Regional geopolitics

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Iran orders from China 150 J-10 fighter jets that incorporate Israeli technology
30/07/2015
DEBKA

Iran is about to conclude a transaction with China for the purchase of the Chengdu J-10 multirole jet fighter, known in the West as the Vigorous Dragon, according to an exclusive report from DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources. Beijing has agreed to sell Tehran 150 of these sophisticated jets.
While the Chinese J-10 is comparable to the US F-16, our sources report that it is virtually a replica of the Lavi, the super-fighter developed by Israel’s aerospace industry in the second half of the 80s. Israel sold China the technology, after Washington insisted on Its discontinuing the Lavi’s production. The US also objected to the sale of the Lavi’s avionics, claiming that it contained some American components.
The Chinese plane comes in two versions – the multirole single-seat J-10A and the two-seat J-10B, which serves for training, ground assaults and electronic warfare.
Iran has additionally weighing the purchase in Moscow of 250 highly-advanced Sukhoi-Su-30MK1 twinjet multirole air superiority fighters, known in the West as Flanker-H.
On Wednesday, July 29, an Indian Air Force Su-30MK1 took part for the first time in a British air maneuver, Rainbow, where it dueled with the European Typhoon fighter.
The sophisticated Flanker has been found to have a major shortcoming. To carry eight tons of ordnance, it must use both of its AL-31FP engines, and the transition from one to two – and the reverse - often causes engine failure.
The Indian Air Force has reported three such malfunctions in a month, as well another shortcoming: The time needed for making the aircraft serviceable is too long. As a result, only half of the Indian fleet can be airborne at one time.
In a confrontation, the Iranian Air Force may find that, because of these drawbacks, the Chinese Su-30MK1 is outmatched by its American and European counterparts in the service of the Israeli, Saudi and UAE air forces.
On July 22, DEBKAfile revealed that Moscow and Tehran had concluded a giant transaction for the acquisition of a fleet of 100 IL78 MK1 (Midas) in-flight refueling planes for extending the range of its warplanes up to 7,300 km and able to refuel 6-8 planes at once.
DEBKAfile: The scale of Iran’s multibillion acquisitions from China and Russia – 550 warplanes in all so far - indicates that Tehran’s top spending priority upon receipt of the funds released by the removal of sanctions, is to be a spanking new air force.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

To gratify Tehran and Moscow, new US-Turkish anti-ISIS war campaign in Syria skirts Assad’s forces
25/07/2015
DEBKA

After the second successive night of Turkish cross-border bombing attacks on the Islamic State in northern Syria, Ankara and Washington agreed Saturday, July 25, to name the “security zone” covered by a “partial no fly zone” they had declared in northern Syria the “Islamic State free zone.” Click HERE for full-size map!
This name represents a significant US-Turkish concession to Iran of immunity for its allies, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizballah, in order to gain Tehran’s cooperation in the campaign Turkey launched against ISIS Friday. Integral to the deal is also a promise to abstain from using the campaign to grant anti-Assad rebel groups any advantages.
This immunity did not extend to the Kurdish Workers Movement (PKK), which were targeted in the course of Turkish air and ground action in and over the new “security zone.” Those warplanes also flew missions Friday night over the PKK bases and logistical facilities in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq. The PKK responded Saturday with an announcement that their armistice with Ankara was over. Turkey may consequently expect a recurrence of Kurdish terrorist violence in its cities,DEBKAfile notes.
High-placed sources in Ankara disclosed details of the US-Turkish deal with Iran. US warplanes will have the use of Turkish air bases, and not just the big Incirlik facility, for staging air strikes against ISIS, so long as Syrian targets are avoided. Washington agreed to Ankara using its air and ground operations against ISIS in Syria to drive into the new “security zone” and push toward the east to continue those attacks – eve if they run up against Kurdish forces which are also fighting ISIS.
The security zone’s area covered by a no-fly zone is 90 km wide and 40km deep, running between Mere, a small town 25 km north o Aleppo in the west, to the northwestern town of Jarabulus, which is situated on the west bank of the Euphrates.
Not exactly by chance, the security zone bisects Kurdish territory and holds back Kurdish forces in their assaults on ISIS.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that a glance at the map betrays an all-out US-Turkish effort not put up backs in Tehran by interfering with Syrian, Hizballah and pro-Iranian militia operations in critical northern Syrian war zones such as Aleppo or give the Syrian rebels a helping hand in the Idlib province.
The combined US-Turkish action moreover greatly supports the Assad-Hizballah war against ISIS gains in Syria and enhances Iranian and Russian influence in Damascus.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, in Irbil Friday, July 24, assured leaders of the semiautonomous Kurdish Republic of Iraq. “We are trying to build a force through the territory of Iraq, and someday in Syria, that can do what the peshmerga have achieved.”
At the same time, in Syria, the Kurds and their national aspirations look like losing out dramatically in the fallout from the complex US-Turkish partnership for beating ISIS back.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Hizballah presses elite Radwan Force for conquering Galilee into saving stalled Zabadani battle
DEBKA
01/08/2015


