Who’s in Control? Obama or the Generals?
By Finian Cunningham
November 16, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "RT" - US President Barack Obama’s business-like meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit at the weekend belies a spate of bellicose comments made by the Pentagon towards Moscow. So, who is in control: Obama or the generals?
The two leaders held an earnest 35-minute face-to-face discussion on the opening day of the G20 conference in Antalya, Turkey. The gathering of the world’s top 20 economic nations was dominated by the massive terror attack in Paris two days earlier, which claimed at least 129 lives and hundreds more wounded.
Obama’s meeting with Putin – their first since Russia launched its military intervention in Syria nearly seven weeks ago – was described by the White House as “constructive”.
The American president even appeared to welcome Russian airstrikes against terror groups fighting the Syrian government, most prominently Islamic State (IS) jihadists, also known as ISIL.
“As the diplomacy continues, President Obama welcomed efforts by all nations to confront the terrorist group ISIL and noted the importance of Russia’s military efforts in Syria focusing on the group,” said a White House spokesman.
That’s quite a contrast in substance and tone from a speech made by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter only a week before.
In a blustering tirade, Carter labeled Russia a “global threat” in a speech at the Reagan Library in California. He denounced Russia for “nuclear saber-rattling” and “aggression” in Europe and he slammed Putin’s military operation in Syria as “throwing gasoline” on a fire, which, he said, would lead to more terrorism across the Middle East.
Carter may have said, in passing, that the US did not want a “hot war” with Russia, but his overall thrust was one of unalloyed belligerence towards Moscow. The Pentagon chief also bracketed Russia with the terror group, Islamic State, as a main national security risk.
That depiction of Russia as a global threat along with jihadi terrorists is flatly contradicted by Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry’s diplomatic engagement with Russia.
Kerry has praised his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in helping to seal the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, for instance. And while attending the latest round of talks on the Syria conflict in Vienna this weekend, there was the usual bonhomie rapport between the top American and Russian diplomats. Indeed Kerry and Lavrov issued a joint statement condemning the terrorist massacre in Paris, and both emphasized that the atrocity underlined the urgency to find a negotiated resolution to the crisis in Syria.
This is by no means the first time that a schism has become apparent in Washington with regard to Russia.
More (and I consider the source) at..........
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43443.htm
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