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Did Putin Blink?
by justin Wednesday, Mar 16 2016, 8:03am
international / prose / post

Putin’s sudden withdrawal from Syria has everyone guessing, however, a few indicators cannot be ignored.

Putin

The first though not given enough serious analysis by experts is the huge build up of Turkish and Saudi forces on the Turkish-Syrian border. One could interpret that build up as a feign, but my bet is on a real preparation for some dastardly plan no doubt, as the stakes are too high for the US and its vassal allies to let go of their plan to carve up the Middle East and move on to threaten Iran.

The second could be a tactical withdrawal by Putin who has proven a point, namely that directly targeting ISIS and its many affiliates stopped it cold and sent them running -- the message is, if America is serious, it could now prove that it is willing and able to finish Putin’s highly successful campaign.

The third is pure conjecture, and that revolves around Assad who may have taken Russia’s intervention for granted and Putin is forcing him to take responsibility for protecting his own nation, as the backs of terrorist groups have been broken.

The last possibility I care to offer is of course Putin’s own paranoia and fear -- not to be ignored. If Putin rightly or wrongly sensed that a major offensive was underway against him and he clearly did not have the means to sustain a prolonged counter attack -- he would have bailed, as he has done previously on numerous occasions, the most damning, Libya and blood ally Yugoslavia. So is Putin's sudden move really a surprise?