Sunday 30 August 2015

IRAN

Saturday, August 29, 2015
IRAN: Israeli, Jordanian Officers Killed among Tens of Other Al-Nusra Commanders in Airstrike in Southern Syria
Israeli, Jordanian Officers Killed among Tens of Other Al-Nusra Commanders
in Airstrike in Southern Syria
Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:41
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940607000669
TEHRAN (FNA - Fars News Agency)- The Syrian air force killed a large number
of Takfiri militant commanders, including senior Israeli and Jordanian
officers, in airstrikes on terrorists' positions in the Southern province of
Dara'a.
At least 42 Al-Nusra Front Takfiri terrorist commanders, including 3 Israeli
and Jordanian officers, were killed in the Syrian warplanes' air raids in
Dara'a.
Military sources said that the Syrian airstrikes on al-Nusra Front positions
incurred heavy losses on the Takfiri terrorists.
In similar operations on Friday, over 100 militants of al-Nusra Front were
killed in the Syrian fighter jets' operations in Dara'a.
The sources said that, over 100 terrorists, most of them from al-Nusra
Front, were killed in a series of army airstrikes that targeted their
gatherings in Dael town in the countryside of the southern Dara'a city.
On Thursday, the Syrian army troops killed 46 terrorists in military
operations in Aleppo city.
The terrorists were killed in al-Sayyed Ali area.
Meanwhile, the army killed terrorists of al-Nusra Front, and destroyed their
arms at the Western neighborhood of Bosra al-Sham in the Eastern countryside
of Dara'a.

Wednesday 26 August 2015

IS TURKEY FOSTERING IS


ERDOGAN’S 
DANGEROUS ISIS GAMES

TURKEY is a beautiful land, rich in resources, with many highly intelligent and warm people. It also happens to have a President who seems intent on destroying his once-proud nation. More and more details are coming to light revealing that the ISLAMIC STATE in IRAQ and SYRIA, variously known as ISIS, IS or DAESH, is being fed and kept alive by RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN, the TURKISH President and by his TURKISH intelligence service, including MIT, the TURKISH CIA. TURKEY, as a result of ERDOĞAN’S pursuit of what some call a NEO-OTTOMAN EMPIRE fantasies that stretch all the way to CHINA, SYRIA and IRAQ, threatens not only to destroy TURKEY but much of the MIDDLE EAST if he continues on his present path.

In October 2014 US Vice President JOE BIDEN told a HARVARD gathering that ERDOĞAN’S regime was backing ISIS /ISIL with “hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons…” BIDEN later apologized clearly for tactical reasons to get ERDOGAN’S permission to use TURKEY’S INCIRLIK AIR BASE for airstrikes against ISIS in SYRIA, but the dimensions of ERDOĞAN’S backing for ISIS since revealed is far, far more than BIDEN hinted.

Background Information:

2014 we wrote: WHY IS TURKEY SUPPORTING ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTERS IN IRAQ?

TURKEY WOULD MAKE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE SYRIAN CRISIS IF IT COULD BRING ITSELF TO RISE ABOVE THE SECTARIAN CONSIDERATIONS THAT HAVE DICTATED ITS REGIME CHANGE POLICY IN SYRIA

WESTERN ARROGANCE AND IGNORANCE LED TO UNDERESTIMATE TURKEY


TURKEYS ERRATIC FOREIGN POLICIES

TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY POKER GAME


ISIS militants were trained by US, and TURKISH Special Forces at secret bases in KONYA Province inside the TURKISH border to SYRIA, over the past three years. ERDOĞAN’S involvement in ISIS goes much deeper. At a time when WASHINGTON, SAUDI ARABIA and even QATAR appear to have cut off their support for ISIS, they remaining amazingly durable. The reason appears to be the scale of the backing from ERDOĞAN and his fellow NEO-OTTOMAN SUNNI ISLAM Prime Minister, AHMET DAVUTOĞLU.

FAMILY BUSINESS FEEDS ISIS?

