Russian special forces repel a US-planned attack in Syria, denounce the USA and issue a stark warning

Something rather unprecedented just happened in Syria: US backed “good terrorist” forces attempted a surprise attack against Syrian government forces stationed to the north and northeast of the city of Hama. What makes this attack unique is that it took place inside a so-called “de-escalation zone” and that it appears that one of the key goals of the attack was to encircle in a pincer-movement and subsequently capture a platoon of Russian military police officers deployed to monitor and enforce the special status of this zone. The Russian military police forces, composed mainly of soldiers from the Caucasus region, fought against a much larger enemy force and had to call for assistance. For the first time, at least officially, Russian special operations forces were deployed to rescue and extract their comrades. At the same time, the Russians sent in a number of close air support aircraft who reportedly killed several hundred “good” terrorists and beat back the attack (Russian sources speak of the destruction of 850 fighters, 11 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, 46 armed pickup trucks, five mortars, 20 freighter trucks and 38 ammo supply points; you can see photos of the destroyed personnel and equipment here). What also makes this event unique is the official reaction of the Russians to this event.

Head of the Main Operations Department at Russia’s General Staff Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi declared that:

“Despite agreements signed in Astana on September 15, gunmen of Jabhat al-Nusra and joining them units that don’t want to comply with the cessation of hostilities terms, launched a large-scale offensive against positions of government troops north and northeast of Hama in Idlib de-escalation zone from 8 am on September 19 (…) According to available data, the offensive was initiated by American intelligence services to stop a successful advance of government troops east of Deir ez-Zor“.

Today, other Russian officials have added a not-so-veiled threat to this accusation. The Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov has declared that:

Russia unequivocally told the commanders of US forces in Al Udeid Airbase (Qatar) that it will not tolerate any shelling from the areas where the SDF are stationed (…) Fire from positions in regions [controlled by the SDF] will be suppressed by all means necessary.

This is unprecedented on many levels. First, the Russians clearly believe that this attempt to kill or capture a platoon of the Russian military police was planned by the United States. The fact that they are making this accusation officially shows the degree of irritation felt by the Russians about the duplicity of the Americans. Second, this is the first time, at least to my knowledge, that Russian Spetsnaz forces had to be sent in to rescue a surrounded Russian subunit. All Spetsnaz operators survived, but three of them were wounded in the operation (the Russians are not saying how badly). The close air support by very low flying SU-25 aircraft was obviously coordinated by Spetsnaz forward air controllers and probably saved the day. In other words, this was a close call and things could have ended much more badly (just imagine what the Takfiri crazies would have done, on video, to any captured Russian serviceman!). Finally, a US-organized attack on what was supposed to be a “de-confliction” zone combined with an attempt to capture Russian soldiers raises the bar for American duplicity to a totally new level.

The big question now is “do the Russians mean it?” or are they just whining with real determination to hit back if needed.

There are a couple of problems here. First, objectively, the Russian contingent in Syria is a tiny one if compared to the immense power of CENTCOM, NATO and the ever-present Israelis. Not only that, but in any US-Russian confrontation, Russia as a country is objectively the weaker side by any measure except a full-out nuclear exchange. So the Russians are not in a position of force. Furthermore, for historical and cultural reasons, Russians are much more concerned by the initiation of any incident which could lead to all-out war than the Americans who always fight their wars in somebody else’s country. This might seem paradoxical, but the Russians fear war but they are ready for it. In contrast to the Russians, the Americans don’t fear war, but neither are they ready for it. In practical terms this means that an American miscalculation could very well lead to a Russian military response which would stun the Americans and force them to enter an escalatory spiral which nobody would control.

Remember how Hillary promised that she would unilaterally impose a so-called “no-fly” zone over Syria? She promised not only to deploy US aircraft above Russian forces in Syria, but she also promised that she would force the Russian Aerospace forces out of the Syrian skies. Thank God, this crazy witch was not elected, but it appears that folks with the same arrogant and,frankly, completely irresponsible point of view are now back in power under Trump.

My fear now is that the incompetent, arrogant, not too bright and generally ignorant commanders at the Pentagon and the CIA will simply ignore clear warning signs coming from the Russians, including the public announcement that the Kremlin has given the authority to use force to protect Russian personnel to the local Russian commanders in Syria. In plain English, this means that if they are attacked the Russians in Syria do not need to consult with Moscow before using force to protect themselves. By the way, such rules of engagement are pretty common, there is nothing earth shattering here, but the fact that they were made public is, again, a message to the AngloZionist and the “good” terrorist they use to try to conquer Syria.

This time around we (the world) were lucky. The Syrians fought hard and the “good” terrorists were probably surprised by the ruthless determination of the Russian military police forces (in reality, mostly Chechen special forces) and of the Spetsnaz operators. It is one thing to fight Syrian conscripts, quite another to deal with these hardened warriors. But the next time around the outcome could be different.

The bigger picture is also one which gives me a great deal of concern. The Syrians, with Iranian, Hezbollah and Russian help, have freed Deir ez-Zor and have crossed the Euphrates river and are moving further East. In plain English this means that the US and Daesh have lost the war and that the last region of Syrian from which the AngloZionists can hope to partition the country (their current “plan B”) and establish a permanent US military presence is now threatened by the Syrian advance. The distance between the US forces currently deployed in northeastern Syria and Syrian, Iranian, Hezbollah and Russian forces is becoming shorter and shorter each day. I can just imagine how, say, Iranian or Hezbollah forces which are already “smelling” the nearby presence of US forces are drooling with hunger for the moment they will finally be able to get their hands on their old and most hated foe. I feel sincerely sorry for the first US unit to make contact with the Iranians or Hezbollah forces.

Right now the Americans are hiding behind the Kurds, but sooner or later the Iranians or Hezbollah will find them. As for the Kurds, their situation in Syria is precarious, to put it mildly: they are surrounded on all sides by the Turks, the Syrians and the Iranians and their only more or less stable zone of control is in Iraq. The Americans understand that perfectly, hence their desperate attempts to stop the Syrians.

This is a very dangerous situation: even though CENTCOM and NATO are by far the “biggest guys on the block”, in Syria the Americans are cornered, their corner is shrinking fast and it remains entirely unclear how this process can be stopped. Hence the attack on the de-confliction zone we just witnessed.

I hope that eventually the Americans will do what they did in al-Taif and simply pack, declare victory and leave. That would be the only rational thing to do. But after listening to Trump at the UN I don’t get the feeling that being rational is at the top of the US priority list. That’s all rather frightening.

The Saker

Daniel Gladstein on September 22, 2017 · at 6:01 pm EST/EDT

Once again, the big picture is central to the evolving situation.

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA), Hezbollah, and allies, with Russian support, are committed to the encirclement and defeat of DAESH remnants in the Euphrates Valley and elsewhere. The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the SAA are committed to the removal of al-Nusra Front from Idlib Province, as stipulated under the de-escalation agreement. That operation is at least two-thirds into its planning stages and should assume centrality soon. Once DAESH and al-Nusra are neutered, most of Syria will be under government control, excluding Afrin, which is Russia-backed anyway, and the Daraa/Golan corridor, which is split between the U.S.-Russia de-escalation (ceasefire) zone and Israel-backed DAESH in the Golan. This situation would leave only the U.S.-Israel proxy Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to deal with.

