Infinite Unknown

Russian landing ship leaves port of Sevastopol Photo: REUTERS

- Russian Ships Park Off Syrian Coast As NATO Deploys Patriot Missiles In Turkey (ZeroHedge Jan 5, 2013):

Several hours ago, Syrian president delivered his first public speech in months, addressing the internal military conflict that has gripped his country, and whose key excerpts can be found here. In it he called for a “full national mobilisation” to fight against rebels he described as al Qaeda terrorists. “We meet today and suffering is overwhelming Syrian land. There is no place for joy while security and stability are absent on the streets of our country,” Assad said in a speech at the opera house in central Damascus. “The nation is for all and we all must protect it.” Assad once again blamed the west for provoking and “facilitating” the rebellion, which even the NYT admits is being orchestrated by Al Qaeda, which naturally begs the question: just what is Al Qaeda to the US and to its intelligence agencies – foe or ally? But while providing fodder for the pundits, the speech was largely irrelevant. What does merit attention is the follow up to the story from two weeks ago the Russia sent two squadrons of ship to Syria in mid-December. It appears they have arrived, and just in time to offset the positioning of NATO Patriot missiles along the Turkish-Syria border.

From Jerusalem Post:

Russia has concentrated five landing ships in the eastern Mediterranean in a show of force  meant to deter Western nations from intervening militarily in Syria, The Sunday Times quoted a Russian diplomat as saying.

According to the report, the ships are carrying military vehicles and hundreds of Russian marines, and are being accompanied by combat vessels. Continue reading »

Tags: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, EUCOM, Global News, Government, NATO, Politics, Russia, Syria, Terrorism, Turkey, U.S.

- NATO Turns Up Heat in Syria Psy-War (Activist Post, Dec 15, 2012)

Tags: Barack Obama, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Middle East, Military, NATO, Obama administration, Politics, Syria, Turkey, U.S.

See also:

- Syrian Rebels: ‘When We Finish With Assad, We Will Fight The U.S.’

- Russia Arms Syria With Powerful Ballistic Missiles

- US, French Troops Prepare For Syria Invasion In Response To ‘Chemical Weapons’ Threat

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

- Russia will not allow Libyan scenario in Syria: Lavrov (PressTV, Dec 9, 2012):

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed Moscow’s strong opposition to repetition of the Libyan scenario in the conflict-stricken Syria, stressing that the Kremlin will not allow such a thing happen again.

“We’ll not allow the Libyan experience to be reproduced in Syria. Unfortunately our Western partners have departed from the Geneva accords and are seeking the departure of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lavrov as saying on Sunday.

Continue reading »

Tags: Global News, Government, Middle East, Military, NATO, Politics, Russia, Syria, U.S.

See also:

- France Funding Syrian Rebels In New Push To Oust Assad

- Robert Fisk: Bashar Al-Assad, Syria, And The Truth About Chemical Weapons

- Hogwash, Syria Won’t Use Chemical WMDs Against Its People

- ‘West Moves In For Syrian Endgame And War On Iran’

- US, French Troops Prepare For Syria Invasion In Response To ‘Chemical Weapons’ Threat

- US-Created ‘Syrian Opposition’ Led by Big Oil Rep

- Syrian Insurgents Reject West-Imposed Coalition, Declare Own Islamic State

- ‘Clinton & Al-Qaeda On One Side Of Syrian War Barricades’ (Video)

- The CIA’s Muslim ‘Outfit,’ – The Muslim Brotherhood (Veterans Today)

Militants supported by Obama administration killed U.S. troops in Iraq

- Syrian Rebels: “When We Finish With Assad, We Will Fight the U.S.” (Infowars, Dec 6, 2012):

A shocking report by McClatchy Newspapers’ David Enders reveals that the militants now on the front lines of the rebel uprising in Syria – supported by the Obama administration and other western powers – are Al-Qaeda terrorists who killed U.S. troops in Iraq and openly espouse their desire to “fight the U.S.” after they topple Bashar Al-Assad.

The official narrative at first attempted to deny the existence of Al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria altogether, before being forced to admit they were present but downplaying their role as limited and not characteristic of the rebel uprising.

However, Enders documents how Jabhat al Nusra, a group directly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, “has become essential to the frontline operations of the rebels fighting to topple Assad,” that the group is “critical to the rebels’ military advance” and how it conducts the “heaviest frontline fighting” in “battle after battle across the country.”

A journalist cited in the article also discovered “Nusra’s fighters on every frontline he visited.”

Jabhat al Nusra has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed hundreds of innocent people. Last weekend, disturbing footage emerged of one of their members slaughtering prisoners in cold blood. Extremist militants have also ransacked Christian churches and carried out sectarian beheadings.

The article quotes one of the members of the group, who stated unequivocally, “When we finish with Assad, we will fight the U.S.!” Continue reading »

Tags: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Barack Obama, Europe, Global News, Government, Middle East, Military, NATO, Obama administration, Politics, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, War

FYI.

- Russia arms Syria with powerful ballistic missiles (WND, Dec 7, 2012):

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 »

Tags: Global News, Government, Middle East, Military, Missile Defense Systems, Missiles, NATO, Politics, Syria

- Bashar al-Assad, Syria, and the truth about chemical weapons (Independent, Dec 8, 2012):

Bashar’s father Hafez al-Assad was brutal but never used chemical arms. And do you know which was the first army to use gas in the Middle East?

