Russia Begins Operations in Syria: End Game for the US Empire?

[goyacobol]

Although Putin is trying his best to honor international law and the UN framework it looks like maybe eventually he will have to look elsewhere (Iran, Iraq, China, BRICS?) for any credible support.

UNSC rejects Russian draft as Damascus condemns ‘discriminatory silence’ on Syria terror acts

The UN Security Council has failed to condemn a terrorist attack in the city of Homs on Saturday that took the lives of 22 civilians, rejecting a Russian draft statement. Syria criticized the international community’s double standards.

Following a deadly attack in Homs, the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent two identical letters to the UNSC and the office of the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemning the series of terror attacks which took place in the country last week, urging the international community not to turn a blind eye to terrorism.

Following the plea, the Russian UN mission drafted a statement that condemned the Homs attack in particular, which the UNSC was quick to reject.

“Russia has prepared a draft statement for the UN Security Council in connection with the attack in Homs. The proposal was rejected,” the diplomatic source told RIA, adding that some of the members of the council disagreed with certain provisions in the document.

The exact content of the draft has not been shared, but on Saturday, Syrian Foreign ministry in its address to the UN stressed that Syria is suffering “a series of ongoing crimes against humanity,” urging the international community and members of the UNSC to cease financing terrorist groups in Syria.

On Saturday, a group of terrorists detonated a car bomb near a hospital in the center of Homs. At least 22 people were killed and more than 70 injured, hospital staff told RIA.

In addition to the attack on the hospital, Damascus brought attention to a triple truck bomb attack that killed up to 60 people and injured more than 80 in the town of Tell Tamer in Syria's northeastern Al Hasakah province on Thursday.

In letters addressed to Ban Ki-moon and USCE, Syria insisted that these attacks could not have taken place unless these groups had not been supported from abroad.

The Syrian government reiterated that most of the terror attacks “would not have happened without ... generous support with money, weapons and ammunition to the terrorist organizations as well as the political and media support provided by known countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” the Ministry said, reported official news agency Sana.

Terrorist groups also receive “declared and undeclared support from members of the Security Council for the crimes of terrorists,” who hardly ever react to terror acts in Syria but “immediately condemn terrorist acts taking place in other places on unacceptable political and discriminatory basis,” the letter said.

Despite pleas from Damascus, the UNSC which is now chaired by the US, has rejected the Russian draft and failed to issue any statement on terrorist attacks in Syria, even though a day earlier the body condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack in the vicinity of the Embassy of Spain in Kabul, Afghanistan.

“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice, and urged all states, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Afghan authorities in this regard,” said the statement.

However the same courtesy has not, at least so far, been extended to Syria, with Damascus saying that “keeping quiet” about the ongoing terrorism in Syria is the same thing as supporting it, as silence strengthens the terrorists’ resolve.

Syria urged both UN bodies to “shoulder responsibility in combating terrorism, uproot it and dry up its sources,” and “punish” those who continue to support and finance terrorist activities.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

US-Led Coalition Strikes on Syrian Army Possibly Not Accidental - UN Envoy

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151214/1031702982/us-coalition-strikes-syrian-army.html

The US-led anti-terrorist coalition's airstrikes on the Syrian Army may not have been an accident and could be repeated, Russia's envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — The Syrian Army confirmed earlier in December an airstrike on Syrian Army positions by US-led coalition aircraft in the Deir ez-Zor area that killed three and wounded 13 servicemen.

"Naturally, there is the suspicion that it was not accidental, that despite all assurances given to the Syrian government that these strikes would not target the Syrian government's forces, the strikes could target government troops from time to time," Churkin told RIA Novosti.

"This will intensify tensions and only complicate the situation in Syria. But let's hope it won't happen," he added.

Churkin said that Moscow was not currently planning to raise the issue of coalition strikes on the Syrian army at the UN Security Council.

"At the moment we don't have any such plans. As dramatic as the situation may be, this is a one-off instance for now," Churkin said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said last week that at least four Western coalition warplanes were spotted over Deir ez-Zor in Syria on December 6, when a Syrian Army camp came under attack.

The US-led international coalition has been carrying out an air campaign against the Islamic State (IS, or Daesh in Arabic) in Syria since fall 2014 without a permit from local authorities.

In September, Russia launched its own air operation against Daesh militants at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Daesh is banned in Russia, as well as in the United States, the European Union and elsewhere around the world.

 

[angelburst29]

Washington Is Panicking That Putin Is Breaking the ISIS Supply Line
http://russia-insider.com/en/terrorists-supply-line-about-break-washington-alarmed/ri11750

Originally Appeared at NEOPresse. Translated from the German by Susan Neumann

For years, the US-directed NATO alliance has made sure that convoys full of food, weapons, and other goods have gotten to the terrorist groups IS and al-Qaida via the Syrian-Turkish border. Russian air strikes have massively impeded this service, if not brought it to a standstill.

Russian airstrikes hit one of these convoys in the northwest Syrian town of Azaz, and the Turkish-based newspaper Daily Sabah is reporting the following:

At least seven people died, 10 got injured after an apparent airstrike, reportedly by Russian jets, targeted an aid convoy in northwestern Syrian town of Azaz near a border crossing with Turkey on Wednesday.

Strangely enough, this incident wasn’t picked up by the Western high-performance press. This is rather atypical considering both sides are currently engaged in a propaganda war. It almost seems like the USA/NATO either (a), don’t want to draw attention to the location of this remaining supply line, or (b), it’s not an aid convoy, but a supply truck for IS.

Regardless of what kind of goods were transported, this confirms that the terrorists in the area near the Oncupinar Border Crossing are in charge. This is where the supply line from Turkey to IS can be found. Already in November of 2014, the Oncupinar Border Crossing was mentioned in an article by Deutsche Welle (DW), that described a scene of hundreds of trucks waiting at the border to get into IS territory. Probably with Ankara’s approval. The DW article from 2014 reads as follows:

Every day, trucks laden with food, clothing, and other supplies cross the border from Turkey to Syria. It is unclear who is picking up the goods. The haulers believe most of the cargo is going to the “Islamic State” militia. Oil, weapons, and soldiers are also being smuggled over the border, and Kurdish volunteers are now patrolling the area in a bid to stem the supplies.