To begin with, the SDF and DAESH, like the rest of the terrorist groups in Syria, are one and the same in terms of membership and personnel. They have always collaborated with each other under NATO-Israel-GCC tutelage. SDF’s battlefield successes, aside from Kobani, have mostly to do with DAESH retreating or joining SDF in agreed-upon fashion, as we are currently seeing near Deir ez-Zour, along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. The entire notion that the SDF is fighting or has ever fought DAESH is a falsehood. The siege of Kobani had nothing to do with DAESH. There is no independent information that DAESH and SDF fought anyone other than helpless civilians at Kobani. At Kobani, the Terrorist Coalition destroyed a city in order to “save” it, that is, put in an SDF proxy to threaten Turkey and the legitimate Syrian government. DAESH left or merged with SDF.

Many Kurds involved in the SDF and in associated militias are Sunni Islamists or Western intelligence agents or both, so of course they switch uniforms to fight under either DAESH or SDF banners as NATO-Israel-GCC demand. Ditto for DAESH, al-Nusra Front, and the rest. Bribes, threats, and internecine grudges work. Of course, like most of the other terrorist forces, the Kurdish elements are often not even from Syria, but Kurdish volunteers from Europe and other lands. (Kurds do not have a long history in Syria to begin with, dating back to the migrations of the late nineteenth century.) Most of the mercenaries in DAESH and Co. arrived from outside Syria, and probably had more dead than SDF. The real battlefield losses and successes are those of the Resistance Bloc, comprising Syria, Iran, Russia, and Iraq, with China providing background support.

Here is the key. Russia is allowing the Kurdish militias and DAESH 2.0 to seize the oil fields east of the Euphrates while the Resistance works on and finalizes the rest of Syria, to the west of the Euphrates. As noted, DAESH and SDF are one and the same, and Russia has made clear that the SDF has advanced unopposed through DAESH territory on the eastern bank of the river. DAESH 2.0, or Kurdish-inflected “not-so-Islamic State,” is the same Anglo-Zionist beast as the rest of the proxy terrorists in Syria since Day One. But as with everything else, Russia and its allies are making a strategic, long-term gambit. The Resistance knows that once the rest of Syria is cleared, the U.S. and its agents will be exposed as never before. Russia is working with its partners so that a unified regional alliance will be in place once the rest of Syria is secured.

Here is why the current SDF advances are no surprise to the Resistance:

*The de-escalation zones apply only to areas of Syria that the Resistance Bloc has been or is in the process of liberating, or to areas that have been or are being mutually agreed on (Daraa, Idlib, Afrin, etc.).
*There is no de-escalation zone or “line” to the east of the Euphrates.
*The official Russian response to the SDF is that attacks on the forces of Resistance will not be tolerated, but says nothing about the SDF’s advances east of the Euphrates River being blocked. This is Russia’s strategy.

Thus, Russia is doing absolutely nothing to stop the SDF. But neither does Russia proffer the least indication that it accepts the SDF’s presence. In short, Russia is dead silent about its ultimate plans for the SDF. Given the high stakes, this silence is enormously significant, given the other events that are unfolding: the Iraq-Iran alliance against the Barzani clan and the Kurdistan Regional Government, Turkey’s role in the Astana process and the clearing of al-Nusra from Idlib, the ongoing Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) offensives against DAESH in Iraq, and unprecedented levels of cooperation between Turkey, the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq, and Iran that center on a number of regional issues, including those that directly relate to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

This is why the Israeli regime has made clear its support for the Anglo-Zionists’ Project Kurdistan, a longstanding NATO (U.S. and U.K.) agenda in the MENA. The fragmentation of Iraq and Syria into Takfiri-Kurdish protectorates allows NATO to establish bases for the penetration and control of Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa from a central location, which dovetails with related regime-change projects and color revolutions (“Arab Springs”) in the MENA, as well as with NATO/EU expansion and containment of China. Iraq and Syria lie between Turkey and Iran, on the central transit route for pipelines and narcotics to and from Central and South Asia. That is why the Anglo-Zionist gambit for world domination cannot succeed without Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Gaining control of this space is necessary to defeat Iran and move on to the subjugation of first Russia, then China—one or the other at a time, per U.S. doctrine.

Now, however, in all but name Turkey is irrevocably out of NATO’s camp, even if its leadership tries to follow its own (and sometimes disastrous) agenda, and the Resistance is about to deal a decisive blow to the dismantling of Syria and Iraq. This leads to the key point: that the Anglo-Zionists’ Takfiri-Kurdish “Trump card”—pun half intended—is succeeding precisely at the moment it is a Pyrrhic, useless, and probably short-lived victory, and only because the patient Resistance is allowing it to happen. That is because the Resistance is allowing the Anglo-Zionist forces to walk into a trap partly of its own doing. None of the Resistance powers or Turkey will allow a Takfiri-Kurdish “geopolitical Israel” (to quote Andrew Korybko) to ensconce itself atop oil fields in the central Euphrates Valley.

To wit:

*Very soon, we will end up with a divided Syria: a Resistance-controlled west and a Takfiri-Kurdish east under Anglo-Zionist tutelage. Likewise, all of Iraq except the Takfiri-Kurdish north will come under Resistance control.
*The Takfiri-Kurdish protectorate will have no recourse to survival, as Resistance and aspiring Resistance forces will surround it: Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, with Russian and Chinese assistance. The U.S. game is up.
*The U.S. and its allies can either withdraw its protection from the Takfiri-Kurdish militias, or face a united front and potentially significant conflict with the Resistance and its allied forces. Turkey will not support the U.S.

The biggest victory of all is that the U.S. and its allies will have no excuse for its presence atop stolen oil wells in Iraq and Syria, as DAESH and other bogeymen will be but a distant memory except in Takfiri-Kurdish land. Russia will be in an ideal position to begin releasing all the data it and its allies have collected on U.S. aggressions, crimes, and terrorism in the region and elsewhere. Now would be the moment, on the eve of a significant conflict, should the Anglo-Zionists make a wrong move. That is why the mainstream media are so quiet. This is the calm before the storm. This is why the Anglo-Zionists would love nothing more than for the Resistance to attack the SDF now rather than finish business and let the SDF walk into the trap. Putin, of course, is not taking the bait, much to their chagrin, but is instead letting the Astana process run its course while working to set up an impregnable regional alliance. The Resistance has crafted its strategy so masterfully that it only needs to await Anglo-Zionist moves, not to make (visible) moves of its own, for now.

146 Comments

Anonymous on September 21, 2017 · at 3:41 pm EST/EDT

“This is unprecedented on many levels. First, the Russians clearly believe that this attempt to kill or capture a platoon of the Russian military police was planned by the United States.”/

As Paul Craig Roberts would bluntly state, if one doesn’t see that the American regime is driving to war with Russia, one is a dumbsh!t American…..

If you don’t see that Washington is driving to war with Russia you are a dumbshit American
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/09/10/dont-see-washington-driving-war-russia-dumbshit-american/
- Anonymous on September 21, 2017 · at 5:11 pm EST/EDT
  
  There will be no peace. US and EU strategy papers have made that very clear.
  
  “First published From Parameters, Summer 1997, pp. 4-14: US Army War College
  …
  There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing.”
  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3011.htm
  
  “Excerpts From Pentagon’s Plan: ‘Prevent the Re-Emergence of a New Rival’
  …
  Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia.
  
