Russia Carries Out Airstrikes in Syria for 2nd Day

The New York Times ^ | 10/01/2015 | Anne Barnard

[ScottWalkerForPresident2016]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a second day of raids in Syria, Russian warplanes carried out a new round of airstrikes on Thursday in the northwestern province of Idlib that targeted not the Islamic State but a rival insurgent coalition, according to accounts from journalists and activists.

Russia’s entry into the Syrian conflict, which started on Wednesday with a bombing attack on Syrian opposition fighters, has been angrily condemned by United States officials. They fear that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is using their shared goal of defeating the Islamic State as a pretext for weakening other opponents of Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Putin says that Mr. Assad is a bulwark against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL; President Obama says that Mr. Assad must go.

On Thursday, Al Mayadeen, a Lebanon-based news channel reported that Russia was targeting “a known list of terrorist organizations” that it had agreed on with the Syrian Army.

[Pietro]

"has been angrily condemned by United States officials"

And meanwhile Putin spits in their faces. He saw what they're made of when he annexed the Crimean.

Don't think that this is lost on dictators world wide either. They can see who is strong and who is weak.

[atc23]

The return of the incredibly expensive Cold War - brought to you by the Lightbringer. Who could have seen this coming from the Junior Senator from Illinois? - Senator "Present"

[camle]

frankly, the mideast is a tar baby. if putin wants to rush in, let him...he’ll only damage himself and his country

[Pollster1]

He saw what they're made of when he annexed the Crimean.

That is one of the few good outcomes of the Crimean fiasco - Russia feels free to help restore stability to Syria. I don't care if the Russians are only going after the "moderate" opposition, and not Al Qaeda or ISIS, at the moment or ever. That will still free up Assad's military to crush the worst of the terrorists. And if they help Assad take his whole country back, so much the better. A stable Syria, even with increased Russian influence, is much better for America and for the world than the instability that Obama's gross incompetence (or worse) has created.

[Psalm 144]

I think he is coming in like the Orkin man. Kill the infestation of Hussein & McCain Co.’s friends, set some bait, and then come back every month or so to re-treat and keep the vermin down. I don’t think he is buying the house. He is just parking in the driveway.

He has also been express that he wants to eliminate these jihadis where they are rather than let them metastasize back to Europe and Russia. Some of the jihadis he is killing today would have been “refugees” here in due course. You are welcome.

[grania]

If these rebels aren't united in the fight against ISIS, they're the first problem that needs to be solved.

Take out a map. If ISIS can be encircled in northern Iraq, (including giving the Kurds the help we're supposed to be giving them), that's the way to stop them. Removing Assad gives ISIS a corridor to the Med. With the port they already have at Benghazi, what would happen to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon?

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Yes, the process of knocking off Islamic despots does not have a good track record for 0bama and company.

[WilliamIII]

That’s a relief. I was afraid they might stop after all the criticism from McCain

[olepap]

I am backing Putin over our own President. BO has unleashed the hounds of hell onto the few remaining Christians in the Middle East. Modern living, eh? Backing a KGB man over our own President.

[chuckee]

Putin best pick his bed partners carefully in the Middle East. The place is nothing but one large regional STD.Taking control of certain countries there is like inheriting a dose of the clap.

[camle]

he’ll have no better luck than we did, and he will become their next great satan...

[Pollster1]

Yes, the process of knocking off Islamic despots does not have a good track record for 0bama and company.

If I didn't have the mainstream media constantly reassuring me that Obama is not a radical anti-American Muslim, I might jump to the mistaken conclusion that Obama is intentionally knocking off more or less secular despots who stand in the way of the terrorists he roots for. Fortunately, MSNBC and the NYT have reassured me that Obama is a patriot, Christian American, so I will not make that mistake.

[Psalm 144]

We shall see. Putin doesn’t carry the media and squeamish culture issues which burden us, but he does have a tighter budget and thus calendar. The main advantage for Russia is that they are Obama-free.

[Dick Bachert]

We must IMMEDIATELY send a task force of these mighty vessels – now the standard warship in Obama's “New Navy” – into the Med to deal with those pesky Ruskies. Armed with a single M2 .50 caliber Browning, this much feared naval vessel carries up to 30 rounds of full cardboard jacketed paper bag piercing ammunition. It is the first in an entirely new naval architecture class -- technically, “clitoral” (not to be confused with “littoral”) -- being pushed on the Pentagon by the defense minded wussies in the Obama Administration as a cost-saving measure. If you look closely, you can see the heavy-duty seat restraint which prevents the helmsman/gunner shown here – Seaman 4th Class Kenneth “Kamakazi” Kowalski – from leaping from the vessel prior to engaging the enemy. The 12 V trolling motor – which lacks a reverse function -- propels this sophisticated craft forward at a top speed of 4 knots. Reverse travel – at approximately 35 knots -- is achieved by firing the Browning.

The no-bid contract to build 300 of these fearsome warships was awarded to the Obama-Soros-Emanuel Shipbuilding and Stormdoor Manufacturing Company (formerly General Dynamics) and will be administered by trusted Obama associate, Chicago Mayor and former Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel who commented that, at $12 million each, they are a bargain. Constructed exclusively at the company’s facility in Kenya with major sub-component production (rivets and miscellaneous fasteners) at the company’s Harlem and Skokie plants. Delivery and sea trials of 100 of these began in 2013 with the remaining 200 to follow as soon as the subcontractors’ funds are safely in the contractor's numbered Swiss account.

[Pietro]

The problem is the incredible loss of prestige that Obama has saddled the US with.

Make no mistake, Putin is a ruthless thug. He'll be happy to sell the Iranians all of the advanced weaponry they can afford w/ the freed up sanctions money.

This is a very dangerous game that the Iranians and the Russians are playing, particularly for the Israelis and any other friends we used to have in that region.