The West Failed in Syria, Opened A Hole For Russia To Step In - Edward Lucas

What You Need To Know:

✅ The Syrian Crisis is a result of the failure of Western leadership;

✅ Europe is split between countries in the South which welcome Putin's intervention and Eastern as well as Northern countries which oppose it;

✅ Obama never should have agreed to meet Putin;

✅ Russia's intervention in Syria is meant for the cameras.

British journalist, editor of The Economist and author of 'The New Cold War,' Edward Lucas, discussed with Hromadske what types of hybrid war Russia uses in its stand-off with the West over Ukraine.

He believes that Putin's main goal in Ukraine is to prevent it from becoming a success story, and so far he I succeeding. Lucas thinks it is possible that Russia will continue its military offensive in Ukraine in order to create a land corridor into Crimea.

The journalist also shared his thoughts on what Ukrainians should do to counter this Russian aggression, especially in the information field.

The West's failure to lead and solve the crisis in Syria is a key reason why European countries are looking at Putin like a potential partner to end the war, and potentially stop the refugee crisis. However, Lucas says that Russia's intervention is dangerous, and is not welcomed by all European countries, particularly France, and the Eastern European countries. For the French, they simply will not tolerate a Syria with Assad, and the Northern and Eastern European countries, they are not willing to deal with Putin after his attack on Ukraine.

America's made a catastrophic mistake in meeting Putin, says Lucas. He doesn't believe that Russia is in any way capable of solving the crisis in Syria, and Putin shouldn't have been allowed to meet Obama after trying to embarras him at the UN General Assembly.

"Russia's behaved with such blatant disregard for American interests that there probably isn't a deal anymore." he says, referring to the potential of forming a coalition to attack ISIS. "I think America came close to working with Russia, and I think that would've been a mistake. Russia just enjoyed the humiliation of embarrasing America."

For the Russians, and Putin, this is just a symbolic intervention made for TV screens back home, says Lucas. It shows the population at home and certain leaders abroad that Russia can infact project their power abroad, further than Ukraine, and intervene in global crises.

The fact that the Russians have stopped the fighting in Ukraine is a tribute to the power of the Ukrainian military says Lucas. "You basically fought the Russians to a standstill so that they couldn't have a military victory."

Hromadske International's Nataliya Gumenyuk interviewed Edward Lucas in October, 2015.

The West Failed in Syria, Opened A Hole For Russia To Step In - Edward Lucas by Hromadske International on Mixcloud