Russia testing US with offer on joint terror fight: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Jim W. Dean, a political analyst, about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s remarks about the presence of Turkish forces on Syrian soil.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Let’s look at what the Russian foreign minister is saying and being very very firm in a couple of demands. One that he’s saying that definitely dealing with these talks that no one should bow down to Ankara’s request and invite the Kurds. Tell me your perspective, the significance of the Kurds being in that meeting and not.

Dean: Well, it’s really been a kind of a red line issue for Turkey. They’ve kind of poked the bear, so to speak, with these provocations of actually sending troops over the border into Syria. This has put that the US in a bad light that they were looking like they were trying to get the Syrian coalition to attack those forces. So, then Turkey could say, ‘OK, we want NATO to come in and defend us because we’ve been attacked by the Russians.’

So, it’s really been a crazy situation, but also for the US and… NATO to say absolutely nothing about it particularly after the ceasefire went into effect… Supplying the rebels that they’ve been doing—they’ve basically openly been supporting the terrorist groups there—to continue to do that while the ceasefire was in effect was really Turkey throwing down the gauntlet. ‘We are going to test the West whether they’re going to do anything to support us on this.’ So, the Turks basically said, ‘Our cover is that we can do this because of the YPG and deter what we consider to be the Kurdish terrorist threat.’ So, now finally Lavrov has turned it around on them and that is, ‘We are going to go ahead now and insist on the Kurds coming,’ which they have every right in doing because the Kurds do... on that whole northern border of Syria. And they’re being attacked, they’re fighting Daesh, they’re having to fight the Turks in the shadows and to say that they have no right to participate in the peace talks, it’s just absolutely ridiculous.

Press TV: Also Lavrov said a comment that Russia is willing to coordinate actions with the US in fighting Daesh to wipe them out of Raqqa. Now tell me… basically now the ball is in Washington’s court in dealing with that. How do you think the United States is going to respond to that?

Dean: Again this is putting the US in kind of a difficult spot, because in a way if Turkey and these other groups say wanted to delay the talks in some way… if you really look at it, the delaying of the actual talks is not going to bother the Syrians or bother the Russians at all, because that chance gives them more time to get humanitarian supplies into the critical area, to get the water and electricity turned on, which there’s no way to get people start moving back and rebuilding their homes until you have services.

And as that starts to happen, Assad’s political support is going to go through the roof, because he’s going to get credit for that. And then you got the situation… and then the army… they can now concentrate on wiping out al-Nusra and Daesh; and the Turks want to give them a couple of more months to do that, that’s fine. But it’s a very good move of offering with the US let’s go ahead and do this together. It’s testing the US. Do you really want to take these guys out, like you say that you want to? Show us. Let’s go ahead and get that done. And then it should be easier for the peace process to roll forward once these folks are eliminated.

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