Russia Cannot Be Allowed

The U.S. and six other nations backing rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called on Russia to cease attacks against the country’s opposition, saying air strikes that have killed civilians risk fueling extremism.

  Bloomberg

Is this The Onion? No...Bloomberg.

A little warning aside:  about all we have left is hope the US government policy-makers don't actually believe their own propaganda.

The air campaign, Russia’s first military foray outside of the former Soviet Union in more than three decades, surprised and angered the U.S. and its allies. [...] The operation also raise the risk of accidents between Russian and U.S. jets, which are sharing airspace as they pursue separate bombing campaigns.

The public opinion in Iraq is that the U.S. has (again) nefarious aims and is neither committed to a united and sovereign Iraq nor to eradicating the Islamic State.

But now Russia offers an alternative. An intelligence operations room was opened in Baghdad in which Iraq, Iran, Syria, Russia and Hizbullah (the 4+1) develop and exchange intelligence about the Islamic State and possible targets for coming attacks. It looks pretty bad for the U.S. to not be trusted enough to take part in it.

But that is not enough yet. After Russia started its anti-terrorist air campaign in Syria yesterday despite U.S. protests it is now setting the mark even higher. Against a onslaught of dumb U.S. propaganda it is expertly trolling the U.S. over its lack of legitimacy.

Sky News Newsdesk @SkyNewsBreak Reuters: Russian foreign ministry says it would consider any request from #Iraq to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq

[...]

It is always good to have an alternative when negotiating with a superior partner. Abadi now has one.

[...]

Why rely on the U.S. when all it does, preferring the Kurds and Sunni militia while holding back effective Shia militia, seems to be against a unified Iraq and when the U.S. fight against IS is at maximum halfhearted. But even if [Iraq PM] Abadi will not kick out the U.S. and invite the Russians he can at least use the Russian offer to pressure the U.S. into a different behavior.

[...]

It now seems that every U.S. "ally" on the ground, except the now finally acknowledged CIA trained friends-of-Nusra-and-IS, would prefer to work with Russia instead of working under hapless U.S. policies.

  Moon of Alabama

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  http://youwillanyway2.blogspot.com/2015/10/hold-presses.html

Taking Care of the World

Secretary of State John Kerry warned Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq on Monday not to interfere with the process of picking a new Iraqi leader, cautioning pointedly that a power grab would lead to a cutoff of international support.

  NYT

Obama has not proposed toppling Iraq’s government by force like his predecessor once did. But the president has instructed his diplomats in Washington and Baghdad to find an alternative to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Since June those diplomats have quietly supported a member of Maliki’s own political party to be the next prime minister. On Sunday, the effort appeared to pay off, when a majority of Shi’ite politicians threw their weight behind Haidar al-Abadi, leading to Iraq’s president to instruct him to begin forming a new government.

  Daily Beast