Bilal ERDOGAN
The prime source of money feeding ISIS these days is sale of IRAQI oil from the MOSUL region oilfields where they maintain a stronghold. The son of ERDOĞAN it seems is the man who makes the export sales of ISIS-controlled oil possible.

Bilal ERDOĞAN owns several maritime companies. He has allegedly signed contracts with EUROPEAN operating companies to carry IRAQI stolen oil to different ASIAN countries. The TURKISH government buys IRAQI plundered oil which is being produced from the IRAQI seized oil wells. BILAL ERDOĞAN’S maritime companies own special wharfs in BEIRUT and CEYHAN ports that are transporting ISIS’ smuggled crude oil in JAPAN-bound oil tankers.

GÜRSEL TEKIN vice-president of the TURKISH Republican Peoples’ Party, CHP, declared in a recent TURKISH media interview, “President ERDOĞAN claims that according to international transportation conventions there is no legal infraction concerning BILAL’S illicit activities and his son is doing an ordinary business with the registered JAPANESE companies, but in fact BILAL ERDOĞAN is up to his neck in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution.” TEKIN adds that BILAL’S maritime company doing the oil trades for ISIS, BMZ Ltd, is “a family business and president ERDOĞAN’S close relatives hold shares in BMZ and they misused public funds and took illicit loans from TURKISH banks.”

FIRST AID

In addition to son BILAL’S illegal and lucrative oil trading for ISIS, SÜMEYYE ERDOĞAN, the daughter of the TURKISH President apparently runs a secret hospital camp inside TURKEY just over the SYRIAN border where TURKISH army trucks daily bring in scores of wounded ISIS JIHADISTS to be patched up and sent back to wage the bloody JIHAD in SYRIA, according to the testimony of a nurse who was recruited to work there until it was discovered she was a member of the ALAWITE branch of ISLAM, the same as SYRIAN President BASHAR AL-ASSAD who ERDOĞAN seems hell-bent on toppling.


TURKISH citizen RAMAZAN BAŞOL, captured this month by KURDISH People’s Defence Units, YPG, as he attempted to join ISIS from KONYA province, told his captors that he was sent to ISIS by the ‘İSMAIL AĞA SECT,’ a strict TURKISH Islam sect reported to be tied to RECEP ERDOĞAN. BAŞOL said the sect recruits members and provides logistic support to the radical ISLAMIST organization. He added that the Sect gives jihad training in neighborhoods of KONYA and sends those trained here to join ISIS gangs in SYRIA.

According to FRENCH geopolitical analyst, THIERRY MEYSSAN, RECEP ERDOĞAN “organised the pillage of SYRIA, dismantled all the factories in ALEPPO, the economic capital, and stole the machine-tools. Similarly, he organised the theft of archeological treasures and set up an international market in ANTIOCH…with the help of General BENOÎT PUGA, Chief of Staff for the ELYSÉE, he organised a false-flag operation intended to provoke the launching of a war by the ATLANTIC ALLIANCE – the chemical bombing of la GHOUTTA in DAMASCUS, in August 2013. “

TURKEY AND FRANCE – A UNITED SYRIAN STRATEGY?

Background Information: 2013 we wrote

FRANCES INTENTIONS TO CREATE A “BUFFER” ZONE AND A “NO-FLY” ZONE HAD TO BE ABOLISHED


MEYSSAN claims that the SYRIA strategy of ERDOĞAN was initially secretly developed in coordination with former FRENCH Foreign Minister ALAIN JUPPÉ and ERDOĞAN’S then Foreign Minister AHMET DAVUTOĞLU, in 2011, after Juppe won a hesitant ERDOĞAN to the idea of supporting the attack on traditional TURKISH ally SYRIA in return for a promise of FRENCH support for TURKISH membership in the EU. FRANCE later backed out, leaving ERDOĞAN to continue the SYRIAN bloodbath largely on his own using ISIS.

