What Does Putin Really Think? Essay

In 1513, an Italian politician by the name of Niccolo Machiavelli distributed, though privately, a political treatise called The Prince. This treatise was, essentially, a guide on how to effectively rule one's country. It's important beforehand to define exactly what a Machiavellian is, before describing one. A Machiavellian is a leader who, through his power and influence, works toward the common good of his people. This can be done through fear, through deceit, even through manipulation. It is important to understand the main principle of a Machiavellian; the end justifies the means. The end being the common good of his people. Vladimir Putin is a Machiavellian in the ways he retains power, institutes reform, and executes economic

With a death toll in the hundred of thousands, and millions displaced, the Syrian civil war has become a violent mark on the world’s history. What started as a peaceful protest has spread over five years, has evolved into a war with a tyrannical government, a clashing rebellion, and terrorism fighting either side. But what is it that really fuels the immense amount of violence? It can be narrowed down to four groups that are obvious. The government and the rebels are the forerunners in violence in the war, sure, but they aren’t the only ones. There are the terrorist groups, with skewed views to support the destruction of people and things around them, and in itself the stark difference of the religions and ethnicities of Syria. Who causes

For many ongoing years now, Syria has been in a war with thousands of fleeing refugees, terrorists that could be attacking at any minute, and the constant involvement of other countries that has done more harm than their planned good. I believe that the foreign involvement of countries such as the US and Russia have fueled more of the ongoing violence in Syria.

(Michales) The Russian Defense Ministry said that a training camp and ammo depot were destroyed by bombings near the Islamic State’s defector capital in Syria, Raqqa. The countries of France, Turkey, the United States, Germany, Britain, Qutar, and Saudi Arabia; all say that Russia’s actions will “only fuel more radicalization and extremism.” (Michales) Russia’s airstrikes complicate U.S. efforts to build a moderate opposition in Syria, designed to counter the Islamic State there. (Michales) Pentagon efforts to train and deploy forces stalled before Russia’s airstrikes, but any future recruitment could be difficult if the Pentagon doesn’t provide U.S- backed rebels with guarantee of protection if they come under Russian attack. (Michales) Iraq is accepting help from both the United States and Russia is an ally to the Shiite- dominated government, Iraqi leaders will follow them, while the U.S has been trying to force the Iraqis to compromise with the Sunnis. Nonetheless, when the time comes, Iraq will pick Russia for help to fight

I am writing to you today as a student at the College of William and Mary. I am in an International Security class and recently we studied the events occurring in Syria. As you are well aware, the situation in Syria has been dramatically deteriorating in recent months with the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the recent entrance of Russia into the conflict. Syria, meanwhile, has been in the midst of a ravaging civil war since the early spring of 2011. Currently, the government of Syria is led by President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Syrian Ba’ath Party, a branch of the same Ba’ath Party that Saddam Hussein was also a member of. This similarity may lead some to think that Syria will end up like Iraq, with a

Syria is currently all over the news regarding what many have to come to see as a civil war. A term like civil war needs to identify the players and the reasons for the war. In this case the players are being identified as pro government or antigovernment with a Sunni or Shia overtone. Sunni and Shia are the two major sects of Islam and both have a historical based conflict going back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad and how Muslims should be governed. This conflict has caused tensions and violence to flare up throughout Islamic history. This conflict has carried into modern times and has becoming a rallying point for Muslim people calling for change with their government and across the Middle Eastern region. The

Syrian Sunni rebels have been trained by the U.S. military to attack northern Syria, and turned to U.S airstrikes. This is a semi alliance, and it is loose, so they do not actually work together; they just have a common goal. In this semi alliance, the US provides support, and trains Syrian rebels, to fight the war against northern Syria. This is a different kind of war than WWII. WWII was fought between countries and ended with a clear winner. In this scenario, Part of a country rebels against another part, but with another country aiding the rebels. Nadim Hassan, who is the leader of the 30th division, which is a not as extreme group of rebels, has been captured along with others. Syria became independent in 1946, and very shortly became and unstable nation with a lot of cases of rebellion and other things. In 2011, Syrians became inspired to rebel because of the Arab spring activists in Egypt and Tunisia. The Arab spring is a giant collection of protests, wars, and revolutions around the Middle East that started in December 17, 2010 in Tunisia. The consequences of the Syrian war also differ from the consequences of the nuclear bombs that were dropped and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences resulting from the war in Syria include the deaths of over 10,000 people, and Syria is currently a nation in crisis. The Islamic religion is split into two branches, which are called Sunni and Shiite. Syria is considered an Islamic country, and the government in Syria is dominated with Shiites. This Sunni versus Shiite conflict is another reason along with the Arab spring for the war in Syria. The Sunnis are rebelling against the Shiite government, and this is similar to a civil war. Civil war is similar to another topic, revolution. Revolution is defined as: “A fundamental change in political organization; especially the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed.” The main

In eyes of the world, as well as a large part of the Arab world, Bashar al-Assad is portrayed as a ruthless dictator. Almost nobody seems to consider the motives of the Syrian president. What few know is that Assad enjoys significant support from both his Alawite people and other minority groups. The Alawites and other minorities have little choice; Syrian rebels and Islamist terror groups could win the war or sign their death warrant. It would be launched large-scale ethnic cleansing and even genocide.

