Wolf DeVoon Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 CVN-75 Harry Truman battle group about a week away from arriving at Syrian coast.ISIS is not the only challenge that awaits the flotilla, which includes the cruiser Anzio, Carrier Wing Air 7, and destroyers Bulkeley, Gravely and Gonzalez. Russian, Chinese and Iranian marines have established their presence in Syria, and Russian warships from the Black Sea have relocated to the eastern Mediterranean to protect fighter jets conducting airstrikes in support of Syria's Assad regime. In preparation, the strike group's Composite Training Unit Exercise focused on adversaries that more closely resembled those of the Cold War. [Navy Times]Add French carrier Charles de Gaulle with orders to wage war.Add Israeli commandos and submarines to that mix.Add Turkish air force and troops protecting ISIS, attacking Kurds.Add Hezbollah.What happens when both the French and the US navies, both packing dozens of airplanes, arrive and convert the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast into one big warship parking lot. We can only hope that the sudden confluence of goodwill and best intentions by the superpowers to crush ISIS is genuine instead of merely a ploy to get everyone in the same place and result in the biggest ever Gulf of Tonkin redux and an "accidental" sinking of one or more ships, with or without a fake Syrian passport planted next to it. [Zero Hedge]Goodwill is off the table, not future news. Russia is there to defend Assad.Obama, Hillary: ‘Assad must go’ [WaPo article]Dmitry Medvedev (today): "The Islamic State has grown that strong due to the irresponsible policy of the United States. Instead of focusing common efforts on countering terrorism, the United States and its allies plunged into struggle against Syria’s legitimate President Bashar Assad." [iTAR/TASS]How strong? -- Ted Koppel in his just-released book Lights Out estimates a $2 billion ISIS bankroll from oil sales and theft of antiquities, plenty of cash to outsource world-class hackers to crash the U.S. national power grid.To complicate matters, the Pentagon has been lying to Obama and Congress for over a year.Centcom analysts took concerns about their superiors to the inspector general, saying they had evidence that senior officials had changed intelligence assessments to overstate the progress of American airstrikes against ISIS. [New York Times] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 What if they gave a war and nobody came?--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 UKIP leader Nigel Farage in 2013: "The EU is increasingly about war." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Russia is against destroying oil trucks in Syria and Iraq. What does that mean? It means Putin is profiting from ISIS oil. I read that the Russian mafia is an arm of the KGB though they are not always under orders from Putin when they commit some crimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Russia is against destroying oil trucks in Syria and Iraq. What does that mean? It means Putin is profiting from ISIS oil. I read that the Russian mafia is an arm of the KGB though they are not always under orders from Putin when they commit some crimes. Not one particle of the above is accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Russia is against destroying oil trucks in Syria and Iraq. What does that mean? It means Putin is profiting from ISIS oil. I read that the Russian mafia is an arm of the KGB though they are not always under orders from Putin when they commit some crimes. No references.--Brantyou come with stuff like this, Peter--"I read" doesn't cut it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Oh, crap. Now, Britain wants to bomb Syria. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cameron-wants-syrian-airstrikes-within-6877387 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Brant writes: What if they gave a war and nobody came? What if they gave a war and everybody came! Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Brant writes:What if they gave a war and nobody came?What if they gave a war and everybody came! GregSounds like a Charlie Sheen weekend party... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Concerning Putin's next move after Russian SU-24 shot down by Turks, both pilots killed by Syrian Turk ground fire and Russian rescue helicopter shot down with a U.S.-supplied TOW. Putin has to hold off action for a week or two. There are 50,000 Russian tourists in Turkey that need to return home. Then expect payback to commence -- at least an air war in theater -- and there's nothing that NATO or U.N. Security Council can do to stop it.Turkish Air Force has 200+ F-16s, eager for combat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Turkey is anti Assad and wants him taken out.My understanding is that the Red Jet was engaged in attacking the anti-Assad tribal forces that may have been Afghani in nature.Interesting that the "vaunted" Russian jet was shot down by an American F-16 with a Turkish emblem on it.Also, since Russia is a Christian religious empire, [Russian Orthodox], in it's historical political DNA, fighting Islam is second nature.Maybe it is that simple to the boy idealouge in the White House. A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Turkey is anti Assad and wants him taken out.My understanding is that the Red Jet was engaged in attacking the anti-Assad tribal forces that may have been Afghani in nature.Interesting that the "vaunted" Russian jet was shot down by an American F-16 with a Turkish emblem on it.Also, since Russia is a Christian religious empire, [Russian Orthodox], in it's historical political DNA, fighting Islam is second nature.Maybe it is that simple to the boy idealouge in the White House. A...Russia and Turkey have fought 12 wars throughout history. Russia won 11. They hate each other. Turkish F-16s are made locally under license. How many are operational and properly maintained is questionable. Four training crashes last year. My guess is that downing of SU-24 was intentional, fire from behind in pursuit at top speed, no warnings.Good news is that Turks have no access