The following is an interview with Mark Dankof on PressTV
Kerry slams Russia to distract attention from US failure in Syria: Analyst
Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to distract attention from US failure in Syria by accusing Russia of violating Turkey’s airspace as part of its air campaign against Daesh (ISIL), says an analyst in Texas.
Kerry said Monday that Washington was “greatly concerned” about a Russian fighter jet’s “incursion” into the airspace of Turkey and that he had intensified discussions with Moscow.
“We’re greatly concerned about it because it is precisely the kind of thing that had Turkey responded under its rights could have resulted in a shoot-down,” Kerry said at a public event in Chile.
Mark Dankof, a former US Senate candidate, said, “John Kerry’s concerns about these alleged Russian incursions into Turkish airspace continue to divert public and world attention from what is absolutely obvious and that is that the military interventions of the United States in Syria have produced even worse results than they have in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan or half a dozen other places where this type of thing has been attempted.”
“The fact of the matter is these US airstrikes that have been going on in Syria are not only immoral and counterproductive, they’re illegal,” Dankof told Press TV on Tuesday.
“The United States Congress has never authorized these airstrikes by declaring that a state of war exists between the United States and the government of Syria, there has been no United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing these American military actions in Syria,” he explained.
“I think it’s about time that people understood that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin perceives very well that what the United States has been doing in Syria is a threat to his own country,” the analyst noted.
As Russia has been beefing up its military presence in Syria in recent weeks, US President Barack Obama has doubled down on his calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
“Barack Obama has basically brought this craziness to an entirely new level,” Dankof said, adding that the situation in Syria “is complete lunacy.”
“It will result in continued destruction in Syria and raise the stakes even higher in terms of a potential super-power confrontation between the United States and Russia that is unnecessary [and] totally avoidable.”
Russia last week began coordinated airstrikes on militant positions in Syria. Moscow’s commitment to the Syrian government runs counter to current US policy.