Already last year one would have had to ask the legitimate question: if the plan was to destroy IS, why didn’t the US just bomb the supply route instead of leading operations inside Syria? (because it was, de facto, never the plan to destroy IS.) Especially if (a), these attacks were considered to be less dangerous and (b), logistics for the attacks were right there in the area (Turkish airbase).

Asking the more obvious questions would be enough to place a crown on the lying politics of the West:
•Why weren’t these convoys stopped while they were still in Turkish territory?
•Why wasn’t the driver arrested and detained in Turkey, and “the sources for these supplies” traced back to their origins?

Because they just didn’t want to?

When answering these questions, it has to be obvious to everyone – even to those who don't give it much thought – that there’s real intent behind this, and that USA/NATO purposefully provided IS with supplies. Period.

Here’s where Russia comes in. Every country that wants to fight IS will do so on the supply lines. This has been an employed military strategy for centuries. Russia’s bombing of supply trucks near the border (so that the fewest possible goods can be unloaded and redistributed through other means) is therefore logical, because if the supplies make it over one of the controlled border crossings, they will end up in the hands of terrorists (whichever target area that may be).

This development doesn’t please the strategists in Washington one bit and is probably the reason for the shoot-down of the Russian fighter jet. While Syrian and Kurdish forces control the border east of the Euphrates, the Afrin-Jarabulus corridor is the last remaining pathway for supplies to the IS. The Syrian army has also begun a campaign (starting from Aleppo) and has advanced eastwards. Eventually they will start to swing towards the Syrian-Turkish border at Jarabulus. More or less at the same time the Syrian army began their campaign, Russia began bombing in the area around Afrin, Ad Dana, and Azaz to cut off the supply route.

The interaction between Russian air raids and the Syrian army offensive on the ground have the potential to get rid of IS. This is an unparalleled nightmare for the planners in Washington. Closing this supply corridor would mean the complete defeat of the terrorists from IS, al-Nusra and Co. and it would mean the restoration of Syrian sovereignty and the government structures in this area. This could explain the sudden “activity” of the West in sending special forces to Syria, and as already mentioned, the reason for the shoot-down of the fighter jet.

In summing it all up, it also becomes evident that the Syrian “civil war” never really was one. Rather, the terrorists were supported by the West from the very beginning, for the purpose of overthrowing Assad’s government (as I’ve written in previous articles). When faced with a terrorist defeat, the sponsors will throw all their political weight behind the terrorists, no matter what it costs.

Ultimately, this is proof that the hegemonic ambitions of the US / the West in this region were the reason behind the creation of IS. It was never a fight against IS. It was the targeted, planned, intentional creation of Islamic extremism, in the form of the Islamic State.


Assad Tour: Russian company wants to start selling trips to Syrian warzone in 2016
https://www.rt.com/news/325932-syria-warzone-assad-tour/

A Russian company says it plans to begin sending tourists to Syria, including visits to the frontline of the battle against terrorism, next year. It has already applied for registration of the ‘Assad Tour’ trademark.

The application to register Assad Tour – apparently, named after Syrian President, Bashar Assad – has already been submitted to Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent), Moscow City News Agency reported on Monday.

The applicant, Megapolis Ltd., expects to launch tours from Moscow to Syria next year, with the possibility of a trip to the front line,” Anatoly Aronov – president of the First Patent Company, which assisted in filing the application – told the news agency.

The tours will be intended for individuals or small groups of tourists, lasting between four or five days, he said.

According to Aronov, the company has already contacted the Syrian Embassy in Russia and relevant ministries on the issue.

The talks with hotels and transport companies within Syria are currently underway, he stressed.

“Despite the crisis in the tourism industry, there are always people, who are willing to combine the cognitive goals with the opportunity to see natural disasters or visit the places located near the warzones,” Aronov explained.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Thousands Of Russian Troops Sent To Turkish Border

_http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/12/thousands-of-russian-troops-sent-to.html

A stunning new Ministry of Defense (MoD) report circulating in the Kremlin states that President Putin, this morning, issued an order to the 58th Army Headquarters of the North-Caucasian Military District to immediately deploy “selected” regiments and brigades of Federation military electronic warfare, anti-aircraft, multiple rocket launcher, anti-tank, motorized rifle, and artillery forces to the Turkish-Armenia border—which in total comprises nearly 7,000 Russian troops now being put into full combat status.

According to this report, the legal authorization for this massive combat deployment is due to the joint Russian-Armenian missile air defense system agreement ordered to be signed by President Putin on 11 November and which will be finalized this week by Prime Minister Medvedev.

With Armenia now becoming a vital part of the Russian Joint Air Defense, this report continues, Federation military forces will now be able to counter threats from Turkey coming from that nations western border—which will mirror the air defense protections provided by Federation Aerospace and Naval forces on Turkey’s border with Syria that since being implemented this past week have seen both United States and Turkish aircraft completely cease flying missions against Islamic State terrorists in this war zone all together.

Important to note too about this Federation military deployment to Armenia, this report says, are that these forces will be protected, like their counterparts operating in Syria, with S-400 Triumf (NATO designation: SA-21 Growler) medium/long-range mobile surface-to-air missile systems and Krasukha-4 jamming platforms giving them near total air defense superiority over 85 percent of Turkish territory.

The Krasukha-4 broadband multifunctional jamming station is mounted on a BAZ-6910-022 four-axle-chassis and like the Krasukha-2, the Krasukha-4 counters NATO-Turkish AWACS and other air borne radar systems. The Krasukha-4, also, has the range for effectively disrupting low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and can cause permanent damage to targeted radio-electronic devices with ground based radars also being a viable target—which is, undoubtedly, MoD experts in this report state, the reason US and Turkish aircraft have fled from the skies over Syria.

With the criminal Erdogan regime in Turkey continuing to support Islamic State terrorists in Syria and Iraq, this report further notes, President Putin’s order today to begin the deployment of Federation military forces to Armenia will protect that nations peoples from their barbaric Turkish enemies who just a century ago (1915-1917) massacred an estimated 1.5 million men, women and children in what is known now as the Armenian Genocide.

And to the great shame of the United States against these Armenia peoples too, this report grimly states, President Obama, this past August, and for the 7th year in row, broke his promise to them to acknowledge the genocide committed against them by Turkey.

The Federation, however, this report continues, is not only one of the 25 nations that has acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, this past week a bill was introduced into the Russian parliament on holding to account anyone who denies that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was “genocide”.