to NATO nukes at Incerlik.According to 2010 leaked diplomatic cables, Erdoğan was described by US diplomats as having "little understanding of politics beyond Ankara" and as surrounding himself with an "iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors". He is said to be "isolated", and that his MPs and Ministers feel "fearful of Erdogan's wrath." Diplomats state that "he relies on his charisma, instincts, and the filterings of advisors who pull conspiracy theories off the web or are lost in neo-Ottoman Islamist fantasies." The alleged cables also highlight Turkish concerns that upgrades to General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons had "precluded Turkish access to computer systems and software modification previously allowed." [Wikipedia] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Turkey is anti Assad and wants him taken out.My understanding is that the Red Jet was engaged in attacking the anti-Assad tribal forces that may have been Afghani in nature.Interesting that the "vaunted" Russian jet was shot down by an American F-16 with a Turkish emblem on it.Also, since Russia is a Christian religious empire, [Russian Orthodox], in it's historical political DNA, fighting Islam is second nature.Maybe it is that simple to the boy idealouge in the White House. A...Russia and Turkey have fought 12 wars throughout history. Russia won 11. They hate each other. Turkish F-16s are made locally under license. How many are operational and properly maintained is questionable. Four training crashes last year. My guess is that downing of SU-24 was intentional, fire from behind in pursuit at top speed, no warnings.Good news is that Turks have no access to NATO nukes at Incerlik.No one seems to ever like the Turks...There were allegedly several verbal warnings of which there should be tape.However, the Russians probing our air space is an ongoing event particularly in the Northwest of the US and the Polar fringes. These probes are part of the Russian expansion in the North Pole region.A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Trivial (?) recent history:On 22 June 2012, Syria shot down a Turkish F-4 Phantom II military jet near the Turkish-Syrian border... The Syrian military alleged that the fighter aircraft had violated Syrian airspace. Turkish president Abdullah Gül said that "it is routine for jet fighters to sometimes fly in and out over borders"... A Turkish political party leader claimed that the jet had been shot down by a Russian warship. [Wikipedia]Turkey's air space has been violated 114 separate times so far this year but each instance was quickly resolved peacefully, the General Staff has said following Syria’s downing of a Turkish warplane for violating its airspace."We would have shot down 114 planes if every aircraft that violated a country's airspace were shot down without questioning," the General Staff said, according to daily Milliyet... A violation of one to two kilometers is accepted as "natural" given the speed of aircraft, the statement said. [Hurriyet Dail News, 2012]Fast forward to today:Since 2011, Erdogan has conducted airstrikes inside Syria and armed opposition groups. There have been frequent rumors of an escalation, including last year when an audio recording emerged on YouTube of leading Turkish officials discussing a potential invasion. Erdogan responded by blocking YouTube in Turkey, in a conspicuous example of shooting the messenger. [bryan MacDonald, RT op-ed]The Turkish-Russian aerial altercation quickly hardened the positions held by all sides. While the U.S. and its ally France dug in on their demands on resolving the Syrian conflict, Russia and its ally Iran adhered to theirs. Aggravating the conflict was a war of words, with Russian President Vladimir Putin leveling charges that Turkey, an ally of the U.S. and France, finances terrorism—accusations widely aired on Russian television. [Wall Street Journal]NATO member nations and allied Arab states that are also waging airstrikes against the Islamic State group charge that Russia’s bombings are directed at U.S.- and European-backed Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad, the Kremlin’s most important Middle East ally. Among the rebel forces in the Russians’ gun sights are Syrian Turkmen, ethnic kin of the Turks who are among the fiercest opponents of Assad’s government and as such de facto enemies of Russia. Turkey had warned Moscow last week to cease attacks on the Syrian Turkmen, who hold territory near the Assad government’s shrinking stronghold around Latakia, on the Mediterranean Sea... President Obama defended Turkey’s action and suggested that such incidents could be avoided if Russia would focus on defeating the Islamic State group rather than attacking the rebels fighting to oust Assad. [seattle Times]"It seems that what strikes have been carried out against IS targets are simply for appearance and to buy credibility for the overall air campaign. The focus of the Russian attacks is on forces immediately in proximity to the Syrian army, which do not belong to IS." [Michael Kofman, quoted by BBC]Russia is not trying to reconquer the country for Assad. It’s consolidating a rump Syrian state on the roughly 20 percent of the country he now controls, the Alawite areas stretching north and west from Damascus through Latakia and encompassing the Russian naval base at Tartus. [Charles Krauthammer]In short, it looks like Ankara saw an opportunity to shoot down a Russian jet in retaliation for strikes on Turkish rebel fighters who are operating alongside anti-Assad forces. Erdogan is essentially gambling that Russia will not retailiate militarily against Turkey because doing so would open the door for a direct confrontation with NATO. [Zero Hedge]The lines are drawn. I don't see Putin backing down, do you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 "Turkey has moved 20 tanks from west of country to southern province of Gaziantep, bordering Syria, and increased number of F-16s flying patrols along border to 18 as of yesterday," state-run Anadolu Agency said today.Syrian media reports said Tuesday that Israel carried out some four airstrikes on Syrian regime and Hezbollah positions in the area of Syria’s Qalamoun mountains on Monday night. [Times of Israel] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Here Wolf, from last October and it is interactive. The tribal tentacles and terror trails in this region prevent the stupidity of the planners, who believe they can micro manage it, from ever being successful!