Pro-Assad forces lay siege on rebel-held east Qalamoun after ISIS withdrawal.
US/UK backed FSA were not allowed to link with east Qalamoun.
So know for someone who was not there you quote a awful lot of individuals who were also not there....
BTW...the Embassy personnel and Marine personnel were those on the last copter....my former unit commander I worked with here in Berlin was on the last flight.
BTW...you forgot that in the 1972 Easter offensive the US air together with SVN army and marine units did in fact inflict heavy loses on the NVA and drove them back into Cambodia and Laos....fact not fiction....
The numbers that Giap talked about were not inflated as he was not trying to impress anyone in the West with his statements...
Check the number of all the actual NVA units who fought in SVN and then take an accurate listing of their manning strength and you might be surprised on how accurately they matched.....and if you take the average of in 1970 line crossers who deserted NVA units of 25,000 then your provided figures start to look a tad unreal...
We captured the complete logistics listing for all member of the Ho's on personal honorific Regt....we listed them has having only 900...actual logistics listing with complete names and each individuals equipment 1200....
Up and until 1975 NVA was able to mobilize and send south any number of needed troops....as the entire country was mobilized for complete and total war....
So now go back to the books and start all over...
Secondly, in one specific local village we knew we have exactly 7 VC members by name...we captured two and went to the village and stated surrender or we will kill the remaining 5 in ambushes....FIVE came in....
So while it is great to hear people calculate...they never took in the ground reality....
So now get back to the thread at hand...
Pro-Assad forces lay siege on rebel-held east Qalamoun after ISIS withdrawal.
US/UK backed FSA were not allowed to link with east Qalamoun.
As usual you get too close to your subjects to see clearly. This is reflected in your desire to argue with the person who probably agrees with you most on Vietnam here at SWJ/SWC.
You can't admit that you simply don't know. Unfortunately, your estimate of 4.4 million dead NVA/NLF is simply fanciful, and exaggerations like that only harden the hearts and minds of those who believe the popular narrative of the war, which seem to include Cooper and Jones, to name two.
The VVAW members were in Vietnam, weren't they? So perhaps we should give them the final word. What say you to that?
I suppose all those scholars still going over World Wars I and II, the Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars and the Thirty Years Wars should simply give up. Perhaps we should take the word of an elderly Russian with several dozen watches over Glantz?
By Paul Iddon at WIB: https://warisboring.com/after-bailin...yria-quagmire/
It has been well over one year, seven months since Russia’s military intervened in Syria’s civil war. From the get-go the Kremlin brushed aside claims that its campaign#would lead to an Iraq or Afghanistan-like quagmire.
Relying heavily on air power, Russia helped the Syrian regime to rebound from a defensive posture, launch offensive operations and reclaim substantial territory. Russia also retains a sizable amount of troops and equipment in Syria, despite two highly publicized but phony withdrawals in March 2016 and January 2017, which were both normal#military rotations.
Russia has meanwhile only slowly added to its military presence in the country, according to experts. The Russian air force’s operational tempo has also decreased now that Bashar Al Assad’s regime appears stable. Propping up the regime was one of Russia’s primary goals in Syria—and accomplishments.
“They are really cautious to keep the bare minimum force presence and nothing more,” Michael Kofman, a leading Russia expert and Global Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute told War Is Boring.“I don’t see Russia taking steps that would lead to mission creep and eventual conflict ownership, but with that comes a lack of control over local actors, so its a double-edged sword.”
“The best indicator is force posture. If it’s increasing then it’s a bad sign.”
Neil Hauer, an expert on Russian-Syrian relations at SecDev, says there are several factors at play.
“Russia has scaled down its combat operations significantly over the last several months. It’s kept up bombing on rebel strongholds in Idlib, but even that has been reduced compared to the first 16 months of its intervention,” Hauer said. “So in a strictly kinetic sense, their operations have decreased.”
Nevertheless, Russia now has more military forces in Syria than ever before. These soldiers, airmen and contractors#number nearly 10,000, according to Hauer—including roughly 5,000 personnel at Hmeimim Air Base, 2,500 Wagner group mercenaries and 1,000 North Caucasian military police.
Russia has “also placed a lot of political capital behind these proposed ‘de-escalation zones,’ which will reportedly be partly secured by Russian or North Caucasian military police,” Hauer added.
This comes as the war in Syria approaches a new phase marked by the looming defeat of Islamic State. “The questions that follow—the fate of Idlib, Raqqa city, how the regime will interact with the Syrian Kurds and so forth—are much more volatile and likely to cause Russia diplomatic headaches as well as generating potential military conflict,” Hauer added.
On May 18, 2017, U.S. warplanes struck Iranian-backed paramilitaries who#were approaching U.S.-backed New Syrian Army militia fighters around Al Tanf near the Iraqi border, the same area where Russia dropped cluster bombs on the NSyA in June 2016. “Russia apparently tried to get the regime and Iran to turn back, but they didn’t listen,” Hauer said.
“Problems with its allies have already caused Russia to have to deploy additional ground forces to ensure its goals are achieved in key areas, with the Chechen military police coming as a response to Iranian interference with ceasefire and evacuation deals in Aleppo.”
Given these circumstances, it’s possible Russia could deploy more ground troops—most likely more military police from the North Caucasus, an option which Russian officials have suggested.
“While there isn’t a need for large-scale Russian military activities, I do think we’ll see more Russian ground personnel, in the form of Chechen special forces and Wagner mercenaries, increasingly deploying to Syria as Russia’s desire for greater influence on the ground grows.”
