Regional geopolitics

[Azad]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Russia securing its interest from the north, in case turkey escalades its tantrum.
Watch the map at around 1:10 on the video. Ignore the propagandist Simon Ostowski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xr36Vdzdi4

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Russia securing its interest from the north, in case turkey escalades its tantrum.
Watch the map at around 1:10 on the video. Ignore the propagandist Simon Ostowski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xr36Vdzdi4

First, it is all about a storm in a cup.. it's more like a gag.
No one died, no one injured... and all in all, the 'advances/ are about a couple of hundred meters....

NB: Pay attention, talk is about Baku-Supsa, a pipe that is much smaller, than the BTC, that runs much south, inside Javakhk and Treghk.
I'm not sure the russians effectively did capture a section of Baku-Supsa (in which case, logically they should ask for transit fees??) , but even if this is the case, it is directly in turkish interest, since this oil is free from turkish control.....

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Saudi Royal Family Spent $75 Billion in Yemen
BY LEITH FADEL
DECEMBER 5, 2015

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-royal-family-spent-75-billion-in-yemen/

The Saudi Royal Family and their political counterparts have tried their best to defeat the Yemeni civilians opposed to the exiled president, ‘Abd-Rubbah Mansour Hadi; however, this has proven to be far more costly than they originally anticipated.

According to the the Saudi whistleblower known as “@Mujtahidd”, the Saudi Royal Family has spent upwards around 200 billion Riyals ($75 billion USD) on military equipment, ammunition, and personnel in a span of 6 months.

In addition to the high bill they are racking up, the Saudi Royal Army has suffered over 6,500 casualties during this war in Yemen, including 2,000 soldiers killed-in-action (KIA) and another 4,500 others wounded while combatting the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard and the Houthis.



To add insult to injury, the Saudi Royal Family has watched the southern part of their country being invaded by the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard and the Houthis, while they watch from afar and demand more foreign mercenaries from Mauritania and Sudan help drive back the Yemeni resistance forces.

The situation in Yemen has gotten so bad for the Saudi Royal Family that they are now watching their forces and the Hadi loyalists lose ground to their former allies from the Yemeni Al-Qaeda group “Ansar Al-Sharia” and their counterparts from the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (IS).

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Syrian Army Capture More Points on the Turkish Border: Turkey Unresponsive
BY LEITH FADEL
DECEMBER 6, 2015

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-capture-more-points-on-the-turkish-border-turkey-unresponsive/

On Saturday morning in the Latakia Governorate’s northern countryside, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard – in coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF) of Latakia City and Qurdaha; the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP); and Muqawama Souri (Syrian Resistance) – continued their rapid advance along the Turkish border, capturing several sites from the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group), and the Free Syrian Army’s “1st Coastal Brigade”.

The Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies began their assault at the Zahiyah Tower, where they were confronted by a large contingent of Islamists from Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army near the Turkish border-crossing.



Following the violent confrontation with Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies imposed full control of the Zahiyah Tower in Jabal Al-Zahiyah (Zahiyah Mountains), killing several enemy combatants in the process of this advance.

In addition to their advance in Jabal Al-Zahiyah, the Syrian Armed Forces imposed full control over two new sites along the Turkish border; these sites were identified by a military source as Point 812 and Jabal Al-‘Azar (‘Azar Mountains) in Jabal Al-Turkmen (Turkmen Mountains).

With the Syrian Arab Army’s recent advance along the Turkish border with the Latakia Governorate, the Turkish Army has remained

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

http://www.currenttime.tv/fullinfographics/infographics/27279374.html

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Saudi Royal Family Spent $75 Billion in Yemen
BY LEITH FADEL
DECEMBER 5, 2015

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-royal-family-spent-75-billion-in-yemen/

To add insult to injury, the Saudi Royal Family has watched the southern part of their country being invaded by the Yemeni Army’s Republican Guard and the Houthis, while they watch from afar and demand more foreign mercenaries from Mauritania and Sudan help drive back the Yemeni resistance forces.

