Russian Sukhoi SU27s - a formidable fighting machine, years ahead of anything the US Air Force hasYesterday, Thursday evening our news feeds picked up the latest development in the soap opera that is the Obama administrations waggering effor to make Russia back down from is's stance of supporting Assad and let the rent - boy President satisfy his bloodlust in bringing Syria’s horrific civil war with bombs and drone strike on Syrian civilians.
The Reuters report revealed that according to an Israeli defense source, “hundreds of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are on the ground in Syria fighting alongside the Russians to support Bashar al-Assad’s depleted forces as they battle to regain control of the country."
If confirmed that would answer a question which has been hanging over this issue for a while: How long will Iran remain on the sidelines and allow the Houthis to be routed in Yemen and Assad deposed in Syria, and will Tehran join Moscow in announcing the time for rhetoric is past and only direct action can resolve this Obama sponsored carnage?
Reports of Iranian military involvement follow speculation about the nature of Russia’s military buildup near Latakia where US “intelligence” and a series of unnamed “Lebanese sources” claim Moscow is essentially preparing for a full-on push to rout any and all domestic opposition to the Assad regime. Russia claims (rather predictably) that the purpose of the build up is to supply and distribute humanitarian aid.
What we do know is the war of words between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Rusian opposite number Sergei Lavrov has intensified over the past several days. Here's how Lavrov characterizes the exchange:
“Kerry was also pushing the very strange idea that supporting Bashar Assad in his anti-terror fight only strengthens the positions of ISIS, because the sponsors of ISIS would pump even more arms and money into it,” Lavrov said.
“It's an absolutely upside-down logic and yet another attempt to appease those who use terrorists to fight dissenting regimes,” the Russian FM said, mentioning US attempts to cooperate with varrious extremist groups in Syria over the past few years.
“It's a colossal mistake that the US-led [anti-ISIS] coalition never considered interaction with Syria, not even information exchange,” Lavrov said. “I cannot comprehend this logic, or rather absolute lack of logic.”
“We help not only Syria, we also provide weapons to Iraq and other countries of the region that find themselves on the frontline with the terror threat. Equally for Iraq and other countries, we do so without any political preconditions,” Lavrov said.
Today (Friday 11 September), Lavrov wound it up a further notch with some very serious-sounding (but hilariously overstated,) soundbites delivered to a press conference in Russia.
from Reuters
At a news conference, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was sending equipment to help Assad fight Islamic State. Russian servicemen were in Syria, he said, primarily to help service that equipment and teach Syrian soldiers how to use it.
Russia was also conducting naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, he said, describing the drills as long-planned and staged in accordance with international law.
Lavrov blamed Washington for cutting off direct military-to-military communications between
Russia and NATO over the Ukraine crisis, saying such contacts were "important for the avoidance of undesired, unintended incidents".
"We are always in favor of military people talking to each other in a professional way. They understand each other very well," Lavrov said. "If, as (U.S. Secretary of State) John Kerry has said many times, the United States wants those channels frozen, then be our guest."
"Be our guest", which, unless the true meaning is lost in translation sounds as if the Kremlin telling Washington that it Russia does not have a problem with the Western powers' aircraft getting into a scenario where Russian and French, UK and US (FUKUS axis) jets accidentally ending up in dog fights in the clear blue skies over Syria.
With bated breath we await Kerry's response which will almost certainly contain the words "very" and "concerned" before he beats a hasty retreat to change his underpants.
RELATED POSTS:
While we watch Unkraine and Turkey The War Goes On In Syria
With mainstream media focused on ISIS and Ukraine amid, fears of an excalation of local problems into a war between East, West and Islam, we are in danger of forgetting nasty little civil conflicts like the one between forces loyal to the secular dictator Assad and the Al Nusra rebels who want to replace a secular dictatorship with an even more ruthless theocracy.
US Foreign Policy has Boosted Expansion of Terrorism, Putin Says
Russia’s president Putin has become more harsh in his criticisms of US foreign policy over the past few years, from the moment France, the UK and USA used the excuse of staging a 'humanitarian mission to prevent genocide in Libya' to wage a bombing campain on that country with the aim of bringing down the Gaddafi regime, relations between the western powers and the Russia / China alliance have been going downhill fast ...
American Department of Defence Admits Supporting ISIS In Syria
Rumours have been rife for almost a year that ISIS/ISIL/ whatever you want to call them, the Islamist rebel group who have taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq with the intention of setting up a new Islamic Caliphate, were actually set up by United Staes CIA agents with the aim of overthrowing secular Muslim dictators and helping the US ally Saudi Arabia impose theocratic rule throughout the Arab lands. A new leak proves that once again the 'conspiracy theorists' were right.
Another American Foreign Policy Embarrassment As Department of Defence Admits Supporting ISIS In Syria
News of how leaked documents prove the US Central intelligence Agency set up ISIS for the purpose of destabilizing the middle east is all over the internet, yet mainstream media continue to ignore it ...
UK Must Work With Assad To Combat ISIS? Laugh, I Nearly Shat
When Obama first called for military intervention in Syria, Cameron and Hollande were all for it and only public opinion in the west and Russian / Chinese Intransigence in the UN Security Council averted full scale war. I came in for a lot of flak for 'supporting the tyrant Assad when I suggested the last thing the west's troubled economies needed was another messy and unwinnable middle east war. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Its Showtime!
Islamic State Threatens UK Says Cameron. Have We Heard Anything Similar Before
According to our Prime Minister, The West is engaged in a generational struggle against Islamic extremism that will threaten Britain unless urgent action is taken to defeat it, David Cameron warns today. (I told you those Tornado jet fighter planes were not in Iraq to drop bulk supplies of rice you beseiged Yazidis.)
The Real Reason The US Is Bombing Iraq
Only a day after Obama’s announcement that he had authorized “targeted strikes” inside Iraq in order to combat the Islamic State (IS) advance, the United States has indeed followed through with their threat. At least two waves of airstrikes against a variety of targets have already taken place inside Iraq. One of the airstrikes apparently struck an IS mortar position and an IS convoy near Erbil. IS fighters had advanced to within a half hour’s distance from Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region.
We Will Raise The Flag Of Allah In The White House Say ISIS Leaders
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State for short has a nice line in chutzpah, which seems a very Jewish quality for Islamists. Their leaders have issued a video via Vice media which warns the United States that ...
US Special Forces caught red-handed in Syria
How long ago did we tell you the USA had military personnel on the ground in Syria. Evidence about the activities of U.S. special forces in the Syrian town Ayn al-Arab a.k.a. Kobani has emerged in the last few days. U.S. Troops are guiding airstrikes as part of their support for ...
Latest Posts
Elsewhere: [Boggart Blog]...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]...[Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [ Ian at Minds ] ... [ The Origninal Boggart Blog]
