Regional geopolitics

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

‘Wrong' Maidan: Ukraine demands that France’s Canal+ TV take hard-hitting documentary off air

https://www.rt.com/news/330836-ukraine-france-maidan-documentary/

[Joseph]

Re: Regional geopolitics

The xxx Kurt/MHP Turkish Fascist/Nazi Party connection to the terrorist downing of a Russia jetliner in October 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/12134042/Turkish-ultra-nationalists-behind-Russian-airliner-bombing-reports-say.html

'Turkish ultra-nationalists' behind Russian airliner bombing, reports say
Accusations against the Grey Wolves, an extreme Turkish nationalist group, emerge amid renewed tensions between Moscow and Ankara

By Roland Oliphant, Moscow4:45PM GMT 01 Feb 2016
Russian investigators suspect an extreme Turkish nationalist group may have been involved in the bombing of a Russian airliner in Sinai in October, it has been claimed.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) suspects a radical Turkish group called the Grey Wolves had a hand in the attack that killed 224 people, according to a Russian newspaper.

Kommersant, one of Russia’s leading broadsheets, quoted an unnamed source saying the FSB had grounds to suspect the Grey Wolves were the “organised group” behind the bombing referred to by Alexander Bortnikov, the agency’s director, in December.

The source told the paper that the group had links with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), the terror group that claimed responsibility for blowing up the airliner. The source provided no evidence to back up the claims, which come at a time of heightened tensions between the two Black Sea neighbours.
Metrojet flight 9268 from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg blew up 20 minutes after taking off on October 31 last year, killing everyone on board.

It was Russia’s worst ever aviation disaster and the country’s worst terror attack since the 2004 Belsan school siege.
Isil later claimed responsibility for the attack, publishing a photograph of the device it said it used to bring down the airliner.
Last week a pro-Kremlin tabloid claimed the man suspected of planting the bomb, a former baggage hander at Sharm el-Sheikh, had last been seen in Turkey.
Relations between Turkey and Russia have been in crisis since the Turkish airforce shot down a Russian jet over northern Syria in November, saying the Russian aircraft had violated its air space.

Russia responded by deploying advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and hitting Ankara with a package of sanctions, visa bans, and other measures designed to hurt the Turkish economy.

The confrontation threatened to erupt again over the weekend, after Turkey said another Russian jet violated its airspace on Friday.
The Turkish foreign ministry said it summoned the Russian ambassador to “strongly protest at and condemn” the incident. The Russian ministry of defence called the Turkish claims “baseless".

Meanwhile, a trade war between the two countries escalated as a Russian trucking union and lobby group said the country's long-haul trucks would no longer be allowed into Turkey.The Association of International Truckers said on Monday that Turkey had refused to renew an agreement allowing Russian truckers to bring goods into Turkey. Founded in 1968, the Grey Wolves has been described as an ultra-nationalist or even fascist organisation that gained a reputation as a death squad in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 1990s and early 2000s some Grey Wolves fought against Russia in the first and second Chechen wars.
In recent years the group has demonstrated against the Kurdish peace process in Turkey, which has since collapsed, and commemorations of the Armenian genocide.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Frustrated Turkish Army fires artillery shells into northern Latakia to aid Jihadist allies
by Leith Fadel on 01/02/2016

On Monday, the Turkish Army fired 11 artillery shells into the northern countryside of the Latakia Governorate after watching their Jihadist allies from Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) suffer a series of losses to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their allies these past few weeks. According to a battlefield correspondent that is embedded with the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard, the Turkish Army fired 11 artillery shells towards the National Defense Forces (NDF) camp in Jabal ‘Ateiri, wounding 5 soldiers while also causing material damage to their heavy armory in Jabal Turkmen. This unprovoked aggression from the Turkish Army marks the 2nd time in 2 years that the latter has targeted the Syrian Arab Army in northern Latakia – the first time being Kassab in mid-2014. The Syrian Government has issued a statement of condemnation regarding this unprovoked attack by the Turkish Army, decrying this violation of international law committed on Monday. No statement has been released by the Turkish regime regarding this aggression; however, they have been known to aid the Jihadists in Syria on a number of occasions, including their continued attacks against the predominately Kurdish “People’s Protection Units” (YPG) in northern Aleppo.