With Turkish President Erdogan having lashed out at Russia, Germany and France for recognizing the Armenian Genocide, this report warns, his actions against the Kurdish peoples in the Levant Region are even more troubling—especially since this past summer when he broke off all peace talks with them.

But to the Federations greatest fears of the criminal Erdogan necessitating the deployment of thousands of Russian troops to Turkey’s border, this report concludes, is his using of Islamic State terrorists to create for himself a new empire—and which he and his Prime Minister this past May (2015) made no secret of when they declared to the entire Islamic world:

“We Will Gather Together Kurds And Arabs, And All Of The Muslim World, And Invade Jerusalem, And Create A One World Islamic Empire.”

 

[sToRmR1dR]

BREAKING:

Moscow, Washington Agree on Syria Peace Talks in New York on Friday

_http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151215/1031797707/larov-kerry-syria-talks.html

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has confirmed that Syria talks will resume in New York City on Friday, adding that he and US Secretary of State John Kerry are finding common ground.

During talks in Moscow between Lavrov, Kerry, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kerry said that the two nations could work together effectively on combating terrorism in Syria.

Kerry also announced that Russia and the US had discussed exchanging data on the locations of anti-terrorist operations.

Lavrov also said that both parties agreed that the Vienna Accords on Syria must be backed a United Nations Security Council resolution.

 

[angelburst29]

US Rushing to Keep Up with Russian, Chinese Killer Robots
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940924000058

TEHRAN (FNA)- Hollywood has long warned about the dangers of artificially intelligent robots. Now the Pentagon is thinking about future autonomous armies, and the possibility that it’s falling behind Russia and China in the race for weaponized artificial intelligence (AI).

Russia, China, and the United States are currently in pursuit of autonomous robots capable of conducting independent military actions and, according to claims made by US Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, the Pentagon is in danger of falling behind.

"We know that China is already investing heavily in robotics and autonomy and the Russian Chief of General [Valery Vasilevich] Gerasimov recently said that the Russian military is preparing to fight on a roboticized battlefield and he said, I quote, ‘In the near future, it is possible that a complete roboticized unit will be created capable of independently conducting military operations," Work said, according to Defense One.

In speculating what form Russia’s future autonomous army could take, Patrick Tucker opines that the Kremlin could be focused on "some future version of the Armata T-14" tank. Writing for Defense News, Tucker quoted a Russian defense contractor who said that "we are gradually moving away from crewed machines."

Tucker also mentioned an announcement from the Russian Defense Ministry calling for the future deployment of sentry robots. These units could select and eliminate targets without human interaction.

On the Chinese front, Beijing has already perfected a small, motorized robot. Ideal for urban combat, the unit can be outfitted with an assault rifle, grenade, or anti-tank weaponry.

Speaking before the Center for New American Century on Monday, Work warned of the dangers posed by these new technologies, referencing familiar fears about Russian and Chinese "aggression."

"I will make a hypothesis: that authoritarian regimes who believe people are weaknesses…that they cannot be trusted, they will naturally gravitate toward totally automated solutions," he said.

"The chance of making a military situation much worse by having a machine autonomously make a mistake outweighs the benefit," Work asserted.

But statements such as these are curious given well-documented efforts by the Pentagon at developing effective AI. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been developing what it calls LAWS – lethal autonomous weapons systems – that can track and kill targets without human confirmation or oversight. These machines have come under fire from technology experts.

"Despite the limits imposed by physics, one can expect platforms deployed in the millions, the agility and lethality of which will leave humans utterly defenseless," Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, wrote in the academic journal Nature.

DARPA has developed its Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), an unmanned "ghost ship" built to autonomously shadow enemy submarines.

Last January, a memo released by US Undersecretary of Defense Frank Kendall expressed the Pentagon’s need for a "real roadmap for autonomy."

"Identify the science, engineering, and policy problems that must be solved to permit greater operational use of autonomy across wall war-fighting domains," the memo reads. "Emphasis will be given to exploration of the bounds – both technological and social – that limit the use of autonomy across a wide range of military operations."

These projects clearly demonstrate that the Pentagon is working toward the same types of technology it accuses Russia and China of pursuing. The difference may be that the United States’ research simply isn’t as effective.



The Pentagon wants at least $12 billion to fund AI weapon technology in 2017
http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-pentagon-wants-at-least-12-billion-to-fund-ai-weapon-technology-in-2017-2015-12?r=US&IR=T

The Pentagon's fiscal 2017 budget request will include $12 billion to $15 billion to fund war gaming, experimentation and the demonstration of new technologies aimed at ensuring a continued military edge over China and Russia, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said on Monday.

The U.S. military plans to invest in autonomous weapons and deep-learning machines that draw on advances in artificial intelligence, with a heavy focus on human-machine collaboration and teaming in combat, Work said.

Top U.S. weapons makers, including Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp await clues on which programs will be funded in the fiscal 2017 defense budget being finalized by Pentagon officials this month.



Washington Looking for 'Volunteer Armies to Hit the Ground in Syria'
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940923001575

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Russian offensive in Syria requires the support of ground forces to achieve ultimate success in the fight against the ISIL terrorists, DWN wrote. However, Russia and the United States consider the deployment of their troops to the region too risky.

In this regard, Washington is trying to take the initiative in its own hands and find partners who would agree to send their ground troops to Syria, but without much success, it said.

The first step in this direction was Turkey's "little invasion of Iraq", the newspaper wrote. However, the deployment of Turkish armed forces in the country was met with violent protests in the Baghdad government which does not want to see Turkish or American soldiers on its soil.

The second step was the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter's appeal to Germany, in which he called to bolster the country's military contingent as part of the US-led coalition against ISIL. However, Chancellor Angela Merkel has responded to US demands with restraint.


According to her, Germany is already contributing to the solution of the problem, and now it is not time to raise new questions in this regard.

On December 4, Germany’s parliament approved the deployment of Bundeswehr troops in Syria to fight against ISIL, a group outlawed in a number of countries worldwide, including Russia and the United States. The mission is expected to involve up to 1,200 German troops and is set to last until December 31, 2016.

Similar requests were also sent to other partners of the United States, but none of them has yet given a positive reply.

