Pentagon Considers Launching Limited Military Action Against Assad

Reuters ^ | October 8, 2016 | Mike Theiler

[Strategy]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is considering carrying out limited attacks in Syria that don't drag U.S. President Barack Obama to an embarrassing situation, along with several U.S. security bodies holding meetings since weeks to figure out a solution to the rising crisis in Aleppo amid potential U.S. attacks against the Syrian regime.

Officials in the Pentagon and the White House told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that these airstrikes will not be disclosed and the U.S. won't claim them publicly.

Some analysts expressed concerns over the mounting tension between Russia and the U.S. as this might drift the Syrian war and spur a military conflict. However, the Pentagon source seems certain that a U.S. decisive military step can be taken without any risk or real danger.

[ETL]

Russian build-up in Syria part of secret deal with Iran's Quds Force leader

September 11, 2015
Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson
FoxNews.com

As the Pentagon warily eyes a Russian military build-up in Syria, Western intelligence sources tell Fox News that the escalated Russian presence began just days after a secret Moscow meeting in late July between Iran's Quds Force commander - their chief exporter of terror - and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fox News has learned Quds head Qassem Soleimani and Putin discussed such a joint military plan for Syria at that meeting, an encounter first reported by Fox News in early August. ..."

The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, involved in exporting terrorism to Iran’s proxies throughout the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. ..."

Officials who have monitored the build-up say they've seen more than 1,000 Russian combatants - some of them from the same plainclothes Special Forces units who were sent to Crimea and Ukraine. Some of these Russian troops are logistical specialists and needed for security at the expanding Russian bases.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/11/russian-build-up-in-syria-part-secret-deal-with-irans-quds-force-leader/
__________________________________________________________

Pro-Hezbollah Paper: Russia, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah Form Alliance

Sept 23, 2015

A prominent pro-Hezbollah newspaper in Lebanon reported Tuesday that Russia and the terrorist organization have formed an alliance and will fight together in Syria. "The parties to the alliance are the states of Russia, Iran, Syria, and Iraq, with Lebanon's Hezbollah as the fifth party,"

Al-Akhbar Editor in Chief Ibrahim al-Amin wrote. The pact would be called the "4+1 alliance", a pun based on the P5+1 that negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran based in Lebanon and Moscow has been working with Tehran to save Bashar al-Assad's regime, even sending men and weapons to Syria.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/09/22/report-russia-partners-with-hezbollah.html

[ETL]

From 2014

Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea

by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014

Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."

Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy
______________________________________________

*******************************************************************

Russia Deploying Tactical Nuclear Arms in Crimea

Obama backing indirect talks with Moscow aimed at cutting U.S. non-strategic nukes in Europe

BY: Bill Gertz
October 10, 2014

Russia is moving tactical nuclear weapons systems into recently-annexed Crimea while the Obama administration is backing informal talks aimed at cutting U.S. tactical nuclear deployments in Europe. ..."

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-deploying-tactical-nuclear-arms-in-crimea/

*******************************************************************

Ignore the red and orange lines. They were already on the map when I downloaded it.

[ETL]

From Investor's Business Daily, Jan 2012:

Obama To Betray Missile Defense Secrets To Moscow

Investor's Business Daily ^ | January 9, 2012 | IBD staff

Appeasement: From ObamaCare to recess appointments, honoring the Constitution has not been an administration hallmark. But when it comes to betraying secrets to mollify the Russians, it becomes a document the president hides behind.

It was bad enough that the 2012 defense authorization bill signed by President Obama set America on a downward spiral of military mediocrity.

He also issued a signing statement, something he once opposed, saying that language in the bill aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on the U.S. Standard Missile-3 - linchpin of our missile defense - might impinge on his constitutional foreign-policy authority.

Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they'd be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.

The president is required to certify that any technology shared will not be passed on to third parties such as China, North Korea or Iran, that the Russians will not use transferred secrets to develop countermeasures and that the Russians are reciprocating in sharing missile-defense technology. ..."

"In his signing statement, Obama said he would treat these legal restrictions as 'non-binding' and that 'my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 (sic) in a manner that does not interfere with the president's constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications.'

