Military intervention not to resolve Syria conflict: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Richard Silverstein, a journalist and political commentator from Seattle, to ask for his insight into the United States' perception of a Russian military involvement in Syria.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Obama has said he won’t engage in proxy war with Russia over Syria, but he also says that “Iran and Assad make up Mr. Putin's coalition, while the rest of the world makes up our coalition." That pretty much sounds like a man who says he doesn’t want war, but he is actually taking the first step towards war by drawing the battle line.

Silverstein: I would say that we are already involved in Syria in a proxy war that’s just the level of involvement, perhaps hasn’t risen to the level of involvement of Russia, because we don’t have troops on the ground like Russia does. But we are coordinating airstrikes in Syria as well as Russia. So, as far as I’m concerned any type of military intervention in Syria or anywhere else including Yemen is itself a recipe for disaster. I don’t think these kinds of conflicts can be resolved with military might. I think they have to be resolved through negotiation and getting all the parties together sitting around a table and trying to figure out a compromise. Political settlement is the only way to solve these issues and not use of military force.  

Press TV: Why do you think Russia has decided to take military action in Syria? What is the significance of timing of this military action being taken place now after the UN General Assembly meeting? And do you think it’s a game changer?

Silverstein: I think that it does, in essence, change the game, because you now have really strong investment by Russia in maintaining Assad’s rule in Syria and he is doubling down on that by sending military advisors and aircraft inside Syria. And we are intervening, the US and its coalition is intervening as well, but our allies – Saudi Arabia and Qatar – only have ground troops there. We don’t have planes and other weapons and forces like Russia does. So, this is a game changer and it does show that Putin is trying to flex his muscles and he’s intervening in Ukraine and he’s trying to show that Russia’s willing to extend its force and intervention into other places as well. I’m someone alarmed by that, because as I said earlier, I don’t see military intervention works and the US has attempted military intervention itself in places around the world in Iraq and Afghanistan and it hasn’t worked out. So, I don’t think that these are positive developments and I’m hoping there will be a political and negotiated solution.

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