Free Republic

On Wednesday the Obama administration was caught off guard by Russia’s rapid rise in Syria. As the Russians began bombing a US-supported militia along the Damascus-Homs highway, Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at the UN. Just hours before their meeting Kerry was insisting that Russia’s presence in Syria would likely be a positive development. Reacting to the administration’s humiliation, Republican Sen. John McCain said, “This administration has confused our friends, encouraged our enemies, mistaken an excess of caution for prudence and replaced the risks of action with the perils of inaction.” McCain...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - International monitors say they have spotted a new kind of Russian weapons system in rebel-held Ukraine this week, possible evidence of Moscow's continued interest in Ukraine even as it focuses on Syria. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, reported that its monitors had seen a mobile TOS-1 'Buratino' weapons system for the first time. The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage.

Please check out this YouTube video of Putin and Netanyahu bonding. They're entering into trade agreements and security agreements. I'm grateful that Russia is taking Israel under their wing (somebody has to do it), but still sick about the situation. By the body language alone, both leaders like one another a LOT more than either of them like Obama. Putin actually *smiled!* TWICE. (I didn't know that was possible)

Almost exactly three years ago a haughty President Obama mocked his Republican presidential rival, Mitt Romney, in their third campaign debate: "Governor Romney, I'm glad that you recognize that Al Qaida is a threat, because a few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not Al Qaida. You said Russia. In the 1980s, they're now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years." In the 36 intervening months we've witnessed countless examples of the perspicacity of Romney and the naive...

Russian air strikes in support of Syrian President Assad are strengthening Islamic State, US President Obama says

Senators are calling on President Obama to clarify his strategy on Syria, after Russia ignored repeated U.S. warnings and began bombing rebel groups there this week to shore up the Assad regime. -snip- Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), one of the administration's biggest foreign policy critics, called on the administration to take stronger measures. "We should establish no-fly zones in Syria and make it clear that any aircraft that enters those zones will be shot down,” he said.

This was a bad idea when Fiorina pushed it yesterday and it’s still a bad idea today. Is one worse than the other, though? Fiorina wants an NFZ to protect American-backed rebels from Putin’s bombs; Hillary wants one for “humanitarian” reasons, the same sort of thinking that produced the paradise you and I know as modern Libya. It’s worth risking a world war to help decide which barbarians ultimately prevail in Syria, no? “I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to...

McCain reacted to Russia's announcement that it had begun launching air strikes targeting ISIS militants in Syria by calling on the White House to arm Syrian rebels with weapons to shoot down Russian planes. McCain initially responded to Fox News host Neil Cavuto's question about whether he would shoot down Russian planes by saying no, but then went on to assert that he would arm Syrian rebels to carry out that very same task. "I might do what we did in Afghanistan many years ago, to give those guys the ability to shoot down those planes, that equipment is available,"...

A new report confirms more White House woes with our ally Israel. A Politico exclusive reveals that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid confronted White House chief of staff Denis McDonough on two occasions to ask President Obama to reject a UN resolution that would grant Palestine statehood. Both times, Obama gave him the silent treatment. While Reid has previously shown his support for Israel, his latest request may not exactly have been for the Middle Eastern country’s best interests. The timing suggested he was trying to secure passage for the Iran Deal: The requests from Reid came as he was...

BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia bombed Syria for a third day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting and drawing an increasingly angry response from the West. The U.S.-led coalition that is waging its own air war against Islamic State called on the Russians to halt strikes on targets other than Islamic State. "We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL," said the coalition, which includes the United States, major...

BEIRUT — Russian warplanes have struck targets deep inside the Islamic State’s heartland province of Raqqa for the first time, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday. The strikes were carried out against an Islamic State training camp and a command post near the city of Raqqa, expanding the scope of a three-day old air campaign that had previously focused on attacking rebel groups opposed to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

One day after launching a campaign of airstrikes in Syria, Russia announced that it is considering going into Iraq. A foreign ministry representative said Thursday that Russia would consider any request from Iraq to conduct anti-ISIS airstrikes in the country, and Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi told Western news outlets that Russian airstrikes were "a possibility" and that Iraq would "welcome it." "Our message to the Russians — I met with Putin — please join this fight against Daesh," Abadi told PBS NewsHour. Daesh is another name for ISIS. "Daesh is a dangerous terrorist organization, not only against Iraq, against Syria,...

On Sept. 30, Russian warplanes launched their first air raids in Syria, striking eight targets around Homs, north of Damascus. In a second day of strikes on Oct. 1, Moscow’s planes hit another five targets, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The Kremlin insists it’s hitting militants from the so-called Islamic State. But the locations of the aerial strikes imply otherwise—that Russia’s bombing civilians and U.S.-backed rebels instead. Chillingly, video and photographs from Russia’s new air war seem to indicate that the attacks are inaccurate and indiscriminate.

Warplanes believed to be Russian bombed an Islamic State-held town 130 km (80 miles) northeast of Damascus overnight, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday. Islamic State captured the town of Qaryatain from government control in August.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - International monitors say they have spotted a new kind of Russian weapons system in rebel-held Ukraine this week, possible evidence of Moscow's continued interest in Ukraine even as it focuses on Syria. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, reported that its monitors had seen a mobile TOS-1 'Buratino' weapons system for the first time. The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage. Only...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's relentless ambition has raised his nation to prominence. Russia has become an international player in the geopolitical game of chess. There's a problem for him, however. Putin has attempted to impose Russian interests first in the Ukraine and now in the Middle East. As a result, he is gradually pushing Russia closer and closer to default, just as the arms race with the U.S. during the Reagan years helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia Can't Compete With the U.S. If you take in all the angles, Russia is playing a game it...

Syrian military weakness, painfully exposed over the last few months, is the main reason for direct Russian intervention in the war – whether its goal is to strike at Islamic State or, more likely, to take on any rebel force fighting Bashar al-Assad in order to shore up his position and stave off demands that he step down. Officials and analysts say Moscow decided to deepen its involvement after the fall of the northern towns of Idlib and nearby Jisr al-Shughour in May served as a “wake-up call” about the parlous state of the Syrian army. Both were taken by...

Last month, the Syrian civilians living in the government-controlled parts of Syria had little be optimistic about: the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was spread too thin and on the defensive at most fronts, while the humanitarian crisis inside the country spread to the provinces that were once relatively unaffected by the violence (i.e. Al-Sweida). Well, “hope springs eternal” when hundreds of Russian Marines and dozens of Russian jets enter your country; this was the case in the overcrowded provinces of Latakia and Tartous, as large crowds gathered near the coast to welcome these Russian naval infantrymen and their advanced military...

CAIRO - Bahrain said on Thursday it had recalled its ambassador to Iran, a day after it said security forces had discovered a large bomb-making factory and arrested a number of suspects linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had also declared the Iranian charge d'affaires in Bahrain a "persona non grata" and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. In a statement on its website, the ministry said the decision to recall its ambassador had come "in light of continued Iranian meddling in the affairs of the kingdom of Bahrain ... in order...

Vladimir Putin has conscripted 150,000 new troops into the Russian army as the country unleashed a new wave of airstrikes in Syria - while and Iran and Islamist group Hezbollah prepare for a major ground offensive. Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria over the last ten days, backed by the country's Lebanese allies, Hezbollah, and rebel fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan, two Lebanese sources claimed today. One of the sources said the Iranian ground forces were 'soldiers and officers', not advisers, adding: 'We mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be followed by more.' They are being...