Russian and Syrian armed forces have already managed to achieve significant success in their fight against ISIL terrorists in Syria. In the south of the province of Aleppo, the Syrian army continues to recapture settlements under the control of terrorist groups.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far ruled out the deployment of Russian ground troops in Syria, deeming that further involvement in the conflict would put its military at too great a risk.



NATO Military Buildup on Russia’s Doorstep: Bracing for War?
http://sputniknews.com/russia/20151214/1031709613/nato-russia-buildup.html

NATO has considerably increased its military presence in the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania and is actively drawing ever new states into its orbit, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

“In the past year alone NATO has deployed thirteen times more troops, eight times more military aircraft and up to 300 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to the Baltic states, Poland and Romania,” Shoigu told an annual meeting of top Russian military officials in Moscow.

The 28-nation North Atlantic Alliance is actively facilitating the entry of the former Yugoslav republics, Georgia and Ukraine and is drawing Finland, Sweden and Moldavia into its orbit. It has also set up a cybersecurity center in Estonia and a strategic propaganda center in Latvia.

In the latest such move, NATO military command redeployed around 70 US tanks to Romania. This is certainly not enough for a blitzkrieg, so what is the reason behind it? Maybe this is just a show of support for the fellow member-state Turkey?

“NATO is the only military organization around which aims to contain Russia, whose forced military buildup in the Middle East will be used by NATO as a justification for its own,” defense analyst Vladislav Shurygin told Zvezda television channel in Moscow.

“It is with this idea in mind that the United States is going to set up a special military grouping in Turkey, and the deployment of US armor in Eastern Europe is part of this plan,” Shurygin added.

Washington plans to send around 12,000 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces to Central and Eastern Europe to move around the region during NATO drills.

Most of these weapons are already on the ground in Germany ready for redeployment to Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Romania.

As to the Estonians, however, they should always bear in mind that a Pskov-based paratroop division takes a mere 40-minute flight to in order to have boots on the ground in Tallinn, the analyst said.

Using the war on terror and all kinds of joint peacekeeping and stabilization operations as a smokescreen, NATO is apparently looking for new ways of keeping its coalition alive to fulfill its primary task of containing Russia,Shurygin believes.

The North Atlantic Alliance wants to use the territories of its new members in Eastern Europe as a bridgehead for a massive military deployment against Russia, the analyst continued.

"With NATO’s military infrastructure edging ever closer to the Russian border, Moscow has been forced to meet the challenge by demonstrating its own military might. It is Russia's refusal to roll over which is apparently making the Americans so nervous…"



Russian Military Aid in Iraq
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940924000825

"A large number of the Russian-made armored vehicles, with impenetrable and highly resistent armor, have arrived in the Iraqi port of Basra," A Russian source said on Tuesday.

"Arrival of the armored vehicles on one hand will strengthen the Iraqi military against the ISIL terrorists' rocket attacks and on the other hand will pave the way for the Russian army men to have safer presence in Iraq for war on terrorism," the source underlined.

Meantime, military sources said earlier today that at least 12 ISIL militants were killed in the Iraqi fighter jets' attacks in al-Hamrin mountain in Northeastern Iraq.

"Ibrahim al-Halabi, one of the field commanders of the ISIL, was killed in the clashes with the Iraqi army and popular forces in Jazirat Khalidiya East of Ramadi, in Anbar province," the military sources said.

"The Iraqi forces also destroyed three explosive-laden vehicles of the ISIL militants in Jazirat Khalidiya," the sources said.

Meantime, the Iraqi army also seized a large number of the Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) near al-Siniyah air port, West of Beiji.

Al-Fatha region near Beiji witnessed fierce clashes between the Iraqi police and the ISIL, which claimed the lives of tens of the militants.

Reports said on Wednesday that Iraqi forces cemented their hold on newly gained territory in Ramadi, after scoring a breakthrough in their fight against the ISIL group by retaking a large part of the city.

The terrorists, who have lost ground in Iraq over the past few months, meanwhile claimed a suicide bombing that killed eight people near a Shiite mosque in Eastern Baghdad.

Iraqi forces spent months cutting off ISIL supply lines around Ramadi and slowly closing in on the city by taking suburban areas one after the other.

“The liberation of Al-Tameem was very important and… enables other forces to advance toward the centre of the city of Ramadi,” said Sabah al-Noman, the spokesman for Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces.

He and other military sources said Iraqi forces had also retaken the Anbar Operations Command, a key facility which lies at a fork of the Euphrates River in the city.



Moscow opposed to attempts of presenting Lavrov-Kerry contacts as Russia’s containment
http://tass.ru/en/politics/844047

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry considers unacceptable attempts to present the contacts between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry who are holding talks in Moscow on Tuesday in the context of Russia’s containment, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

"We are aggrieved by and fully reject US attempts to present such contacts in the context of the policy to contain and ‘isolate’ Russia. This is a deliberate distortion of the real state of affairs, such statements are made in the interests of the anti-Russian part of the international community," Ryabkov said.

"Issues of strengthening strategic stability will be discussed. There are problems here considering the course of the current administration on deploying infrastructure near Russian borders together with NATO allies. All this will be on the agenda of talks," Ryabkov said.

The talks between Russian Foreign Minister and US State Secretary John Kerry have started in Moscow. This is the 20th meeting between the diplomats this year.

Lavrov and Kerry will discuss the situation in Syria in the context of joint work in the International Syria Support Group, developments in Ukraine and bilateral relations.

After the talks, Lavrov and Kerry will have a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.



Russia’s envoy to EU: "Critical mass" against anti-Russian sanctions is being formed in EU
http://tass.ru/en/politics/843937

According to Vladimir Chizhov, Italy’s demarche last week did not mean that the sanctions should be lifted immediately but were aimed at launching a discussion within the EU on the political level.

MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The "critical mass" of those who are discontent with sanctions against Russia is being formed in the EU, Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel on Monday.

"The critical mass is about to emerge. At a certain moment it will emerge and the relevant decisions will be taken — we won’t speculate," he said speaking about the change in the attitude towards the anti-Russian sanctions.

"The attempt to prolong sanctions on the sly did not work," the diplomat concluded.

In early December, Italy, Luxembourg and several other countries of the EU spoke against the automatic prolongation of sanctions against Russia. They urged consideration of this move on the level EU Foreign Ministers and heads of the states.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

BREAKING:

Syrian Army Gains Control Over Key Point in Latakia Near Turkish Border

_http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151216/1031815992/syria-latakia-control.html

The Syrian army has gained control over strategic point in Latakia near Turkish border with the assitance of people's militia, military source told RIA Novosti.