  There are three additional aspects to this objective: First, the U.S. must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests. Second, in the non-defense areas, we must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. Finally, we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role. An effective reconstitution capability is important here, since it implies that a potential rival could not hope to quickly or easily gain a predominant military position in the world.
  …
  access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil;”
  http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/world/excerpts-from-pentagon-s-plan-prevent-the-re-emergence-of-a-new-rival.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
  
  “Hard power politics – Clausewitzian influence over alienated state regimes. Some alien-
  ated regimes will still exist in 2020 – the key uncertainty here being the Kremlin. If so, we will need to retain a capability to meet their deliberate challenges to our vision of the world. This will require hard military power, but also an increased focus on asymmetrical forms of destruction, notably in the cybersphere. This is of major concern to the East-
  ern members of the EU, and if the ESDP is unable to provide this then they will turn to NATO or directly to the US.”
  http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/What_ambitions_for_European_defence_in_2020.pdf
  - Jakob on September 22, 2017 · at 11:32 am EST/EDT
    
    Interesting quotes and links … however, this one (https://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/What_ambitions_for_European_defence_in_2020.pdf) is not active … do you have another link or a copy of the pdf?
    - Anonymous on September 22, 2017 · at 12:27 pm EST/EDT
      
      Here is a mirror:
      https://web.archive.org/web/20090920082813/https://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/What_ambitions_for_European_defence_in_2020.pdf
  - Arioch on September 22, 2017 · at 6:39 pm EST/EDT
    
    > There are three additional aspects to this objective
    
    And you know what? Russia was more than agree with those terms.
    
    If USA did not violated #1 and #2 of those their principles towards Russian interests, our post-USSR elites would be more than happy to be second-tier state in new global order. Actually they still begged for it long after USA said “we will kill you regardless”.
    
    Then Russian elites accepted the reality and said “come and take”.
    - Anonymous on September 23, 2017 · at 10:21 am EST/EDT
      
      the dual condominium of global rule was the deal made ‘tween Stalin and FDR, so yes indeed, very probably Ru would have accepted such a deal in 1990 et sec…however recent events and Policies suggest that the possibility of such a deal is now…poof! Over. Opportunity lost. So, what have we now?
      
      War.
      
      Not tomorrow, now. Kiev is the signal event…the beginning.
      
      War is decided by economies…
      
      The rest is simply the agony and tears
    - Jonathan Davis on September 23, 2017 · at 3:45 pm EST/EDT
      
      The “advanced industrialized nations” to which Wolfowitz is referring to here are not meant to include Russia. He is referring primarily to Germany and Japan (as well as the other EU countries, to some extent). Only those countries are credible as rivals.
      
      Gorbachev was essentially offered terms of surrender not as an equal party. As I recall, trouble really began when Yeltsin refused to consider Chechyn independence and further dismemberment of the territory of the Russian Federation.
- One Tribe on September 21, 2017 · at 9:20 pm EST/EDT
  
  @ Anonymous on September 21, 2017 · at 3:41 pm UTC
  
  Thank you for your contribution, and thank you to The Saker for the article and the platform for communication.
  
  I disagree with you about the clarity of, “…the American regime is driving to war with Russia…“.
  
  There are several factors that you might want to consider:
  a. this area, in Hama, is of particular strategic consideration for those publicly concerned about a ‘Syrian corridor’ for Iran and Hezbollah; presumably because they prefer that Hezbollah-Iranian transit be more constricted and opposed to less restricted.
  b. we can refer to several articles previously appearing in the Vineyard, here, very convincingly I might add, that the USA is functioning WITHOUT a coherent, let alone cohesive, foreign policy.
  c. it is times of ambiguities in control that special interest groups/foreign lobbies with suasion/control elements embedded in the administration, use this slack to proceed with their own special interest policies, regardless of the interests of Americans (I believe that you could observe a very clear pattern of this in “U.S. foreign policy over the past 20 years.
  
  It is easy to dump on the people of America; but please be aware that the people, i.e. the bottom 99% of the socio-economic spectrum, are subjected to polices designed to maximize the power($$$) harvesting potential for the top 0.1%, from the 99%, including, of course, policy-setting for education, and media, etc., etc….
  
  Please also be aware that to overcome this current dire situation, it will be very handy (actually quite likely necessary) to have a critical mass of these people, Americans, i.e. non-Firsters for anyone else.
  
  So, I humbly suggest that you turn your thinking towards methods to do just that, how do we get the facts and/or appropriate context of the situation to the American people? and create allies against the empire.
  - bsamsin on September 22, 2017 · at 2:43 am EST/EDT
    
    I notice it’s quite commonplace to be an apologist for the american majority, but the fact is that the overwhelming majority either applaud the military exploits, or prefer to completely ignore the situations around the world and remain mute.
    
    I know that’s also true in your northern fellow zio-dominated neighbor, as I have the same difficulty with my family and friends. I am thankful that the numbers of the concerned are increasing, but we’re still in a sizeable minority.
    - Juliania on September 22, 2017 · at 2:15 pm EST/EDT
      
      This is simply false. The American people, in spite of the barrage they have endured from a complicit need media, first elected Obama overwhelmingly hoping that he would be different.
      
      He wasnt; he was worse.
      
      Now, everything going to hell on the same course as before, they elected Trump, having as they saw it no other practical choice to avoid the evils being put upon them by the fanatical warmongers. And now Trump also has failed.
      
      The point made previously about educating the public is an unnecessary one in my view. The American public gets it; they are sick of war. They just don’t know what they can peacefully do en masse to get off the speeding train.
      
      Natural and ensuing economic disasters may help put on the brakes.
      - Bill on September 22, 2017 · at 5:34 pm EST/EDT
        
        Americans must understand that every war since the war of 1812 that we’ve fought has been caused by and fought for the Zionist Banking combine! They “appoint” our presidents – Trump was actually a maverick all during the ’16 campaign, but once in office the pressure was applied and in six months his agenda had morphed into the same Israel/Rothschild way doing business we’ve had for 40 years. Russia removed all Rothschild banks some years ago and at that point they became the bad guys to punish. Any war with Russia will annihilate both parties as well as God only knows who else, but the Zionist bankesr will reap huge profits from such foolishness;
        
        Mish on September 23, 2017 · at 7:49 am EST/EDT
        
        Just for the record: Credit Suisse is still around. It’s a Rothchild bank, right? And anyway, the presence or absence of R. or any other banks in Russia is hardly the issue. The issue is, as someone aptly put it: “All that the West wants from Russia is for it to stop existing.”
        
        Paul Greenwood on September 24, 2017 · at 8:57 am EST/EDT
        
        Why do you think CS is anything to do with Rothschilds ? It was founded by Johann Escher com Glas to fund railways in Switzerland. It gets tedious hearing Rothschild given credit for everything on earth
        
        LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 10:33 am EST/EDT
        
        Well, Bill, the claim is flawed…”zionism” is a term first named in 1890 in journal Selbstemanzipation by Birnbaum, an Austrian. So they say.
        
        Needless to say that 1812 occurred prior in time…
        
        In point of fact America has done a fine job of blasting out colonial conquering, starting in 1492. No zionists were necessary. Of course, to-day…but that’s beside the point.
        
