Other Western officials said Kerry overestimated his ability to bring Moscow around. They said he appeared to believe that since he had achieved what some saw as unachievable by getting a nuclear deal with Iran, he could do the same with Syria.Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
They noted that the two cases were different. With Iran, Russia wanted a political agreement whereas in Syria it is pushing for a military victory by the Syrian government.
"The Russians are playing cat and mouse with Kerry," a senior European diplomat said.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-10-2016 at 06:07 PM.
Appears the Obama WH is no longer understanding the real world outside DC.....
The cheap, brutally effective medieval tactic shaping the Syrian civil war
http://reut.rs/20VquBc
pic.twitter.com/XI4Hew7tc1
Social media has now for over fours years told them daily and yet they still did not care......
152 mm, 2A65 artillery battery near Palmyra.
pic.twitter.com/iB2LQC5AGj
Syrian Kurdish Authorities Open Mission In Moscow, Former DNR Leader Boroday Turns Up
http://www.interpretermag.com/us-all...resolve/#12424 …
Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reports that representatives of the PYD-led Syrian Kurdish authorities, who control a swathe of northern Syria, have established an office in Moscow today.
According to the report, the "government of Western Kurdistan" will operate in Russia with the status of a non-governmental organisation.
Senam Muhammed the Syrian Kurdish special representative in Europe and the United States, said:
"For the Kurdish people, and for the people of Western Kurdistan, this event is historic. This has been made possible thanks to the dedicated struggle of the Kurds in Syria. We hope that the representative office will become the voice of our region."
Rodi Ahman, the head of the delegation in Russia, said Kurdish representatives would set up meetings with Russian officials, politicians and public figures to work on a solution to the Syrian crisis.
One of those public figures spotted today was Aleksandr Boroday, former editor of the ultra-nationalist Zavtra newspaper and a key figure in the Ukraine war.
Boroday, a Russian, was involved in the takeover of administrative buildings in Donetsk and declared himself the 'prime minister' of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic in May, 2014.
He announced his resignation in August that year and was replaced by Aleksandr Zakharchenko.
The choice by the Syrian Kurdish leadership to open their first office in Moscow will only further fuel fears that Russia has co-opted Kurdish forces that still receive extensive US backing.
Kurdish YPG (co-founded by the PYD) fighters have recently broken a truce with rebel groups in the Aleppo region and have enabled pro-regime forces to cut the city off from supply routes to the north and the Turkish border.
Of course courting the PYD not only helps the Kremlin on a tactical level through collaboration in Aleppo, but also plays against Turkey, which considers the organisation to be a terrorist group and has recently stepped up a long-running war with the PYD's parent organisation, the PKK.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-10-2016 at 06:34 PM.
Di Mistura floated the idea of a federation in Syria to several opposition members including Cairo Summit members.
For the HNC...if Assad remains in power in any form......this is a non starter.....
Ajnad al-Sham targeting shia militias in Nubl/Zahra north #Aleppo with artillery.
https://youtu.be/jsza-JHJG9U
Crazy vid found on a dead Hizbollah fighter's mobile. 5mins of Hizbollah mocking Assad soldiers, "we cnt find them!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-rDj6InLJI …
An hour long brand new video by the Army of Islam on the biggest battle near the capital
https://youtu.be/YImhH2NKVQI
Journey to Aleppo: How the war ripped Syria's biggest city apart
A first-hand report by Peter Oborne, a UK journalist of note and ex-daily Telegraph. Yes the visit is facilitated by the official Syrian regime:http://www.middleeasteye.net/essays/...art-1376989223
davidbfpo
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign...paign-in-Syria
Why the West is standing by amid Russia's campaign in Syria
As someone who has followed the CSM political analysis work on just about any topic since the 70s they are always close to the truth.
This is the core part of this article and it goes to the heart of the overall Obama and Kerry failures in confronting Putin who is forcing himself back into superpower status and who wants a "new Yalta" largely supported by the failures of Obama and Kerry to confront him on just about anything...especially the Russian breaking of the INF.
If one looks at the Obama mantra first in eastern Ukraine and now in Syria it is eerily the same thing...
"the conflict cannot be militarily won and it has to have a political solution"
ALL the while Putin and his MoD are actively and actually pushing a "military solution"...
We see that with the TOW arguments in Ukraine where Obama and Kerry basically declared them "an offensive weapon which turned the truth upside-down and they often stated.....if we supply them then Putin will escalate".....AND Putin escalated at every twist and turn and the US did what nothing except demand the Ukraine accept the political points in Minsk 2 without the Russians even fulfilling reciprocally even the simple point of POW exchanges which was to occur two weeks after a ceasefire. If one thinks about it since the Russians have not exchanged prisoners...in their minds there is thus no "ceasefire" BUT WAIT Obama and the West says there is one and it is working...their talk is being balanced against the reality of an average of over 50 attacks a day for the last two months.
In Syria we see the exact same Obama and Kerry argument for the last four years....."there is no military solution it has to have a political solution"...AND who places the entire game on a military win...Putin AND what does Obama and Kerry do.....cut off the flow of weapons to the anti Assad forces and virtually demands they surrender in Geneva in order to get a "ceasefire".