The bigger the lie the more people will believe it. We all know who said that – but it still works. Bashar al-Assad has chemical weapons. He may use them against his own Syrian people. If he does, the West will respond. We heard all this stuff last year – and Assad’s regime repeatedly said that if – if – it had chemical weapons, it would never use them against Syrians.

But now Washington is playing the same gas-chanty all over again. Bashar has chemical weapons. He may use them against his own people. And if he does…

Well if he does, Obama and Madame Clinton and Nato will be very, very angry. But over the past week, all the usual pseudo-experts who couldn’t find Syria on a map have been warning us again of the mustard gas, chemical agents, biological agents that Syria might possess – and might use. And the sources? The same fantasy specialists who didn’t warn us about 9/11 but insisted that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction in 2003: “unnamed military intelligence sources”. Henceforth to be acronymed as UMIS. Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Bashar Assad, CIA, Germany, Global News, Government, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, Military, NATO, Obama administration, Politics, Saddam Hussein, Syria, U.S., War

- German cabinet decides to send troops to Turkey-Syria border (Deutsche Welle, Dec 6, 2012):

The German cabinet has decided to send up to 400 troops to Turkey’s border with Syria as part of a NATO mission. The troops are to accompany Patriot missile systems requested by Turkey.

The government confirmed in an early morning cabinet session what had emerged in media reports on Thursday.

Germany is one of three NATO nations, along with the US and the Netherlands, that have access to the Patriot missile defense systems Turkey has requested to help defend against spillover violence in neighboring Syria. The troops Germany is considering sending would be used to operate the Patriot missiles.

Continue reading »

Tags: EU, Europe, Germany, Global News, Government, Middle East, Military, NATO, Politics, Syria, Turkey

- Serbian NATO envoy jumps to death at Brussels airport (Reuters, Dec 5, 2012):

Serbia’s ambassador to NATO jumped to his death from a multi-storey carpark at Brussels airport, officials said on Wednesday, and Serbia said it was investigating the incident.

Branislav Milinkovic, 52, jumped to his death during a conference of NATO foreign ministers, but officials did not make any connection between the meeting and his suicide.

Continue reading »

Tags: Branislav Milinkovic, Global News, Government, Military, NATO, Politics, Serbia, Suicide

Turkey has asked NATO to deploy “Patriot” missiles on the Turkish side near the Turkish-Syrian border.

- Russian expert warns of possibility of large-scale war in Middle East (Voice of Russia, Nov 24, 2012):

In an interview with the Voice of Russia, Russian analyst Konstantin Sivkov said: “Deploying these missiles in Turkey will be dangerous for Syrian military planes – this is obvious. A lesser obvious thing is that Turkey is getting ready for a war against Syria. If an attack on Syria from the territory of Turkey does take place, this will most likely be an attack not of the Turkish army, but of NATO’s forces.”

“The Middle East is getting ready for a large-sale battle which will very likely affect the Russian part of the Caucasus, and this, in its turn, will be reflected on the entire Russia,” Mr. Sivkov added. Continue reading »

Tags: EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Middle East, Military, NATO, Politics, Russia, Syria, Turkey, U.S.

- Russia Sends Warships To Gaza Coast (ZeroHedge, Nov 24, 2012):

For the entire 8 day duration of Operation Pillar of Defense, there was one major geopolitical player who had been largely quiet and certainly absent from the scene: the same player whose unflinching position over the Syria conflict has so far prevented any intervention in the civil war torn country: Russia. The same Russia which has a military base in the Syrian port city of Tarsus, and thus in its own eyes, a very substantial “national interest” role to play in the middle east, one that is certainly opposing that of the US and the pro-NATO forces, a tension that will surely boil to the surface now that war between Iran and Israel is always at most “hours away” depending on who is asked, and which one day will be more than just a war of words. Today, Russia decided that it had kept quiet for too long over the Gaza conflict, with Voice of Russia reporting, courtesy of Al Arabiya, that Russian warships anchored off the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea will be put on military alertness should the conflict in Gaza escalate and brought in proximity, according Russian Navy Command source on Friday.

Sure enough, there is a diplomatic reason for the escalation: evacuation preparedness. To wit: “The detachment of combat ships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the Guards missile cruiser Moskva, the patrol ship Smetliviy, large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the sea tug MB-304 and the big sea tanker Ivan Bubnov, got the order to remain in the designated area of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea for a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from the area of the Gaza strip in case of escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”, the spokesperson said. He added that ship crew members will continue routine combat training, maintenance of equipment and weapons along with other military services.

A missile cruiser, which just happens to be the flag ship of the Russian Black Sea naval fleet, and whose purpose is “to destroy hostile surface ships” in order to aid evacuation? Odd…

Naturally, only very naive people would buy this “explanation”, which does nothing to mitigate the factor that Russia, too, is now implicitly involved in the Gaza conflict. How soon until China sends a few of its own warships to the region. Just in case China nationals needs evaluation too.

Continue reading »

Tags: Gaza, Global News, Government, Hamas, Israel, Military, NATO, Palestinians, Politics, Russia, U.S., War