Hizballah’s elite Radwan Force was originally designed to push in from Lebanon and conquer the Israeli Galilee. DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources report that on Thursday, July 30 Hassan Nasralla saw he had no option but to press this high-value contingent into service ,to extricate the combined Hizballah-Syrian armies from their month-long failure to recapture the key town of Zabadani - or even breach the defenses set up by the Al-Qaeda affiliated rebel Nusra Front.

This standoff with heavy casualties over the key town, which commands the main Damascus-Beirut highway, has become a symbolic make-or-break duel between the Iran-backed Shiite Hizballah and Al Qaeda’s Sunni Nusra Front. Nasrallah loses it at the cost of his organization’s credibility as a formidable fighting force.

Defeat would make western Damascus and eastern Lebanon more vulnerable to attack. And for Iran’s Lebanese proxy, it would leave an embarrassing question hanging in the air: If Hizballah under Iranian command combined with Syrian troops and backed by heavy artillery fire and air strikes can’t win a relatively small battle against no more than 1,200 rebel fighters across a nine-km square battleground, how much are its leaders’ boasts worth when they claim unbeatable prowess for winning major battles, including a war on Israel?

To save face in this landmark showdown, Hizballah decided to press into battle its most prestigious unit, named for Al-Hajj Radwan, the nom de guerre of Hizballah’s renowned military chief Imad Mughniye, whom Israel took out in February 2008. (NB, by a car bomb in Damaskos)

Eight months ago, the Radwan Force lost its senior commanders. An Israeli air strike on Jan. 18 targeted a group of high Iranian and Hizballah officers on a visit to Quneitra on the Syrian Golan. They were surveying the terrain before relocating this elite unit to confront IDF positions on the Israeli Golan border. Iranian Gen. Ali Reza al-Tabatabai and the Hizballah district commander Jihad Mughniye (son of Imad) lost their lives in the Israeli raid and the plan was provisionally set aside.

If the Radwan Force manages to haul Hizballah out of its impasse in Zabadani, it may next be assigned to take up battle positions on the Golan.

But for now, its mission in the battle for Zabadani has three dimensions:

1. To disarm the enemy by commando raids, a tactic to be borrowed from the rebels defending the town. On the night of July 24, the rebels preemptively struck Hizballah and Syrian army positions around the town and captured some of them. The decision to deploy Radwan appears to have come in response to that painful setback.

2. To pull off a quick battlefield success at Zabadani, in view of intelligence reports that the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern Syria were preparing together to open a second front in Lebanon, in order to relieve the rebel force pinned down in Zabadani.
The two groups plan to cross into Lebanon and start attacking pro-Hizballah Shiite populations in the Beqaa Valley and the North. They propose to cut through the Bequaa Valley and head up to the important northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast.

