Breaking: Turkish army are firing on the YPG in the YPG held Town of Girespi & the border crossing.
Leaked memo shows #Saudi Arabia was fully prepared for executions backlash – and went ahead anyway
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6796381.html …
Breaking: Turkish army are firing on the YPG in the YPG held Town of Girespi & the border crossing.
...if I'm to ask: much too late.Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
Oblabla (and not only him: US Congress, media, even the ignorant public) screwed up whatever he/they only could in the Middle East: if idiocies of Bush Jr.'s admin - combined by incredible ignorance of the US public back in 2002 - created this mess, Oblabla's admin (and consorts) trippled it, and now the situation is about to get completely out of control.
Actually, it's near the point of a total meltdown.
In worst case, by the end of this month, there's not only going to be the wars in Syria and Yemen, but also in Lebanon and then between Saudi Arabia (and allies) and Iran... With other words: Sunnis + Turkey + Israel versus Shi'a + Assadists + Russians.
Wonder where are all the US posters from back in 2013 (when all of this could've been easily prevented) to explain me in whose 'higher national interest' is such a quagmire now?
Last edited by CrowBat; 01-04-2016 at 10:04 PM.
Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
Great analysis of the new OPCW report - Syrian soldiers exposed to ‘sarin or a sarin-like substance’
http://www.the-trench.org/syrian-sol...osed-to-sarin/ …
Did Assad's loyalists get hit with their own Sarin again?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_al-
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-05-2016 at 06:29 AM.
Sergun, GRU chief who just died, led "most of complex operations" of GRU, i.e. wars abroad. Stepashin won't say more
http://crimea-24.com/novorossiya/120...hen-bereg.html …
Al Arabiya English ✔ @AlArabiya_Eng
#Syria’s opposition urges all Arab states to cut #Iran ties
http://ara.tv/z3m8s
pic.twitter.com/jzvIuSKJk2
Too little too late.....and absolutely no influence since Obama and Kerry went full in on the Iran Deal...for the Sunni Front States Obama and Kerry in fact support Putin in his killing of Sunni's by Shia mercenaries.....AND his RuAF
White House goes into damage control on Syria peace talks via @POLITICO
http://politi.co/1mvmvg2
pic.twitter.com/O2rwVXc83F
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-05-2016 at 06:41 AM.
Sheikh_Meskin Op. Room announced retrieved back 60% of #Brigade82 in counter assault launched by #FSA
#Daraa #Syria JAN 5
This after 200+ Russian airstrikes
8 bodies of #Iran's Revolutionary Guards arrived in Mashhad- killed during battle in Sheik Miskin /southern #Syria
Douma after years of #Assad and months of #Putin air strikes ...
Some people want to stay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OxSyOACujk …
The starving civilians of Douma due to Assad starvation policy. Lots of evidence in this link
http://humanpains.com/2015/05/14/syr...weapon-of-war/ …
Heavy clashes & Grad Rockets shelling between Rebels & #SAA taking place now at #Marj area
#Damascus CS #Syria JAN 5
SAA mercenaries shelling with grad rockets targeting #Busra_alHarir village from regiment 175 Bazra position
#Daraa #Syria Jan 5
Iran got carried away talking so tough warmongering, terror sponsoring & death chants but knows Saudi can turn Sunni world against Iran
Kuwait has called back their Iranian Ambassador......
Al Arabiya English Verified account
@AlArabiya_Eng #BreakingNews Correspondent: Iranian letter to Security Council expressing sorrow over what had happened to Saudi embassy
Bullies are deep down the biggest wimps. Iran are now begging & apologizing
Very true. Obama kept supporting Iran for his legacy allowing them to massacre Sunnis & holding Saudis back. Too late now
Russian non linear warfare has two key cornerstones.....info warfare and cyber warfare.
Russia cyber warfare has been turned loose by Putin now......
Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
Interesting, the host of @Checkdesk where we do our Russian airstrike verification is under DDoS attack since Dec 25
http://status.linode.com
Concerning - "highly destructive" malware has caused several days of blackouts in Western #Ukraine
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016...ng-escalation/ …
Further evidence through open source investigation by user "witnesss" on the subreddit of @RSyrianCivilWar
pic.twitter.com/qMy8Ubxb23
VIDEO: Rebels in #Aleppo #Syria fire DIY cannon at regime position. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q4WsRcNRxg …
SYRIA: ISIS executes local female journalist for reporting from inside its territory. - @SyriaDirect
http://syriadirect.org/news/islamic-...BA65HA.twitter …
Analysis #Map
Rebels keep fighting pro-#Assad troops at the #SheikhMaskin housing complex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zpyHUCaV3E …
Syria Big business in #Latakia with #Russia'n soldiers & their Vodka thirst
after "work"
Aftermath #Russia airstrikes on #Ebtaa town.. Killing 2 civilians (1 man & woman)
#Daraa #Syria JAN5
Russia warplanes carried out airstirkes targeting #Musaybeen village #Syria JAN 5
Several #Russia airstrikes only in #Ebtaa town
#Daraa #Syria JAN 5
Civilian wounded and killed.....
