Obama's attempt to placate Russia falls on deaf ears: Pundit

US President Barack Obama is attempting to placate Russia while doubling down in support of Turkey's double dealing, American political pundit Dennis Etler says.

Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remakes in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday while commenting on a statement by Obama who reiterated US support for Turkey after it shot down a Russian fighter jet last week.

After meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a climate summit at Le Bourget near Paris on Tuesday, Obama said, "I want to be very clear: Turkey is a NATO ally. The US supports Turkish rights to defend itself and its airspace and its territory."

"We all have a common enemy and that is ISIL and I want to make sure we focus on that threat," he added.

On Monday, Obama held a closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in France, urging him to de-escalate tensions with Turkey.

He also called on Putin to focus Russia's air campaign in Syria against Daesh terrorists and not target Western-backed “moderate” militants, according to the White House official.

Obama speaks out of both sides of his mouth

Commenting to Press TV, Professor Etler said, “It is obvious to any clear thinking observer that US President Obama is speaking out of both sides of his mouth as he meets with friends and adversaries on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.

“In his brief meeting with Russian President Putin, Obama voiced sympathy for the Russian plane shot down by a Turkish jet over Syria and cautioned against escalating the crisis in Russo-Turkish relations that ensued.

“Then in a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan he turns around and explicitly backs Turkey's NATO membership and endorses its actions.”

Duplicitous US tactics

Professor Etler said that the “same duplicitous tactic is being applied in the South China Sea where Obama asks China to cease and desist from its island reclamation activities while the US continues to project its naval and air forces in the region and initiates an anti-China coalition of Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam to serve as its loyal servants. This approach fools no one, especially those against whom it is directed.

“As in Ukraine the US and its NATO allies are attempting to turn the tables on Russia in Syria. In both countries the US and its regional allies illegally intervened in the internal affairs of sovereign states to impose regime change.

“The right-wing coup in Kiev that ousted the legitimate government of President Yanukovych was the result of a US instigated and funded ‘color revolution’ and a false flag ‘Reichstag fire’ operation that led to the downfall of Ukraine's duly elected Russian friendly president.

“As a consequence civil war broke out in Eastern Ukraine. The resulting conflict which was the direct result of US meddling, had the desired effect of forcing Russia to react in its own national interests thus allowing the US and its NATO allies to turn the tables on Russia and put the onus for the Western inspired turmoil on the Russians, portraying them as ‘aggressors.’”

US seeing dreams dashed in Syria

Professor Etler noted that the Ukraine “scenario is being played out in Syria. Syria which was a relatively stable and secure nation for decades was targeted for regime change by the US and when the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ occurred the US and its regional allies jumped at the opportunity to arm and train ‘opposition forces’ consisting of a motley crew of terrorists bent on wreaking havoc, dismembering Syria and displacing its people.

“The US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel recruited, trained, armed and funded the Daesh (ISIL) terrorists under the false pretense of supporting a non-existent ‘moderate opposition’ which in and of itself was a violation of the UN Charter against interfering in the internal affairs of a member state.

“But Obama then has the audacity to lecture Putin about Russian support for the legal Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad!

“The Russian campaign against Daesh (ISIL) and other terrorist groups in Syria has alarmed the US and its regional allies who are seeing their dreams of a modern day caliphate linking Turkey and Saudi Arabia through the Sunni corridor in Iraq and Syria dashed.

“Their grand scheme of isolating Iran by dismembering and defeating its allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen has been stopped in its tracks. The geo-political stakes however are extremely high and further complications are likely.”

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