Posted on 02/12/2018 11:53:29 PM PST by vikingrinn
The Conflict Intelligence Team found the Russians "may have fought alongside pro-Russia separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine prior to joining the fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and other insurgents challenging Assad's rule in Syria." The group also found Russians killed "appeared to have joined the Wagner Group, a private paramilitary company, before traveling to fight in Syria. Last October, ISIS released a video showing two Russian-speaking men the militants claimed to have captured, and subsequent research showed the two men were likely Wagner Group members fighting in Syria." "While the total number of 'Wagner' operatives killed in Coalition airstrikes is unlikely to ever be established, it is beyond doubt that this incident indeed took place."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
As I read through the history of Hezbollah, the thing that really stood out to me is the similarities between them and a group like the Irish Republican Army that became somewhat more “respectable” after it established a political arm and became a serious political player:
I don’t think you realize how enmeshed Russian money has become in the upper echelons of Western power and globalist interests as Hillary’s Uranium 1, Skolkovo, and Boeing/Rostech dealings reveal just a teeny tip of the iceberg.
Also: Russia’s overall worldview and goals have not evolved from their Soviet sensibilities. (And even tsarist sensibilities. Empire-driven but in the most archaic sense.) - Unlike China, they haven’t succeeded economically and rather than build up and fortify their own political insitutions - Putin oversees a mafia structure with nothing better to do than think of new ways to undermine the West and other “functional” and democratic (by comparison) countries . The USA mainly.
This is seen in their attempts to sow chaos and instability by capitalizing on our societal vulnerabilities.
Only this time instead of Marxist liberals helping them along in doing their bidding of distorting the global narrative: it’s Putinbots on places like FR whose comments would not be out of place on a HAMAS, Hezbollah, or other Putin-allied Assad-sympathizing, forum.
Putin wants Russian to “balance out” the West by being the go to gathering place for all anti-American forces that be: hence why he’s allies with Iran, bails out Venezuela, and keeps relations alive with North Korea.
If you really want an eye-opener, just do some research on an organization called the American Committee on Peace in Chechnya (ACPC).
I'll give you a Cliff Notes summary of it ...
It's a U.S. "neo-conservative" front group that was supporting the insurgency in Chechnya starting in the late 1990s. You can still find references to their leadership on line, and it's the same tired litany of big-government "neo-con" globalists who have been directing our ruinous foreign policy since the fall of the Soviet Union.
They changed the name to the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus after the Beslan massacre in 2004 exposed their radical Islamic ties, but that didn't fool anyone who knows better.
Russia is a fading, dying country. Their GDP barely exceeds that of South Korea. Are you going to tell me that Russian money is more enmeshed in the upper echelons of Western power and globalist interests than, say, Boeing, ExxonMobil or Amazon?
And, correct me if I am wrong, we’ve beaten ISIS.
The troops there now are Russian and Iranian. As much as a lot of people seem to want a war with those two, we are not at a state of war with either of them. And, its not our job to beat Assad in a civil war.
And don’t compare Afghanistan to Syria. You expose yourself by doing that. We ALL know why we went into the Afghan countryside.
The only difference I have with the Afghan policy is that I would have flattened the place and left it in rubble.
I dont care about the Taliban. I don’t care about Iraq, and I sures as hell do not care about Syria. The only thing that happens if we keep this up in Syria is that we get between Iran and Israel. I think you would agree that is not a good place to be.
I will not defend Hezbollah, but stationing US troops in Syria makes it likely that some of them will be casualties. My son is in the Marines, and I hope there is a well thought out plan to get our forces out. A US pipeline may be a good enough reason for Hillary and Bush, but not for me.
Works for me.
Putin says BOO!!!!
;)
I never understood why so many Americans are comfortable with a system where we piss away trillions of dollars on military campaigns all over the world while allowing a massive invasion across our own borders. Wake me up when any of this makes sense. In the meantime, a nation that cultivates domestic enemies right here at home has no credibility to call anyone halfway around the world a "terrorist."
“...pissing people off...all over the world...”
The only people that are pissed off are people who are consistently pissed off for dubious reasons.
Appeasement, pacifistic delirium, isolationism...are all of the same ignorant thread. It’s a dangerous world and ignoring it leads to 9-11 type events. Though mistakes have been made, American Foreign Policy is simply not the well conspired conspiracy that the weak-minded point to and offer no solid evidence of.
I sure do, Wahhabi ClericBot. I hope that the camels in Riyadh are treating you well.
If his regime falls, the realistic alternatives are:
1. The country descends into permanent ethno/tribal/sectarian civil war, and becomes a basketcase like Libya or Somalia.
2. The country is run by ISIS.
3. The country is run by "moderate" Sunnis, meaning more moderate than ISIS. This means Al Nusra (Al Quaeda) or at best something like the Muslim Brotherhood. Those Oxbridge or Ivy League educated "spokesmen" for the Free Syria Army (hiding out from the fighting in the US and Europe) that you see on TV quoting Locke or Jefferson aren't going to be the ones running the country.
Given these alternatives, I don't understand the obsession with overthrowing Assad. He kept that powderkeg stable enough until Hillary and Obama decided to egg the rebels on in 2011. I don't see the need to continue with their program.
Christians in Syria have suffered under both ISIS and Assad
While it's true that they were probably second class citizens compared to Assad's Alawites, Christians in Syria weren't being driven out en masse or murdered en masse for their Christianity under Assad - partly because his regime is secular, and partly because the Alawite minority allied itself with other religious minorities (Christians and Yazidis) in Sunni-majority Syria. They are being murdered and driven out by Sunni militias however, and if Assad is overthrown this process will be completed.
Of course, this raises the question of whether the left hand of our foreign policy knows what the right hand is doing. When Saddam was overthrown, the Shia majority took over in Iraq. This gave Iran far more influence in Iraq than it ever had. If having Iran-allied people in power is so terrible, then why were you and others so enthusiastic about putting them into a position of power in Iraq? Alternatively, if you can deal with an Iran-allied government in Iraq as preferable to Sunni militias, why is an Iran-allied government in Syria so much worse?
I don't have much of a dog in the Shia vs. Sunni fight, except to repeat the fact that the worst acts of terror committed against Americans and Europeans have been by Sunni, not Shia, fundamentalists.
You are clueless about the Christians in Syria.
ISIS slaughtered entire villages of Armenian Christians who had lived in Syria for centuries.
I just read the wikipedia page of that less known Mr. Buckley. This is just horrible! 15 months of torture.
..................
ISIS is evil, Assad is evil, and American foreign policy in the region historically flawed , but I will NEVER trust Vladimir Putin.
and apologies again for my tone in prior posts and messages. you know my opinion and I’ll leave it at that. God bless.
What a clown & troll!
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