It is Russia that surprised the imperialist West in Syria, not the other way round

by system failure

 

The rapid fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria surprised most of the people who follow closely the Syrian crisis from its beginning. At a time where there was not a single sign that the Salafi Jihadists could revive and take over Damascus, a rebranded Al-Qaeda finally did it, just in a few days, almost without any resistance by the Syrian Army and its allies. 

The Western corporate media celebrated the fall of Assad, yet an atmosphere of perplexity and uncertainty shortly replaced the celebrating climate, mostly due to the fact that the new authority in Syria was the one that had been previously classified by the imperialist West as Islamic terrorism.

 

The major Western outlets immediately lunched a massive operation to whitewash Abu Mohammad al-Julani, in an effort to transform the new leader of Syria, from a radical Islamic terrorist, to a kind of moderate and even secular figure, who respects all religions and ethnic groups. The whole effort would be really laughable if the situation wasn't so critical. 

 

However, the perplexity of the Western imperialist mechanism could be explained by another factor: the response by the Russians. As much as it looks paradoxical at first site, it seems that the Western imperialists heavily surprised from the rapid retreat of the Russians, as they expected and wanted Russia to act otherwise. 

That's because the Western imperialists desperately wanted to re-open the Syrian front in order to drag more Russian military resources there, hoping that the Russian military machine would start losing ground in Ukraine, as it would be impossible to fight in two open fronts at the same time.

 

The moment where the Russians realized that the Western imperialists were setting a trap in Syria by re-opening the front, was when the US ordered the Ukrainian regime to send drones to assist the Jihadists. And that's why it was a stupid move.

 

At that moment, Russia surprised everyone through its decision to abandon the Syrian mess. We should assume that this was not an easy decision, as Russia had to pay the price of the damage of its image, limited (but not too much) only by its action to provide an escape plan and asylum to the Syrian leader and his family.

Yet, the gains for Russia appear to be more evident, now that the dust of the Western celebrations is settled. The most important, is that Russia can focus now on the Ukrainian front, in which everything shows that it's already winning the war. With Trump in the US leadership, the war will probably end under the terms set by the Russians. 

Moreover, the Western imperialists and their allies, seem to have been caught by surprise, as now, they are the ones who have to deal with the very complex and highly uncertain situation in the post-Assad Syria. 

Therefore, despite the fact that the corporate media of the West rushed to present the fall of Assad as a defeat of Russia, Iran and the axis of resistance against the Western imperialism, it is rather Russia that surprised the imperialist West in Syria, not the other way round.