        One might argue the matter the other way – that Zionists were inspired by American colonial glory…. (that’s sarcasm)
  - Marc L on September 22, 2017 · at 5:39 am EST/EDT
    
    I am an American, living in America, who has been doing exactly what you urge in your last paragraph. Have been generally excoriated or ignored. Unfortunately. Americans are breathtakingly ignorant about all that goes on in the world. And they frankly don’t give a shit. It’s horrible to say this, but it’s true. The US is a military dictatorship. There will be NO resistance or opposition to US policies through-out the world until Americans start dying in large numbers. Again — hate to say this, but it’s true. And, bluntly, there is no other truth. The Imperialist, banking, national security, NeoCon, Zionist war party that controls the US will NOT rest until they rule the world. Only massive force will stop them.
    - mark on September 22, 2017 · at 5:29 pm EST/EDT
      
      You’re right. But American people are not congenitally stupid – the media and the education system are designed to keep them that way. When things start to go disastrously wrong, all things become possible. Like France in 1789 or Germany in 1918.
    - Anonymous on September 23, 2017 · at 1:01 am EST/EDT
      
      Marc L:
      
      There will be NO resistance or opposition to US policies through-out the world until Americans start dying in large numbers.
      
      The elites are prepared for this. It’s no coincidence that a large “surplus” of military hardware ended up in the hands of local police forces. Maybe two years ago PCR pointed out several articles which mentioned that 1.6 billion (!) rounds of ammunition had been given to employees different state agencies (EPA as well). Read John W. Whitehead’s articles and watch his videos and you’ll get some ideas about where the journey is going. (European countries are following quickly on the same path – the permanent French emergency law, Germany’s military training facility resembling a town, …)
    - tm7devils on September 23, 2017 · at 9:01 pm EST/EDT
      
      If I were an Israeli, I would tread very, very lightly…if the whole of the middle East became a war zone, Israel would cease to exist since the ME has over 400 million arabs(David) and Israel has only 8.5 Million people(Goliath). Pissing-off the arab nation – as Israel has done for the last 60+ years – will have its consequences.
  - mark on September 22, 2017 · at 5:25 pm EST/EDT
    
    I think you’re being optimistic here.
    It’s worth trying and should be done.
    But I wouldn’t expect too much of a revolution from below. America will only finally be brought down by a combination of military failure, financial and economic collapse, and social chaos, class and racial conflict.
    When that happens, what you suggest may be a contributory factor.
    - Lk on September 26, 2017 · at 3:51 pm EST/EDT
      
      God will take care of America. When Therea Neumann was asked by aUS GI in 1946 if the US would come to be destroyed like Germany had just been by war, she replied, “No, the US will be destroyed economically by natural disasters.” The US has just been hit by two devistating hurricanes and there are signs of distruction by either a huge earthquake or volcanic upheaval, or both. Interesting times, to say the least!
  - Davidb on September 22, 2017 · at 10:32 pm EST/EDT
    
    American stupidity including lack of foreign policy is not my problem. The Goebellesque media in the USA are too powerful to be controlled – outside of a complete government putsch in that accursed country that will soon start another global war. So your plea not to dump on the American people may not be too welcome in places like Afghanistan, Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Iraq and all the other sovereign countries that your ‘elected” governments crapped on. But I forget, people need to realise that these are (were) sovereign nations also with hopes and aspirations.
    One Tribe – wherever you come from (I assume the US), it is way too late to late to start making excuses for what is a f-ing rogue nation that is rotten to the core.
    - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 4:34 pm EST/EDT
      
      Well David, if people knew more…they might say, and even think, somewhat differently.
      
      I myself, and probably Orthodox people here, am minded by the claim that “America is rotten to the core” – minded to recall Genesis and the story of Abe arguing with G-d over the fate of Sodom.
      
      Abe started negotiating at 50 righteous men, and stopped when G-d agreed to spare the town if only a mere 10 could be found… Abe might have continued, but at some point G-d is going to say no, so Abe simply made the best deal he believed reasonable. 10 righteous men.
      
      Alas, however, they failed to find even 10…bummer for the town…
      
      So, 10 righteous men in America? Or does G-d parse the proportionality? I am waiting for the call about that bit.
      
      (I myself can count 10 in my little town, and that’s in the US)
      
      I am waiting to hear. So is everybody else…
      
      Get it?
      
      Pax
      
      LZ99
      - Tiffany Vaughn on September 24, 2017 · at 3:35 pm EST/EDT
        
        Im in
  - bandit on September 23, 2017 · at 2:28 am EST/EDT
    
    Well, funny you should ask … ’cause the rest of this crew is as silent as the grave.
    That would be my only critique. I don’t know them and they don’t know me, however.
    
    Sometimes it’s better to keep silent in unfamiliar surroundings. Good advice …
    Which i’m afraid I’ll toss out like a used kleenex. I don’t have time to be silent.
    
    I have maniacs running my government, and short of paying each one a personal visit, I have to instigate my fellow citizens to get off their asses and *demand* a return to sanity. I wonder if I’m not going mad sometimes; I go through the worst case scenarios in my mind, imagine turning to the Dark Side. In a heartbeat, if family is concerned.
    
    I’ve witnessed a Presidential administration culpable in multi-billion dollar RICO conspiracy and fraud, two in fact, and believe me, they knew exactly what they were doing.
    
    The facts are, in this *enchanted matrix* that is the USA at this very moment, the probability of harm to family, or any vulnerable citizen, is heightened beyond any acceptable measure.
    
    I must be nuts. I’m not going to stand around and take it.
    - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 11:51 am EST/EDT
      
      The powerful do as they will, and the powerless suffer what they must…
      
      Now then, times they do change…
      
      And it happens that the last is first, and the first is last. Happens, now and then.
      
      “I shall build me a railroad” says the fool.
      
      “I shall make steel” says another…
      
      Try building railroads without steel. Right.
      
      To all things there’s a season, Friend.
      
      Steel first, then railroad.
Jane Karlsson on September 21, 2017 · at 3:43 pm EST/EDT

Yes. This is frightening.
Drew on September 21, 2017 · at 4:06 pm EST/EDT

Remember how a few short months ago the US and their allies simply bombed SAA and alligned forces twice when their forces got too close to Al Tanf. There weren’t any warnings or international outcries, just instant bombings with the reason given that ‘SAA and their alligned forces got too close to US/allies stationed there’.
Now we have the opposite, where US & friends attacked Russian/SAA and the response was very stern but civil (meaning that a verbal warning was given). I personally don’t see this as a weakness, rather making it clear that should it continue thete will be consequences.
The US, Saudi, Israel and friends in the area are really backed up in a tight corner. It’s do or die time, they either act now or pack up and leave (with the latter option not being an option).
So is this the beginning of something bigger? Hopefully not but we have to wait and see. The ball is clearly in the court of the US/friends.
- AriusArmenian on September 21, 2017 · at 5:41 pm EST/EDT
  
  Agree. I see this as within the larger struggle between the East and the West. The West thinks it is unstoppable and can continue its plowing and plundering, while the East cannot backup any further and say No More. That the West thinks it can remain dominant over or defeat the East shows the insanity at its core. The US continues its march to greater disasters.
_smr on September 21, 2017 · at 4:07 pm EST/EDT

And here another unforced error by the out-of-control US crazies. This time by Strike Fighter Squadron 31of the US Navy, documenting its war crimes on video and posting it on YouTube! Unbelievable !!

https://southfront.org/strike-fighter-squadron-31-releases-video-promoting-us-navy-actions-against-syrian-government/
Zena on September 21, 2017 · at 4:16 pm EST/EDT

“I don’t get the feeling that being rational is at the top of the US priority list”

No and that is the big wildcard here. I mean they just built 12 military bases. Does that sound like plans to leave?
If they remain, their presence in the country being totally unacceptable to the Syrians, fighting between SAA and US forces would seem inevitable.