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/...hadist-allies/ | Al-Masdar News

[Shant03]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Their time is coming..

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2016/02/01/russia-video/1918060

Turkish artillery shells Syrian territory (video)
01.02.16





The Russian Defense Ministry has presented video evidence it says shows Turkish military shelling Syrian territory using heavy artillery positioned close to the border.

Syria’s General Staff has provided its Russian counterparts with video footage of deployment of self-propelled large caliber artillery vehicles at a Turkish frontier post, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said at media briefing on Monday, reports Russia Today.

Syrian opposition groups have also provided video evidence of the Turkish military shelling Syrian territory, he added.

“This is what we call a fact. This is irrefutable proof that Turkish armed forces shell borderline Syrian settlements with large-caliber artillery systems,” Konashenkov stressed.

“We expect an immediate reaction and explanations of the actions of Turkish military by NATO and the Pentagon,” Konashenkov said, recalling the US’s notably short response time to Ankara’s allegations that a Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace.

Non-stop bombing of terrorist positions in Syria continues, with Russian warplanes making 468 sorties in a week, hitting over 1,300 targets, Konashenkov said.

Russian airstrikes hit terrorist infrastructure in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa, Deiz ez-Zor, Hama, Homs and Latakia.

Most of the airstrikes carried out by Tu22M3 bombers took place around the city of Deiz ez-Zor, which is besieged by jihadist forces.

“An attempt to storm the city has been disrupted,” Konashenkov said, specifying that Russian Air Force used both Russia-based strategic long-rage bombers and assault Su-25 aircraft based at Khmeimim airfield in Syria to deliver 23 massive airstrikes against terrorist forces advancing on Deir ez-Zor.

The Syrian Air Force used Russian parachute landing systems to deliver more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to residents of Deir ez-Zor.

Last week four advanced technology supermaneuverable Sukhoi Su-35S fighter jets assembled in 2015 were deployed to Khmeimim in Latakia and began performing missions along other Russian warplanes operating in Syria, Konashenkov confirmed.

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2016/02/01/russia-video/1918060

Turkish artillery shells Syrian territory (video)
01.02.16





The Russian Defense Ministry has presented video evidence it says shows Turkish military shelling Syrian territory using heavy artillery positioned close to the border.

Syria’s General Staff has provided its Russian counterparts with video footage of deployment of self-propelled large caliber artillery vehicles at a Turkish frontier post, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said at media briefing on Monday, reports Russia Today.

Syrian opposition groups have also provided video evidence of the Turkish military shelling Syrian territory, he added.

“This is what we call a fact. This is irrefutable proof that Turkish armed forces shell borderline Syrian settlements with large-caliber artillery systems,” Konashenkov stressed.

“We expect an immediate reaction and explanations of the actions of Turkish military by NATO and the Pentagon,” Konashenkov said, recalling the US’s notably short response time to Ankara’s allegations that a Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace.

Non-stop bombing of terrorist positions in Syria continues, with Russian warplanes making 468 sorties in a week, hitting over 1,300 targets, Konashenkov said.

Russian airstrikes hit terrorist infrastructure in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa, Deiz ez-Zor, Hama, Homs and Latakia.

Most of the airstrikes carried out by Tu22M3 bombers took place around the city of Deiz ez-Zor, which is besieged by jihadist forces.

“An attempt to storm the city has been disrupted,” Konashenkov said, specifying that Russian Air Force used both Russia-based strategic long-rage bombers and assault Su-25 aircraft based at Khmeimim airfield in Syria to deliver 23 massive airstrikes against terrorist forces advancing on Deir ez-Zor.