The Syrian army has regained strategic point near Al-Nusra Front HQ in Salma (Northern Latakia), located 12 km away from Turkish border.

"After all of the terrorists and their strongholds were destroyed, the army, which was supported by National Defense Forces regained control over the strategic al-Nuba mountain in Northern Latakia," the source said.

Retaking al-Nuba will enable the Syrian Army to control three approaches to the city of Salma: from the west, south and east. To the north of Salma, the border with Turkey remains uncontrolled.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the government fighting against numerous opposition factions and extremist groups such as the Daesh (ISIL/ISIS).

 

[Ca.]

Published on Dec 15, 2015
In The Now
Putin's KGB 'gunslinger's gait' solved by scientists

A study has revealed why Putin walks the way he does. Scientists say it’s linked to his KGB past. They mention that many Russian officials walk this way. The Russian president’s left arm swings freely and his right arm barely moves, according to the research. It helps to draw a gun quickly and researchers believe that Wild West cowboys were similarly impaired. They got you, Vlad, Better start running.

http://<iframe width="560" height="...ho" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Confidence: Meaning-
full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/confidence?s=t
Dutch neurologists think they have figured out Vladimir Putin’s unusual walk

http://canmua.net/world/dutch-neurologists-think-they-have-figured-out-vladimir-216975.html

 

[angelburst29]

Key Statements Following The Meeting Between Putin, Lavrov and Kerry in Moscow
http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/12/key-statements-following-meeting.html

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ 15th December, 2015

U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry confirmed to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that Washington is ready to work with Moscow to defeat the terrorist organization ISIS.

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after his talks in Moscow with Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, the Russian side was also attended by the Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, on the American side assistant Secretary of state Victoria Nuland, special assistant to the U.S. President for Russia Celeste Wallander and the US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft.

On the situation in Syria: The parties agreed to continue work on compiling the list of terrorist organizations operating in Syria.

We agreed to continue to work in terms of compiling a unified list of terrorist organizations and to assist the UN in forming the delegations of the opposition - Sergei Lavrov

We found some areas of agreement in the classification of terrorist groups, but I can't talk now about what we have agreed on a bilateral basis, because, as he said Sergei (Lavrov), the whole support Group Syria should participate in this discussion and it is important that all contributed to the decision - John Kerry

U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry confirmed to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that the United States stands ready to work with Russia to defeat Russia banned terrorist organization "Islamic state" (is, formerly ISIS).

I confirmed to President Putin that U.S. ready to work with Russia to defeat the ISIL - John Kerry

Confirmed today the agreements that were reached between the military of the Russian Federation and the United States, and agreements that apply to the United States led a coalition to combat "Islamic state" (ISIS is a terrorist group banned in Russia). In practical terms agreed on some further steps that will help to make the fight against terrorism more effective - Sergei Lavrov

The parties agreed that the agreements reached in Vienna on Syria was approved by a UN resolution.

We agreed to continue work on the terrorist problem and on the organization of negotiations between the government and the opposition, we nevertheless deemed it appropriate at this stage to confirm the agreements that were reached in Vienna on October 30 and November 14 in the form of a resolution of the UN Security Council - Sergey Lavrov

During the negotiations was also affected by the military operation HQs of the Russian Federation in the SAR.

A recent report to the UN contained the assertion that the Russian operation in Syria has led to increased suffering of the civilian population. In these statements there were no references to facts. We requested the UN present such facts - Sergei Lavrov

Isolation of Russia is not included in the plans of the United States:

At the conclusion of the talks, Kerry said U.S. President Barack Obama about Russia's isolation and explained that they were caused by the situation with the Crimea. Also the parties expressed unanimity in commitment to the Minsk agreements on settling the situation in Ukraine.

We exchanged assessments regarding the challenges to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. The Russian Federation and the USA are building on the agreements in principle reached between presidents Putin and Obama reaffirm their support of the Minsk agreements, we support "Normandy format" and will use their opportunities to achieve full implementation of the Minsk agreements - Sergei Lavrov

The USA does not have a specific policy on the isolation of the Russian Federation. We have a position related to the fact that we defend our principles and values. But, like I said, it is important for us to find areas of agreement and constructive behaviour - John Kerry



Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at the talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Moscow, December 15, 2015
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b95_1450265249

Russians and Americans report “common ground” over Syria
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=376_1450220482



Assad can stay, for now: Kerry accepts Russian stance
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_US?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-15-16-01-54

MOSCOW (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday accepted Russia's long-standing demand that President Bashar Assad's future be determined by his own people, as Washington and Moscow edged toward putting aside years of disagreement over how to end Syria's civil war.

"The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change," Kerry told reporters in the Russian capital after meeting President Vladimir Putin. A major international conference on Syria would take place later this week in New York, Kerry announced.

But after a day of discussions with Assad's key international backer, Kerry said the focus now is "not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad." Rather, it is on facilitating a peace process in which "Syrians will be making decisions for the future of Syria."



Russia: Kerry spotted Christmas shopping during Moscow trip
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=45e_1450205091

US Secretary of State John Kerry chatted to local residents in Moscow, Tuesday, as he indulged in a little pre-Christmas shopping during his visit to the Russian capital.

Spotted wandering along the tourist hot-spot Arbat Street, he was warmly welcomed by locals and fellow visitors. One little boy asked him “what he wished for, with Russia,” with Kerry replying that he wanted America and Russia “to come together in peace.”


Obamas headed to Hawaii for 8th Christmas vacation: Here's how much it will cost you
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/12/obamas_headed_to_hawaii_for_8t.html

Aloha, President Obama.

The White House said President Obama and his family will spend their eighth straight Christmas in Hawaii. The first family will be leaving Dec. 18 and coming back after the New Year.

Judicial Watch tracks costs related to presidential trips, including what it costs to operate Air Force One.

Three trips earlier this year – a Palm Springs golf trip in June, a trip to New York in July and a visit to Martha's Vineyard in August – cost the U.S. $3.1 million in travel expenses alone. It costs about $206,000 per hour to operate the president's private plane.

Last year's Obama family Christmas trip cost $3.7 million in flight expenses alone, with 17.8 hours in the air round-trip. Housing and security costs are on top of that amount but not all that information is released to the public.