This is the sort of situation in which Lavrov and team would have worked tirelessly to avoid conflict breaking out but times have changed and now we have to wonder – Does the US even care what Russia thinks any more?
- Arioch on September 22, 2017 · at 6:58 pm EST/EDT
  
  Syria swallowed occupation of Golan Heights.
  
  USA can in good faith expect Syria would swallow a little tiny another occupation by much stronger army too
Daniel Martin on September 21, 2017 · at 4:35 pm EST/EDT

I warned on South Front one year ago that eventually exactly this would happen and just as The Saker explains now i was very worried. To much prestige on the line, combined with great incompetence and ignorance in the U.S military and political establishment is a very dangerous combo.
Dr. NG Maroudas on September 21, 2017 · at 4:40 pm EST/EDT

Uncle $cam is playing his last card: the dummy Kurdistan card – Double or Quits. If Uncle wins, he wins double: because he will have beaten the alliance of Syria, Hezb’Allah, Iran, Iraq and Russia; the entire Middle East will once again belong to FUKZUSA, and the road to Moscow will lie open before “the irresistible armed might” of NATZO. But if this last card loses, it will be game over for FUKZUSA in the ME; because the arrogant incompetence of The Men from Uncle will have made enemies of all their former subjects and former allies – except Uncle $cam’s little nephew Izzie plus a few oil companies dressed up as countries such as bankrupt Saudi Arabia and tiny Abu Dabhi; while the 3 major countries of the region (Syria + Iraq + Iran) will have cemented a strong new Arch of Stability with Russian and Chinese backing (plus renewed investment from EU business interests?).
- Tsigantes on September 23, 2017 · at 8:05 am EST/EDT
  
  It will never be over for the US in the Middle East because of their permanent landed aircraft carrier called Israel. For the US to leave, Israel has to be ‘taken out’.
  
  Meanwhile the US-Kurdish front in NE Syria will soon be joined by the Israeli front in SW Syria.
  
  This war is not over by a long shot.
  Unfortunately.
  - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 8:50 pm EST/EDT
    
    They say that when surrender comes, the people are shocked to hear of it…
    
    This is to say that in the midst of war, as we hear from MacBeth “hang those who speak of defeat!” – in that “sitrep” a surrender which must be, would naturally be, a surprise!
    
    War lost. Agony and tears remain. S’prize!
    
    But, seriously, LZ agrees, while the war is lost it has to “wind on” for a considerable period…a “long shot”! Whatever that is, it’s too long…
    
    Bummer for everybody, and dangerous as can be!
    
    Pax
    
    LZ99
Izaates bar Monobazeus on September 21, 2017 · at 4:41 pm EST/EDT

I agree Saker,

I think it is all headed for the Golan and a place called Armageddon.
- WizOz on September 22, 2017 · at 4:22 am EST/EDT
  
  At the moment it seems to be headed for a place anciently called Adiabene.
  
  “Turkish media claims Israel is sending Jewish Kurds back to Kurdistan. Conspiracy theory of a mass repatriation is making the rounds, ahead of unilateral independence referendum among the Kurds”, by Sue Surkes and AFP, September 14, 2017
  @https://www.timesofisrael.com/turkish-media-warns-israel-planning-to-send-jewish-kurds-back-to-kurdistan/:
  
  “Turkish media has in recent days been full of reports that nearly 70 years after the vast majority of Kurdish Jews emigrated to Israel, Kurdish leader Masoud Barazani has reached a secret deal with Israel to have their descendants sent back…
  On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his support for Kurdish independence, but stopped short of backing the referendum.
  Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has also spoken frequently about her support for a Kurdish state, which is bitterly opposed by Turkey, which has fought a decades long battle against the PKK, the Kurdish Workers Party.
  These Israeli expressions of support have apparently raised hopes among Kurds.
  “As we approach September 25, more ordinary Iraqi Kurds express hope that Israeli officials’ statements in support of an independent Kurdistan bodes well for their putative state,” Al-Monitor wrote….
  “Iraqi Kurds think that, given the powerful Israeli and Jewish lobbies in the United States, Israeli support for an independent Kurdistan basically means US backing for Kurdish independence. Some Iraqi Kurds think, if Israel and the United States are with Kurdistan, who can stand against us?”
  
  “Iraq opposes independent Kurdish state, or a ‘second Israel’”, September 17, 2017
  @https://worldisraelnews.com/muslim-nations-oppose-independent-kurdish-state-second-israel/:
  
  “On Sunday, the vice president of Iraq decried the creation of an independent Kurdistan, explaining that his nation would not suffer the creation of “a second Israel,” according to AFP. The comment was made after the Jewish state distinguished itself as the only nation that supported a slated Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq.
  The response in Iraq mirrored previous sentiments in Turkey. The Israeli embassy in Ankara had to be evacuated on Friday due to a demonstration by a Turkish ultra-nationalist party protesting the creation of a “second Israel” in Iraqi Kurdistan, reported Times of Israel”.
  
  Like in the times of Queen Helena and the Messianic Jewish Wars: 66-73, 115-117, 132-136.
Tom Welsh on September 21, 2017 · at 4:55 pm EST/EDT

‘… CENTCOM and NATO are by far the “biggest guys on the block”..’

“The thicker the hay, the more easily it is mown”. – Attila the Hun
mihik on September 21, 2017 · at 5:22 pm EST/EDT

The US attack on the Russian MP’s at the de-escalation zone was a distraction for another US/cutthroat proxie attack on SAA (and Russians) in Deir Ezzor which happened at the same time. Neither was a success for the US.

With a stunning defeat and a unprecedented warning at that, things will either cool down or US may try another double-down attack in the vicinity. In any case this is a dead turn for the US.
Bro 93 on September 21, 2017 · at 5:35 pm EST/EDT

Saker says: ”

“As for the Kurds, their situation in Iraq is precarious, to put it mildly: they are surrounded on all sides by the Turks, the Syrians and the Iranians and their only more or less stable zone of control is in Iraq.”

This makes sense to me if Saker meant “Syria” the first time he said “Iraq”.
- The Saker on September 21, 2017 · at 6:58 pm EST/EDT
  
  correct, my mistake, I will correct this, thank you!
Larchmonter445 on September 21, 2017 · at 5:39 pm EST/EDT

I’ve written a lot of late about the moves Russia could and would make.

Like in Ukraine, Russia has to make certain moves. They have no choice.
Not just the moves of the war and winning that conflict for Syria.
Not just the moves of opportunity, like saving Turkey and Erdogan from the coup and aftermath.

Russia, though far from home, has planted two bases in Syria for the next half-century. These are no more vanity bases than Sochi is a one-off development of Putin’s.

The bases, like Sochi, are integral to Russia as an economic power. And Syria is now a Russian environ.

