Anchal
Kannambadi
Response
#2
Article:
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/10/04/us-russia-vladimir-putin-syria-ukraine-american-military-plans/73147344/
In
class we have been discussing the concept of war, in which we break down how
each group views war. We stated that Realists believe that war starts because
of security dilemmas, and rivalries. Liberals believe that wars start because
of domestic politics, and irrationality. And finally Constructivists believe
that war starts because of coercion, and that there is no clear theory. We also
discussed in class that war isn’t seen as an ideal choice, and only when one is
put in a hard situation they choose war. Russia says that they will begin an
air strike in Syria. Russia has warned America about this and have told the
military to clear the space. What is interesting about Russia and Syria is that
they have one of the scariest military powers in the world, so a war between
the two would cause both severe damage as well as a lot of money. Although
Russia’s military is not as advanced as The United States of America, They are
slowly getting better, so a war between Syria could become serious. We also focused on Realism, and went in depth on what a Realist viewed War as. From a Realists perspective war is inevitable since all states want security the only
way to achieve security for their state is to become the most dominant in their
region. The best way to do this is to go to war. This can be demonstrated in a
variety of moments throughout human history. When 9/11 struck, President Bush
made the executive decision to go to war against Iraq. In doing so he asserted
dominance against a country who posed a great threat against our country. Every
country wants security for themselves, and will do it by any means necessary. That
means that countries will just go to war with each other because they want to
show that one or the other is in control. My question is whether or not you
believe that we should focus more time on the military to help assert our
dominance, or if we should focus on other aspects of our government and
society.
Anchal,
ReplyDeleteDo you believe that Russia is beginning an air strike against Syria because they want to become a regional hegemon? What I find to be interesting and possibly war-provoking is the abundance of misinformation going on in this whole ordeal. Russia originally said that it was going to launch airstrikes in Syria against ISIS, but then it did not do what it said it was going to do. Instead, Russia launched airstrikes on the rebel groups trying to oust the Syrian President Asaad, and minimal to none that were actually against ISIS. I think it is definitely possible that a major conflict will occur between the US and Russia, because we have opposing views on the definition of “terrorist.” Russia has hit some American-backed rebel groups and the US has hit areas that could benefit Syria, such as Palmyra. Clearly, Russia and the US have some serious diplomacy to work out with one another.
I do not think it is likely that the U.S. would fight a proxy war in Syria. If it is a matter of dominance in the region, the U.S. already has strong ties with Israel and the newly constructed Iraqi democratic government. There is no need to expend lives and resources to become a more prevalent force in the region. I think that the U.S. is more concerned with the human rights violations that the Assad regime carries out. If Russia is willing to use military force to keep the Assad regime in power, I predict that the U.S. will find a solution to the human rights violations that doesn't involve the military ousting of Assad.
ReplyDeleteI do not think we should get militarily involved in Syria as it would only provoke an aggressive reaction from Russia, who's leader is much more likely to escalate than ours. Russia is close to Syria, and they could just be asserting their own dominance within their "sphere of influence". We would not want the Russians trying to settle a dispute in Central America, and similarly, they do not want us close to their borders. Rather, we could focus on getting Russia to only help Assad if he scales back on the human rights violations. Russia wants to be a global power, and this instance is just another example of that.
ReplyDeleteI think that not that Russia has become involved in the fight in Syria, the ability of the US to use military action in Syria is all but gone. This is a result of the fact that the original reason for our involvement was to stop the human rights violations by Assad which means that now not only would we be fighting him, but also Russian forces. At this point, I do not think it is within the interest of the US to intervene against Russia. The way I see it, the US will allow the Russians to intervene with the hope of them bringing stability back to the region. After this, the only reason I think the US would be forced to go back into Syria would be to prevent further human rights violations if they continue after stability has been restored.
ReplyDelete