Veniamin Rodnyansky. Russia in Syria: Si vis pacem para bellum

So, Russia’s Federation Council has passed a historic decision to send Russian air forces to help the Syrian army.

It was a logical response to the decision of Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran to create an anti-terror coalition. Russia is really committed to fighting ISIL. Unlike its western “partners,” it is not going to stage a show in Syria and to strike ISIL in vain for months. Its goal is to kill that monster in the bud and to keep the friendly Bashar al-Assad in power.

Alexander III of Russia is often quoted as saying: “Who has ever seen war can’t love it.” But if war is coming to your home, you better face it on its way rather than when it is already in your territory.

Russia has quite an efficient modern army and is able to carry out such missions. The Russia-led coalition is capable of beating ISIL. If all of its members (Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran) act together, this will not take long.

If this operation succeeds, the rating of Vladimir Putin and Russia, as a whole, will certainly grow. Everything began with Putin’s brilliant speech at the UN. It was a speech by a true leader. And it was followed by decisive steps to root out the world’s terrorist center.

Like it or not, they in the West will have to normalize their relations with Russia. It seems that with Europe everything is already normal despite the sanctions. Now it is time to normalize relations with the US (by the way, the Americans have already given up their crazy idea to remove al-Assad). ISIL is the problem of the whole world. This is a challenge to all humanity, like was Hitler’s Nazism. And today, just like in the times of WWII, the world needs to come together to be able to resist the global evil.

So, our actions in Syria are forcing them in the West (first of all, the Americans) to recognize Russia as an equal partner – a partner they need to be friends with for being able to solve all-human problems.

Veniamin Rodnyansky, specially for EADaily