Syria Disintegrating: Part 2

[mongers]

Aleppo is now looking a lot like Grozny.

[jimmy olsen]

How is there no bigger concern about this whole thing?

the US and Russia may not be shooting directly at each other, but I don't recall them every be so close doing so during the Cold War - their own airforces are in the same conflict, supporting opposing sides. Technically, they are at war.

Russians flew combat missions in Korea against UN (mostly American) forces.

[CountDeMoney]

in Korea against UN (mostly American) forces.

Really?  The UN forces were really mostly American?  Huh.  Go fig.

[Razgovory]

Anybody catch King Abdullah II on 60 Minutes last night?

"Doesn't it frustrate you that US presidents seem to think they know more about your region than you do?"
*shrug* "You see the train wreck coming...can only express your views so much."

Yeah.  Very clever of the man to train with his soldiers like that.

[Admiral Yi]

Hoya Saxa

[CountDeMoney]

Hoya Saxa

Found out today a guy at work went to school with him, was 1 year behind.  Said he's as nice as you'd expect.

[Ed Anger]

He's also a Star Trek nerd.

[Syt]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/10/04/russia-sends-more-air-defense-missiles-to-syria.html

Russia sends more air defense missiles to Syria

MOSCOW –  The Russian military said Tuesday it had beefed up its forces in Syria with state-of-the-art air defense missiles, an announcement that follows Washington's move to suspend contacts with Russia over Syria.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said a battery of the S-300 air defense missile systems had been deployed to Syria to protect a Russian facility in the Syrian port of Tartus and Russian navy ships off the Mediterranean coast. Tartus is the only naval supply facility Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

The deployment adds more punch to the Russian military force in Syria, which already includes long-range S-400 missile defense systems and an array of other surface-to-air missiles at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia.

Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad since Sept. 30 2015, saving his army from imminent defeat and helping it win key ground.

The S-300 deployment was announced a day after the U.S. announced it was suspending direct diplomatic contacts with Russia on ending the war in Syria. Washington's decision followed the collapse of the Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire in Syria and the Syrian army's onslaught on Aleppo backed by Russian warplanes.

While Washington put diplomatic contacts on hold, it has maintained a military-to-military dialogue intended to prevent incidents in the air between Russian and the U.S-led coalition aircraft over Syria.

Amid the rising U.S.-Russian tensions, the new Russian missile deployment seems intended to send a warning signal to the U.S.

Russia reacted nervously last month when aircraft of the U.S.-led coalition struck Syrian army troops near Deir el-Zour. Damascus said 60 Syrian soldiers died in the air raid. Washington said the strike was launched by mistake, but Moscow has questioned the U.S. explanation.

The S-300, a sophisticated long-range system capable of striking enemy aircraft and cruise missiles up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, could cover other areas in Syria along with Tartus.

Konashenkov sought to down play the deployment, saying "the S-300 is exclusively a defensive system that doesn't threaten anyone."

"It's not quite clear why the deployment of the S-300 in Syria has so worried our Western colleagues," he said.

In a sharp attack on Washington, Konashenkov also charged that the U.S.-led action against the Islamic State group was merely an "imitation" that has failed to prevent the IS expansion.

Like other Russian officials, he blamed Washington for the collapse of the U.S.-Russian truce in Syria. He attributed the cease-fire's downfall to the U.S.'s failure to force moderate rebels to break ties with the al-Qaida branch in Syria, which has recently changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

"It's time for our American partners to publicly recognize that practically all Syrian 'opposition' nurtured and controlled by them is an inalienable part of the al-Qaida," Konashenkov said.

[Tamas]

I repeat: the world should be much more freaked out on this. The first time American and Russian armed forces are officially involved on opposing sides of the same conflict.

This has every chance of going horribly wrong. The US-backed side cannot win without defeating the Russian-backed side, and vice versa. I very much hope there is an end game planned for at least one of these two because if they just make it up as they go, this will not end well.

[Tonitrus]

[jimmy olsen]

I repeat: the world should be much more freaked out on this. The first time American and Russian armed forces are officially involved on opposing sides of the same conflict.

This has every chance of going horribly wrong. The US-backed side cannot win without defeating the Russian-backed side, and vice versa. I very much hope there is an end game planned for at least one of these two because if they just make it up as they go, this will not end well.

Once again, this happened in the Korean War.

[HVC]

I repeat: the world should be much more freaked out on this. The first time American and Russian armed forces are officially involved on opposing sides of the same conflict.

This has every chance of going horribly wrong. The US-backed side cannot win without defeating the Russian-backed side, and vice versa. I very much hope there is an end game planned for at least one of these two because if they just make it up as they go, this will not end well.

The west will roll over. After Afghanistan and Iraq it doesn't have the will for a new protracted middle eastern war. Blow some stuff up, sure. Stay in there and beat of the Russians ( heh) not so much.

[HVC]

I repeat: the world should be much more freaked out on this. The first time American and Russian armed forces are officially involved on opposing sides of the same conflict.

This has every chance of going horribly wrong. The US-backed side cannot win without defeating the Russian-backed side, and vice versa. I very much hope there is an end game planned for at least one of these two because if they just make it up as they go, this will not end well.

Once again, this happened in the Korean War.

And they had to fire a popular general and ruin a president (who wasn't doing that great anyway) to keep from starting ww3

[Tamas]

I repeat: the world should be much more freaked out on this. The first time American and Russian armed forces are officially involved on opposing sides of the same conflict.

This has every chance of going horribly wrong. The US-backed side cannot win without defeating the Russian-backed side, and vice versa. I very much hope there is an end game planned for at least one of these two because if they just make it up as they go, this will not end well.

Once again, this happened in the Korean War.

AFAIK there were no Russian planes and troops, officially and openly flying/fighting on the North Korean side.

[Syt]

Austrian paper Die Presse says Assad's Aleppo strategy seems to be taken out of Russia's playbook for the Chechen war and taking Grozny: surround, siege, starve, bombard, and eventually just roll in as victors.