The situation in Yemen has gotten so bad for the Saudi Royal Family that they are now watching their forces and the Hadi loyalists lose ground to their former allies from the Yemeni Al-Qaeda group “Ansar Al-Sharia” and their counterparts from the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (IS).

800 Colombian Soldiers Join Saudi-Led Forces in Yemen

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/colombian-mercenaries-fighting-in-yemen/

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/colombian-mercenaries-fighting-in-yemen/

........The addition of these Colombian mercenaries compliment the hundreds of Sudanese soldiers that Saudi Arabia dispatched to Yemen.

In addition, a recent United Nations report cited claims that some 400 Eritrean troops might be embedded with the Emirati soldiers in Yemen — something that, if true, could violate a United Nations resolution restricting Eritrean military activities.

Dozens of Emirati special operations troops have died since they arrived in southern Yemen in August. A single rocket attack in early September killed 45, along with several Saudi and Bahrani soldiers.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Erdogan's Turkey Is a Dubious Ally

Victor Davis Hanson
Dec 03, 2015


Turkey often appeals to the West for support, given its longtime
membership in NATO. Now, Turkish leadership is in a shouting match
with Russia's provocative president, Vladimir Putin, over Turkey's
downing of a Russian jet in probable Turkish airspace. Each country
has accused the other of helping terrorists in Syria.

The problem with Turkey and the West, however, is that their
relationship is decades out of date. What was once an alliance is now
nothing special at all.

Barack Obama used to lecture reluctant Europeans about why they should
accept Turkey into the European Union as its first Islamic member.
Obama boasted of a "special friendship" with Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan. As president, Obama suddenly forgot the promise he
made as a senator to formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide
committed by the Turks in the early 1900s

Turkey has become a favorite stop abroad for Obama to lecture his
fellow Americans about their ethical shortcomings, from past treatment
of Native Americans to their present supposed xenophobia over not
accepting Syrian refugees en masse.

Yet the more Obama has appeased Erdogan, the more anti-Western and
anti-American Turkey has become.

Erdogan has insidiously eroded Turkish democracy, free speech and
human rights. He is turning the once-secular state into an Islamic
nation. Thousands of Turkish soccer fans recently shouted "Allahu
Akbar" when asked for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the
Paris terrorist attacks. So much for NATO solidarity.

Under Erdogan, the new Turkish model is not the secular modern state
of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Instead, Erdogan praises the ancient Ottoman
caliphate, whose theocratic empire once ranged from the Persian Gulf
to southern Europe.

When the Muslim Brotherhood tried to dismantle secular government in
Egypt, Erdogan egged them on and was instrumental in persuading the
Obama administration to adopt a disastrous policy of support for the
Brotherhood.

Erdogan used to visit Europe and chide its leaders over their supposed
mistreatment of Islamic immigrants. But at home, he has increasingly
marginalized the few Turks who are not Muslims.

Small, vulnerable nations and peoples of the region -- Armenians,
Greeks and Kurds -- used to be terrified of Turkish aggression. They
are starting to become afraid again under Erdogan's new Islamic
militancy.

Erdogan demanded that the United States remove Bashar al-Assad's
tottering pro-Iranian, pro-Russian dictatorship. But not long ago,
Erdogan did all he could to cultivate Assad, who was fueling terrorist
violence against Americans in Iraq during the surge.

Turkey used to be a friend to Israel. Both countries were worried
about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. The radical Islamic world
hated secular Turkey for its past Ottoman colonialism almost as much
as it despised Israel.

Yet since Obama took office, Erdogan has sought to provoke tensions
between the two countries. Some of Erdogan's diatribes against Israel
have been laced with anti-Semitic disparagement.

Turkey now demands justice from Russia for violating Turkish airspace.
But no country in the world violates foreign airspace as often as
Turkey. A Greek defense analyst counted 2,244 times that Turkey
violated Greek airspace in 2014 -- an average of more than six
violations per day.