The Syrian Air Force used Russian parachute landing systems to deliver more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to residents of Deir ez-Zor.

Last week four advanced technology supermaneuverable Sukhoi Su-35S fighter jets assembled in 2015 were deployed to Khmeimim in Latakia and began performing missions along other Russian warplanes operating in Syria, Konashenkov confirmed.

(1) Russia is not is not addressing the hominoid turc. This is addressed --- directly --- to NATO. It's a direct question . The clock is ticking. Russia is watching the response time. The heat is on. The hominoid intransigence while major world powers stand by mum (including UN) is down to its last few conniving minutes.
Russia did not bring the *** SU35S *** in for nothing.
Su 35S ... Finest aircraft built to date on this planet until the T 50 is on line.
You can't believe what's inside that plane.
Time is almost up .

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

(1) Russia is not is not addressing the hominoid turc. This is addressed --- directly --- to NATO. It's a direct question . The clock is ticking. Russia is watching the response time. The heat is on. The hominoid intransigence while major world powers stand by mum (including UN) is down to its last few conniving minutes.
Russia did not bring the *** SU35S *** in for nothing.
Su 35S ... Finest aircraft built to date on this planet until the T 50 is on line.
You can't believe what's inside that plane.
Time is almost up .

A clear message from Russia ... If anyone on the planet thinks the turc (hominoid) can shell another country (Syria) from turc territory with !!!! Impunity !!!! ----- WRONG ----.

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

--- SU 35S can see the raptor (f22) like it glowed neon pink ---

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Gazprom Seeks Again To Pressure Georgia Over Gas Supplies
rferl

By Liz Fuller
February 01, 2016

Russia has again raised the possibility of curtailing gas supplies to Georgia at a time when Azerbaijan, the only alternative source, is unable to meet Georgia's expanding need in full.

Over the past four months, Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze has met four times with senior Gazprom officials to discuss possible changes in the tariffs Gazprom pays for supplying gas via Georgia to Armenia, and in the amount of Russian gas Georgia purchases.

Those talks have sparked protests by the opposition United National Movement (ENM), which accuses the current government of endangering national security by making the country dependent on Russian gas supplies.

Such accusations appear overblown, however, given the comparatively modest volume of gas involved. That suggests that the ENM's position is strongly influenced by its desire to question the competence and pro-Western orientation of the Georgian Dream coalition, which defeated it in the October 2012 parliamentary ballot.

Provisional data from the Georgian Energy Ministry cited by the website civil.ge shows that in 2015 Georgia consumed 2.478 billion cubic meters of natural gas (compared with 1.91 billion in 2013, an increase of almost 25 percent).Of the 2015 total, 2.195 billion cubic meters, or some 88.5 percent, was supplied by Azerbaijan: 1.48 billion in line with a contract signed with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, and 712 million in lieu of transit fees for gas transported via the BP-operated South Caucasus Pipeline to Turkey from the first stage of Azerbaijan's offshore Shah Deniz field.

Just 275 million cubic meters -- a little over 10 percent of the total consumed -- was supplied by Gazprom, of which 200 million cubic meters was transit fees for gas supplied by Gazprom to Armenia via Georgia. (Gazprom claims the total volume it supplied in 2015 was 300 million cubic meters.)

Seeking To Monetize

Georgia has long been entitled to 10 percent of the gas supplied by Gazprom to Armenia as transit fees. That tariff, according to Vartan Harutiunian, CEO of Armenia's national gas company which is owned by Gazprom, is the highest in the world.

Kaladze disclosed after the most recent round of talks that Gazprom has sought for the past two years to monetize the transit fee.

He said that Georgia initially rejected that option, but that Gazprom has now threatenedto reroute its gas exports to Armenia via Iran as soon as it becomes technically feasible to do so -- which would of course deprive Georgia of any transit fees, either in cash or in kind.

