that he would hang on to power. While liberals and conservatives were calling for military intervention in Syria to overthrow Assad, Landis advised caution. In this interview, he assesses the Obama administration’s policy in Syria and the prospects facing the new Trump administration as Russia and Iran consolidate their hold over the Northern tier of the Middle East. It is, in my opinion, the clearest and most comprehensive analysis of why the United States failed to get its way in Syria and what it should do now. – John Judis

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/americas-failure-russia-success-in-syrias-war