Over the coming decades many Syrians will learn to speak Russian, will study Russian history, and will marry Russians. The relationship will become genetic, not just geopolitical or military.

And so, interlopers and invaders in Syria will be treated as if they were transgressing Russia itself.

Doesn’t much matter what flag or flags they fly, US, Israel, NATO, French, British, Saudi, Kurd, whatever, the invaders will be dealt with by Russian force if they don’t stand down and leave.

Everything has changed in Syria and thus, the ME.

This is not the Balkans. This is not 1999 and the destruction of Yugoslavia.
Putin exists and Russia is strong.
It also isn’t an equation of size, numbers or the past history of the Hegemon.

It is the simple, direct facts of life that Russia can wipe out everything CENTCOM has at risk in Syria in hours using only the few planes, the Kalibrs and proxies they have.
The US and allies are out on a limb and Putin has a ‘chain saw’.
And that saw is running.

The King might not be in check, but the Queen is lost.
- Auslander on September 21, 2017 · at 6:58 pm EST/EDT
  
  My friend, very well said, succinct and to the point, so much to the point it brings to mind Tuchka.
  
  ‘They’ have lost yet again. Syria, while there will be many more deaths and heartbreak, is a lost cause and the only course of action for ‘them’ is to find a way out with face saving grace. Not gonna happen this time, as in all previous wars ‘they’ have started ‘they’ will be shot at as they leave. Sad, for them, but true.
  
  Auslander
  Author
  
  Never The Last One http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK Love And Honor, Courage And Treachery. A Small War Fought In A Dark Corner Of A Vast Land.
  
  An Incident On Simonka https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
- One Tribe on September 22, 2017 · at 1:50 am EST/EDT
  
  Nice.
  
  And to Auslander, also.
  I enjoy reading your comments.
  Thinking positive, about multi-polar resistance, and the conflict contesting capacity of Russia, (the good-guy, for now) is good.
  But we all know that the issue that is becoming the biggest problem, and wildcard, is the ongoing deterioration of central control and chains of command in the U.S.A.
  Of course, you likely realize that there are several factions which are well-equipped and ready to yet further drive their exceptionalist agenda, by effectively gaining temporary/longer-term(?!), control over components of the U.S. war-creating machinery.
  We are close to anarchy across the control structures of the U.S.A., and that will break into the street; it is quite possible that the demarcation lines for the fragment ‘states’ has already been socialized at several amongst the factions of the elite 0.1%.
  
  Regardless of the capability of the Russia military, the scenario of so many sick, sociopathic crazies with the potential to set off a nuclear chain-reaction is multiplying daily from the baseline of one sick, egomaniac, repressed, insecure narcissist (the MSM would have us believe).
  
  The straightest line, lowest mortality path to de-escalation is for the American people to re-take control of their own country.
  
  The short of it is, the people need to be armed with the knowledge, to re-take control of their own country.
  
  We need consideration and sharing of approaches to get the facts to the people.
  
  …if you feel like it, I’d read it.
  - Ed on September 22, 2017 · at 4:19 am EST/EDT
    
    Quite right.
    
    And didn’t Jefferson himself, to cite a dead white slaveholder, say the the principles of the Founding Fathers include throwing off tyrany? I think that’s in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.
    
    It seems wrong for all of us to just standby as citizens while the people and the planet suffer and bleed at the hands of our selected leadership class. Don’t we have some responsibility in all this?
    - One Tribe on September 22, 2017 · at 7:10 pm EST/EDT
      
      so what’s your idea to ‘get the word out’, Ed?
    - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 5:59 pm EST/EDT
      
      “citizens”? Or is it really “subjects”
      
      In the metaphysics the war is already decided, absent celestial or infernal interference.
      
      Similarly, in the metaphysics, W2 defeat of nazi forces in East was decided at Stalingrad. Napoleon at Moscow…etc etc… This time? Syria…and probably very soon Iran will confirm the end of empire. (My guess is a terrible naval fubar, Salamis 2.0 – but is guess) Then there’s the worthless dollars…and beer will cost “one ruble” in a Bowery dive… Agony and tears remain, but conflict direction is clear.
      
      The denouement takes time, and serious mistakes can change the outcome, yet the real danger now is that there may be victory. How’s that a danger?
      
      Victory ushers in Betrayal. A betrayal in leadership cadres of victors can be worse than a defeat (though probably not in the present example). Victory is a corrupting factor and can be fatal.
      
      German word for condition favoring betrayal, schadenfreude. Oft considered to mean “malicious joy” . Palace intrigues, stabs in back, poison – look at FDR…. Then Churchill, poof! gone on the cusp of the nazi defeat by red armies. And of course there as (gasp!) Major Policy Changes immediately upon the death of FDR…pure coincidence, nothing to see there, move along…
      
      VVP, one assumes, is aware of the looming prospect…smart fella, and educated too!
      
      This, plus what the USSR left, well, it’s what Ru has to work with. And it is the postwar Peace that’s must be properly shaped… The war? Well, it must finish, but the Peace is the important thing.
      
      Those trials Ru has in mind would be expected to reveal the depth and horror of what’s been done nominally in their names to the People of the empire and all the world, and to shape the Peace.
      
      The only basis is Justice…
      
      “Justice, Justice, shalt thou pursue.” is the English translation generally given for the Hebrew “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof” The sages add that G-d does not waste words, so the repetition of Tzedek has much significance.
      
      And precisely that is, by the way, why Zionism failed – it is frankly unjust. Many Orthodox Jews agree with that, by the way. And the present Policy set of the US and Israel are forcing a split between factions within Judaism. Historic split. This has occurred many times in Jewish history, in similar more or less civil wars.
      
      As we see today, basing a State on injustice creates a State permanently at war and carrying an internal flaw so grievous as to explode that State if the wars stop.
      
      I could name two such States and I bet you can too.
      
      Witness the scene, Brothers.
      
      Pax (it’s what’s happening!)
      
      LZ
gT on September 21, 2017 · at 6:15 pm EST/EDT

ISIS is about to be attrition-ed into non-existence, yet the other NATO irregular forces can’t even patiently wait their turn to be attrition-ed into non-existence. How rude!
the multipolar world order is born on September 21, 2017 · at 6:31 pm EST/EDT

Hm. Even the NY Times, Reuters and Newsweek are reporting this.

850 dead, including 11 tanks, is an awfully large number, versus just 3 injured Russian special forces.

I smell a setup. ‘Partners’ are working to bring an end to the war.

The Pentagon arranged to deliver the most capable AQ fighters to a cauldron in the area of Idlib. The CIA has been largely removed from the theatre by Trump and his generals — McMaster, Mattis and Kelly, who along with CIA director Pompeo are handing Syria to the Russians, lest the Iranian PMU link up east of Deir Ezzor.

The ‘police officers’ were Chechen fighters, held out as bait. The war is in it’s final stages. Isreal can do nothing to change the result, and have suffered a loss many times more devastaing than that which they suffered at the hands of Hezbollah, and of course Syria which opened their stores of weapons during that previous. war.

