American influence in the Middle East is evaporating faster than anyone can imagine. And if the latest horrific twin bomb attacks in Ankara that killed 97 people at a peaceful rally are any indicator, the Islamic State or simply ISIS has successfully penetrated Turkey, a member of NATO alliance, assuming the barbarian militants were the culprit in the first place.

Turkey has admitted up to 2 million Syrian‎ refugees since the civil war there erupted in 2011, hence ISIS could have sneaked in and caused the latest attacks. But it also raises suspicions among opposition parties that dark forces supportive of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may be involved, considering the Turkish general elections is due on 1 November.

 

Either way, Middle East is getting more fragile and if the latest attacks in Ankara are related to ISIS, then the Islamic State is trying to pull Turkey into joining a full scale Syrian war. But as American slowly plays a minor role and perhaps exits altogether from the region of conflicts, a new hero is emerging – fast and furious.

According to AFP,  Putinmania is replacing Obamania at lighting speed. Well, at least some painters such as Mohammed Karim Nihaya was getting new inspiration from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is now busy painting new portraits of the Russian supremo in his central Baghdad workshop.

 

“I have been waiting for Russia to get involved in the fight against Daesh (Islamic State). They get results. The United States and its allies on the other hand have been bombing for a year and achieved nothing” – said the bespectacled artist. Another young jobless man said – “We don’t want the international coalition, we want only Russia and we will slaughter a sheep to welcome them.”

Interestingly, the Iraqis, who had celebrated Americans for getting rid of Saddam Hussein, don’t appear to have been alarmed by the sight of Russian cruise missiles streaking across their airspace, and they don’t really care about the modest percentage of Russian strikes actually targeting ISIS in Syria. And it’s not hard to see why Putin is preferred over Obama.

 

Since Saddam Hussein’s ouster 12-years ago, the people of Iraq have been looking for a strong leader. Understandably, the U.S. wouldn’t promote a strong Iraqi leader, even if there’s one to begin with. The U.S. wants to continuously control Iraq but unfortunately the lame duck President Obama isn’t helping the situation.

The Iraqis aren’t impressed with President Barack Obama’s indecisiveness and his stone-faced Secretary of State John Kerry who keep dropping empty rhetoric while Putin is dropping bombs. A bare-chested Putin rode through southern Siberia, as well as another photograph of him carries a hunting rifle seems to convince Iraqis that Putin is a strong leader.

 

Heck, Putin is so popular that they’re spreading (fake) stories on social media about how he’s supposedly got some Iraqi blood in him, hailing him as “Putin the Shiite” and using his face for their Facebook profile photos. The fact that Iraqis are idolising Putin to the extent of imagining things speaks volumes of their desperation for a strong hero.

Apparently, the tales have it that Putin’s father was an Iraqi grocer from the Shiite south, near Nasiriyah, who introduced figs (“tin” in Arabic) to local markets and thus became known as “Abu Tin” (Putin). After World War II, he moved to the Soviet Union, married “a blonde Russian girl” and named their son Abdulamir (Vladimir). There you have it, a Russianised Iraqi Vladimir Putin.

 

A student, Mohammed al-Bahadli, said – “We should give Putin Iraqi and Syrian citizenship because he loves us more than our own politicians”. A convenience store owner, Saad Abdullah, has his own version of belief – “Muslims bomb us because we are Rafidha (rejected Shiites). Meanwhile Putin, who is an Orthodox man, is defending us … Maybe he really is a Shiite and we didn’t know about it.”

Some of the Iraqis claimed Putin’s action in Syria has convinced them to give up on plans to flee their war-torn country to Europe, because they think he’s going to set things right with ISIS. “I thank Putin because he convinced me to stay in Iraq … Hajji Putin is better than Hussein Obama,” said taxi driver Ali al-Rammahi.

 

While Obama is struggling back at home on his weak leadership in comparison to Putin, Iraqis clearly do not have time for the American president. The POTUS has spent US$500 million but only had trained 60 Syrians rebels, with only 5 fighters left before the training program is terminated days ago.

Russia could do more with such funding and if Putin’s boys could kick serious butts in Syria, never mind if those terminated by Russian firepower are CIA-sponsored rebels fighting both Bashar Assad and ISIS, the Iraqi Shiites would be more than delight in welcoming Hajji Vladimir Putin to take over their country – from the Americans.

 

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October 11th, 2015 by financetwitter

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