There are a lot of things fueling violence in Syria, but there are 3 major parts. One of them is Sectarian conflict. Another is divided opposition. And the final one is foreign inference. Because of these 3 things there is too much violence in Syria, and too many people are dying.

As of recent, there is an ongoing debate over the response of the Obama administration related to the events occurring in Syria and the potential violation by the Syrian government of customary international law and relevant treaties and conventions in the use of chemical weapons against its own people. The conflict itself has history which is required to be thoroughly examined before conclusions can be placed and actions are to be carried out. The Syrian Civil War has not only affected the lives of Syria’s citizens but has becoming a pressing issue in direct international relations between countries like Russia and the United States. Obama’s administration has their own response to the crisis at hand and believes that a military strike is a fully legal move to make given the situation present at hand. According to the evidence, it would seem possible that a violation has not occurred and that the threat by Obama’s administration to use force in the Syrian crisis stands on illegitimate grounds because the proceedings are done by Syrian government on their own grounds. However the atrocious actions committed by the Assad regime could in fact provide legality to military intervention by the United States. Finally, the focus will be to determine whether chemical weapons are in fact the sole factor for international intervention.

While some consider his methods are questionable this Russian leader managed to gain the reputation as the most interesting man in the world. He was born in 07 October 1952 in what is now called as Saint Perersburg, Russia. While he was in the university, he joined the Communist party of Soviet Russia and became a friend to his mentor Anatoly Sobchack. In 1975, he graduated from Leningrad University with a law degree and began the training in Soviet Union security agency known as KGB. Beginning from 1985, he spent five years as a spy in East Germany. After returning to Leningrad, he stayed with the KGB and worked as a surveillance officer at Alma mater.

Syria is going through a civil war. Stephen Starr says that the Civil war is between the Sunni Muslim Rebels and most of Syria's 2 million Christians under the rule of Bashar Assad. Bashar Assad is the president of Syria, he is honestly not a bad man he thinks what the government is doing to the citizens is terrible. They have not had a whole lot of problems in their history. Syrians are trying to figure out what to do with the chemical weapons they have. The Chemical weapons are being used by the rebels, and they should not be using them at all because they are making things a lot worse in Syria. Syria is south of Turkey, north of Jordan, east of Lebanon, east of the Mediterranean Sea, and west of Iraq. They are in the Middle East. There

The Syrian conflict began with the Arab Spring uprisings against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 and quickly escalated into a civil war when Assad met peace with force. The Syrian Civil War has since transcended its internal objectives to become the arena for major international power struggles between countries, like Turkey, Iran, and the United States. On September 30, 2015, Russia entered the Syrian crisis on the side of Assad in opposition to the United States, who has been supporting the Sunni rebels. Russia’s economic gains through a jump in oil prices, paired with a history of American-Russian antagonism, encouraged Russia’s involvement in the war, while a history of nationalism and neo-imperialism has transformed the Syrian Civil War into a proxy war for prestige and domination in the Middle East.

Terrorism in Syria has been quite horrific especially for the Syrian civilians to the extent to which one can refer to it as a melee. ISIS, the U.S., Russia and the Syrian government itself have committed atrocities against Syrian civilians. The Syrian Government which is not the sole offender in the Syrian war, however, did use chemical weapons in its capital of Aleppo against its own protesting civilians (Luther, 2016). In response of the use of chemical weapons being used the U.S. decided to intervene since they deemed it necessary to uphold moral standards. Despite the U.S. reasoning and intentions for entering Syria and training rebel forces to combat Assad the Syrian leader their plan ultimately fails once part of the U.S. backed Syrian Rebels joins with Al-Qaida affiliates in Iraq and forms ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) who decides attack another group in Syria called the Kurds and the same Rebel group that are still being backed the U.S.

According to The New Yorker, since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the primary backer to Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government has been the Iran. Whether by giving oil subsidies, weapons, money, or military support, Iran has been one of the most influential countries in the eventual outcome of Civil War. This issue is a current