Gen. JOHN R. ALLEN, an opponent of OBAMA’S IRAN peace strategy, now US diplomatic envoy coordinating the coalition against the ISLAMIC STATE, exceeded his authorized role after meeting with ERDOĞAN and “promised to create a « no-fly zone » ninety miles wide, over SYRIAN territory, along the whole border with TURKEY, supposedly intended to help SYRIAN refugees fleeing from their government, but in reality to apply the « JUPPÉ-WRIGHT plan ». The TURKISH Prime Minister, AHMET DAVUTOĞLU, revealed US support for the project on the TV channel A Haber by launching a bombing raid against the PKK.” MEYSSAN adds.


Background Information: TURKEY














There are never winners in war and ERDOĞAN’S war against SYRIA’S ASSAD demonstrates that in bold. TURKEY and the world deserve better. AHMET DAVUTOĞLU’S famous “Zero Problems With Neighbors” foreign policy has been turned into massive problems with all neighbors due to the foolish ambitions of ERDOĞAN and his gang.


By F. William Engdahl via NSNBC  

Friday 21 August 2015

LATIN AMERICA’S REAL CORRUPTION CRISIS



THE OUTFLOWS OF ILLICIT CASH FROM LATIN AMERICA ARE A STAGGERING TAX ON ITS CITIZENS.

The leaders of major LATIN AMERICAN countries – ARGENTINA, BRAZIL. CHILE and MEXICO – are enmeshed in scandals.
Background Information:
CRIME AND CORRUPTION ARE TWO OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST MULTINATIONAL INDUSTRIES
CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS OFTEN THRIVED BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE UNAVAILABLE SERVICES OR FILLING THE NEEDS THAT TRADITIONAL POLITICAL STRUCTURES COULD NOT FILL

MEXICAN president ENRIQUE PENA NIETO could have been speaking for the whole continent, not just his own country, when he stated in a recent interview, “Today there is, without doubt, a sensation of incredulity and distrust…there has been a loss of confidence and this has sown suspicion and doubt.”
Corruption is nothing new to LATIN AMERICA. To be sure, the plethora of current prominent scandals is setting some new records. But public distrust has increased to no small degree by the growing understanding that the seemingly endless corruption is directly causing enormous economic problems for almost all citizens.
NOT DAY TO DAY PETTY CRIME BUT ORGANIZED CRIME SYNIDCATES AND CORRUPTION THAT COMES WITH IT IS THE TRUE CANCER OF LATIN AMERICA
According to estimates by the Institute of International Finance, real economic growth in the region was an estimated 0.4% for 2014. The IIF forecasts that it will be a scant 0.2% in 2015.
And, in the midst of this virtual economic stagnation, the region is being drained on a massive scale of “dirty” cash, flowing overseas to be laundered on behalf of LATIN AMERICAN tax evaders, criminal networks, and corrupt politicians and public officials.

Meanwhile, according to Global Financial Integrity, illicit financial flows out of LATIN AMERICA are running at around an annual 3% of GDP.
This is probably a conservative estimate, because it is largely based on analysis of official trade and balance of payments statistics, which cannot capture illicit funds from all criminal organizations.
Given those numbers, just imagine how different public attitudes might be if all that stolen cash, resulting from corruption and crime and fleeing the continent, were not the spoils of thievery — but were instead legitimately invested in new jobs and the domestic economies of LATIN AMERICA.
LATAM - FROM STABLE AND RISING REAL ECONOMIC GROWTH TO STAGNATION
The outflows of illicit cash from the region are a staggering tax on its citizens. They are now taking a continent from the road of stable and rising real economic growth to stagnation.
There is nothing new about the scale of the illicit outflows, but for much of the last dozen years, they were seen against the background of strong LATIN AMERICAN growth. This was a period, for example, when the percentage of very poor people in LATIN AMERICA fell from 42% to 25%.
But today, governments in many countries are under siege as a direct result of scandals, and their economic policies seem uncertain, while slowing world economic growth is adding to difficulties.
The economy of the largest country in the region, BRAZIL, is, as The Economist magazine reported in early March, “in its worst mess since the early 1990s.” Indeed, the current corruption scandal surrounding PETROBRAS is the largest in the country’s history.
It is totally diverting the attention of the BRAZILIAN government and parliament from addressing the formidable economic challenges that the country now confronts. Moreover, over $50 billion in PETROBRAS’S stock market value has been lost over the last six months because of the scandal, which in turn has had a major negative impact on the overall BRAZILIAN stock exchange
PETROBRAS, the mostly state-owned largest corporation in BRAZIL, illustrates part of the broader problem in many LATIN AMERICAN countries of close corrupt relationships between major enterprises, corporate executives, and powerful politicians and the political parties. For many years, top executives of the company took large kickbacks from domestic and foreign companies in return for allocating major contracts.
Based on information from former PETROBRAS executives, public prosecutors are now firing on all cylinders as they file arrest warrants on a wholesale scale. In mid-March, the treasurer of the ruling Workers’ Party and 26 others were formally charged with corruption.
The leaders of both the upper and lower houses of parliament are being investigated. So far, President DILMA ROUSSEFF, who a few years ago served as the board chairman of PETROBRAS, is not on the investigation list. However, hundreds of thousands of BRAZILIANS took to the streets to protest and call for her impeachment.
The kickbacks from domestic and foreign companies at PETROBRAS and at its affiliates, went into the pockets of the PETROBRAS officials, as well as into the hands of prominent politicians and political party campaign funds. Many of the bribes were paid into secret SWISS bank accounts.

