Posted on 09/06/2013 6:51:23 AM PDT by maggief
Headlines only:
BREAKING: Russia will help #Syria in case of foreign military assault - Putin http://on.rt.com/0yh5ju
DETAILS: Russia sells weapons to #Syria, we have strong economic ties. Syria is our strategic partner - Putin http://on.rt.com/0yh5ju
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Maybe 150 miles to 200 miles.....
I don't think it's a matter of weakness. Syria is a traditional Soviet client state. Russia has been backing up for over 25 years since the end of the Warsaw Pact. Over Syria, they may have decided that this is as far as they care to retreat, and they'll back up no further. We've not bombed North Korea, and NK has a negligible ability to lob nukes at us. Russia has 10K nukes. Any president should be very careful about baiting the bear, after all the Russian humiliations of the past several decades. It would be insane to start a nuclear confrontation when our ideological differences are mostly gone, and Russia is no longer fomenting violent revolution throughout the world by funding, training and equipping communist movements. We did not intervene in Rwanda, where a million people were hacked to pieces in a one-sided massacre and the offending party had no allies capable of lobbing nukes at us. Why would we intervene in Syria, where a civil war is raging and the carnage is mainly the result of two parties waging war, when the regime's major ally, Russia, has 10K nukes?
As sinister as Putin is, we in the West are total pikers compared to how the game is played by masters like Putin and gang.
Maybe 150 miles to 200 miles.....
Not far, as the crow flies.
A Chinese landing craft with 1,000 marines for Syria – reports
DEBKAfile September 6, 2013, 12:31 PM (GMT+02:00) Western naval sources reported Friday that a Chinese landing craft, the Jinggangshan, with a 1,000-strong marine battalion had reached the Red Sea en route for the Mediterranean off Syria. According to DEBKAfile, Beijing has already deployed a number of warships opposite Syria in secret. If the latest report is confirmed, this will be the largest Chinese deployment in the Middle East in its naval history.
Obama opts to expand Syria operation with allied air strikes
DEBKAfile September 6, 2013, 12:41 PM (GMT+02:00) US military sources report that President Barack Obama has decided to expand the US operation against Syria’s chemical weapons. Instead of confining the action to Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from warships, he is now turning to the introduction of air strikes by US, French, Turkish and Saudi bombers. DEBKAfile: This indicates that the US targeting inventory will include Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles and air bases, a development that will almost certainly bring about Syrian and Hizballah reprisals against US interests in the region as well as Israel.
My Rep. is a NO. I sent a letter to him asking him to “just say no” it’s not our fight.
His reply came the next day.
“. If Russia attacked our ships, they wouldn’t use a nuclear bomb to do that since it would also destroy their ships and personnel. What am I missing????”
Well for one a nuke on our ships would not necessarily harm any Russian ships unless they were within about 10 miles of the blast, and if they were going to nuke our ships in the Med I am sure they would get clear before such a strike, if they are not already.
Perhaps a good warning of such an event might be all Russian ships in close proximity to US ships high tailing it away from any US warships. And the Russians are well versed and equipped in tactical naval nuclear warfare.
Community Organizers don’t make good leaders. This confrontation needs to be put off until the U.S. has a REAL Commander-in-Chief.
This might provide the Chinese a chance to give their AEGIS clones a workout against our missiles, while also giving us a chance to see how well these Chinese AEGIS clones work. Here's to hoping that the Pentagon will disclose some of its findings.
I wonder if Obama still wants to unilaterally disarm our nuclear forces? After all, it is the US being militarily strong that has caused all the problems in the world... (Sarc)
Well, that’s settled. Obama won’t be attacking Syria now.
And he has “Those Obstructionist Republicans in Congress!”, and “Those Obstructionist Russians in the U.N.!” to blame.
Next Tuesday?
NEXT Tuesday?
Well yeah, 0bama needs some vacay time to recover from his strenuous duties this week in Europe.
Wait, what? Russia has sent nukes to Syria? I missed that.
Kerry Loses Cool Making Pitch for Syria Action to MSNBC
MSNBC host Chris Hayes (“All In w/ Chris Hayes”) joins Martin Bashir moments after his exclusive interview with Secretary of State John Kerry to report on why Kerry believes rebels opposed to the U.S. in general could be empowered absent U.S. military action – and how the administration plans to convince Democratic grassroots opposed to military strikes. 6 Sep 2013, 6:40 AM PDT
http://live.reuters.com/Event/Syria_9
Brief legislative maneuvering by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today sets up a huge week in Congress next week on Syria military force authorization:
2 sens on hand for filing of #Syria resolution on the floor. ML Reid will file. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to preside over abbreviated session
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 6, 2013
FOX News congressional reporter Chad Pergram is tracking the process on Twitter and laying it out in long-form here (read the whole thing for a detailed breakdown of legislative arcana that may come into play), but it boils down to a tactic by Reid to ensure that Syria authorization comes before the full Senate as soon as possible next week once the summer recess ends on Monday. At that point, assuming Rand Paul or other senators prevent the resolution from moving forward via unanimous consent, a cloture petition, passable with a 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate, will be needed to proceed. Pergram sees such a cloture vote happening on Wednesday at the earliest, which happens to be September 11th.
From there, it is difficult to speculate given the potential for fireworks and unexpected turns in the Senate debate. It is even more difficult to see a path for the resolution through the House, suggesting that the Obama administration’s best strategy may be betting on momentum from Senate passage to sway the lower chamber.
However, as Richard Simon reports in a must-read LA Times story, formidable House Minority Leader Pelosi faces a vote-recruiting challenge unlike those of previous triumphs:
Pelosi says she is not using high-pressure tactics such as those that helped her eke out a victory for the president’s healthcare plan.
“I haven’t asked one person for a vote,” she said in the Thursday interview. “I’ve asked them to consider the intelligence and to give us their views on what they might be willing to vote for.
“This is not one of those things where you can talk people into something. All you can do is supply them the information and hope they draw the conclusion that you wish.”
With a number of her longtime liberal allies against a strike — or leaning that way — the coming days could be some of the toughest for Pelosi since she assumed control of her famously fractious party a decade ago. In effect, she is caught between the president’s wishes, a fractured Democratic caucus and the traditionally antiwar sentiments of her San Francisco base.
GREAT novel.. I think I have read it 10 times or more.....
The only topic I didn't understand was how the author insisted that the metal in stolen watches, jewelry etc (gold, silver) would continue to be radioactive. I never understood how THAT occurred....
Anyone?
Here’s what she said: “Our considered view, after months of efforts on chemical weapons and after 2-1/2 years of efforts on Geneva (peace talks), the humanitarian situation is that there is no viable path forward in this Security Council.”
Even using Jean Fraud Kerry’s “global test” standard there is no path forward. Mr. Citizen of the World has failed...
I think it can happen if the metal is exposed to intense radiation and that energy causes some atoms of the metal to become temporary isotopes.......
Wait, what? Russia has sent nukes to Syria? I missed that.
No, they have allegedly dispatched their version of a missile defense system which is not as advanced as the US or Israel’s system.
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