Kaladze gave no indication of what the cash tariff Gazprom has proposed might be, or the likely cost of purchasing additional Russian gas to make up the shortfall.

In 2015, in addition to the gas it received in transit fees, Georgia purchased 75 million more cubic meters of Russian gas at the price of $110 per 1,000 cubic meters.

At the same time, Kaladze stated categorically that even if Georgia is constrained to purchase more Russian gas in 2016 than it has done in recent years, it will not reduce the amount purchased from Azerbaijan, which he described as Georgia's "strategic partner."

Street Protests

The Georgian opposition has convened three demonstrations, in October, November, and January, to protest the government's imputed intention of reducing the amount of Azerbaijani gas it imports and increasing the Russian share. And on January 22, the ENM formally asked President Giorgi Margvelashvili to convene a special session of the National Security Council to discuss whether purchases of Russian gas should be increased.

The organizers of the January protest, attended by some 1,000 people, argued that the Georgian government's stance is all the more counterproductive and irrational insofar as Azerbaijan "is prepared to supply any volume of gas."

Kaladze, however, said after he and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili discussed the possibility of Georgia purchasing additional gas from Azerbaijan with visiting SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev on January 13 that Azerbaijan is not currently able to increase supplies for "technical reasons." He explained that the pipeline in question is already operating at maximum capacity. Kaladze said "we have a project" to build an additional gas pumping station to increase that capacity, but did not say who would provide the necessary investments.

The project will not, Kaladze admitted, be completed this year, which means the estimated shortfall in supply for 2016 could reach 300-400 million cubic meters, for which Gazprom is the most likely alternative supplier.

On January 29, SOCAR announced that it has reached an agreement with the South Caucasus Pipeline operators to supply Georgia with an additional 50 million cubic meters during the winter months.

Asked about Georgia's vulnerability to pressure from Gazprom, U.S. Ambassador to Tbilisi Ian Kelly told journalists on January 18: "I think that Georgia does have a short term energy need, and I think it's prudent to talk to all potential energy suppliers."

At the same time, he expressed tacit approval of the government's approach to the problem, saying: "I think it's always important that governments be as transparent as possible about their energy policy, and they have been very open with us. We have expressed our concerns that Georgia not become too dependent on one source of energy -- that they keep a good diversification of energy -- and we are satisfied with their explanations."

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Syrian Army enters Hardatineen in northern Aleppo
by Leith Fadel on 02/02/2016

The Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division and their allies launched a surprise offensive in the northern countryside of the Aleppo Governorate yesterday, striking the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group), Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen, and Jabhat Al-Shamiyah at two axes around the village of Bashkoy.

This surprise attack in northern Aleppo resulted in the Syrian Armed Forces seizing the villages of Duwayr Al-Zeitoun and Tal Jibbin after a fierce battle with Jabhat Al-Nusra and their allies. Not long after capturing Tal Jibbin and Duwayr Al-Zeitoun, the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division – backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF), Hezbollah, and Harakat Al-Nujaba (Iraqi paramilitary) entered the Al-Malaah Farms near the integral village of Handarat, where most of the fighting took place overnight.

While the Syrian Armed Forces and their allies continue to advance at the Al-Malaah Farms, another unit from the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division – alongside Hezbollah, NDF, Harakat Al-Nujaba, Kata’eb Hezbollah (Iraqi paramilitary), and Liwaa Al-Badr (Iraqi paramilitary) – broke-through the Islamist rebels 1st line of defense at the imperative village of Hardatineen this morning.

Last year, the Syrian Armed Forces seized the village of Hardatineen during their winter offensive in the Aleppo Governorate; however, they lost this site the following day when Nusra reinforcements poured into northern Aleppo from Turkey. Preliminary reports indicate that the Syrian Armed Forces have captured Hardatineen, but there has been no confirmation from the Syrian Arab Army.

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/...rthern-aleppo/ | Al-Masdar News