BTW the same "ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine has never been fulfilled by Russia so why would they honor one in Syria???
Never answered by the WH when that question is placed to them...BUT WAIT US MSM never asks that question does it?
“Russia has very clear intentions and is using military means to accomplish them,” says Heather Conley, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. “At the same time our aims are not so clear, and we are using soft means to try to accomplish those unclear goals.”
The Obama administration has been caught off guard by the ferocity of Russia’s recent escalation in Syria, some say. But that surprise, they add, has only reinforced a determination not to end up in a conflict with Russia in a region that the US, under President Obama, is trying to play down.
“The administration does not like what the Russians are doing, but they’ve been set off balance by this recent escalation and they don’t seem to feel there is anything they can do about it,” says Andrew Tabler, a Syria specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Given Mr. Obama’s desire to stay out of Middle East crises as much as possible, he adds, “The US is not about to do anything that would involve going up against Russia and risk a confrontation in Syria.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin “has a plan” for rescuing Mr. Assad and reinvigorating Russia’s role in the Middle East, Mr. Tabler says, “and I don’t think they [the administration] care enough to do something about it.”
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-11-2016 at 08:39 AM.
Part of the western MSM problem is ..there is not a single voice of the anti Assad opposition ever interviewed.....interesting is it not as they are not hard to find in Jordan, Turkey or even in KSA.
Even the recent MTV interview of Hezbollah POWs made youtube because Hezbollah pressured MTV to not release it, but has yet to be quoted in MSM nor is there any serious western MSM reporting on "transnational Shia jihadists" who are fighting in ever larger numbers in Syria and who are just as dangerous as the Sunni variety.
Lastly the role of Hezbollah both Lebanese and Iraqi (KH) ...we hear very little about in MSM when in fact they have killed/wounded almost as many US/French military as was killed in 9/11. Especially the role of Iran in their training, funding and weapon supplies to include 15K missiles from Iran and their firing of Russian TBMs in Syria on almost a daily basis now.
BTW the bulk of the SAA fighters in and around Aleppo are right now Hezbollah and Iraqi Shia militia that was not noted in the article as the question was apparently not asked.
NOTICE MSM never seems to ask .."why is it that IS occupies large amounts of territory in Iraq BUT over 30 odd Iraqi Shia militia's are in Syrian fighting largely FSA...and not IS".
Why is that?
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-11-2016 at 08:56 AM.
Inside the Sieges: The Scope and Implications of Besieged Syria
When the Atlantic Council becomes frustrated with Obama's inaction, you know there's a problem. See here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YZdq4Jgj0
TURKEY: PM Davutoglu pledges to defend their 'Aleppo brothers' in Syria just as they defended Turkish cities in WW1
https://www.rt.com/news/331968-turke...ention-aleppo/ …
This might be provocative but right now all of the turmoil in the ME and the unilateral appeasement to Iran AND Syria was in fact signaled in the Obama 2009 speech in Cario.
It is well worth going back in and reading the 6K or so words of the speech and then understand it from the views of an "Islamist".....
Recent comment from a former UK Ambassador to Egypt....
More generally, this speech moved U.S. policy back from President Bush’s ill-fated ‘freedom agenda’ into a new version of an old bad habit. For decades too long Western capitals nodded deferentially at dreary national socialistic and other autocratic regimes across the Middle East, caught between a racist view that ‘Arabs can’t run a modern open society’ and a fear of anything which might threaten ‘stability.’
It boiled down to a well delivered speech full of clever emollient phrases that ultimately sent a message of appeasement to militant Islamist tendencies: Under my restrained leadership the United States will respect and accept conservative forms of Islam.
That in turn left ‘the West’ responding fitfully and uncertainly to the Arab Spring events.
Words matter regardless of who says them......so is this speech the core drive in the "Iran Deal" and the abject hands off on Syria which he signaled he wanted to improve relations with....in 2009??
This would in fact explain why Obama for four years stated "Assad must go" and then together with Putin "Assad must stay"...because Putin actually is doing what Obama spoke about in Cairo??
SYRIA: New report says up to 470,000 people have died in the conflict over the last 5 years.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...e_iOSApp_Other …
WHAT the heck is this ...........
Why are Russian engineers working at an ISIS-controlled gas plant in Syria? - @ForeignPolicy http://atfp.co/1o2Nu3n
Kurds and Russians.....
Maybe they're one of the many Assad's militias after all
Pro #Assad media celebrate the capture of Menagh airbase in Aleppo by YPG and call the Kurdish militia NDF forces.
Rebels completely regain control of the town of Qaruja & it’s surrounding hills from regime militias in Jabal al-Turkman, #Latakia
The perfect example of just how screwed up the current Obama FP for Syria is.....the US is in fact supporting the Kurds in taking even more Syrian Arab territory in their drive to build a Kurdistan and that includes all Syrian territory bordering Turkey which resulted in the Turks calling out the US...choose Turkey or the YPG....also taking Aleppo the second largest city in Syria.