CORRUPTION IS EVERYWHERE

In MEXICO, both president NIETO and Finance Minister LUIS VIDEGARAY are now under investigation for having bought grand homes for allegedly very low prices from business people who have won lucrative government contracts.
In CHILE, President MICHELLE BACHELET is under fire, not only because her son has allegedly obtained major funding from firms allegedly involved in government deals, but also because one of the country’s largest ever political corruption scandals is unfolding, which involves major financial institutions and several key government ministries.
Not to be undone, ARGENTINA’S president CHRISTINA KIRCHNER is besieged by scandals, ranging from allegations that she has vastly enriched herself while in office, to allegedly being involved in the alleged murder of a prominent lawyer.
Another aspect of the problem involves organized crime. For example, monitors at Transparency International – COLOMBIA note that at the core of the country’s corruption is state capture by illegal actors.
According to known sources, some of the biggest corruption involves secret payments by multinational oil and mining companies to local authorities and the guerrilla groups to ensure their basic security as well.
GFI develops its data from official statistics, mostly on the balance of payments, and it may understate the true volume of illicit financial flows by not entirely capturing the cash of organized crime.
What is very clear is that the huge amount of illicit flows from the region is massively undermining trade and commerce and making it extraordinarily difficult for honest business people to compete.

HOW THE MONEY FLOWS

RAYMOND BAKER, GFI’s founder and president, said that, “Misinvoicing – the deliberate misrepresentation of the value of goods being shipped – is not a source of black money; it is the mechanism through which black money leaves a country.
Recent data show that on average (on a global basis), close to 80% of all cross-border illicit flows move through this method.”
GFI’s research suggests that the LATIN AMERICAN countries that suffer the greatest impact in this regard are MEXICO and BRAZIL.
Corrupt politicians, officials, their business partners and gangsters all seek to transfer their ill-gotten gains into solid investments in major foreign business centers, where the real ownership of the assets is totally secret.

Much of the illicit financial outflows from LATIN AMERICA undoubtedly find their way into fine art, blue chip corporate stocks and ritzy apartments and mansions in MIAMI and in NEW YORK.
The corrupt employ armies of lawyers, consultants, accountants and bankers to create foreign holding companies registered in places like the BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS where no questions are asked about the origin of the wealth.
These shell companies hide the true beneficial owners of the assets and are used as the investment vehicles to launder the illicit cash.
PRESSURE IS MOUNTING, BUT IS IT ENOUGH?
The only good news is that pressures are mounting on banks from public prosecutors and bank regulatory authorities to end the secrecy that enables the corrupt to park their cash far from the location of their crimes.
In January 2013, HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, agreed to pay a $1.92 billion fine to U.S. authorities for allegedly laundering MEXICAN drug cartel money into the UNITED STATES.
This case has served to encourage greater investigations of major global banks and the effort has now been given a boost by the very high profile disclosure of 100,000 secret accounts at HSBC’s private bank in GENEVA, as reported by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Rarely before have so many political leaders in LATIN AMERICA been as low in the popularity opinion polls as today. Corruption scandals are taking a far heavier toll than in the past it seems. The major cause for this is the painfully evident ties between corruption and stagnant economic growth.
But, important, the current mood has been sharpened by courageous journalists and judges: the former have exposed corruption cases with great zeal, while the latter are showing exceptional courage by confronting political establishments.
Adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from the original article written by Frank Vogl via The Globalist