3. Syrian President Bashar Asad is under extreme pressure for a battlefield success after admitting in a public speech last week to the loss of strategic territory to rebel forces and shrinking military manpower. He has earmarked a Zabadani victory - both as a turning-point for his flagging fortunes and for holding back the constant draining of his army by desertions and defections.
Our military sources reveal that, after Assad leaned hard on the Lebanese government and army to round up Syrian troops who went AWOL, Lebanese security forces went into action. They are picking up Syrian army deserters and putting them on buses driving in armored convoys into Syria. It doesn’t take much imagination to conjure up the fate of these unwilling returnees.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Turkish Airstrikes Kill 260 Members of Kurdish PKK Militant Group
01.08.2015(

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The 12-hour campaign involving 28 F-16 fighter jets destroyed over 65 targets, including ammunition depots and underground shelters, according to the Anadolu Agency.

The outlet added that one of those injured in the aerial strikes was Nurettin Demirtas, brother of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) chairman Selahattin Demitras.

US Wants to See Turkey, Kurdish Militants Resume Peace Talks
The late-Friday airstrikes followed Thursday’s campaign where 80 fighter jets took out around 100 PKK targets in Northern Iraq.
Ankara launched a two-front military campaign last week against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq, in response to an unprecedented escalation of violence across southern Turkey.

The campaign led to the termination of Turkey’s two-year ceasefire with the PKK.

On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pledged to continue the anti-PKK strikes until the group designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara laid down its arms.



Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20...#ixzz3hiGTvjpU

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

US, EU 'Give Up' Ukraine to Seek Russian Political Support © Sputnik/ Mikhail Palinchak

29.07.2015

After inciting the Ukrainian conflict that led the country to a civil war and brought it to the verge of economic collapse, the West has now realized that Ukraine isn’t worth much, at least not as much as establishing a working political relationship with Russia, US political journalist Brian Whitmore said.

The United States and the European Union (EU) are "selling out" Ukraine to Russia to gain the Kremlin's support in dealing with Iran's nuclear program and looking for Moscow's approval of taking out Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, the Atlantic Magazine reported.

According to Brian Whitmore, over the past few weeks, the Europeans and Americans have been busy trying to strike a political deal with Vladimir Putin.

"The United States and Europe might give up Ukraine in exchange for Russia's support of securing a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program. Additionally, Washington has been seeking Moscow's backing in securing a managed, orderly, and negotiated exit for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad," Whitmore said in the Atlantic.

Whitmore speculates that the secret deal between the superpowers started when the US government praised Moscow's role in reaching the Iranian nuclear agreement.


Is Decentralization Path to Find Peace in Ukraine?
Then, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland went to Kiev and persuaded Ukrainian lawmakers to make changes in their constitution to recognize the special status of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Something that Kiev has been long opposed to, Whitmore argued.
The new constitutional proposition, which was forced to Kiev by the US government according to Whitmore, also includes a decentralization reform that will make Ukraine a federal state, changing its administrative and territorial system. After the law is passed, there will be three levels of governance: municipal, district and regional (or provincial). The central (federal) government will always be represented at any local level by officials appointed by Kiev at the discretion of the president.

The last connecting point for Whitmore was the event that took place a couple of months ago, when US Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Sochi for talks with Putin about Iran, Syria and Ukraine. It was during the bilateral talks, the two countries allegedly decided to cut the deal.



Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/2015...#ixzz3hiHIg6jB

[Haykakan]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Obama's `Safe Zone' in Syria will Inflame the War Zone

By Shamus Cooke

The road to war is paved with a thousand lies. A fresh fib was tossed on
the lie-cluttered warpath to Syria, when it was announced that the U.S. and
Turkey would create a `safe zone' inside of Syria - supposedly to be aimed
against ISIS.

