“The shooting down of the Russian jet in Syria means bringing NATO into the issue, and this creates an even bigger confrontation,” Hall Gardner, the Chair of the Department of International and Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris, told Radio Sputnik.
He further elaborated that NATO is still at odds with Russia over Crimea and Eastern Ukraine and that the latest incident has made cooperation more difficult even though ISIL presents a common threat.
In the short term, finding such cooperation is extremely difficult and has no solution, he added.
In the long term, in a couple of years, the situation could be turned around, but it will take at least three to five years before such a process could even begin.
“Suspicions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are a real problem,” he added. “If you can get those two talking, it might turn around sooner. The shooting down of the Russian jet is one more jam in the works that is going to make it more difficult and slow the process down.”
The expert noted that, meanwhile, Russia and France are moving closer to each other.
“Americans themselves are beginning to back off their previous anti-Assad position. The problem is to get the three in some sort of coalition and really focus on the crisis.”
The expert, however, added that it is not just a Syrian crisis, and not just a Crimean crisis. The real aim is to try to establish new relationship between Russia, the Europeans and the Americans and to rebuild the idea of an alliance from Vancouver to Vladivostok – that is what needs to be reworked, re-thought and rebuilt. The parties should focus on re-developing their concept of European security.