Wednesday 19 August 2015

AFRICA – DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO



AN ELECTION CRISIS IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO COULD MEAN WAR 

By Neil Thompson via EurasiaReview, originally published by Geopolitical Monitor.com

Back in January, the capital of Kinshasa and other cities were rocked by widespread protests when DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) President JOSEPH KABILA’S regime tried to pass a law requiring a national census to be held before future elections. The opposition reacted furiously, accusing the president, who has been in power since 2001, of seeking to prolong his term in office. Eventually the census proposal was dropped and the government backed off, announcing that presidential elections would be held in November 2016. That clock is now ticking, and there are few indications the government is seriously preparing for a post-Kabila future. On the contrary, events in neighboring BURUNDI may be encouraging some people around the president to think again.

ELECTED AUTOCRATS HAVE LEARNED TO MANIPULATE CONSTITUTIONS AND EXPLOIT WEAK JUDICIAL SYSTEMS

As electoral norms spread through SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA in the 1990s, a number of strongmen emerged who rigged elections to keep themselves in power indefinitely. Term limits were introduced into the constitutions of countries like BURUNDI or the CONGO precisely to prevent the emergence of such an electoral dictatorship. Alas from RUSSIA to TURKEY to eastern AFRICA, in the twenty-first century elected autocrats have learned to manipulate constitutions and exploit weak judicial systems to their advantage. Now the apparent success of BURUNDI’S PIERRE NKURUNZIZA in side-stepping constitutional term limits in BURUNDI shows how the spirit of the law can still be evaded if a legal pretext can be patched together by the party in power.

The politics of BURUNDI, RWANDA, and the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO have all been tragically tied together by conflict and instability spreading from one to the other, so BURUNDI’S example does not auger well for its fragile neighbors’ future stability and good governance. President NKURUNZIZA’S claim that his first term in office should not be counted because he had not been elected has a certain plausibility but was grossly irresponsible in a fragile and ethnically divided polity. At the first sign of a serious backlash a statesman would have dropped his bid and allowed a caretaker government to oversee a proper election. Instead, after stacking the constitutional court with his supporters, NKURUNZIZA is accused of pressuring it to rule in his favor so he could stand for a third term behind a façade of judicial approval.

He had to ride out violent opposition protests and a coup attempt that together cost dozens of lives, but he has managed to secure himself an extra few years in power.

Few people believe the BURUNDIAN president’s claims to respect legal and constitutional restraints on his power and prerogatives. In an unprecedented rebuff, NKURUNZIZA’S re-election was not even observed by the AFRICAN UNION. Alas, in the bear-pits of his neighbors’ politics many leaders will be keen to follow his recent example. For example, there are no doubts that the fourteen year-old regime of JOSEPH KABILA next door is any less devious in protecting its monopoly on executive power. With the right court rulings and parliamentary maneuvering, the DRC’s own term limit issue could be circumvented. Mr KABILA could swap chair whilst remaining in power simply by stripping the presidency of its powers whilst increasing those of another power center such as the prime minister’s office. As the reaction on the streets of KINSHASA in January showed however, there are few signs it could be done without bloodshed.