Betraying our secrets is easy for a president who betrayed allies Poland and the Czech Republic to placate Moscow.

Poland was to host ground-based interceptors such as those we've deployed in California and Alaska, with missile-tracking radar deployed in the Czech Republic.

Obama pulled the plug when Moscow objected. Never mind, he said, we have a better approach: a four-phase plan that calls for using three versions of the Navy's Standard SM-3 interceptor missile that forms the backbone of its Aegis missile-defense system.

The fourth phase consists of a missile still on the drawing board scheduled for deployment by 2020, a version of the SM-3 called the Block IIB. It would intercept hostile missiles in the "early intercept" phase before an enemy missile could release its warheads and decoys. The Russians want the SM-3's secrets, and Obama appears to be willing to turn them over.

The president wants to save the New Start Treaty, which the Russians have threatened to abandon if we try to fully implement President Reagan's dream of defeating a nuclear missile attack.

Russia has unilaterally asserted that any qualitative or quantitative improvement in U.S. missile defenses would be grounds for withdrawal from the treaty.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily:
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/010912-597158-obama-gives-russia-missile-defense-secrets.htm#ixzz3jXmMbVwY
___________________________________________________

March 2012...

"Obama was talking with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when neither of them realized that their conversation was being picked up by microphones. Here is what they said:

Obama: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it's important for him to give me space."

Medvedev: "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ..."

Obama: "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."

Medvedev: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."

"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." That statement tells us much about the president's mindset.

The specific mention of missile defense is worrisome enough. Mr. Obama has retreated from the missile defense plan that was negotiated with European allies during the George W. Bush administration.

Apparently, he is signaling Moscow that he intends to retreat further. The clear implication from the president's comments is that he cannot tell the American people before the election what he plans to do after the election.

In addition, there is the phrase "on all these issues," implying more is at stake than just missile defense."

Article: Obama plans double cross on missile defense
When it comes to keeping America safe, we shouldn't be too flexible:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/obama-plans-double-cross-on-missile-defense/print/
__________________________________________________________

^ PUTIN: "THANKS OBAMA!" ^

[existentially_kuffer]

Since the Russian’s own the Syrian ground the US military will lose the propaganda war IF Russia ground troops were killed.

[ETL]

Russia Ramping Up Military Drills to Cold War Levels, NATO Says

Feb 5, 2016 - FoxNews.com

Russia has stepped up its military maneuvers to a level unseen since the height of the Cold War, according to a new report released by NATO Thursday.

Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary general and author of the report, noted that Moscow has conducted at least 18 large-scale exercises over the past three years, "some of which have involved more than 100,000 troops."

Those exercises included several simulated nuclear attacks against NATO allies and partner nations ..."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/05/russia-ramping-up-military-drills-to-cold-war-levels-nato-says.html

***********************************************

Russia decries 'new Cold War' as East-West tensions cloud talks

AFP, by Frank Zeller, Eric Randolph
February 13, 2016

"...a panel of eastern European leaders lined up to add their own accusations of Russian aggression.

"Every single day, Russian troops, Russian weapons, Russian ammunition penetrate into my country," said Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.

He addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not present, saying:

"Mr Putin, this is not a civil war in Ukraine, this is your aggression. This is not a civil war in Crimea, this is your soldiers who occupied my country."

http://web.archive.org/save/http://news.yahoo.com/russias-medvedev-says-world-cold-war-091417194.html

****************************************************************

Sept 7, 2016...

Russian jet flies within 10 feet of US Navy spy plane, defense official says

Fox News ^ | September 7, 2016 | Staff

A Russian fighter jet zoomed within just 10 feet of a U.S. Navy spy plane over the Black Sea on Wednesday, the latest in a string of daring maneuvers involving Russian aircraft and the U.S. military, a defense official with knowledge of the incident told Fox News...."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/07/russian-jet-flies-dangerously-close-to-us-navy-spy-plane-over-black-sea.html

[ETL]

"For 16 years Putin was an officer in the KGB, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before he retired to enter politics in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991.

He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsin's administration where he rose quickly, becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999 when Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 presidential election, despite widespread accusations of vote-rigging,[3] and was reelected in 2004."