 

[Cosmos]

An example on Putins diplomatic and skillfull way to deliver a message to Kerry and his gang and those with eyes to see and ears to hear?

John Kerry just met Putin and Lawrow in Moscow.
I found it quite interesting how Putin started the discussion while looking at Kerry and his stuff.

In this video [from 2:23 - 2:45] you can see and hear how Putin, kicked off the discussion:
https://www.rt.com/news/326014-putin-kerry-lavrov-talks/

Looking at Kerry and his stuff Putin says:

"Your excellency Secretary of State, we see the efforts you are making to resolve a number of pressing issues. We are even struggling to track all your movements – I can see you need to catch up on your sleep."

While he says "We are even struggling to track all your movements – I can see you need to catch up on your sleep" he points with his finger toward Kerry and then to his stuff and back again and during that, he laughs very peculiar and telling IMO.

Now, one could think that it is just a trivial talk, but knowing Putin and how skillful his diplomatic skill are, I suppose that what he really wanted to express with it was something like:

"Your excellency Secretary of State, we [me, my government and the FSB] see the efforts you are making to resolve a number of pressing issues [what he and his handlers are really doing]. We are even struggling to track all your movements [me, my government and the FSB have a hard time keeping track of the sheer amount of your nefarious doings. Despite that, you can be assured that we do track everything you do, quite well] – I can see you need to catch up on your sleep.[I think you should sleep more (or. step down from your position) because then you have less time to exhaust yourself, the american people and the world with your dangerous actions]"

And I think Kerry got the message right from the start...

Just a short reminder what Putin had to say about Kerry a while ago:

Putin calls Kerry a liar on Syria:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/09/05/obama-kerry-putin-syria-russia-g-20/2769683/

 

[angelburst29]

Putin Signs Law Raising Minimum Wage
http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/12/putin-signs-law-raising-minimum-wage.html

The President of Russia has signed a governmental law to increase, from 1 January 2016, the minimum wage by 4%, according to the official portal of legal information.

Starting next year, the minimum wage will be 6,204 thousand rubles a month, the current minimum wage being 5,965 rubles.

Raising the minimum wage will affect about 700 thousand employees, 43% of them work in state and municipal institutions, 57% of workers of the economy sector.

The minimum wage is estimated at 53.6% of the predicted value of the subsistence minimum of able-bodied citizens.



(Question: Is this new Saudi-led, Sunni military alliance - signed by 34 Sunni-led nations, actually the inspiration of Israel - U.S. backing, to form an alliance, along with NATO - to directly confront Russia's President Putin Military objective in Syria, so Syrian President Assad can be over thrown and replaced with a Sunni Dictator? Is this Saudi-led military alliance actually - to strengthen NATO's position to overthrow Assad and then attack Russia - from Syrian and Ukraine's borders?

Saudi Royal Family Announces Its New Global Sunni Military Empire
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/12/saudi-royal-family-announces-new-global-sunni-military-empire.html

An official announcement from the world’s leading, and most fundamentalistic, Sunni Islamic nation, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday December 15th, has introduced a Sunni-Islamic counterpart to NATO, and it includes one NATO member, Turkey, which is already at war against NATO’s enemy Russia, and against Russia’s ally the non-sectarian, secular Shiite, Bashar al-Assad, who runs Syria. The Sauds’ “Joint Statement on Formation of Islamic Military Alliance” has been signed by 34 Sunni-led nations, with “more than ten other Islamic countries” that “have expressed their support for this … alliance and will take the necessary measures” to join, “including Indonesia” (the highest-population Islamic-majority nation). All of those “Islamic countries” are specifically Sunni-led, not Shiite-led.

The two top importers of U.S. weapons are #1 Saudi Arabia, and #2 Turkey. Both are Sunni, and no Shiite nation is even on the list. The new, 34-nation-plus military alliance could cause U.S. military producers to soar.

[...] Saudi Arabia is owned by King Salman al-Saud, the world’s wealthiest person, who might now be on his way to becoming the Sunni faith’s globe-spanning “Caliph,” or Islamic Emperor — an aspiration of his family ever since his ancestor Muhammad Ibn Saud in 1744 swore an anti-Shiite oath, along with the fundamentalistic anti-Shiite cleric Muhammad Ibn Wahhab, who agreed that his followers would endorse Saud’s descendants to rule Arabia if the Saud clan would impose Wahhab’s extremist interpretation of the Quran. In fact, an official of the U.S.-backed Syrian ‘moderates’ called recently for exterminating Shiites, and the Saud family supports those ‘moderates.’ Furthermore, a recent poll showed that 92% of the Saudi public support ISIS, which is only natural since ISIS is only enforcing the laws that the Saud family have already long been imposing upon their own public.

However, ISIS claims that the Saud family are impostors, who must be replaced by the leaders of ISIS, who won’t ‘cooperate’ with ‘the infidels.’ And, so, the Sauds now are arming not only against Shiite-led nations, and against those nations’ major ally Russia, but also against groups that, even inside the Sauds’ own country, are more popular than the Sauds themselves are.

The alleged purpose of this newly formed military alliance is “to fight terrorism” (something that all nations claim to be doing), an ambiguous phrase (something that aristocrats specialize in).

Saudi Arabia was founded in 1744 by an oath between Saud and Wahhab to exterminate Shiites and then take over the world. The Saudi royal family were the main funders of Al Qaeda: that group’s bookkeeper and bagman who personally collected in cash each one of the many million-dollar-plus donations to Al Qaeda, , said that, “Without the money of the — of the Saudi you will have nothing.”

[...] The Sauds privately agreed to an alliance in 1945 with the United States to continue sharing with U.S. oil companies, if the U.S. would protect them from the Saudi public. Thus, the Sauds receive favorable press coverage in the U.S. press, which are owned by members of the same U.S.-and-allied aristocracy that control the U.S. Government.

Consequently, too, the Sauds’ foreign invasions to impose Sunni rulers even in majority-Shiite lands are hidden by the U.S. press. This is a bipartisan hiding: not only mainstream ‘news’ media such as CNN and The New York Times and Salon are part of it, but the clearly partisan (i.e., Republican) conservative ’news’ media, such as those of Rupert Murdoch (Fox, WSJ, N.Y. Post, etc.) also are. (In fact, when the Saudi Prince who was the second-largest stockholder in Murdoch’s News Corp. sold most of his holding of that stock in 2014, Forbes noted that he “also has a substantial shareholding in Time Warner,” which includes CNN.)

