Last Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the country would continue its support of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime with military assistance. The call came amid concerns of Moscow’s continued involvement in Syria with Putin expressing, “We support the government in Syria in its effort to counter terrorist aggression.” According to U.S. officials, the Russian military has deployed half a dozen airfield tanks outside the city of Latakia, which suggests a move to support the crumbling military forces, according to a Sept. 15 Wall Street Journal article. The U.S. and Russia may have similar interests in the region, both having a stake in the fight against the Islamic State. Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman expressed, “We welcome Russia participating in the global anti-ISIL efforts, but to do that via the Assad regime is unhelpful and potentially destabilizing.” Do you support Russian involvement in Syria, and do you believe in a joint coalition between the West and Russia to combat the Islamic State? 


Prof. Jytte Klausen (POL)

A solution to the current crisis in Syria requires a settlement that involves Assad. It has been clear for years that was the case. It now looks like the Obama administration has decided that a diplomatic pathway to Assad going through Russia is a possibility. If that can produce results, it is preferable to the ongoing crisis. Eleven million are displaced. No progress has been made on containing ISIS, let alone destroying the new jihadist state. As a result, we are faced with the worst humanitarian disaster since World War II — and no prospect for stabilizing the Middle East, let alone returning those countries to a state of stability where people can go about their lives. The agreement with Iran was a first step to breaking the deadlock. Next comes a negotiated solution to the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Turkey on one side, and Iran and its proxies on the other. And then, there is hope that borders can be restored and the Islamic State crushed. It is a distressingly long prospect.
Prof. Jytte Klausen (POL) is the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation. 

Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC)
U.S. involvement in the Middle East has been disastrous for some time now. We have in effect destroyed Iraq, messed over Afghanistan egregiously, reduced Libya to political (and physical) rubble, enabled a new dictatorship to emerge in Egypt, coddled the outrageously dictatorial Saudi Arabian regime and, thankfully, pulled back from doing a bomb-kill-destroy number on Iran too. There are no good guys in the Syrian imbroglio. Nothing Russia does will be right, and nothing the U.S. would do would be right either. All this, up to and including ISIS, is hideous blowback from over a century of U.S., French and British violating the integrity, strivings for democracy and hopes for stability of most peoples in the Middle East. The best approach for the U.S. would be to give up on war, promote global nuclear disarmament and play a major role in bringing an end to war altogether. 
Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC) is the chair of the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies program.

Prof. Jeffrey Lenowitz (POL)
In the abstract, I support the idea of Russia getting involved in Syria and joining the fight against the Islamic State. The more resources trying to solve a horrible situation the better. However, the pertinent question concerns the fact that Russia’s involvement means backing Assad. This, it seems to me, is a bad development. Giving weapons, troops and general support to a leader who bombs his own cities indiscriminately, tortures citizens, uses children as human shields and seems to rack up new war crimes by the day cannot be seen as a positive development. Admittedly, lest one wishes to take the moral high ground, Russia is following a deplorable strategy the United States knows too well, propping up a savage dictator in pursuit of some greater policy objective. See our cozy relationships with Pinochet, Noriega, Marcos, Mobutu, Karimov, Mbasogo and many, many more.
Professor Jeffrey Lenowitz (POL) is an assistant professor of politics. He specializes in global justice and governance. 
Somdeb Banerjee ’17
250,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. With Bashar al-Assad’s forces crumbling against a rebel force composed of the Islamic State and a 1000 armed groups, Russian support provides the Syrian government with a lifeline. Both Assad and the Islamic State will kill as many people as it takes to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, Assad’s regime is the only stable entity in Syria. Its fall would plunge the nation into a second civil war similar to Libya’s. In the short term, Russian support will prove essential in the battle against the Islamic State While airstrikes have hampered the Islamic State’s efforts, international ground support is necessary. The U.S.’s attempts to train militias has been ineffective. A Syrian military victory, however, will achieve nothing if Assad’s maniacal thirst for power remains uncontrolled. The international community  — most likely a U.S./Russia/Iranian partnership — needs to get Assad to sign a deal that provides military aid only after he’s agreed to stringent restrictions on his power.
Somdeb Banerjee ’17 is the Europe section editor for the Brandeis International Journal.