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/middle-east-explained_n_6056786.htmlAnyone who has dabbled in the game of RISK, or, any of the superior Avalon Hill "games" has a leg up in analysis of this region...This MIT analysis is a clear way to understand why the major resolving battles that win the global war, invariably are decided by who triumphs and holds the Middle East/Turkey, the gateway to the world, can, and is, negotiated by foot...Take Small ContinentsFirst Australia and South America are the two smallest continents, each with four territories. Both are relatively easy to defend, as Australia only has one entry point and South America has two. South America and Australia are of critical importance at the beginning of the game because the territories are spread out evenly and the two - troop bonus for holding either of these continents is a big boost to troop strength at the beginning of the game. Additionally, both of these continents are valuable in the later stages of the game as they have entry points into North America, Africa, and Asia which can be used to attack other players and keep them from holding those continents. http://web.mit.edu/sp.268/www/risk.pdfhttp://web.mit.edu/sp.268/www/risk.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 I used to play Risk in my 20s. With four or five players it's hard to hold Asia or Europe.What bothers me about Syria is five nuclear powers converging on it -- Russia, US, France, Britain, Israel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I used to play Risk in my 20s. With four or five players it's hard to hold Asia or Europe.What bothers me about Syria is five nuclear powers converging on it -- Russia, US, France, Britain, Israel.Lol... my football team mates and other friends played risk and we made the game vertical, we added air power, navies, submarines and nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons defense shields...Well, that is Israel's major problem...most of the Jews in one place is like having the biggest bulls eye..on the Planet for these throwbacks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Future news update: Russia sends empty planes to evacuate tourists. https://twitter.com/odatv/status/669608416323706881 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Future news update: Russia sends empty planes to evacuate tourists. https://twitter.com/odatv/status/669608416323706881Yep...Putin knows what he is doing...By the way thanks for that info on the Russian tourists because when I went to my barber today, there was a retired FBI seasoned citizen who came in with his two sons, one is a teacher and I was talking to the owner from my chair while getting barbered and I said that Putin was going to wait until he gets the 50,000 Russian tourists out.The FBI dude asked how I would know that lol.A... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 The lines are drawn. I don't see Putin backing down, do you?Not with our sorry excuse of a President.--Brantit won't end well for Russia (does it ever?), which says nothing about any other party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Russian jets bomb Turkish truck convoys at Syrian border https://mobile.twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/669805247003500547Russia halts Turkish commercial trucks at Russian border http://www.todayszaman.com/latest-news_russia-orders-retaliatory-economic-measures-against-turkey_405357.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Russian jets bomb Turkish truck convoys at Syrian border https://mobile.twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/669805247003500547Russia halts Turkish commercial trucks at Russian border http://www.todayszaman.com/latest-news_russia-orders-retaliatory-economic-measures-against-turkey_405357.htmlThis is where the US steps in and stops all this from getting worse.I mean, should step in.Such is the nature of a power vacuum--power flows into it. Unfortunately, the US has a shit-for-brains President. The one previous wasn't much better.--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf DeVoon Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Vlada je na sjednici u četvrtak odobrila uplovljavanje američkog ratnog broda u Split krajem ove godine, a odobrena je i isplata više od tri milijuna kuna za podmirenje troškova zbrinjavanja migranata. Vlada je odobrila američkom ratnom brodu USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) da u prosincu ove godine uplovi u unutarnje morske vode Republike Hrvatske i luku Split, no odluka nije pojašnjena.translated from Croatian: At the session held on Thursday approved a US warship sailing in Split at the end of this year and approved a payment of more than three million to cover the costs of disposing of migrants. The government approved the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) that in December this year enters the internal waters of the Republic and the Croatian port of Split, but the decision has not been clarified.Why would a carrier strike group go to Croatia? - to pick up Syrian refugees?Apparently so. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/refugees-rush-croatia-border-opens-151019191242689.htmlReally, you can't make this shit up, it's so nutty, tasking a carrier strike group to transport refugees.http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/11/25/biden-meets-southeast-europe-leaders-about-surge-of-migrantshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3334940/Obama-compares-Syrian-refugees-Pilgrims-Mayflower-Thanksgiving-address-urges-America-generosity-migrants-fleeing-war-torn-country.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Shore leave?Are the whores ready?--Brantjoin the navy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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