IN THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REGION CONTESTS FOR POWER WITHIN STATES ARE ALWAYS NERVE-WRACKING MOMENTS

Sadly the present KINSHASA regime has precious little democratic traditions to restrain its maneuverings. The current president inherited his position from his father when the latter was assassinated. The presidential incumbent before that was another JOSEPH, the infamous MOBUTU, who looted the DRC for thirty years and murdered or exiled any political opposition. Four years prior to the present drama in BURUNDI, the DRC’s 2011 election results had already brought opposition accusations that the CONGO’S Supreme Court had not examined electoral results thoroughly enough when it awarded the victory to the incumbent KABILA administration. How much truth there is in this matters less than the fact that many in the CONGOLESE opposition are likely to believe the judiciary is biased against them. If the DRC’s Court became an actor in any kind of constitutional crisis in the run up to next year’s elections it would not be seen as a neutral institution but as a tool of the ruling KINSHASA clique.

In the AFRICAN Great Lakes region contests for power within states are always nerve-wracking moments for their neighbors because of the ease with which instability in one can spread to the others. The Second CONGO War is a prime example of this transmission of instability from one part of the Great Lakes region through porous borders to another. The conflict was triggered in aftermath of the RWANDAN genocide when ‘HUTU power’ extremists fled from their country into eastern CONGO following their defeat at the hands of TUTSI forces. Since the eastern DRC was home to previous waves of HUTU and TUTSI refugees from both BURUNDI and RWANDA and their descendants, the RWANDAN HUTU militias swiftly added to eastern CONGO’S own swirling bush wars, and brought their genocidal ideology with them. A much wider war was sparked when KINSHASA prevaricated and seemed unable or unwilling to control the situation in the east. RWANDA and UGANDA promptly invaded and placed JOSEPH KABILA’S father LAURENT in power, trigging a region-wide struggle involving nine AFRICAN states. Millions died across the DRC and peace has only sporadically returned since then.

MUCH EFFORTS HAVE BEEN SPENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN BURUNDI, RWANDA, AND THE DRC TRYING TO PREVENT NEW BLOOD SPREAD

The weakness of the DRC to armed incursions from its neighbors is reason to be concerned when those states start to look fragile themselves. The peace between the DRC, RWANDA, and BURUNDI remains extremely brittle. In the east of the CONGO the remnants of the RWANDAN HUTU militias, local MAI-MAI militants, and assorted other armed groups still pose a threat to civilians, if not to KINSHASA. Meanwhile in May, as tensions in BURUNDI escalated, the RWANDAN government seemed to be preparing the diplomatic ground for an armed intervention if ethnic killings broke out there. Fortunately the BURUNDI situation has been resolved for now without escalating into inter-ethnic fighting, both because President NKURUNZIZA’S re-election bid was opposed by many members of his own HUTU ethnic group, and because he successfully seems to have bought off some of the opposition, splitting it politically.

Much money, time, and energy has been spent by the international community in BURUNDI, RWANDA, and the DRC trying to prevent a return to the tidal wave of blood that soaked all three countries between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. That may all be at risk if the KABILA regime takes a leaf from President NKURUNZIZA’S book. Repeated rebellions against KINSHASA, some of them backed from neighboring RWANDA and UGANDA, have rocked the DRC since the end of the Second CONGO War, which ran from 1997 to about 2003. It is a testament both to the weakness of the CONGO’S central government and the susceptibility of the DRC’s east to its neighbors that the embers of RWANDAN-linked revolts were not fully stamped out until 2013, and that the KABILA regime needed repeated international intercessions to do so.

It is therefore difficult to see how KINSHASA can extended JOSEPH KABILA’S term of office as neatly as PIERRE NKURUNZIZA has in BURUNDI. The DRC is a much larger country than its neighbors and there are simply too many armed groups beyond the control of the security forces. Meanwhile the army itself is divided and weak, full of former rebel fighters and widely distrusted for its corruption and brutality. Any bid by KINSHASA to stay in power using a legalistic fig-leaf would almost certainly trigger a new revolt in the east and possibility other parts of the DRC and if KABILA’S actions were to spark another uprising against his regime it is debatable if the West would intervene to save him.