SAA terrorists shelling on #Hazarma village, wounded dozens of civilians including children.
#Damascus #Syria JAN 5
Media Activist Jenkin Aliko tortured at the hands of #PYD in #Derbassiyeh town #Turkey border
#Hassakah #Syria JAN 5
Reports of a Land mine explosion hit #SCD Ambulance in #Maarat_al_Nouman..
#Idlib #Syria JAN 5
SAA shell #Madaya with heavy machine guns and RBG shells on civilians to avoid the barricade they building up around the town
#Syria JAN 5
Ahmad Abdul & Ghiath Esa killed & several others wounded & detained by #Hezbollah while trying smuggling some bread into #MAdaya #Syria JAN5
Ziad Ghalioun was killed by #Hezbollah, Majd Sheikhou was captured, and 3 lost contact while attempting fleeing out of #Madaya
#Syria JAN 4
SAA & #Hezbollah at the deadly checkpoints around #Madaya keep launching flare bombs on civilians to warn them of get out of the town
The other day Hezbollah leader Nasrallah referred to al-Nimr as one who "bravely told the truth". Nimr said Assad was a tyrant, Nasrallah
Either Nimr is right and that makes Nasrallah an oppressor, or Nasrallah is right and that makes Nimr ignorant. Which is it?
By framing this as an existential threat to Saudi Arabia, Hezbollah's rhetoric serves to rally average Saudis behind their regime more
What could truly threaten the survival of the Saudi regime isn't losing the consent of the Shia minority, but that of the Sunni majority.
Hezbollah's recent statements about "Saudi Arabia nearing collapse" demonstrate its strategic stupidity.
Just note that this isn't about Saudi Arabia vs Iran as cultures; it's about the regimes
Saudi Arabia's recent actions have been reckless and inflammatory - but they're not irrational. There's a cold logic to them.
A reliable ally helps you achieve a strategic vision. Does the US even have a strategic vision in the Middle East any more?
There is no question that the Iran deal has worsened the proxy war in the region.
I really doubt Saudi Arabia coordinated with the US before taking these moves.
NYTs from today........
To Have an Ally in the Middle East, the U.S. Needs a Strategic Vision
Iyad El-Baghdadi
Iyad El-Baghdadi is an entrepreneur, writer and Arab Spring activist. He is on Twitter.
January 4, 2016
A “reliable ally” is one that effectively aids you in accomplishing a strategic vision. Does the United States even have a strategic vision for the Middle East, to ask any allies to rally around?
For years, Saudi Arabia was a reliable ally in maintaining a certain “stability” in the Middle East, one focused less on human rights and more on energy security and counterterrorism. This longstanding alliance seems to be falling apart now, as the Gulf states pursue their own independent agenda, in a manner that is further destabilizing an already volatile region.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to execute Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was as reckless, inflammatory and immoral as its decision to invade Yemen last year. However, try for a minute to take Saudi Arabia’s assumptions for granted – what if the Houthi rebellion in Yemen was an “Iranian intervention”? What if Nimr al-Nimr was a terrorist mastermind in the employ of an Iranian agenda? They weren’t – and he wasn’t – but if you somehow accept these assumptions, then Saudi Arabia was indeed acting assertively against an existential threat.
The U.S. may have thought the Iran deal was a strategic breakthrough, but it is beyond question today that the effects of the deal on the Middle East have so far been catastrophic. By excluding the strategic interests of Arab nations about Iranian interventionism, the Obama administration has allowed an ugly proxy war to get uglier, and has forced Arab nations to break rank to protect what they perceive to be their own self-interests, bringing more instability and more suffering.
If the U.S. wants reliable allies in the region it has to first figure out what it wants in the region – and it better be something the people of the region can sign on to. And please, put human rights on the agenda.
Syria 67 #Assad-forces killed the past days during offensive at SE outskirts of #Hama city http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35...76812&z=13&m=b …
Where's Russia striking? Is #IslamicState near? Check this data by @bellingcat on @silkdotco
http://russia-strikes-syria.silk.co
pic.twitter.com/0ZoUTwNSfe
Aleppo Rebels from Noureddine Zanki movement seized large amount of ammunition- destined for #IslamicState
pic.twitter.com/Uaq98Vef7Y
2-days ago, Sheikh Abu Rateb issued a broad call for improved levels of unity among the armed opposition in #Syria:
pic.twitter.com/KbDIlqZ6Q0
Ahrar al-Sham's chief in #Homs, Abu Rateb (former Liwa al-Haq leader) has been assassinated by gunmen.
Sheikh Abu Rateb was a member of Ahrar al-Sham’s ruling Shura Council. He was shot dead while driving in Al-Farhaniya in northern #Homs
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-05-2016 at 06:29 PM.
Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
UN Security Council to discuss weapons delivery from Turkey to Syria at Russia’s request
http://tass.ru/en/world/848312
BUT WAIT--Russia has run 49 so called "humanitarian aid convoys" into eastern Ukraine AND has refused to allow any UN and or IRC controls on what was being transported....a recent Russian Red Cross official openly in an interview stated that Russia had been using the aid convoys to ship weapons to their mercenaries......© EPA/JUSTIN LANE UNITED NATIONS, January 5 /TASS/. The United Nations Security Council will discuss delivery of weapons from Turkey to Syria on Tuesday at Russia’s request, Uruguay’s Permanent Representative to UN Elbio Rosselli, who is presiding over the UN Security Council in January, told journalists on Monday. He added that the meeting would take place behind the closed doors. Read also Syrian ambassador to UN says Turkish Army directly helped terrorists "Yes. The question of delivery of (weapons) across the Turkish-Syrian border will be raised tomorrow (Tuesday) as part of the general discussion. The consultations will take place at Russia’s request," the diplomat told TASS. According to Rosselli, Jeffrey Feltman, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, is to deliver a report. In December 2015, Vladimir Safronkov, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said that Moscow was extremely concerned with the ongoing arms supplies to Syria and the penetration of terrorists into the country via the U.N.-monitored checkpoints at which U.N. observers are supposed to check the relief cargoes. Safronkov said that Russia had suggested applying the U.N. monitoring mechanisms to all the cargoes bound for Syria, including those declared as relief cargoes. However, the United Nations Security Council ignored the Russian initiative as it was preparing Resolution 2258, which authorizes the delivery of relief cargoes to the conflict-stricken areas in Syria directly from the territories of neighbouring countries until January 10, 2017.
SO NOW will Russia start allowing controls of their so called aid convoys into eastern Ukraine...certainly not.
WILL BE interesting to see how the US handles this----Russia is not interested in weapons flowing to IS AS MUCH as they want the KSA and the Sunni Front States to stop weapons flowing to FSA......
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-05-2016 at 06:23 PM.
Aleppo province: #Russian warplanes launch an air-strike on #Sakhour neighborhood a little while ago.
http://fb.me/4mh4Mefr8
Report: Russia asked Hezbollah not to escalate tensions with Israel
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/R...medium=twitter …
A vid showing the training of snipers by #Ahrar
https://youtu.be/xN1i1Nv3Ojw
pic.twitter.com/zCP7NqB4I2
Two Troubling Questions about Putin: Is He Sick? And Is He Getting Rid of Witnesses?
http://www.interpretermag.com/two-tr...tnesses/#11741 …
pic.twitter.com/xVQURtRi7w
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Two Troubling Questions about Putin: Is He Sick? And Is He Getting Rid of Witnesses?
Paul Goble
Staunton, January 5 – In the dies non that exists in Russia over the winter holidays, two uncomfortable and potentially dangerous questions have been raised about Vladimir Putin: Does his fall off in public activity mean he is sick? And are recent deaths evidence that the Kremlin leader is getting rid of witnesses to his crimes?
That such questions are being asked at all is more important in terms of public attitudes than the answers that anyone may give to one or the other.
Yesterday, Moscow’s independent Dozhd television, citing a report by the Center for Economic and Political Reforms (cepr.su/2016/01/04/kolvo-ukazov/), said that in recent weeks, Putin’s activity has fallen to “a record low for the past 15 years,” sparking concerns that he is either tired or sick (tvrain.ru/news/ustalost_prezidenta-401269/).
Between 1994 and 2012, the center’s analysts found, Russia’s three presidents, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev issued between 123 and 149 decrees monthly. But since 2013, they found that Putin had issued “almost half as many” and that “the number has contracted further.” In 2013, he issued 970; in 2014, 837; and in 2015, 638.
Nikolay Mironov, the center’s director, says that this fall off in activity “may be connected with physical problems” or simply the result of the wearing down of someone who has long been in office. The decline began in May 2013, and since that time, many have suggested that Putin doesn’t look as well as he did earlier.
He notes that the decline in official activity includes not just decrees but other forms of orders issued to subordinates. Over the last year, Mironov continues, the president has distanced himself “from all important questions,” as shown as well by the way in which he answered questions at his recent press conference.
But the director points to the most important consequence of this: Under Russian conditions, if the president doesn’t formulate his orders in a written form, many in the bureaucracy and society do not know what they are supposed to do – and being at a loss, they may either do nothing or go their own ways.
Today, Zoryan Shkiryak, an advisor to the Ukrainian interior ministry, suggested that the recent deaths of two military commanders who undoubtedly have access to many of Putin’s most closely held secrets suggests that the Kremlin leader may be killing off witnesses to his own crimes (nr2.com.ua/News/world_and_russia/Putin-izbavlyaetsya-ot-opasnyh-svideteley-svoih-prestupleniy-ekspert-114437.html).
He points specifically to the death on December 27 of Major General Aleksandr Shushukin, who led the occupation of Crimea, and of Col.Gen. Igor Sergun, the head of the GRU, who has long done secretive dirty work “at the order of the Kremlin in the war against Ukraine.”
Of course, the two deaths may be a coincidence, but they are convenient and getting rid of the executors of regime policy has long been a tradition for the Soviet and Russian security services. They in this as in much else operate according to the principle “no person, no problem.” That Putin might do the same should not surprise anyone, Shkiryak says.
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