“——the Russians can immediately detect it “——I’m throwing the “maybe “ flag on that. They are either not that good or are trying real hard to appear neutral. they obviously didn’t pass any clues to Basher when the ‘Raelis took out the Syrian nuke project up the Euphrates.
Lavrov knows he can’t send any russian troops on the ground outside that naval base. The want that base intact too much to get aggressive with whoever is running Syria. Lavrov knows the base is a sitting russian duck and is being just as polite as he can be where it’s concerned.
The 2007 attack during which Syrian AA radar networks seemed blinded.
The general situation in that area has changed significantly since 2007.
They have not forgotten what happened.
They are upgrading.
Earlier this month, the Kremlin made clear that it would fulfill its "contractual obligations" and continue to supply Syria with arms and military hardware, including anti-aircraft systems.
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_syrian-rebels-threaten-to-attack-russian-naval-base_1719887
see last paragraph.
Gotta have training for the operators. Gotta have observers for the training. Gotta have some protection for the trainers and observers. Gotta have "inspectors" for the military hardware. Gotta have "support staff" for all of the above. They can not do all that on the base.
I'm telling you, there is a big fat commie rat crawling all over this.
Given the butt-kisser-in-Chief in the White House will totally support the Russians "defending Russian citizens in the area" and his tenure as President is appearing to be ended, the Russians will push as much hardware in there as possible and finalize as many "contracts" as possible over the next six months.
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