However it would also be difficult for neighboring governments in BURUNDI, UGANDA and RAWAND to overlook the security and financial incentives of meddling in the DRC’s factional politics. If one country starts to back an armed movement, the others will follow suit, threatening a return to regional instability. Despite the dangers, the temptation for KABILA to stay on somehow will be strong, as will the pressure on him from members of his inner circle. The DRC’s best hope is that President KABILA has learned from his father and his namesake’s mistakes and does not try to outstay his welcome as President NKURUNZIZA has done in BURUNDI. Peace in the Great Lakes region could soon depend on the CONGO not following in its neighbor’s footsteps.

Tuesday 18 August 2015

SYRIA, RUSSIA, TURKEY AND THE USA


SIX RUSSIAN MIG-31 INTERCEPTOR AIRCRAFT LAND IN DAMASCUS 

IN RESPONSE TO US STATIONING OF F 16 AIRCRAFT IN TURKEY

Six RUSSIAN MiG-31 FOXHOUND interceptor aircraft from MOSCOW landed Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the MEZZE Airbase situated in DAMASCUS international airport, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources disclose. They were followed shortly after by giant An-124 Condor transports, which delivered 1,000 Kornet-9M133 third-generation anti-tank guided missiles.
The RUSSIAN airlift of advanced weapons for BASHAR ASSAD’S army will last for several days. It betokens MOSCOW’S intention to keep up its support for the SYRIAN ruler and counter – by military means if necessary - any secret IRANIAN diplomatic machinations for terminating the SYRIA war and with it the ASSAD regime – such as have been reported in the past week in WESTERN and ARAB capitals, especially in the GULF.

REMINISCE OF LIBYAN EQUATION DONE WITHOUT RUSSIA 
 
Our sources report that the decision to send the SYRIAN ruler advanced aircraft and missiles could only have come from the top, i.e. President VLADIMIR PUTIN. It took direct aim at the latest moves made by the US, TURKEY, IRAN and SAUDI ARABIA for ending the SYRIAN war. Every formula they came up with entailed ASSAD’S exit, either in stages or at once.

RUSSIAN Foreign Minister SERGEY LAVROV made it crystal clear to visiting SAUDI Foreign Minister ADEL AL-JUBAIR on Aug. 11 that MOSCOW would not stand still for any changes in ASSAD’S position in DAMASCUS. The Migs and Antonovs which landed in DAMASCUS Tuesday were meant not only as a buttress for the SYRIAN ruler’s regime but as a rescue operation.

The message for WASHINGTON and ANKARA was that MOSCOW would oppose any US and TURKISH plans to establish a no-fly zone over SYRIA, or intervene directly in the SYRIAN conflict.
The RUSSIANS sent exactly six MiG interceptors to match the six F-16 fighters the US deployed at the TURKISH INCERLIK air base on Aug. 9.


So if President BARACK OBAMA decides to deploy more AMERICAN planes at the TURKISH base, he may expect PUTIN to reciprocate with the same number for DAMASCUS.

Background Information:

RUSSIA'S REVENGE FOR LIBYA

As mentioned numerous times, RUSSIA and CHINA felt that they were left out of the equation regarding the LIBYAN operation instigated by the USA, FRANCE and BRITAIN. CHINA and RUSSIA invested heavily in LIBYA prior to the toppling of the LIBYAN regime, only to find out that they were kept completely out of the picture regarding the true intentions the Western coalition force had in mind with LIBYA once the regime was removed, namely tap the oil reserves of LIBYA.

Subsequently RUSSIA and CHINA learned their lesson and thus would not make the same mistake regarding SYRIA, permitting LIBYAN style intervention by WESTERN and GULF STATES coalition forces. No matter that SYRIA lacks oil reserves or other natural resources worth fighting over, their veto was more of a symbolic gesture telling WESTERN and GULF STATES coalition forces: that’s how far you can go this time around, but no further.

Note from the Editor: Above paragraph was written by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring in June 2012 and included into this analysis

Unlike in LIBYA, RUSSIA and CHINA this time around will not tolerate to be left out of the SYRIAN equation and energy game


Via DEBKAfile