The Sauds’ imperial announcement, which provided no details on what is to be meant by the phrase “to fight terrorism,” stated:

The countries participating in the alliance along with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are: Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Turkey, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Palestine, Comoros, Qatar, Cote d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, .Yemen. (The dot before “Yemen” is a typographical error.)

Turkey is the only NATO member in this group. Turkey (after shooting down a Russian plane over Syria) is at war against Russia, because Turkey is trying to defeat the military campaign by Russia to destroy the many fundamentalist Sunni groups, jihadist groups including Al Qaeda and ISIS, that are trying to take over Syria. Turkey’s virtual dictator, the fundamentalist Sunni Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, wants to sell Syria’s oil on global markets — he’s already doing it illegally, and wants to be doing it legally, such as by installing (with U.S. and Saudi help) a fellow-fundamentalist Sunni as Syria’s leader.

Tha Saudi announcement says nothing about what relationship (other than already including one NATO member) the new, Saudi-led, military alliance will have with NATO, which is America’s alliance against Russia. [...]

Outside NATO, the United States has additional major military bases in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and longstanding alliances also with Pakistan and Egypt, as well as extensive military cooperation with Jordan, UAE, and Kuwait.

The U.S. has been trying to conquer Russia ever since the negotiations in 1990 for the end (which occurred in 1991) of the Soviet Union and of its Warsaw Pact (the Soviets’ counterpart to NATO). And, like the Saudis, the U.S. is also hostile toward the world’s leading, and coincidentally its most fundamentalistically led, Shiite nation: Iran. Moreover, both of these military alliances are also very much against Russia. So: NATO and the newly formed, Saudi-led, Sunni military alliance might ultimately join into one.

A conference had been expected to meet on December 15th in Riyadh to select which jihadist groups would receive the backing of the Sauds to take over Syria; however, that was cancelled when the Sauds announced that only a single jihadist group that’s actually fighting in Syria would be allowed to attend. Most of the jihadist groups still want to overthrow the Sauds for working with ‘infidels.’ Consequently that meeting is not being held, after all.

No Shiite nation was mentioned in the Saudi announcement of the new military alliance, and the possibility therefore exists that the reason why the Saud family created this alliance was as part of that family’s intense hostility, ever since at least 1744, against Shiites.

The response of the U.S. regime to the Sauds’ war against Shiia has been twofold: to condemn it verbally, while participating in (and even leading it) in the real world, the anti-Shiia operations against Syria and Iran (both of them because they’re allied with Russia).



Moscow Needs More Time to Analyze Aims of Saudi-Led Anti-Terror Coalition / Sputnik International
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151215/1031769428/saudi-anti-terror-coalition.html

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia announced the creation of an Islamic military alliance of 34 states to fight terrorism. At least 10 other Islamic countries expressed their willingness to join their counterterrorist efforts with the coalition.

“We will need some more time to analyze the decision [to create the coalition], of course, based on the detailed information, that we need, such as the members of this coalition, the declared common aims…” Peskov told journalists, in answer to a question on the Kremlin’s position on the Riyadh decision.

The coalition, which includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, among other nations, was created “to counteract terrorism, which became a threat to the interests of the Islamic nation,” according to a statement to announce the decision by Riyadh.

 

[angelburst29]

Confusion clouds Saudi Arabia’s anti-terror coalition
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Dec-17/327781-confusion-clouds-saudi-arabias-anti-terror-coalition.ashx?utm_source=Magnet&utm_medium=Recommended%20Articles%20widget&utm_campaign=Magnet%20tools

RIYADH: Some key members of the 34-nation anti-Daesh (ISIS) coalition announced by Saudi Arabia have a fundamental question: just what is it? Indonesia did not know it was going to be a military alliance, which it does not want to join. A senior Pakistani lawmaker only learned the news from a Reuters reporter.

And while Western governments welcomed this week’s initiative, there was uncertainty over how it would work.

“We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday.

Comments from several of the countries that signed up to the initiative appeared to reveal a lack of preparation by Riyadh, which approached partners with an invitation to join a coordination center but then announced a military alliance.

When Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced the new group at a sudden midnight news conference, he called it an “Islamic military coalition,” a description that appeared to surprise some of the governments involved.

Armanatha Nasir, Foreign Ministry spokesman for Indonesia, said the Saudi foreign minister had approached Jakarta twice in the past few days to ask it to join a “center to coordinate against extremism and terrorism.”

However, “what Saudi Arabia has announced is a military alliance. ... It is thus important for Indonesia to first have details before deciding to support it,” he said. Jakarta had not yet decided whether to join the group.

Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said later: “We don’t want to join a military alliance.”

In a Tuesday meeting with reporters, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir painted the coalition as a grouping that would allow member states to request or offer assistance among themselves in fighting groups they designate as terrorists.

Such assistance could include military force, financial aid, materiel or security expertise, Jubeir said, and would have a permanent base in the Saudi capital Riyadh. However, more detailed specifics of the plan were still under discussion.

Of the 34 countries Riyadh said had signed up for its coalition, several of those contacted by Reuters appeared to have different conceptions of what it would actually entail, while some said they had not been officially notified.

Pakistani Senator Sehar Kamran, who is on the Senate defense committee and lived in Saudi Arabia for many years, said a phone call from Reuters was the first she had heard of the alliance.

“I haven’t seen the news yet,” she said. Asked if this had been debated in the Senate or National Assembly, she said: “No. Not yet.”

The country’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry was quoted in the daily newspaper Dawn as saying he had been surprised to read of Islamabad’s inclusion and was seeking details from Riyadh.

That confused approach to the project may undermine its goal, not only of creating an effective group to fight militancy, but of assuaging Western fears that Muslim countries are indifferent to the threat posed by Daesh.

In recent weeks, media and politicians in Western countries have complained about what they see as Saudi Arabia’s failure to match their own focus on destroying Daesh militarily or to combat its militant Islamist ideology.

They have painted Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi school of Islam as the ideological wellspring of extremism and said its decision to wage war in Yemen instead of deploying more force against extremists shows it does not see that threat as a priority.