This `safe zone' is a major escalation of war, but it was described in soft
tones by the media, sounding almost cuddly. In reality, however, a =80=9Csafe
zone' is a `no-fly zone,'
<http://www.stripes.com/news/breedlove-no-fly-zone-over-syria-would-constitute-act-of-war-1.223788>meaning
that a nation is planning to implement military air superiority inside the
boundaries of another nation. It's long recognized by the international
community and U.S. military personnel as a major act of war. In a war zone
an area is made `safe' by destroying anything in it or around that appears
threatening.

Turkey
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/17/us-syria-crisis-turkey-zone-idUSBRE94G0L420130517>
has
been demanding this no-fly zone from Obama since the Syrian war started.
It's been discussed throughout the conflict and even in recent months,
though the intended goal was always the Syrian government.

And suddenly the no-fly zone is happening - right where Turkey always
wanted it - but it's being labeled an `anti-ISIS' safe zone, instead of its
proper name: `Anti Kurdish and anti-Syrian government' safe zone.

The U.S. media swallowed the name change without blinking, but many
international media outlets knew better.

For instance, the International Business Times
<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/syria-us-turkey-safe-zone-deal-could-mark-end-assad-isis-alienate-kurdish-ypg-1512830>
reported
` [the safe zone deal]...could mark the end of [Syrian President] Assad...'

And The Middle East Eye
<http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/turkey-nears-goal-no-fly-zone-syria-border-631325259#sthash.uF3G04zx.dpuf>
reported:

`...[the safe zone] marks a breakthrough for Turkey in its confrontation with
the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria. If the no-fly zone does come into
being it will be a body blow for Assad and his supporters'

Even U.S. media outlets acknowledged that the primary goal of Obama's safe
zone ally, Turkey, was defeating the Kurdish fighters and the Syrian
government, both of whom have been the most effective fighters against ISIS.

Syrian regime change is also the goal of the ground troops who will be
filling the void left by ISIS, who The New York Times labeled `relatively
moderate Syrian insurgents,' a telling euphemism.

The New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/world/middleeast/turkey-and-us-agree-on-plan-to-clear-isis-from-strip-of-northern-syria.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module= first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1>
confirmed
the goals of the safe zone allies:

`...both the Turks and the Syrian insurgents see defeating President Bashar
al-Assad of Syria as their first priority...'

If the Syrian government wasn't the target of the safe zone, then Syrian
government troops would be the ones to control the safe zone post ISIS, as
they did before ISIS. And if regime change wasn't the target, then
the
Syrian government would have been consulted and coordinated with to attack
ISIS, since Syria is involved with heavy fighting against ISIS in the same
region that the safe zone is being carved out.

These steps weren't taken because the `safe zone' plan is much bigger than
ISIS.

Obama hasn't detailed who the `relatively moderate' fighters are that will
control the safe zone, but it's easy to guess. We only have to look at the
Syrian rebels on the ground who are effective fighters and control nearby
territory.

The most powerful non-ISIS group in the region recently re-branded itself
as the`Conquest Army,'
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/07/turkey-saudi-arabia-syria-rebels-pact_n_7232750.html>
a
coalition of Islamic extremists led by Jabhat al-Nusra - the official
al-Qaeda affiliate - and the group Ahrar al-Sham, whose leader previously
stated that his group was `the real al Qaeda.' The Conquest Army actively
coordinates with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and is also populated with
U.S.-trained fighters.

These groups share the ideology and tactics of ISIS, the only difference
being their willingness to work with the United States and Turkey. It's
entirely likely that once the `safe zone' operation starts, many ISIS
troops will simply change shirts and join Jabhat al-Nusra, since there is
no principled difference.

Obama knows that the foreign ground troops controlling the `safe zone' are
targeting the Syrian government; consequently, U.S. military planes will be
acting as the de-facto air force for Al-Qaeda against the Syrian government.

