IF this is true..., then it's very bad news for ISIS. Which would make sense why they are leaving and blending with the Syrian refugees.
The biggest concern is U.S. and Russian forces shooting at each other.
John F. Kerry will be very, very, very angry and sad.
Why not just occupy Syria? It’s citizens have all fled to Europe anyway, so it should be an easy task for Putin.
You don’t need 100,000 troops to stop ISIS. You certainly don’t need 170 bombers. 700 tanks?
However, if you wanted to push the US out of the Middle East . . .
All I know is that’s a lot of hardware. In doing some book research, I actually have some math on it.
12 to 14 vehicles per company. 3 companies per battalion. 3 battalions per brigade. 3 brigades per division. All of this not counting another full brigade of infantry that usually goes along with an armored division. Also, not including a logistical brigade that keeps all of this moving.
That works out to about 400 tanks per DIVISION. Putin’s moved TWO armored divisions into Syria. He’s also moved 100,000 infantry. If you round up, not down, that is 20,000 men per infantry division, which makes FIVE INFANTRY DIVISIONS. Typically, there’s about 10,000 men per division, but 20,000 is a large division.
OK, so that is 2 armored, 5 infantry divisions. In WWII terms, that is two Armored Corps. A Corp is made up of two or more divisions of military assets. These corps consist of at least three divisions a piece, or six a piece if the Russians assign only 10,000 infantry per corps.
Let’s talk just the bombers, all 170 of them.
20 planes per squadron, three squadrons per wing, three wings per group. 180 planes per group.
Putin’s got an entire bomber group in Syria. Bombers generally don’t go anywhere without fighters, but there is no news report on that.
All told, Putin has moved two Army Corps and one Bomber Group into Syria.
The US has a Tank Division in Saudi Arabia. One division.
From the overhead cam in the stadium, it looks to me like the Chinese are getting ready to push us out of Asia, and the Russians are getting ready to push us out of the Middle East, and it looks like they are getting ready to coordinate this activity at the same time.
How this is not leading the news, or causing R Senators and Congress people to crap their nickers is beyond me.
Time’s running out. 18 months left before Obola leaves. He’s cut the military, and we’ve already conceded we can’t fight two theaters.
If you were Putin, would you hock the wedding china to consolidate all the oil right now?
Add an EMP attack on the US and we go from first to worst inside of a single calendar day.
Maybe that’s why that General - the one overseeing the task force on dealing with ISIS quit yesterday. He’s probably moving his family to Canada, or Costa Rica.
Doing the job the American president won’t do.
This Syria business sounds like the Spanish Civil War all over again. Nothing but a predecessor to WWII.
I’m rootin’ for Pootin’
Which rational actors in the world want to babysit the insane murderous tribal rivalries in the Middle East? If they did, they would not be rational.I realize Russia has vital interests in maintaining Assad in Syria and their support of Iran but I think they would be manifesting a bit of that insanity if they think they are going to overextend their grasp to the nuttier sunnis who are aligned against Assad and Iran. Welcome to the Mad Hatters Tea Party, Vladmir.
Vietnam and Korean War, Middle East edition.
I’ll bet ISIS won’t behead a Ruskie soldier and broadcast that to the world. They may actually fear Putin’s response.