Riyadh has always disputed such accusations, pointing to its jailing of Daesh supporters, its use of top preachers to decry extremist groups, its participation in air raids in Syria and its work with the U.S. to counter militant funding channels.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been subject to criticism in Europe, and France in particular, with regard to extremism and Daesh, and I think it is based on not knowing the facts,” Foreign Minister Jubeir said Tuesday.

Diplomats in Riyadh said the Saudi focus on Yemen instead of Syria arose partly because it regarded its neighbor’s civil war as a more immediate threat to its own security and partly because it disagreed with the strategy against Daesh.

In Saudi Arabia, the coalition proposal was quickly endorsed by the Council of Senior Scholars, the grouping of top imams in the conservative Islamic kingdom, which issued a statement urging all other Muslim states to join the grouping.

Jubeir said the anti-terrorism group would not only include a military, security and intelligence track, but an ideological one as well. Whether more statements by the Wahhabi preachers denouncing militancy will allay Western criticism, though, is doubtful.

Western media often overstate the degree to which Wahhabi teachings resemble the far more extreme positions of Daesh, and fail to note the war of words and accusations of apostasy between Saudi religious authority and extremist preachers.

But Saudi officials in turn rarely acknowledge the links between militant thought and their own faith’s propagation of intolerance toward others. Modern militant groups follow an extreme interpretation of Islam’s Salafi branch, of which Wahhabism was the original strain, and whose preachers regard Shiism as heresy, laud the concept of jihad, urge hatred of infidels and back harsh penalties for religious offenses.

One driving force of support for Daesh has been a rise in sectarian anger, much of it driven by the proxy wars emerging from a political struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran.

In that context, the absence from Riyadh’s coalition of Iran and its allies Iraq and Syria seemed to suggest that it may hope eventually to use its Muslim coalition against terrorism as a Sunni bloc that could isolate Tehran’s Arab Shiite proxies.

Riyadh describes Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Shiite militias, which have been accused of killing Sunni civilians but are all enemies of Daesh on the battlefield, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah as terrorist groups.

“Actually, I think this is partly about Shiite terrorism, because nobody is putting any effort into fighting that,” said Mustafa Alani, a security expert with close ties to Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry.

Whether such a goal would be shared by most of Riyadh’s new partners in its much vaunted coalition, a group that includes countries which have amicable ties with Iran, appears unlikely.

 

[bjorb]

[quote author=Angelburst29]NATO Military Buildup on Russia’s Doorstep: Bracing for War?
http://sputniknews.com/russia/20151214/1031709613/nato-russia-buildup.html

“It is with this idea in mind that the United States is going to set up a special military grouping in Turkey, and the deployment of US armor in Eastern Europe is part of this plan,” Shurygin added.

Washington plans to send around 12,000 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces to Central and Eastern Europe to move around the region during NATO drills.[/quote]


12.000 seems excessive for just some drill. That’s probable more than they used during the 2003 Iraqi invasion.

Consider this, total units of US land based systems: http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=United-States-of-America

US land systems:

Tanks: 8,848
Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs): 41,062
Self-Propelled Guns (SPGs): 1,934
Towed-Artillery: 1,299
Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRSs): 1,331


Pity for them but Russia has more land based units:

Tanks: 15,398
Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs): 31,298
Self-Propelled Guns (SPGs): 5,972
Towed-Artillery: 4,625
Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRSs): 3,793


Battlefield Europe only has one winner if the US remains untouched. I honestly don’t get it anymore. Do they truly wish to provoke WW3 or is it just an attempt to isolate Russia ?

If needs be troop numbers like this can also be considered an occupation force.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Détente? US Now Calling Russia an 'Important Partner'

_http://russia-insider.com/en/us-ready-cooperate-russia/ri11868

The Russian government has always refered to the West as 'our partners' but rarely has this term been reciprocated

Originally Appeared at German Economic News. Translated from the German by Susan Neumann

The US government wants to strengthen its cooperation with Russia in Syria. Washington calls Russia a “significant” partner and wants to cooperate with Russian President Vladimir Putin in finding out those that represent reliable opposition in the country.

For the first time, US Secretary of State John Kerry has explicitly acknowledged Russia's role in the Middle East. Differences aside, Russia is an “important partner,” said Kerry at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. This is Secretary Kerry’s second trip to Russia, where he will not only meet with Lavrov, but with President Vladimir Putin as well.

According to Russian news agencies, Lavrov called on the United States to exert more pressure on the Ukrainian leadership in Kiev to put an end to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

The rapprochement between the two superpowers represents a deepening cooperation between Obama and Putin with regard to Syria. The two presidents had agreed at September’s UN General Assembly in New York to cooperate in Syria. This annoyed the US neocons, who still view the Russians as a mortal enemy and would sooner send thousands of ground troops to the Middle East. Turkey and their secret service are also making trouble, because they’re pursuing interests other than those of the US government.

Despite these adversities which mostly serve to limit the maneuverability of the US government, Moscow and Washington are jointly testing political solutions to the post-Assad era in Syria. Both governments have long since given up their extreme positions on this issue. The US government is no longer fixated on the immediate overthrow of Assad, nor does Russia want to support the Syrian President at any and all costs. The remaining question of who will take part in the future politics of Syria is difficult to answer.

Therefore, the international conference on Syria planned for this week is still uncertain. Although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry agreed per telephone conversation on the conditions for another round of talks, the Moscow Foreign Ministry said that both politicians say that a list of Islamist Terrorist groups must first be created, in order to combat these groups successfully. The delegation of the fragmented opposition also has to be negotiated. This delegation would work with representatives of the Syrian government.

 

[Cosmos]

[...]Do they truly wish to provoke WW3[...]? [...]

It almost seems so... but luckily Putin and stuff consider something like that to be the very, very, very last option. I've stopped to count how many times now, the russian government has not followed the provocations from the west for starting another world war. It's unbelievable!

I also think though, that for Putin, world war is not even an option for defending and fighting against the west, because he seems to know very well what this would entail: Namely the death of a lot of innocent and good people on both sides including soldiers and civilians. The russians know that the elites in the west are the problem and not necessarily the people they have under the spell. It seems so ridicules, strange and unright to have any kind of normal world war (like World war I + II) just because of a small percentage of completely conscienceless elites in power in the west. And I think Putin and stuff think similarly (that this would be totally unright and unjustified). The elites are the main problem.