Russian submarines fire cruise missiles at Islamic state in Syria

Reuters ^ | 9/14/2017 | Reuters Staff

[mac_truck]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Navy on Thursday fired seven cruise missiles at Islamic state targets in the suburbs of Syria’s Deir al-Zor, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

It said the missiles were fired from two submarines in the eastern Mediterranean from a distance of 500-670 kilometers (727 miles).

[JimRed]

Good target practice.

[ConservativeMind]

I support this action.

[PGR88]

Did they fire at ISIS? Or at our friends in Al Qaeda and Al Nusra?

[Amish with an attitude]

A good opportunity to monitor the accuracy an efficacy of the Russian product.

[NativeSon]

The journalists need to learn metric to standard conversions.

[heshtesh]

Did they fire at ISIS? Or at our friends in Al Qaeda and Al Nusra?

Thanks, that comment made my day!

[bert]

-—A good opportunity to monitor the accuracy an efficacy of the Russian product.——

That is exactly the point of the dog and pony show bit of salesmanship.

Military attaches in Syria were given a close up glimpse of some off the shelf technology available for sale from your friendly Russian arms dealer

[deener]

310 - 416 miles

[InABunkerUnderSF]

It said the missiles were fired from two submarines in the eastern Mediterranean from a distance of 500-670 kilometers (727 miles).

500 KM would be 310 statute miles, 270 nautical miles give or take. No way can I figure out how they get from 500 KM to 727 miles. Reuters seems to be mathematically challenged.

[SpinnerWebb]

Well, if you ADD 500 and 670 km, you get 1170 km, which is, in fact, 727 miles.

Genius level math skills shown by the author.

[ETL]

Your boy Putin continues his smoke & mirrors game. Meanwhile, his true aim is to ultimately grab control of the strategic, energy-rich Middle East and use it to his advantage as he goes about basically restoring the evil empire that was the Soviet Union. The entire Trump team is on to him.

JULY 2017...

Trump, in Warsaw Speech, Criticizes Russia’s ‘Destabilizing’ Role in Ukraine, Syria

The president also reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s mutual-defense pact

Jul 6, 2017

President Trump called Russia a “destabilizing” influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to “join the community of responsible nations,” in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.

His remarks in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russia’s ambitions.

“To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated—not merely with its words but with its actions—that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment,” Trump said Thursday. “Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.”

Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defense—a position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/07/trump-russia/532761/

[ETL]

Donald Trump: 'Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time'

Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY SHOW (NBC)

Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."

The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."

http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
_______________________________________________

Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube...

Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns

[SpinnerWebb]

But, clearly, the equation says 500 MINUS 670. Sheesh.

[ETL]

Mike Pence on Putin and Russia:

(from the VP debate on Oct 5, 2016)

“When Donald Trump and I observe that, as I’ve said, in Syria, in Iran, in Ukraine, that the small and bullying leader of Russia has been stronger on the world stage than this administration, that’s stating painful facts. That’s not an endorsement of Vladimir Putin — that’s an indictment of the weak and feckless leadership of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.”

______________________________

Also from the Oct 5, 2016 first VP debate...

QUIJANO (Moderator): I want to turn now to Syria. Two hundred fifty thousand people, 100,000 of them children, are under siege in Aleppo, Syria. Bunker buster bombs, cluster munitions, and incendiary weapons are being dropped on them by Russian and Syrian militaries. Does the U.S. have a responsibility to protect civilians and prevent mass casualties on this scale, Governor Pence?

PENCE: The United States of America needs to begin to exercise strong leadership to protect the vulnerable citizens and over 100,000 children in Aleppo. Hillary Clinton’s top priority when she became secretary of state was the Russian reset, the Russians reset. After the Russian reset, the Russians invaded Ukraine and took over Crimea.

And the small and bullying leader of Russia is now dictating terms to the United States to the point where all the United States of America — the greatest nation on Earth — just withdraws from talks about a cease-fire while Vladimir Putin puts a missile defense system in Syria while he marshals the forces and begins — look, we have got to begin to lean into this with strong, broad-shouldered American leadership.

