US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has some tough words about Russia’s involvement in Syria and the fallout for countries that do not help fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“I’ve said this very bluntly to our overseas partners — there can’t be any free riders here … because we’re going to be on the winning side,” Carter told “CBS This Morning” at the Pentagon Tuesday.
“We’ll remember who contributed and who didn’t. And we aren’t out to do people favors here and we’re not asking for anybody to do us favors either, but people need to act in their own long-term interests so we’ll remember.”
Carter said any country on the sidelines “who needs to get in the game” should get in the game.
” That’s what I was doing in Brussels . And overwhelmingly people came on behind that, and to the Russians and the Iranians who are not contributing and are actually causing more problems in the region, that’s going to come back and get them,” Carter said.
“Well, where does that strategy lead?” Carter asked. “It’s leading to the prolongation of the civil war in Syria, which is not in Russia’s interest. It’s not.”
“The Russians have been way off track since the very beginning,” Carter said. “They have not done what they said they were going to do and they’re not doing what is in their interest to do in terms of fighting ISIL.”

Source: cbsnews, 17 Feb. 2016