The multipolar world order is born. The Russians and US have established respective spheres of influence. There will be additional ‘negotiations’ but it appears the zionist elite have indeed seen the light and used Trump to drain the swamp. What comes next is anyone’s guess but it appears the transition has been far less worse than some have expected.
- Anonius on September 21, 2017 · at 9:01 pm EST/EDT
  
  No such thing my friend. Lets look at things that happened just recently. USofA asks Russia for quick discussions, no word on results, but we can guess. Shoygu visits Al-Asad. You want to guess why? SAA crosses Euphrates. Kurds continue to make fake war with Daesh, which simply is a game of handing the territory over. Then three letter agency, arranges what was supposed to be a spectacular show of force and shame on Russia. Unfortunately for them they but on a hard nut. And they were shown the door the nasty way. V.V. Putin is showing that games are over. 1000 mercs in one day’s work those are results some have to think about for the future.
  - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 4:14 pm EST/EDT
    
    about that quote: “shown the door the nasty way. V.V. Putin is showing that games are over. 1000 mercs in one day’s work those are results ”
    
    A Marine (USMC) friend many years ago said to me about Vietnam war (where he was for 4 years) that by about 1970 they had killed or otherwise eliminated (he simply said killed) almost 100% of the VC. VC existing in Southvietnam.
    
    VC not being the same as NVA….
    
    Vietnam over. But operating principle remains, if enough soldiers are killed there are no more soldiers until another army is raised up.
    
    So?
    
    In Syria, the loss rate of about 1000 men per operation, well….shall we even bother to finish?
    
    I would moot that it is obvious that the loss rate is subject to change…and may well increase to whatever level seems, to some people, best.
    
    How horrible a history we witness.
    
    Pax
    
    LZ
    - Anonius on September 25, 2017 · at 10:06 pm EST/EDT
      
      @LZ
      Well, interesting enough for to bring up Vietnam. I was teenager in the sixties, and I happened to be hooked on Radio Free Europe and the voice of America as well as Radio Moscow on my short wave radio. Guess what, RFE used to tell us the VC was losing 500 and more people every day. Hmm, think about it how many times over was the Vietnam killed? In this case Russians do not tell us the same story today. Still losing 850 men is a big loss if they are well trained. Yet they thought they were going run over Russians before the Russians could call for help. I wont go past this point, I am sure you get the idea. This is why I said and I repeat: “they shown the door”. I’ll add this though “to meet their maker” because they really did not know who they were dealing with. They got fed hollywood stories about “drunken good for nothing Ruskies”. I’ll stop here.
    - Anonius on September 28, 2017 · at 5:09 pm EST/EDT
      
      @LZ,
      This may be good for those of all ages and not only the ones over mid-60’s. RI just posted a rerun of an article about Russian effort on the Vietnam war. I would like to point out that although they are talking about North Vietnam, majority of those weapons ended up in the hands of VC, which forced the USofA to run for it’s life. Remainder to all those younger ones, Russia extended a helping hand by allowing Kissinger negotiate a face saving exit.
      
      Enjoy,
      http://russia-insider.com/en/vietnam-war-critical-role-russian-weapons/6357
      
      BTW:
      Watching VVP’s behaviour I can see him as being the only one, in modern days, with cavalier qualities books write about.
Ralph Conner on September 21, 2017 · at 6:32 pm EST/EDT

My my, no longer worried about bruising egos! This I believe, is in conjunction with the previous statements pointing out that 1: the attacks SAA is repelling come from U.S. assets and 2: nobody’s fighting ISIS in the SDF’s zone. (Raqqa’s political theatre.) Now that the world’s informed, (and they’re not as stupid as media would have us believe) Russia can proceed to address the culprits directly. And if dumb Americans like me can see this, (thank you Saker) the architects that engineer this part of the US’s foriegn policy world is getting smaller and smaller. And it’s not as though anyone in the US Gov (maybe any Gov) isn’t aware of the neocon coup. They seem to be engineering their last, desperate acts before they get banished back under the refrigerator like the roaches they are.
- Kando on November 28, 2017 · at 10:38 am EST/EDT
  
  US just know how to bomb empty building they said they bomb Isis but after that Isis still made huge advance .
Auslander on September 21, 2017 · at 6:34 pm EST/EDT

When I first read of Russian ‘MP’ units being stuck out in the middle of nowhere on ‘peace keeping’ duty and then saw these ‘Military Police’ as they took up their stations my thought was they are bait and they knew they are bait. These are not what The West would consider MP’s, these were some pretty tough looking hombres.

The situations in Syria are slowly escalating to an almost uncontrollable level. Never forget, Russian Armed Forces are the only legitimate military units in Syria besides the Syrian Armed Forces. All other forces, both ‘indigenous’ rebels and their nato coalition helpers are in violation of international and un rules and regulations, both sets of laws and regulations all of the coalition countries have signed and agreed to abide by. As for US forces, each and every serving American armed forces member who does anything involving this illegal war against a sovereign state, Syria, is in violation of numerous sections of UCMJ, the US Armed Forces Universal Code of Military Justice, and as such is open to prosecution and imprisonment for these actions. This responsibility goes from the lowliest mess hall server all the way up to the top brass in Pentagon and stops at that tastefully ornate desk in the Oval Office. That would be the desk at which the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the United States of America sits.

This same chain of command and responsibility is extant in every nato and affiliated country and they all have the equivalent of UCMJ, therefore EVERY sitting head of a nato country involved in this illegal war and slaughter in Syria is just as responsible for every death in Syria as the lowest ranker in their armies and everyone in between. As an aside, the ‘I was just following orders’ gig went out the window at Nuremburg starting in June of 1945. Those who have started and prosecuted this slaughter in Syria, in Irak, in Libya, in Afghan, in Chechnya, in Beslan, in Yugoslavia, in Viet Nam, in Kampuchea, in Korea (yeah, I know, ‘un mandate’) are all guilty, equally guilty. As an aside, I’ve never found any reference to a statute of limitations for war crimes. Perhaps some of our golden pheasants should ruminate over that fact. Aside #2, when they are shooting at you when you leave, you lost. Perhaps Foggy Bottom should think about that statement and remember that they are still being shot at in Korea, they were being shot at when they left Chechnya, Afghan (ongoing), Libya, Irak, Yugoslavia, Kampuchea, Viet Nam, etc etc.

OK, rant over. Syria and Russian MP’s. Apparently the bait trick worked and Brand X broke cover and with heavy artillery cover, numerous tanks, several Grad systems and more than a few foot borne fighters tried to putz with Russians. Considering the locale the slaughter was epic and the ‘old sergeant’s jungle telegraph’ is espousing that some special foreigners bit the big on in this debacle, just as some ‘special people’ did not make it out of Debaltsyevo in early ’15. You can’t fix stupid and stupid they were…and are.

At the same time as this noisy little feint happened there was a neat little attempt to cut off SAA near Deir Essor, this to keep SAA and Russian forces from taking the oil and gas rich areas east of the river, IOW sovereign Syrian Land. That would be the resources that Brand X uses to help finance, in addition to Washington DC monies, their hideous war in Syria and that they sell to Turkey at bargain basement prices. That didn’t work either and now we have the Russian Minister of Defense laying out chapter and verse what will happen when the next attempt to stop, read attack, Syrian Arab Army and it’s allies Russian Federation, Iran and Hezzbula in their conquest of the still terrorist occupied areas of Syria.

I really hope the PTB in Foggy Bottom are listening to what MoD of Russia told them. I can assure you Russia is not joking, not threatening, not halfheartedly appealing to reason because there is no reasoning with you. MoD has laid out chapter and verse what will happen. Test his resolve, and in effect the resolve of President V V Putin, at your own risk.

