Putin Slams Obama on Arab Spring: “Do You Realize What You Have Done?” (VIDEO)
(Telegraph) – Vladimir Putin snubbed Barack Obama and revived Russia’s historic role in the Middle East on Monday by calling for a new “broad coalition” to fight Isil based on co-operation with the Assad regime, report Richard Spencer, Harriet Alexander in New York and Roland Oliphant in Moscow.
In his long-awaited speech at the United Nations, the Russian president fiercely attacked American policy in Syria and around the world and criticised the West for “exporting social experiments” in the form of democratic revolutions, which he blamed for the Middle East crisis.
He said he had called for a new Syrian peace conference to be attended by a “contact group” of outside powers including Russia and the United States, as well as regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran.
Despite the fact that Russia is not among the countries led by the US currently conducting operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), Mr Putin followed up reports that it was co-ordinating intelligence sharing between Iran, Iraq and Syria by putting Moscow at the centre of the world’s “war on terror”.
He went so far as to compare his plans to the alliance that fought Hitler in the Second World War. “We must address the problems that we are all facing and create a broad anti-terror coalition,” he said.
After meeting Mr Obama, Mr Putin expanded on his theme, suggesting that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey could join Iran in a new coalition together backed by a fresh UN resolution. He could not “exclude” Russia co-operating with the US in such a coalition, he said. But he insisted that he would not send Russian ground forces in against Isil, raising questions as to whether the key to his new strategy was the fight against the terror group or to help the regime in its broader war against an armed opposition of all stripes.
Mr Putin’s gambit – which had been much briefed in advance – sets up Russia as a competitor with the US for leadership in the Syrian crisis and in the Middle East in general. It also makes clear that Mr Putin is going to stand by his ally President Bashar al-Assad.
Earlier, Mr Obama had conceded that the US’s previous insistence that Iran, Syria’s principal regional backer, should have no part in peace talks was a mistake. “The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict,” he said.
He also indicated that he remained unwilling to try to restore order in Syria using America’s military might – citing his own army’s failures in Iraq.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/11895857/Vladimir-Putin-and-Barack-Obama-speak-at-UN-General-Assembly-live.html
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