Thus, direct military confrontation with the Syrian government is
inevitable. President Assad is already attacking ISIS in the area that the
U.S.-Turkey alliance wants to make `safe' via its coordinated military
operation. Syrian fighter jets will eventually be targeted, since the goal
is to allow extremist groups a `safe zone' to continue their attacks on the
Syrian government after ISIS is dealt with.

This danger was also acknowledged by The New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/world/middleeast/turkey-and-us-agree-on-plan-to-clear-isis-from-strip-of-northern-syria.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module= first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1>
:

`Whatever the goal, the plan [safe zone] will put American and allied
warplanes closer than ever to areas that Syrian aircraft regularly bomb,
raising the question of what they will do if Syrian warplanes attack their
partners [`relatively moderate rebels'] on the ground.'

The answer is obvious: U.S. and Turkish fighter jets will engage with
Syrian aircraft, broadening and deepening the war until the intended aim of
regime change has been accomplished.

This is exactly how events developed in Libya, when the U.S.-NATO led a
`no-fly zone' that was supposedly created to allow a =80=9Chumanitarian
corridor,' but quickly snowballed into its real goal: regime change and
assassination of Libya's president. This epic war crime is still celebrated
by Obama and Hillary Clinton <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y> as
a `victory,' while Libyans drown in the Mediterranean to escape their
once-modern but now obliterated country.

If Obama's goal in Syria was actually defeating ISIS, this could have been
achieved at any time, in a matter of weeks. It would simply take a serious
and coordinated effort with U.S. regional allies, while coordinating with
the non-allies already fighting ISIS: Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah.

If Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan were involved in the fight on
ISIS it would be quickly strangled of cash, guns, and troops, and be
massively out-powered. War over.

The only reason this hasn't happened is that the U.S. and its allies have
always viewed ISIS as a convenient proxy against Syria, Hezbollah, and
Iran, not to mention leverage against the Iran-friendly government of Iraq.

Turkey remains the biggest obstacle to defeating ISIS, since it's been
helping it for years. ISIS has long used the Turkish border to escape
Syrian government attacks, seek medical assistance, and get supplies and
reinforcements. ISIS is so welcomed inside Turkey that ISIS promotes Turkey
on social media as the international transit hub for jihadis wanting to
join ISIS. Turkish immigration and customs looks the other way, as does the
Turkish border control.

In discussing the `safe zone,' the U.S. media always ignore the concept of
national sovereignty - the basis for international law. The boundaries of
countries are sacred from the standpoint of international law. The only
just war is a defensive one. When one country implements a no-fly zone in
another country, national boundaries are violated and international law is
broken by an act of war.

The Obama administration is aware of the above dynamics, but has again
tossed caution to the wind as he did in 2013, during the ramp up to its
aborted bombing campaign against the Syrian government.

A U.S.-Turkish no-fly zone will deepen an already regional war: Iran and
Hezbollah have recently ramped up direct support of the Syrian government.
As Turkish and the U.S. military enter the war space for the first time,
confrontation is inevitable. Confrontation is the plan.

Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for
Workers Action. He can be reached at [email protected]
<[email protected]>

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42531.htm

<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42531.htm>

[Haykakan]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Russian president to Turkish ambassador: "tell your dictator President he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorists, I will make Syria a 'Big Stalingrad' for him!"

 Top News 03 August 2015












The Moscow Times-- The Russian president Vladimir Putin broke the accepted diplomatic protocols and has personally summoned the Turkish ambassador to Moscow, Mr Ümit Yardim, and warned him that the Russian Federation shall sever the diplomatic relations immediately unless the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stops supporting ISIS rebels in Syria, where Russia holds its last navy base in the Mediterranean sea.

The Russian president purportedly went into a long diatribe criticizing the Turkish foreign policy and its malevolent role in Syria, Iraq and Yemen by supporting Saudi-backed al-Qaeda terrorists, reported the Moscow Times, which escalated the conversation with the Turkish ambassador to a fierce polemic.





