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The conventional wisdom is that Vladimir Putin has blindsided Barack Obama in the Middle East, catching the U.S. off-guard. It’s another Obama “failure,” we’re told. “Obama administration scrambles as Russia attempts to seize initiative in Syria,” is how a Washington Post headline described it. A popular cartoon shows Putin kicking sand in the faces of Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry on a beach. - snip - Here’s how her story began: “Moscow’s rapid military buildup in Syria is a result of the ‘reset’ in relations forged with the Russian and Iranian governments by the Barack Obama administration. The...

In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, both Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina have called for the United States and its coalition partners to establish a no-fly zone in Syria to protect U.S.-backed rebel groups – effectively challenging Russia to a military confrontation if it wants to bomb them. Following is a review of where the 2016 candidates stand on the Syrian situation, beginning with Fiorina and Clinton, and the differences between their no-fly zone proposals. Only those candidates who have made statements about the Russian campaign and how to respond since the air strikes began are included. Carly Fiorina:...

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump said Saturday that bringing Syrian refugees to the U.S. could result in "one of the great military coups of all time." "This could be one of the great military coups of all time if they send them to our country -- young, strong people and they turn out to be ISIS," he told Fox News' Eric Bolling. "Now, probably that won't happen, but some of them definitely in my opinion will be ISIS." Trump said later Saturday that bringing in more refugees could have long-term effects. "This could be the ultimate Trojan horse. This one could be...

LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly sending 150,000 soldiers to Syria to wipe out the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to The Daily Star, he is apparently mounting an enormous military mission to take control of the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa. Raqqa is the self-declared capital of ISIS which is patrolled by as many as 5,000 jihadi members. Putin is set to mobilise 150,000 reservists whom he conscripted into the military earlier this week.

Russian fighter jets launched from a new airbase in Syria have persuaded western critics to mute their demands for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, but another group of his opponents sees Moscow’s intervention as more provocative than decisive. Regional powers have quietly, but effectively, channelled funds, weapons and other support to rebel groups making the biggest inroads against the forces from Damascus. In doing so, they are investing heavily in a conflict which they see as part of a wider regional struggle for influence with bitter rival Iran. In a week when Russia made dozens of bombing raids, those...

Syria: Chinese Uyghurs Killing Russian Spies According to Turkey's Plan It's a Zionist conspiracy, of course Charles Paul Freund | October 3, 2015 So while enormous numbers of Syrian refugees are attempting to get out of the Middle East and into Europe, what is happening in the empty villages they have left behind? According to Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based satellite news service, at least some of the abandoned villages in northern Syria are filling up with the families of Muslim Chinese Uyghurs. These Uyghurs, claims the report, are entering the country along with their wives and children to fight alongside...

HONOLULU, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- An undisclosed number of F-22 Raptors of the Hawaii Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force have been deployed to the Middle East for as long as six months. The Hawaii Air National Guard, or HIANG, said the deployment of most of the fighters and more than 200 personnel from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu took place Sept. 26 but was kept secret for security considerations. The aircraft and personnel are now in an unidentified location in the region, which is in the area of responsibility of the U.S. Central Command. "Because of...

Russia's intervention in Syria will curtail the spread of terrorism and help deal a fatal blow to Islamic State in the war-torn country, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday. Russia launched air strikes in Syria on Wednesday in its biggest Middle East intervention in decades, marking a dramatic escalation in a more than four-year-old civil war in which every major country in the region has a stake. "Russia's entrance, given its potential and capabilities, is something we see is going to have an effect on limiting terrorism in Syria and eradicating it," Shoukry said in a televised interview...

In the fall of 2002 Iraq crossed an unacceptable threshold, supplying operational weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to bin Laden's terrorists. These developments were confirmed to the Western intelligence services after several terrorists -- graduates of WMD training programs -- were captured in Israel, Chechnya, Turkey, and France, along with documents related to their activities. On the basis of pure threat analysis, the United States should have gone to war against Iraq, as well as its partners Syria and Iran, in fall 2002. By then there was already unambiguous evidence indicating the urgency of defusing the imminent danger posed by...

Donald Trump said Saturday that bringing Syrian refugees to the U.S. could result in "one of the great military coups of all time." "This could be one of the great military coups of all time if they send them to our country -- young, strong people and they turn out to be ISIS," he told Fox News' Eric Bolling. "Now, probably that won't happen, but some of them definitely in my opinion will be ISIS." Trump said later Saturday that bringing in more refugees could have long-term effects. "This could be the ultimate Trojan horse. This one could be written...

