Posted on 09/02/2015 9:49:31 AM PDT by Trumpinator
Stealth Fighters09.01.159:24 PM ET
Michael Weiss
Russia Puts Boots on the Ground in Syria
....Several sources consulted for this story said the Pentagon is being unusually cagey about Russias reinvigorated role in Syria. A former U.S. military officer told The Daily Beast, Im being told things like, We really cant talk about this. That indicates to me that theres some truth to these allegations.
Some of them are verifiable. On Aug. 22, the Bosphorus Naval News website showed the Alligator-class Russian ship Nikolai Filchenkov, part of Russias Black Sea Fleet, two days earlier passing through Istanbuls famed waterway en route to an unknown location in the Mediterranean (hint, hint).
But what was remarkable about the Filchenkov was that military equipment was visible on decknamely, Kamaz trucks and, judging by the tarpaulin outlines, at least four BTR infantry fighting vehicles. (This doesnt include any matériel that might have been stored in the ships below-deck cargo hold.) ......
But whats most intriguing is what the National Defense Forces official media arm might have accidentally disclosed in one of its broadcast news reports from the Latakia front. The channel exhibited the fighting vehicle in action but also captured unmistakable Russian spoken in the background; Russian that was giving military instruction to the crew of the BTR-82A. Heres a translation:
2:03: Come on, quickly!
2:06: Throw!
2:10: Again! Do it again!
2:30: Peacock, Peacock, we are moving out.
Peacock likely refers to a call sign for a Russian soldier; i.e., whoevers operating the armored vehicle. Given that the BTR-82A was firing in the video, this was either a training exercise caught on tape or (more likely) footage from active combat operations. Its certainly compelling evidence that Russians have embedded with the Syrian military.
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(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
TFTL
You bet...
This is so, let’s not forget the stories that Afghanis were being recruited to fight there as well as a dire situation of Hezbollah fighting ISIS.
Maybe the Russians can run some decent bombing campaigns instead of these barrel bombs which are very limited in effect but probably has kept the regime above water.
A large part of the reason Zero was hot to get this done was to take advantage of the fragility of the Russian-Iranian relationship, as well as emphasizing the incompatibilities between the Assad regime and the Iranian mullahcracy. The Iranians and Turks have common interests (for now) and the Russians and Turks are old enemies. The Russians and at least one of the Kurdish factions are linked, and neither Iran (and its Iraqi proxies) nor Turkey (or for that matter, Syria) wants an independent Kurdistan. Iran’s been working for years to destabilize and dismantle Arab polities; it got its way in Lebanon and Iraq, and now Yemen, and after the fall of its ally Morsi in Egypt, has rededicated itself to pulling Egypt apart.
The correct identification of Magog with Lydia and not Scythia is consistent with the ancient texts of the Assyrians, who at various times were either the allies or the foes of the Scythians, but had peaceful dealings with the Lydians, who they also referred to as "Magog." Within academia today, no professional archeologists, historians or serious Bible researchers associate Magog with the Scythians or the Scythians with the Russians. The truth is that modern scholars have unequivocally documented that a group of Scandinavian Viking traders called the Rus began the Russian state during the mid AD 800's, and gave their name to Russia. Therefore there is no historical or factual basis for any connection of Russia to Magog.
Magog is NOT Russia but Turkey -- Ankara is north of Jerusalem
The reliable, clear and detailed records of Assyrian Royal Court show they dealt directly with each of these nations about 100 years before Ezekiel wrote. These are the same records that are referred to in Ezra 4:15, 19 and 5:17-6:7. These passages tell how the Jews of the fifth century BC 538 BCâ457 BC overcame opposition by the local Persian governor to the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem by referring to these same Assyrian cuneiform court records.
The Assyrian Court records show dealings with Magog, Meshech, Tubal, and Togarmah (Ezekiel 38:3-6), the nations that stretched across ancient Asia Minor (modern Turkey) from west to east. From these records we also learn that the ancient nation of Gomer (Ezekiel 38:6), an enemy of the Assyrians invaded Asia Minor by coming down from an area around the northeast shore of the Black Sea. Archeologists know that the militant leader called "Gog" in Ezekiel 38/39 led a confederacy of these nations against invading Gomer.
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Gog is a historical man who the Greeks called Gyges of Lydia. In Gyges of Lydia we have the leader the Assyrians called "Gugu, King of Ludu," and "Gugu of Magugu," who is referred to in the Bible as Gog of Magog. "Magog" simply means "the land of Gog." In Akkadian ma means land, so in Akkadian Ma- gugu means "the land of Gugu," which becomes our Ma-gog. (Just as the Assyrian eponym for the land of the leader called Zamua is rendered as Ma-zamua). Magog is an eponym for the ancient nation of Lydia that was in the westernmost part of Asia Minor. The Assyrians often referred to a new land by the name of the first leader they learned of from this land. The Assyrians dealt with Lydia through Meshech, who were subsequently defeated by Gomer, and thus the Assyrians finally came to deal with Lydia directly. In the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39 Gog is being used as a "historical type" of the "antichrist" who is prophesied to come during the end times, and Magog is being used as a "historical type" of "the land of the antichrist."
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