While the US calls YPG "SDF" and supports it, the Turks consider it to be just the Syrian version of PPK and there is some truth to that. HWR/AI have in the past months openly accused the Kurds of "ethnic cleansing" of Arab towns and villages as well as destroying a number of Arab villages.
YPG has now opened an Moscow political field office and the Russians are also supplying weapons to them and have demanded the Kurds be included in Geneva talks.
THEN this yesterday...
One big dire cluster in #Aleppo, Syrian rebels fighting for absolute survival against YPG, Iranian militias, ISIS & Russian airstrikes
So again just what is the "official policy of the US"...thought we were fighting "terrorists" and PKK is on that list BUT WAIT we are supporting YPG just a political offshoot of PKK?????
So when will Obama finally and fully admit his Syrian FP is being driven and implemented by Iran and Russia??
America is now trying to pretend there are no links between the PKK and PYD:
http://m.bianet.org/bianet/siyaset/1...d-aciklamalari …
Hezbollah expels most residents of Qara, located btw Damascus & Homs, looted homes, & burns thousands of trees. http://www.alarabiya.net/ar/arab-and...%87%D8%A7.html …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-11-2016 at 10:28 AM.
Russia|n airstrikes haven’t stopped, Tal Rifa’at, Menagh & Ayn Daqna in northern #Aleppo hit a little while ago
+17000 #Russia|n airstrikes & +1500 civilians killed the Russians say they don’t think they’ve killed anyone. Not one human being.
Even the Armenian society was hit by #Russia|n airstrikes in Kafrnaha, #Aleppo yesterday
Footage
#YPG tanks and #Russian airstrikes capture #Menagh air base and village.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FplKnrYpR00 …
Shiite militias capture #KafrNaya, Kurdish #YPG troops #Menagh.
Both supported by #Russian air strikes.
Hezbollah fighters talking about the dumb Iraqi Shia fighters who were shooting at them by mistake
Hezbollah fighters "manar (Hezbollah tv) are liars, we liberated it, not the Syrian army"
The #UnitedStates bombed 1 hospital in 2015 & its president apologised for it.
#Russia bombs 1 hospital per day and rejects it EVER did so.
Rojava Peshmerga wants to enter Syria to fight Assad, but the YPG won't let them.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-11-2016 at 10:23 AM.
UW is always about winning the hearts and minds...but when this WH basically abandons the "hearts and minds" because they failed to either formulate a clear, concise and coherent CUW strategy or they simply passed US FP to the Russian and Iranians...this below does not lend itself to actively influencing the "hearts and minds" towards the US in the coming years....this dismal failure by Obama will impact the US in the ME for the next 20 or so years.....
Report on #Syria finds 11.5% of population killed or injured, 470,000 deaths, 45% of population is displaced
We are actually seeing a similar dismal failure of the US in eastern Ukraine.
Pity the EU when the next wave of Putin generated Syrian refugees hits it....but in the Russian view all is fair game in non linear warfare....
I had posted here a comment that all the major anti Assad Forces including JaI and al Sham attended a meeting in Turkey....
In a meeting in Turkey 2 days ago , Turkish-Saudi Arabian-Qatari officials gave the opposition groups 2 choices :
Agree to fight under one banner ( Like the Army of Conquest in Idlib ) and get all the weapons and equipment they need
If they don't unite, The opposition backers will drop support and North Aleppo will fall. If true, Ahrar & JN must answer
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-11-2016 at 10:34 AM.
Syria #Aleppo YPG/SDF captured Menagh AB from Ahrar & allies. ANHA video shows interesting details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l06ur7OQTMw …
Female Kurdish fighter driving T-72 MBT w/ slate armor, US provided M2 used against rebels, RuAF air support.
"Transnational Shia jihadists" on the move into Syria will certainly not be "winning the hearts and minds" of the Sunni's in what is more and more a true sectarian Sunni Shia War..........
Those that have fought in Iraq will "recognize" some old "friends"....Remember Khamenei stated at a recent funeral for IRGC personnel....they died defending the "Islamic Revolution"....BUT Syria is Arab and 70% Sunni..
Syria Exclusive pic of an #IRIAF C-130 in Damascus IA transporting IRGC & Badr fighters to Aleppo front. Nov 2015
https://twitter.com/green_lemonnn
IRIAF C-130s in Syria had their Iranian flag on the tail removed but still have a full serials.
@SMantoux & i covered recent Badr deployment in Syria in this piece (French).
http://historicoblog3.blogspot.be/2016/02/mourir
Recent Badr deployment in Syria is the most important ever. Currently, Badr has 3 main brigades in Aleppo, the 10th, 4th & 3th brig.
Badr 10th Brig. has 2 Reg., the 4th Brig. has 3 Reg/specialized unit . Weren't able to ID the specific Reg. of the 3th Brig.
Not easy to give an estimation on # of Badr fighters recently deployed but 1000-1500 (foot soldiers& specialized) is a safe bet (for me)
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 02-11-2016 at 10:48 AM.
Erdogan accuses #US of creating 'pool of blood' with policy on #Syria Kurds - AFP
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