The Erdogan government believes that the way to solve disagreement
with fellow NATO member Greece over a few disputed Aegean islands and
oil finds is to send up its much larger air force to bully the Greeks
-- especially after their recent financial meltdown.

Erdogan publicly boasts of his critical NATO role in curbing Islamic
State terrorism. But privately, Islamic State terrorists have received
a wink and nod from Turkish border authorities, given their shared
hatred of Russia, Syria and Iran.

The Islamic State may be a primordial death cult, but Erdogan
apparently believes that it is at least a Sunni, not a Shiite, killing
machine, and is occasionally useful in fighting common enemies,
especially the Kurds.

It is hard to envision any international crisis in which Erdogan's
Turkey would come to the defense of the United States. During the Cold
War, Turkey was terrified about Soviet ships passing near its shores
on the Black Sea, and about communist takeovers on its borders. In
exchange for U.S. support, it often backed American efforts like the
U.N. coalition that saved South Korea.

That's now ancient history.

All that can be said for Obama's current "model relationship" is that
Turkey is strategically located, with a large and powerful military,
and hosts NATO bases. Those facts make it wise to keep Turkey neutral
rather than hostile.

Otherwise, Erdogan's Turkey is an ally in name only. In reality, it is
becoming a de facto enemy.

Suddenly, Turkey's NATO membership is important to Erdogan in his
dispute with Putin. But the real irony is that the autocratic Erdogan
is the dictatorial Putin's mirror image.

No two leaders deserve each other more.

http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2015/12/03/erdogans-turkey-is-a-dubious-ally-n2088133/page/full

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Turkey Must Withdraw “within 24 hours”: Iraq National Security Council
BY PAUL ANTONOPOULOS
DECEMBER 6, 2015

http://www.almasdarnews.com/

Iraq’s National Security Council, headed by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, has announced that Turkey has 48 hours to withdraw from Iraq’s territory before it uses “all available options.”

The Shi’ite militia, Kataib Hezbollah, that is backed by Iran released a statement promising to retaliate against the Turkish incursion that is violating Iraqi sovereignty.



In the last 24 hours, Turkey has stated it will deploy up to 2000 troops in Iraq, up from a few hundred. They claim they were legally asked by the Kurdish Regional Government to help in the fight against ISIS. Baghdad claims they are the only sole legitimate government in Iraq.

In recent weeks, Shi’ite militias have also vowed to fight against US troops in Iraq if were to be deployed there.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Syrian Army Rolls Through Northeastern Latakia as the Islamists Retreat Towards Turkey
BY LEITH FADEL
DECEMBER 6, 2015

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-rolls-through-northeastern-latakia-as-the-islamists-retreat-towards-turkey/

The Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard is rolling through northeastern Latakia, capturing several sites in the last 48 hours from the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group), Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, and the Free Syrian Army’s “Liwaa Suqour Al-Ghaab”.

Much of the Syrian Arab Army’s success in northeastern Latakia is due to the Russian Air Force’s relentless airstrikes along the Turkish border, leaving many Turkish-backed Islamist rebels dead and their military installations destroyed in the process.

On Sunday morning in the Kurdish Mountains (Jabal Al-Akrad) of northeastern Latakia, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade – in coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF) of Latakia City and Qurdaha; the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP); and Muqawama Souri (Syrian Resistance) – imposed full control over Tal Ghazalah, the Firlalaq Forests, ‘Atayrat, and the hills surrounding Jabal Al-Qazghadar after a series of violent firefights with the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army.



Following the capture of the aforementioned sites in Jabal Al-Akrad, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies advanced to the villages of Al-Musharifa Fawqa, Al-Musharifa Al-Tahta, Raweesat Al-Maslaanah, and Katf Al-‘Alaanah, where they were confronted by a large contingent of Islamist rebels that will attempt to forestall their progress.

In the last 72 hours, the Syrian Armed Forces have seized over 75 square kilometers of territory from the Islamist rebels in Jabal Al-Akrad; this number will likely double in the coming days as the pro-government forces intensify their assault.