Day: March 2, 2018

Closing Thought–02Mar18

Could This Be A Step Closer?

Recently in Syria the US engaged some hostiles in Syria and those troops were Russian in origin…..some say mercenaries but they were Russian citizens……

France 24 published an interview last week with a man it described as a Russian paramilitary chief who provides Russian citizens access to mercenary work in Syria in which he said his countrymen had been galvanized by reports that they were taking an embarrassing loss to US forces.

“Each week I receive five or six new requests,” the man said. “Some call me by phone; others come to see me.”

He said that about 100 people in Russia’s Yekaterinburg region, where he is based, were “planning to go to Syria.”

The man said that after reports that US forces earlier this month crushed an advance of fighters loyal to the Syrian government — troops said to have contained hundreds of Russians — he had seen a change in the volunteers.

“Now it’s more about getting revenge than it is about money,” he said.

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-mercenaries-want-revenge-losing-to-us-forces-syria-2018-2

The US is selling this attack as self-defense…….

U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’

The Pentagon is reiterating that a battle in Syria that allegedly left some number of Russian mercenaries dead was purely an act of self-defense on the part of U.S. forces. Indeed, the Pentagon still does not know exactly who it is that American forces targeted during their retaliatory strike on Feb. 7.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-military-battle-possible-russian-010500172.html

This could be a diplomatic nightmare but we will never know because we have very few diplomats left……could this spiral out of control of tit for tat attacks?

Keep in mind that the US and Russia and confronting each other in the Baltics, Eastern Europe and Southern Europe….would not take much for this to become a major international problem.

On to the weekend and some much needed enjoyment…..thanx guys….chuq

Someone Please Explain

Not long ago the US was threatened by North Korea’s Lil Kim and our president went on a Twitter storm leveled at Lil Kim….and then the war of words back and forth for what seemed like months….

Now fast forward to this week…..Russia’s Putin gave an interview that basically threatened the US wit nukes…..

Vladimir Putin’s annual speech to lawmakers Thursday contained what appears to be a jarring threat to the US and the rest of the world: Russia has a new, “invincible” missile that can go anywhere and cannot be stopped, he said. A video graphic behind Putin showed a missile taking off from Russia, zooming across the Atlantic to South America, then turning north toward the US, reports the Washington Post. “I hope everything that has been said today will sober any potential aggressor,” Putin said, without naming names. He added that Russia had developed the nuclear-capable weapon, which “missile defenses will be useless against,” despite skepticism about Moscow’s abilities. “Nobody listened to us,” he said, per NBC News. “Well listen to us now.”

Putin, who asserted that Moscow has “no plans to be an aggressor,” also said Russia had a new underwater drone capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, reports the AP. And he declared that any use of nuclear weapons against one of its allies—again, he did not mention specific nations—would be considered a nuclear attack on Russia and that Moscow would respond in kind. All in all, the two-hour speech suggested “a new arms race” between Russia and the West, observes the Guardian. The speech comes less than three weeks before Putin is expected to easily win another six-year term, reports the BBC. He used much of the address to focus on economic reforms, promising among other things to reduce the rate of poverty by half in the next six years.

So far nothing flying off the thumbs of Trump over this claim….

Please someone explain to me the difference between the two…other than one likes kimchi and the other borscht….

A nuke threat is a nuke threat and they all should be handle with an even hand…..

Time to tell us why Russia gets a free ride and North Korea gets nothing of this….why?

Time For Another Marshall Plan?

At the end of World War 2 there was a plan, the Marshall Plan, to help rebuild the countries devastated by war in Europe….

The Marshall Plan was a massive program of aid from the United States to sixteen western and southern European countries, aimed at helping economic renewal and strengthening democracy after the devastation of World War II. It was started in 1948 and was officially known as the European Recovery Program, or ERP, but is more commonly known as the Marshall Plan, after the man who announced it, US Secretary of State George Marshall.

WW2 severely damaged the economies of Europe, leaving many in a parlous state: cities and factories had been bombed, transport links had been severed and agricultural production disrupted. Populations had been moved, or destroyed, and a tremendous amount of capital had been spent on weapons and related products. It’s not an exaggeration to say the continent was a wreck. 1946 Britain, a former world power, was close to bankruptcy and had to pull out of international agreements while in France and Italy there was inflation and unrest and the fear of starvation.

I bring up this bit of history because of the Middle East wars…..and something I read.

Throughout the most recent US war in Iraq, the massive damage done in the course of heavily bombing major cities and destroying bridges was seen as just another bill the US would be stuck with afterwards. The Trump Administration doesn’t see it that way, however.

So while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be in attendance at next week’s reconstruction conference, officials say he is not expected to offer up any American contribution to the estimated $100 billion in reconstruction Iraqi officials say they need.

Rather, US officials say they expect Iraq’s neighbors to “pour in money” as a way to improve relations over the long term, and to try to limit Iran’s substantial influence inside Iraq.

Yet Iraq doesn’t have that many non-Iran neighbors, and while Saudi Arabia is likely to contribute to fix damage in the Sunni part of Iraq, it’s probably not going to approach $100 billion. With Iraq’s own budget stretched thin, repairing the parts of Iraq the US destroyed over the past two years is likely to be a very slow effort indeed.

(antiwar.com)

Sorry but since we decided to invade then occupy then totally destroy the country of Iraq it should be on our heads to assist in the reconstruction of the country’s economy.  And yes I know we need that cash here in this country…..but if we broke it we need to fix it.

AS part of any contract to fight a war these industries should be made to contribute to the reconstruction also.  A new Marshall Plan would be the best idea.

Bully Of The Sandbox

The sandbox referenced in this post is the Middle East and the bully is Israel.

For decades Israel has been threatening Iran and most times with the media present he employs visual aids…..the drawing of a bomb to represent the Iranian nuke program and most recently the visual aid was a piece of a alleged Iranian drone shot down over Israeli airspace.  And BiBi did what he always does…threatens Iran……

“Israel will not allow Iran’s regime to put the noose of terror around our neck,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. “We will act without hesitation to defend ourselves. And we will act, if necessary, not only against Iranian proxies that are attacking us but against Iran itself.” Netanyahu alleged Iran is attempting to “colonize” Syria, which is located between the two countries. As he spoke, he waved a piece of an Iranian drone recently downed on Israeli land. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif labeled the remarks “a cartoonish circus which does not even deserve a response.”

BiBi is threatening Lebanon, Iran, Syria and god know who else….

Israel lost a jet fighter not long ago and of course it was Iran that brought it down……

Personally, BiBi is a bully and all talk….yes they have been a force to be feared in the past….like I said in the past…..I do not think Israel will go to war with anyone……

It was not easy to trust the news reports that Syrian air-defence missiles targeted an Israeli F16-fighter jet and downed it in response to Israel shooting down an Iranian drone that, according to the Israelis, had entered their airspace. This happened, though, and a wide-scale war in the region was seen as inevitable, but neither Israel nor its main ally, the United States, are interested in such a conflict.

According to Israel, its response was the “largest and most significant strike in Syria since 1982.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be trying to de-escalate the tension and avoid going into battle, in both his actions and remarks; so did the US. “Our policy is clear,” Netanyahu claimed. “Israel will defend itself against any aggression and any attempt to violate its sovereignty.” Although he took advantage of the sympathy generated by the incidents, all he did was order a strike similar to dozens that Israel has carried out in the past, which he knows very well do not prompt more than a few hollow comments from the Syrians and their Iranian allies.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180212-israel-will-never-go-to-war-with-syria-or-iran/#.WoNS0TGn5j4.twitter

Yes Israel has had several cross border ops but they have the US to hide behind…..