During the Grand Old Party debate between potential Republican presidential nominees, Jeb Bush said to Donald Trump: “You’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. . . . Leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy, to deal with the threat of our time.” The threat of our time was of course about ISIL, and although Russia was mentioned several times by the candidates, none of it referred to the effective air campaign Moscow has conducted against the terrorist group. And of course, if Jeb’s father and brother are anything to go by, effective leadership will be lacking on his behalf.
Most disturbingly however was the evident war mongering amongst the candidates. Bush and Ted Cruz opened their statements with guarantees of keeping America safe, with Cruz taking a step further by saying “America is at war.” However, at war with who exactly? The continuous evil culprits amongst the candidates through the debate held in Las Vegas were ISIL, Assad, Iran and of course… Russia.
Cruz stated: “ISIL is created and formed because of the abuse that Assad and his Iranian sponsors have rained down on Sunnis in Syria … We need to focus our attention on Iran, because if you miss Iran, you miss ISIL.” What exactly he meant by that is unclear considering Iran has taken a lead role in fighting ISIL. Perhaps he didn’t know the denominational difference between radical Sunni ISIL and majority Shia Iran.
Although ISIL and Iran were targeted, Russia was well within sight of several candidates. When quizzed about the situation where a Turkish jet downed a Russian bomber over Syrian airspace and how America would have reacted, Cruz said: “Yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if they were stupid enough to think that this president is the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now.” This is a scary and serious predicament where a potential president feels at liberty to impose a no fly zone over a sovereign nation and destroy aircraft that were invited by the country’s leader.
This war mongering is what can set off an unnecessary Cold War era like rivalry. The success of the Russian airstrike campaign against ISIL and other terrorist groups has only exposed the built up American mythology surrounding the groups that they supposedly cannot be defeated unless American ground troops are deployed. Russia has revealed that when coupling an effective ground force like the Syrian Arab Army with airstrike campaigns, results will be seen against the extremist groups.
Maybe this is the reason that has led to presidential candidate John Kasich stating: “Frankly, it’s time we punch the Russians in the nose. They’ve gotten away with too much in this world.” What exactly this means, we’re not so sure, but clearly Russia has been aggravating Kasich with its effective foreign policy that has exposed the uselessness of US-led coalition airstrikes against ISIL.
In line with the war mongering, former New York Governor George Pataki said "the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch 'em in the face. Either us or the Turks should shoot 'em down, to keep our word." This sets a dangerous precedence where potential future presidents of the United States endorse the downing of aircraft because they ‘violate’ an imposed no fly zone. Pataki has also justified Turkey’s attack on the Russian bomber, whilst ignoring the Turkish jet had violated Syrian airspace for longer than 17 seconds to destroy the bomber. He also ignores the fact that in 2014, Turkey had violated the airspace of fellow NATO member, Greece, 2,244 times. And of course, the most recent territorial violation, Turkey’s troop and tank deployment in Iraq’s Kurdistan region was not even mentioned in passing. Erdogan would have been watching closely knowing that he can continue to violate territories outside of Turkey and down aircrafts with no condemnation from the United States.
Instead, Russian President Vladimir Putin was made out to be one of the biggest problems plaguing America and the world. Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said when talking about Putin: “Do I think we should hug Putin, have a wonderful relationship with the Russians and ride away in the sunset like in the end of Casablanca? No I don’t.” This sarcasm epitomises American attitudes towards Russia, especially when he blatantly said he does not believe the United States should have a good relationship with Moscow.
Why America should not have a positive relationship with Russia is not pushed or explained further. But this anti-Russian rhetoric only serves to sour relations more. It becomes increasingly worrying that potential future American presidents are speaking so openly about destroying Russian jets, pushing for further escalations in Syria and not wanting positive dialogue with their counterparts in Moscow. This must raise the question whether it is the United States, and not Russia, that is pushing for hostilities and global conflict.
These hostilities pushed by the presidential candidates are a world away from American Secretary of State John Kerry’s suggestions that America’s attempts of isolating Russia had effectively failed. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: “Serious differences remain between Russia and the United States over ways to resolve the Syrian crisis.” But on a diplomatic level, this is not a casus belli to sever relations between Washington and Moscow as some of these candidates would have probably pushed for.
With any hope, a rational leadership will emerge in Washington, and not the likes of Cruz, Kasich, Huckabee and Pataki who openly advocate for hostilities, expanding the war in Syria, demean Putin, and advocate for the downing of Russian aircraft in forced no fly zones without the say of the host country. The Republican Debate has only exposed the lack of clear understanding on the situation in Syria, the wider Middle Eastern region, and Russia who have effectively begun to exterminate ISIL and other radical Islamists from Syria with the backing of the Syrian Arab Army. Rather than notice and learn from the successes of Russia’s involvement in Syria, these presidential hopefuls have only gone on the defensive to continue in the same path that has seen America’s failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paul Antonopoulos is currently a Candidate for an MA Degree in International Relations, writing his dissertation on the Saudi-Iranian Geopolitical Rivalry in the Syrian War. He tweets as @oulosP.
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