However, Timur Akhmetov, an analyst on Russian foreign policy in the Middle East, believes the Kremlin is trying to minimize its military involvement in Syria while pushing for a political solution to end the conflict. Russia prefers air strikes, advising and supplying military equipment—not a larger ground presence.
“Assad on the other hand claims he is ready to fight until the very last terrorist [is defeated], he has also claimed Syria will probably need more Russia troops on the ground,” Akhmetov said. “Russia is trying to channel the conflict into the political canvas—freezing active clashes in western Syria. For this, Russia is trying to attract Turkey, because it is one of major players that influence the opposition.”
The New York Times
In the fight against ISIS, U.S. airstrikes have killed hundreds and possibly thousands of civilians
http://nyti.ms/2qj1afU
And the fighting for Raqqa has not even started.....and Mosul is far from over...
Despite massive Assad / Iranian-led gains in the area, @CJTFOIR keeps bombing ISIS near Palmyra.
DeirEzzor: #US warplanes committed a massacre in #Mayadin City and killed 80 civilians, including 35 children(!).
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-26-2017 at 02:17 PM.
S. #Syria: #FSA counter-attack E. of #Suweida started (Desert Volcano Battle). Several armours reportedly destroyed. Heavy clashes ongoing.
Exclusive: US knows its allies have killed civilians in Iraq and Syria but they won't admit it.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/26/...aq-and-syria/#
War monitor: US airstrikes in Syrian town have killed 100 including 40 children
http://read.bi/2qr7Bsz
Syria 106 dead including 42 children after #US airstrikes on Al-Mayadin town in eastern #DeirEzzor province
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-26-2017 at 02:36 PM.
S. #Syria: visual confirmation pro-Regime forces took Sawanah phosphate mine SW. of #Palmyra.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=34...022770&z=16&m#
Don't we all follow Airwars? Do we really need the Gray Lady as middleman here? I appreciate Airwars working to keep the U.S. and its partners "honest", but as usual there is no context:
- Airstrikes and CAS in built-up areas always incur more casualties
- Daesh has a long history of using civilians as human shields
- The Iraqi Army is engaged in urban combat in large populated cities (esp. Mosul)
- What is the ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths?
- What are the trends?
- How does the Coalition compare to say the SyAAF, RuAF or Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen?
- In 1944, Allied tactical airpower killed some 30,000 French civilians as part of the invasion of Europe, in addition to 30,000 killed by strategic bombing
Unfortunately, this myopic sort of reporting lends itself to popular misconceptions such as those that continue to haunt us from the Vietnam War e.g. how many recall Hue vs. My Lai?
If Airwars is to be believed, it is the Coalition, rather than the RuAF (SyAAF is ignored) that is murdering civilians and children...
For someone who rightly depends upon anonymity in today's intrusive and interconnected age, you sure try to get personal. You should know by now that I don't bite.
Do you have a source for Giap's 4.4 million figure? Which book of his?
I didn't know that the NVA enrolled whole families, but it does make the whole debate over women serving in combat units today rather silly, doesn't it?
Video shows Russian helicopters firing missiles at Syrian rebels near al-Tanf - place of US airstrikes last week
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/05/26/mi35/#
MFA Russia 🇷🇺
✔
@mfa_russia
We are deeply worried over mass deaths of civilians in #Iraq in ongoing bombing and shelling by the US-led coalition
http://tass.com/politics/947959
ALL I can say is...REALLY........Russia has not killed less civilians...really??
BTW..the US was not at all in forthcoming on this..several NGOs have been literally demanding that the US investigate...you would have noticed that YES the USAF admitted to killing 100 civilians in Mosul in one attack BUT then placed the blame on IS hidden IEDs which detonated when the bomb hit...BUT WAIT...they would not have been killed if the bomb had not dropped...right???
REMEMBER the Syrian mosque attack that CENTCOM claimed was a drone strike on top AQ leaders which turned out to be civilians...story was pushed hard by @bellingcat and then suddenly CENTCOM agreed....
So do not come with the US is more open than the Russians..they are both hiding and hiding and hiding...
A wise man who just died and I really liked a lot of his IR analysis and books.....as he was of the "old guard European thinker model"......
RIP ...... The U.S. has lost one of its great strategic thinkers -- yet we never discuss anything from him here at SWJ.....as it would challenge way to many....
Heavy and rude trolling tonight, all about a man who died. It's not even a full moon...and they have been largely never outside the US and do not have a passport and they are proTrump troll accounts on top of it...
Pavlo Klimkin
✔
@PavloKlimkin
A legend has gone. Condolences to family of Zbigniew #Brzezinski - great global thinker, who inspired Eastern Europe to get rid of communism.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-27-2017 at 07:05 AM.
MUST READ: Interview with wise man @zbig Brzezinski. On #Putin: "particularly dangerous that he is a gambler."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-1041795.html#
S. #Syria: Regime deployed several 130 mm SPGs with desert camo for its offensive vs #FSA on E. #Suweida front.
RT yday: "Peace-loving citizens will barely like" NATO accession to anti-#ISIS coalition.
You see their twist!
While calling EU countries ....reaction to islamist terrorism weak and calling for more cooperation w/Russia, Kremlin media opposes more western anti-terror activities.
NOTICE the Russian referral to the Trump comment that NATO is obsolete....
DeirEzzor: #YPG/#SDF fighters have beaten & raped a woman in #DeirEzzor Province on 25 May, threatened to kill her.
http://en.deirezzor24.net/a-group-of...nd-raped-her/#
BUT WAIT...she was Sunni Arab and the YPG fighters were Kurdish....and the US supports them thus just as complicit as the rapists are....
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