[Berlin_Freeper]

"From where NATO’s top commander Gen. Philip Breedlove sits, the Russian forces flowing into Syria don’t look like counter-terrorists out to stop the Islamic State, which Vladimir Putin has said is his highest priority. They look like the first pieces of a layered 'anti-access/area denial' system that could complicate US and allied operations in Syria and well beyond," the Breaking Defense report said.

[Mariner]

" the Breaking Defense report said"

The forces in place are not even enough to secure Syrian airspace against a modern Air Force.

They appear to only be sufficient to fly CAP while the SU-24s and SU-25s ensure the survival of the Assad regime.

Russia's scope is limited, not by politics but by the forces present.

[BobL]

The Russians don’t show up for combat without their S-400 SAMS. As someone familiar with that missile and how it was developed, about the best thing we can do now is simply leave and forget we were ever there. It certainly beats having our planes shot down like sitting ducks, which is the case against those batteries.

But we do have 2 women that just graduated from Ranger School and an LGBT running the Air Force...so maybe I’m wrong.

[redgolum]

Correct.

I have said this before, and will say it again. Someone in the US State Department needs to go dig up James H. Billington. Russia is behaving as Russia again, and NATO is playing along like they are following a script.

We are at least ten years behind catching them up, and will probably have the Middle East fall to the Russian orbit. Something the British and American policy makers have been working to stop since at least the mid 1800’s.

But our current State department and military is much more concerned with promoting gay marriage than defending the interests of the West.