(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 criticized 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. SPECIAL: We must stop America’s Fraud President NOW! Force the hand
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to every member of Congress—all 535 members of the House and Senate—for a
donation of just $50 or more. 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#sthash.zSMoHDA0.dpuf
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