According to The leaked information obtained by The Moscow Times, the meeting between the Mr.Purin and Turkish ambassador was imbued with intense mutual resentment where Mr. Yardim has repudiated all Russian accusations, laying blame on Russia for Syria's bitter and protracted civil war. "..then tell your dictator president he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorist and I shall make Syria to nothing but a 'Big Stalingrad' , for Erdoğan and his Saudi allies are no vicious than Adolf Hitler," replied Vladimir Putin in the 2-hour closed door meeting with Turkish emissary.

How hypocrite is your president as he advocates democracy and lambaste the military coup d'état in Egypt, added Mr. Putin, and he simultaneously condones all terrorist activities aimed to overthrow Syrian president! The Russian president continued by saying that his country won't abandon Syrian legitimate administration and will cooperate with its allies ,namely Iran and China , to find a political solution to Syria's interminable civil war which descended the 23-million Arab nation to an utter ethnic and religious anarchy.

[Armynia]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Russian president to Turkish ambassador: "tell your dictator President he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorists, I will make Syria a 'Big Stalingrad' for him!"

 Top News 03 August 2015












The Moscow Times-- The Russian president Vladimir Putin broke the accepted diplomatic protocols and has personally summoned the Turkish ambassador to Moscow, Mr Ümit Yardim, and warned him that the Russian Federation shall sever the diplomatic relations immediately unless the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stops supporting ISIS rebels in Syria, where Russia holds its last navy base in the Mediterranean sea.

The Russian president purportedly went into a long diatribe criticizing the Turkish foreign policy and its malevolent role in Syria, Iraq and Yemen by supporting Saudi-backed al-Qaeda terrorists, reported the Moscow Times, which escalated the conversation with the Turkish ambassador to a fierce polemic.





According to The leaked information obtained by The Moscow Times, the meeting between the Mr.Purin and Turkish ambassador was imbued with intense mutual resentment where Mr. Yardim has repudiated all Russian accusations, laying blame on Russia for Syria's bitter and protracted civil war. "..then tell your dictator president he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorist and I shall make Syria to nothing but a 'Big Stalingrad' , for Erdoğan and his Saudi allies are no vicious than Adolf Hitler," replied Vladimir Putin in the 2-hour closed door meeting with Turkish emissary.

How hypocrite is your president as he advocates democracy and lambaste the military coup d'état in Egypt, added Mr. Putin, and he simultaneously condones all terrorist activities aimed to overthrow Syrian president! The Russian president continued by saying that his country won't abandon Syrian legitimate administration and will cooperate with its allies ,namely Iran and China , to find a political solution to Syria's interminable civil war which descended the 23-million Arab nation to an utter ethnic and religious anarchy.

Where is the Citation of this source? You have some time to show us the citation of this article otherwise it is fake!

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Where is the Citation of this source? You have some time to show us the citation of this article otherwise it is fake!

I agree.

The protocol is always to provide link to the sources.
Even more important when provided news is ground shaking.

If contributors overlook this protocol google can come to the rescue.
Typically select the first sentence of the article and google search, usually the article will be found.
Sorry if its too common knowledge.

Link to the article, its not fake.

http://awdnews.com/top-news/russian-president-to-turkish-ambassador-tell-your-dictator-president-he-can-go-to-hell-along-with-his-isis-terrorists,-i-will-make-syria-a-big-stalingrad-for-him

It appears Putin is not prepared to exchange broken Syria with broken Ukraine.
Historically they were both his !!

The west broke both and then trying to exchange one with the other as if it was their domain, ( sphere of influence ).

Syria has a huge geopolitical significance in the energy transportation field.
Ukraine would collapse without Russian gas.



.

[Eddo211]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Haykakan does not break paragraphs and provide links............I am OK with it as long as its not from a blog source.

He is a good contributor of this forum unlike me.......I just come here for news.

Aviation questions I will do my best. No link though