PARIS COULD CAUSE BROAD SHIFT WSJ’s Stephen
Post# of 5789
Posted On: 11/16/2015 3:22:11 PM
PARIS COULD CAUSE BROAD SHIFT
WSJ’s Stephen Fidler and Julian E. Barnes: “Thirty minutes of terror on the streets of Paris looks to become the catalyst for a broad shift in international politics with implications that could last for years. Much of the focus in the West over the past year has been on a perceived growing threat from Russia. Terrorism was a real, but containable problem. Moscow’s new aggressive military posture in Ukraine and beyond, on the other hand, posed a more serious threat.
“But with a series of well-coordinated strikes, Islamic State put the threat of terrorism back at the center of the international agenda. And Russia, far from a nuclear-armed enemy, instantly presented itself as a partner — one with a plan for immediately tamping down the threat. Moscow’s strategy — to back the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, at least temporarily, as the best way of tackling Islamic State — has been unpalatable to the U.S. and, up to now, France, which has been one of Mr. Assad’s fiercest international critics. That position could well be changing.”
http://on.wsj.com/1OaMWQK
WSJ’s Stephen Fidler and Julian E. Barnes: “Thirty minutes of terror on the streets of Paris looks to become the catalyst for a broad shift in international politics with implications that could last for years. Much of the focus in the West over the past year has been on a perceived growing threat from Russia. Terrorism was a real, but containable problem. Moscow’s new aggressive military posture in Ukraine and beyond, on the other hand, posed a more serious threat.
“But with a series of well-coordinated strikes, Islamic State put the threat of terrorism back at the center of the international agenda. And Russia, far from a nuclear-armed enemy, instantly presented itself as a partner — one with a plan for immediately tamping down the threat. Moscow’s strategy — to back the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, at least temporarily, as the best way of tackling Islamic State — has been unpalatable to the U.S. and, up to now, France, which has been one of Mr. Assad’s fiercest international critics. That position could well be changing.”
http://on.wsj.com/1OaMWQK
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