by Claudiu Secara

Let’s face it. The loss of Syria by Russia is a monumental defeat with far ranging consequences. It’s not about the ISIS, as Mr. Putin claims, and it’s not about losing Russia’s only air and sea bases on the Mediterranean Coast. Mr. Doctorow goes on talkshows like Judge Napolitano’s, making the rounds to explain how Russia has actually already won its objectives in Syria. That’s a very low parroting of the same explanation given by Mr. Putin.

We are to believe that Russia defeated the ISIS in Syria and now it can retire. Far from the truth. The ISIS dressed in a business suit is now in power in Syria.

But the biggest loss for Mr. Putin is the loss of the pipeline war: From the Nord Stream, lost in a blowup attack by the US, to, now, the loss of the Ukraine pipeline starting January 1, to be followed by the advent of the Turkish pipeline.

That’s what the debacle in Syria is all about.

The Turks, so far dependent on Russian gas and oil, can now quickly get the pipeline built from the Gulf States right at their doorsteps through Syria. Erdogan has played the Russians.

The consequences for Russia are dire. Once the Turks are no longer dependent on Russian energy, the Turks can reassert themselves as the gatekeepers of the straits linking the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, basically the only exit for Russia to the world at large.

If we consider that the Syrian pipeline will come to fruition, it will not be limited to the Gulf countries’ energy resources; it can also carry oil and gas from the Central Asian countries. The oil from Azerbaijan, from Kazahstan, even from Turkmenistan can now flow – outside of Russia’s control.

The Europeans are back in business – and they don’t even need to die in the war in Ukraine in order to contain Russia and strangulate it economically.

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