It begins by rebuilding our military. And the Russians and the Chinese have been making enormous investments in the military. We have the smallest Navy since 1916. We have the lowest number of troops since the end of the Second World War. We’ve got to work with Congress, and Donald Trump will, to rebuild our military and project American strength in the world.

But about Aleppo and about Syria, I truly do believe that what America ought to do right now is immediately establish safe zones, so that families and vulnerable families with children can move out of those areas, work with our Arab partners, real time, right now, to make that happen.

And secondly, I just have to tell you that the provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength. And if Russia chooses to be involved and continue, I should say, to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in Aleppo, the United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime to prevent them from this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo.

There’s a broad range of other things that we ought to do, as well. We ought to deploy a missile defense shield to the Czech Republic and Poland which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pulled back on out of not wanting to offend the Russians back in 2009.

QUIJANO: Governor, your two minutes are up.

PENCE: We’ve just got to have American strength on the world stage. When Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, the Russians and other countries in the world will know they’re dealing with a strong American president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/us/politics/vice-president-transcript.html

______________________________

And...

PENCE: What we’re dealing with is the — you know, there’s an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates.

And the truth of the matter is, the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared a few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East.

And all the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we’re not having talks anymore.

To answer your question, we just need American strength. We need to — we need to marshal the resources of our allies in the region, and in the immediate, we need to act and act now to get people out of harm’s way.

[ETL]

Interview with [then Senator] Jeff Sessions: U.S. and Europe "Have to Unify" Against Russia

March 26, 2015

excerpt...

What do you expect next from Russia?

Sessions: Well, there's a danger that they may continue this overreach. They just solidified power in Georgia, in South Ossetia. That was I think in the last week. Pressure is still on Ukraine. We don't know whether the Minsk Agreement will hold, I don't think it's holding very well now.

We have the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the Romanians, they're very worried. This is reality, I wish it weren't, but I'm afraid it is. It needs to be clear that Russia knows that there will be a high price to pay if this behavior continues.

If Minsk breaks down, at what point does the president have to act and supply Ukraine with lethal weaponry? What is the breaking point? We know from what Victoria Nuland said that the administration hasn't decided yet.

Sessions: From what I understand from this conference, I think it's clear that Germany has said publicly that they will support harsher sanctions and more military support if the Minsk Agreement fails. And that will be key.

Merkel has worked very very hard to establish a relationship with Putin and Russia. It's been a good-faith effort. If it fails, I would hope that Europe and the United States would have to unify and push back more firmly against Russian overreach. ..."

http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/03/interview_with_jeff_sessions_us_and_europe_have_to_unify_against_russia_111076.html

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20150709024356/http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/03/interview_with_jeff_sessions_us_and_europe_have_to_unify_against_russia_111076.html

[ETL]

Trump’s U.N. Envoy, Nikki Haley, Condemns Russia’s ‘Aggressive Actions’ in Ukraine

By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Feb 2, 2017

UNITED NATIONS — Nikki R. Haley, the new American ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Russia on Thursday for its recent “aggressive actions” in eastern Ukraine.

“We do want to better our relations with Russia,” Ms. Haley said during her first remarks to an open briefing of the United Nations Security Council. “However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.”

She made it clear that American sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea would remain in place.

During her Senate confirmation hearing last month, Ms. Haley also expressed support for continuing the sanctions and accused Russia of committing war crimes in the Syrian conflict. But her strong criticism of the government of President Vladimir V. Putin put her at odds with President Trump, who has expressed a desire for warmer relations with the Kremlin. ...’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/europe/nikki-haley-trump-ukraine-russia-putin.html?_r=0

[SubMareener]

Boy! It really sucks to be ISIS these days!

[ETL]

Boy! It really sucks to be ISIS these days!

ISIS was quite possibly created, at least in part, by the Russians. The KGB/FSB are notorious for doing such cleverly deceptive things as this. They have a long history of it.

[mad_as_he$$]

Guess they forgot to carry the “minus” sign.