"On 25 July 1998, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB (one of the successor agencies to the KGB), the position Putin occupied until August 1999. He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

[ETL]

From Sept (2016!)

Russia 'to revive the KGB' after Putin wins biggest majority

Telegraph (UK) ^ | 19 September 2016 • 3:39PM | Marc Bennetts

Russia plans effectively to revive the KGB under a massive shake-up of its security forces, a respected business daily has reported.

A State Security Ministry, or MGB, would be created from the current Federal Security Service (FSB) , and would incorporate the foreign intelligence service (SVR) and the state guard service (FSO), under the plans. It would be handed all-encompassing powers once possessed by the KGB, the Kommersant newspaper said, citing security service sources.

Like the much-feared KGB, it would also oversee the prosecutions of Kremlin critics, a task currently undertaken by the Investigative Committee, headed by Alexander Bastrykin, a former university classmate of President Putin. The Kremlin has not commented. …

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...

[trebb]

Translation: We need to stop those capable of keeping ISIS at bay in their own countries.

Getting ready to poke Putin in the eye and see if he's bluffing? Unlike Obama, Putin isn't all hot air. Could be dangerous turf to really roil the globe up as we head into the elections.

Obama is a real danger because he can't have Trump following him and he detests the Clintons - look for some real insane flailing.

[silverleaf]

As if the Russians wont figure out where the attacks originate

[servantboy777]

>>Are they nuts? Get out of Syria....period.<<

I agree. If we want to attack the pshycopathic ISIS, do it from Iraq. Don’t allow them an escape route and stay the heck outta the way of Russia. Syria is NO damn threat to the U.S..

[zek157]

I’m sure that will be limited and not spread considering S-300/400’s have been deployed. Things have a way of getting out of hand when you poke near peer to peer forces.

This is insanity in action imho.

[zek157]

I think about Isaiah implications quite a bit these days.

[Fitzy_888]

“...that don’t drag U.S. President Barack Obama to an embarrassing situation,...”

The train left the station along time ago.

[ETL]

Soviet documents ‘show Abbas was KGB agent’; Fatah decries ‘smear campaign’

Israeli researchers: Notes from USSR archivist who defected indicate PA president was working for Soviets in Damascus in 1980s while Putin’s current Mideast envoy was stationed there

By Tamar Pileggi September 7, 2016.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a Soviet spy in Damascus in the 1980s, Israel’s Channel 1 television reported Wednesday, citing information it said was included in an archive smuggled out of the USSR.

According to Channel 1’s foreign news editor Oren Nahari, the famed Mitrokhin archive, kept by KGB defector Vasily Mitrokhin, revealed that Abbas was a Soviet mole in Damascus in 1983.

The documents — obtained by Israeli researchers Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez — purportedly show that Abbas, code-named Krotov (mole), was involved with the Soviets while Mikhail Bogdanov, today Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the Middle East. was stationed in Damascus.

Bogdanov was caught in a diplomatic tussle earlier this week after trying to broker a summit between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, who both claimed a willingness to meet while decrying the other for allegedly refusing. ..."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/soviet-documents-said-to-reveal-abbas-was-kgb-agent-in-syria/

[PIF]

Pentagon Considers Launching Limited Military Action Against Assad & Russia.

[Jimmy Valentine]

No, no, and fzzking n o!! The place is a sink hole. Let the Russians spend blood and treasure there. It us.

[Doofer]

The Pentagon doesn’t do anything like this without the Presidents backing.

[laconic]

Since George Bush and Bill Clinton skipped service during the Vietnam War, and since they are resolute members of the establishment that wants endless war in places of no strategic interest to the United States, I would suggest they lead the first invasion of Syria.

[OKSooner]

Congress doesn’t have to authorize it. If the “Commander and Chief” says do it, they do it.

He can get back to congress later, when it’s too late.

And yeah, did you hear what Trump said?

[AC Beach Patrol]

This site leans left, maybe far left, but that is interesting:

Key Neocon Calls on US to Oust Putin

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/10/07/key-neocon-calls-on-us-to-oust-putin/