MOSCOW, May 14 (Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti) – If fresh media reports are true, Russia, Syria’s longtime supplier of military equipment, may soon provide Damascus – or already has – with advanced S-300 air defense systems, tipping the balance in the devastating 26-month conflict in the Middle Eastern country. But the “if” is a big one.
The missile batteries would give Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime a powerful weapon against foreign air strikes – one of the options being bounced around as a form of international intervention – and could fracture the fragile accord on Syria reached last week between Moscow and Washington, which hope to get the warring sides to negotiate.
“The only answer, the only way of pushing the program forward, however, is a nuclear war.
Russia has to be isolated, cornered, humiliated and eventually destroyed, Russia and one hundred million Americans that are likely to die in the process.”
When the US threatened to move a missile defense system into Poland, Russia countered by threatening to move by preparing to deploy the Iskander missile system in Kalingrad, a Russian enclave along the Baltic.
The Iskander, a very unusual missile with an equally unusual mission will prove a very sticky adversary and, as it seems, Russia is beginning to show itself as having adversaries.
All intelligence is based on testing a working hypothesis, much as with any research. In this case, the political hypothesis is that, not only Israel but key groups that represent divisions within the US are, in fact, Bolsheviks.
An examination of a real history of the Cold War, not the one sold to small children and TV addicts, shows Israel to be, not just a member of the Eastern Bloc, but more “communist” than Cuba or East Germany, in fact much more like North Korea than any would imagine.
Thus, when Israel supplied North Korea with a working nuclear weapon in 2009, one of a small stockpile left over from their proliferation adventure during the 70’s and 80’s in partnership with South Africa, we saw this as a “confirmation.”
The Pollard spy incident, all transferred from Israel to Russia, all NATO battle plans, the CIA NOC (Non-Official Cover) agent list and enough dirt to blackmail half of Washington was the biggest intelligence coup of all time. Continue reading »
Iskanders carry 1,500-pound warhead at 1.3 miles per second
Hours after NATO agreed on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to Turkey because of the crisis in Syria, Russia delivered its first shipment of Iskander missiles to Syria.
The superior Iskander can travel at hypersonic speed of over 1.3 miles per second (Mach 6-7) and has a range of over 280 miles with pinpoint accuracy of destroying targets with its 1,500-pound warhead, a nightmare for any missile defense system.
According to Mashregh, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard media outlet, Russia had warned Turkey not to escalate the situation, but with Turkey’s request for Patriot missiles, it delivered its first shipment of Iskanders to Syria. Continue reading »
The Israeli regime is set to test-fire a new missile shield developed by US company Raytheon after its Iron Dome missile system failed to intercept hundreds of rockets and missiles fired from Gaza.
Israel has turned to engineers from the American company to help the regime develop the next-generation missile shield called the Stunner.
According to Boston Globe newspaper, the new missile interceptor is scheduled to be test-fired in “Negev Desert in coming days.”
If the system proves viable, Tel Aviv will add the system to its missile shield, known as David’s Sling, which is designed to complement Iron Dome.
“They are working hard to get David’s Sling operational. The hope is it will be able to knock out a variety of targets,” said Theodore A. Postol, professor of science, technology, and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former adviser to the US Navy.
Israel developed the Iron Dome with a 200-million-dollar fund from the United States. The US plans to give Tel Aviv another $600 million for additional batteries and replacement missiles.
The US will also help finance the Stunner project if it proves viable. The Israeli firm Rafael has spent a total of $130 million over the past three years to complete the system. Continue reading »
The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency’s executive director.
In a one-page memo, Executive Director John James Jr. wrote that in recent months government employees and contractors were detected “engaging in inappropriate use of the MDA network.”
“Specifically, there have been instances of employees and contractors accessing websites, or transmitting messages, containing pornographic or sexually explicit images,” James wrote in the July 27 memo obtained by Bloomberg News.“These actions are not only unprofessional, they reflect time taken away from designated duties, are in clear violation of federal and DoD and regulations, consume network resources and can compromise the security of the network though the introduction of malware or malicious code,” he wrote.
Individuals identified as violating the rules face referral for “appropriate” disciplinary action, he wrote. They put “their security clearances in jeopardy, and are subject to suspension and removal from federal service or MDA sponsored contracts.”
LONDON — It has been a tough few months at the pockmarked concrete high-rise known as Fred Wigg Tower. First there was the fire, which left dozens temporarily homeless. Then came the rash of burglaries of fire-damaged apartments. And now the British army will be putting a battery of high-velocity missiles on the roof.
The defense ministry says the missiles, capable of shooting down a hijacked aircraft, are a key piece in the elaborate jigsaw of security for the London Olympics, which start July 27. But many residents of the east London public housing project were dismayed to find themselves suddenly on the counterterrorism front line.
“It’s kind of scary now, to be honest,” said Iqbal Hossain, who lives in the building with his wife and three children aged 2 to 14. “If it’s about safety for the Olympics, what about safety for us? If there is a terrorist attack, the first thing they are going to attack is the missiles.”
Russia’s main weapons producer has allegedly suspended its contract with Syria to supply S-300 long-range missile systems. Russia’s ‘Vedomosti’ daily published the report, citing unnamed sources within the military-industrial complex.
The very fact of the contract’s existence was not known until it was revealed in an annual report made only last week and published online by the makers of the S-300 systems, Almaz-Antey.
The report states that the company’s largest contracts are with Algeria (which is paying $39 million for a long-range missile defense system), and Syria, which signed a contract for the same system for $105 million.
The report also says that deliveries on the Syrian contract are expected to be made between 2012 and 2013. But ‘Vedomosti’ claims two separate sources, who chose to remain anonymous, have said deliveries have been put on the back-burner “after a direct order from above.”
It’s unclear whether these reports are true, but many are already speculating on the potential reasons for such a step. Some have suggested that Moscow has decided to placate Washington and Tel Aviv, drawing parallels between this situation and the one back in 2010, when Russia cancelled its contract for the same missile system with Iran.
A Russian arms dealer has said his company is shipping missile defence systems to Syria that could be used to combat international intervention in the country.
Anatoly Isaykin, the general director of Rosoboronexport, said the advanced defensive missile systems could be used to shoot down planes or sink ships.
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