On Thursday, in “Mid-East Coup: As Russia Pounds Militant Targets, Iran Readies Ground Invasions While Saudis Panic”, we attempted to cut through all of the Western and Russian media propaganda on the way to describing what Moscow’s involvement in Syria actually portends for the global balance of power. Here are a few excerpts that summarize what’s taking shape in the Middle East: Putin looks to have viewed this as the ultimate geopolitical win-win. That is, Russia gets to i) expand its influence in the Middle East in defiance of Washington and its allies, a move that also helps to...

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he favors committing U.S. ground troops to a multinational military coalition that would enter Syria and create safe zones for refugees fleeing the war-torn nation. Johnson, a first-term Republican, spoke Friday at Madison-Kipp Corp. in Madison, at an event to mark Wisconsin Manufacturing Month. -snip- Johnson said he doesn’t know how many U.S. ground troops would be required for the effort. Russia’s recent involvement in the region may complicate it, he added. -snip- Johnson’s Syria stance puts him in line with other hawkish GOP senators, including Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain...

For years, Republicans have criticised Barack Obama for not doing more to stop the brutalities carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and to fight Isis. But what they think Obama should do and what the long-term solution might be remained hazy. -snip- Republican rising star Carly Fiorina had already called on the US to enforce a no-fly zone in Syria to protect US-backed rebel fighters, as had Jeb Bush in unequivocal terms. On Friday, another Republican presidential contender joined their camp: “You enter that no-fly zone, you enter at your own peril,” said Governor John Kasich. “No more...

Three days into its bombing campaign in Syria, Russia on Friday at last targeted Islamic State positions, striking at the defacto capital of the terror organization and at least one other site. The Russian strikes at the Islamic State came after two days in which its aircraft attacked locations belonging to other fighting groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad, including CIA-supported rebels, sparking calls for the Obama administration to do something to protect fighters it had trained and equipped. But President Barack Obama made clear that the U.S. had no plans to deepen its role in Syria. “We’re not...

Russian Defense officials reported its air force carried out 18 airstrikes this Thursday. They also destroyed a “terrorist” training camp. Russian Su-34 warplanes attacked and destroyed an Islamic State group command center and training camp Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. The center is located in Maarat an Numan.

The Islamic State terror group cancelled Friday prayers in the Syrian city of Raqqa and emptied mosques there out of fear of further Russian airstrikes, according to activists and city residents. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 12 Islamic State militants were killed Thursday in Russia’s first airstrikes carried out in the group's de facto capital in Syria. "Last night, Russian strikes on the western edges of Raqqa city, and near the Tabqa military airport, killed 12 IS jihadists," Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory, told AFP. He said residents were staying indoors, and IS "has started...

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Russia on Friday that its bombing campaign against Syrian rebels will suck Moscow into a "quagmire," after a third straight day of air raids in support of President Bashar al-Assad. At a White House news conference, Obama frequently assailed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he accused of acting out of a position of weakness to defend a crumbling, authoritarian ally.

WASHINGTON — The already fragmented battlefield in Syria grew even more complicated on Friday, as Russia and Iran expanded their military efforts to defend the beleaguered Syrian government in defiance of President Obama, who predicted that their actions would lead only to a “quagmire.” In his first comments since Russia began airstrikes on Syrian targets this week, Mr. Obama said that Moscow was acting “not out of strength but out of weakness.”

(Original title too lengthy: The Largest US Foreign Policy Blunder Since Vietnam Is Complete: Iran Readies Massive Syrian Ground Invasion) On Thursday, in “Mid-East Coup: As Russia Pounds Militant Targets, Iran Readies Ground Invasions While Saudis Panic”, we attempted to cut through all of the Western and Russian media propaganda on the way to describing what Moscow’s involvement in Syria actually portends for the global balance of power. Here are a few excerpts that summarize what’s taking shape in the Middle East: Putin looks to have viewed this as the ultimate geopolitical win-win. That is, Russia gets to i) expand...

The Syrian Arab Army’s Central Command has announced their next offensive in central Syria after taking a 15 month hiatus from this front due to the Old City ceasefire agreement which resulted in the Islamist rebel fighters surrendering this historical area in the provincial capital of the Homs Governorate. Unlike their previous offensives in the Homs Governorate (i.e. Wadi Al-Nasara in mid-2014), the Syrian Armed Forces will concentrate on the rugged terrain in the Al-Rastan Plains that is currently under the control of the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” and their affiliates from the Free Syrian Army (FSA). For Jabhat...