Posted on 03/15/2016 2:23:53 PM PDT by Trumpinator
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s snap decision to pull warplanes from Syria on Tuesday rearranged the lines of the grinding conflict — and solidified Moscow’s influence not only on the battlefield but also at the negotiating table.
Russian aviators lifted off from air bases in Syria and arrived in Russia to a hero’s welcome six months after the Kremlin’s stunning decision to send forces to help its key Middle East ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But Russia said it would leave powerful antiaircraft systems in Syria, giving it iron leverage in the region and preserving the option of a speedy return.
The surprise withdrawal — apparently taken without consulting with Assad — jolted the peace discussions underway in Geneva and unnerved Syria and its allies. Russia’s pullout will put significant pressure on Assad to work out a power-sharing agreement with the opposition, many analysts said, amid signs that the Syrian leader was being less accommodating to Putin than the Kremlin may have wished.
It also won immediate diplomatic attention from the United States, something Putin has long hungered for. Secretary of State John F. Kerry plans to travel to Moscow next week to discuss the withdrawal and options for political transition in Syria.
Russian leaders said they would intensify their efforts to combat “terrorism” in Syria, leaving a mist of confusion around the precise contours of their plans, which may be exactly what they wanted to do.
Russian advisers embedded with the Syrian military plan to remain, Russian media reported, citing unnamed sources.
“We will not ease” the fight, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday. “We will intensify it. But for that end we do not need the contingent that is present today.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Russians showing Obama how it’s done:
Break everything that doesn’t belong to you and kill everything you see.
Then leave.
Yes, and in their case that is Assad opponents, not ISIS.
Bad dude.
In #3, what’s that thing he’s got sitting on top of the AK’s forestock, secured with light brown cloth? Do you know?
They’ve got to be using the new AK-12 but I don’t think that’s one of them. Odd that it has a safety on the left side of the receiver.
GoProski?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3409337/posts
Kurdistan: Russia assisted Peshmerga’s war against ISIS, says ministry By Rudaw 21 hours ago ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdish Peshmerga ministry says that Russia has helped the Kurdistan Region with arms against the Islamic State (ISIS) following a meeting between the Kurdish president and Russia’s ambassador to Iraq on Sunday. Chief of Staff of the Peshmerga Ministry Jabar Yawar told Rudaw that more Russian help has been promised. “Russia has sent help to the Peshmerga and Kurdistan’s other defense forces in the fight against ISIS a number of times,” Yawar said. “And the date is not clear for the new assistance that has been decided. We are waiting for it.” Russian ambassador to Iraq Ilya Morgonov met with Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani on Sunday where he stressed Moscow’s readiness to helping Erbil’s war against ISIS. Yawar added that Russian and all other coalition support have reached the Kurdistan Region through the central government. “The coalition countries send us assistance in agreement with Baghdad,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter how the support reaches us.”
Always remember that the communists in the US State Department are more communist than Putin.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him (Putin) bust a move somewhere within the next nine months. He may see that as his window of opportunity before Obama leaves office.”
Russian language media has been indicating Estonia and/or Lithuania for years now.
That would be invading NATO member states though. Even if Obama were to look away and go golfing, per his SOP, Poland might drag NATO in kicking and squealing. Putin would need a careful disguise of local Russian-speaking rebels rather than a Russian invasion - like he did in the Ukraine.
“In #3, what’s that thing he’s got sitting on top of the AK’s forestock, secured with light brown cloth?”
I am guessing a laser dot.
It might be something that flips up, like a light or an ACOG sight, but it blocks the front sight as is, so that seems less likely.
Russian language media has been indicating Estonia and/or Lithuania for years now.
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Interesting, but that could be a head fake. The U.S. has a weak, outgoing president and Europe is overwhelmed with problems of its own right now. None of this is lost on the crafty chess player Putin.
Note also how aggressive he has been in recent years operating elements of strategic forces near the territorial limits of the U.S and other countries.
Not saying he is planning a major conflict, just preparing for another “win” at our expense. The timing just seems right to me.
“The U.S. has a weak, outgoing president and Europe is overwhelmed with problems of its own right now.”
Jimmy Carter’s last year all over again, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and islamist dictatorship was brutally imposed on Iran.
China will be tempted to grab as much as they can, while the getting is good - a global looting riot, while the cop is off the beat.
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