Auslander
Author

Never The Last One http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK Love And Honor, Courage And Treachery. A Small War Fought In A Dark Corner Of A Vast Land.

An Incident On Simonka https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
- bandit on September 21, 2017 · at 9:41 pm EST/EDT
  
  Thank you. Your information is extremely valuable to me.
- Larchmonter445 on September 21, 2017 · at 10:11 pm EST/EDT
  
  Spot on, Auslander. And thanks for the tidbits of insider info. Reading you always requires a filter for Intel and a filter for a true translation. Each deliver “news” and “realism” distilled from your comment and based on your locale in Crimea.
  
  We saw thrice in the big cauldrons of Donbass how the Russians deal with the enemy. By stealth, maneuver, field marshalling expertise and morale, they utterly destroy the transgressor.
  
  Syria will finish this way also. The Americans are clueless and may suffer like Ukies and NATO did at Debaltsevo.
  
  Hell awaits them, that is a certainty. And unlike Donbass, it will also arrive by air and missiles.
  - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 9:06 pm EST/EDT
    
    That’s a sad prediction Brother…all those poor fellas getting… Well, yes, but…
    
    It’s still horrible. no?
    
    But sure, you’re spot on. That’s the Fates… Clear as Sunrise. My guess is a Big Naval Defeat…but why stop at that? The fellas get-a-goin’ an’ may overdo the job. It happens. And there’s the added value of the missile demonstrations! Film at 11…
    
    And then…What?
    
    That”secondary” prospect remains pretty dark, does it not?
    
    And, on a good day, with God’s smile perhaps, rare men operate in that secondary arena…some are Judo Masters…How else?
    
    It is the Peace that’s at stake, the war’s determined already, probably….depending on the breaks… But without the Peace there’s no reason for the war, is there?
    
    They say that there are many messengers from God, …. What’s wrong about the Judo?
    
    Quiz on Friday…you tell me.
    
    LZ
- Anonymous on September 21, 2017 · at 11:22 pm EST/EDT
  
  The principle in law is that there is no statute of limitation, not is there a prohibitions on double jeopardy – and jurisdiction is universal. A party may, howver, be punished only once for a given crime…very compassionate,,,and who says? “The Laws of War”, Reisman and Antoniou…
  
  Now, with that and 20 bucks…
  
  Yet, I have the idea that there are lists being drawn…Ivan said so…did he not?
  - Auslander on September 22, 2017 · at 6:12 am EST/EDT
    
    Yes, it is my understanding that lists of names, dates, clear documented evidences of crimes, all will be ready when needed and these lists include Syria, Novorossiya, Odessa, Beslan, Chechnya, Yugoslavia, Libya, Irak and Afghan to name not all.
    
    Auslander
    - LZ99 on September 22, 2017 · at 2:19 pm EST/EDT
      
      I am very glad to hear that, “Mr Aus”. On my part it is merely informed opinion…
      
      Last time the denazification was incomplete…so…well, it’s simple to see that the job still needs doin’ eh? Read the story of Otto John…and note the lies about the affair…and the subtlety!
      
      Of course, one does not necessarily want to do more than simply say it, clearly, one time, just for the records – so after the war there can be no mealy-mouthed whining about “I didn’t know…”
      
      After that, and that is done, then there is the matter of helping the empire become stable in whatever new configurations the Fates desire…quite probably a form of divide and rule supervised by….well, most Americans would be easier to police if the MP’s…obviously the denazification policy would dovetail… It’s simply details…
      
      Pax
      
      LZ
Mathias on September 21, 2017 · at 6:38 pm EST/EDT

“It is all a Matter of Class…A look back at the US-USSR relationship prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union can be instructive here. Despite its much smaller economy and the notoriously inefficient bureaucratic rule of those earlier days, the Soviet Union was able to resist or react to US aggressions more robustly than Russia can today. Why? Because in spite of their bureaucratic and corrupt character, the ruling circles of the time spoke with one voice in dealing with imperialistic Western powers. To deal with the challenges posed by the United States and its allies, they tried (and to a large extent succeeded) to become as economically self-sufficient as possible and, therefore, as independent or immune to global market fluctuations as possible. This stood in sharp contrast to today’s situation where Russia’s economy has become (largely through the economic power and behavior of oligarchs) intertwined with Western economies and, therefore, vulnerable to global market vacillations and threats of economic sanctions. The unified and cohesive foreign policy decisions of the Soviet era also stood in sharp contrast to today’s divided economic policies and geopolitical positions in Russia—where the financial aristocracy gladly accommodates the geopolitical and economic designs of Western powers, and is eagerly willing to implement policies of neoliberal economics in Russia.

In the same fashion that the emergence of financial elites in Russia has weakened its defenses against economic, geopolitical and military adventures of the US and its allies, so has the emergence of financial oligarchies in countries such as China and Iran undermined their ability to resist such imperialistic adventures, or to more vigorously defend their sovereignty.”

-Ismael Hossein-zadeh, Professor Emeritus of Economics (Drake University)

https://ismaelhossein-zadeh.com/putin-blinks/
- LZ99 on September 24, 2017 · at 1:08 pm EST/EDT
  
  Marxist analysis, yes, it is incomplete science and has flaws, but Marxist analysis of the class conflicts as they run in the world and in the several States (Ru etc) does reveal quite a bit that’s otherwise difficult to see.
  
  Is tool, not ideology.
  
  All History, the old man says, can be explained….well, there’s an error…but he has a point…no?
  
  Class interests and so forth do drive some horses…interests like Rockefeller’s against your own…
  
  Pax
  
  LZ
  - Anonymous on September 25, 2017 · at 6:53 pm EST/EDT
    
    Marx was the first to say: ‘I am not a Marxist’. Why? Because Marxism is not dialectic; Marxism is dogmatic and for this reason it can’t see the changes of times. Marx was dialectic, that is, materialist dialectic. The author cited above from Drakes University is a Marxist, not a materialist dialectic thinker as Marx. He missed Hegel. He missed…
Bente Petersen on September 21, 2017 · at 6:42 pm EST/EDT

The American are like hyenas, not guts, waiting form someone to do the kill and then they go for a bite…

They do NOT want war with Russia….

Do not fear … Putin and his team have handled and will handle all … right thing at the right moment… they are just warming up… don’t forget Putin is a Judo Master he is not the one to blink first… it is not a sport but a philosophy… he is letting the USA show their true intentions – and then when times come he whams them out of there…
- LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 6:31 pm EST/EDT
  
  I recollect a road trip…we wuz goin’ to Reno…but ended up in Vegas…map error…we did not want to go to Vegas…
  
  The point is that what people, elites or otherwise, want is not always what they get – ‘cus they went the wrong way… ie they were delusional; “lost” they will tell you. But delusional people often wind up fubar’d
  
  so what? Well, when it is written “They do NOT want war with Russia….” I smile sadly.
  
  What they want matters zero. What they got is war with Ru – ongoing, and murka’s losing.
  
  War began at Kiev. Overture was Yugoslavia…but Ru was unable to act decisively back then…still one is inclined to speculate on the delayed after effects of Yugoslavia to-day.
  
  How much was VVP motivated by that OTAN crime?
  
  In Strategy the indirect effects dominate over time. This is why amateurs use direct force as primary machine. Experts use indirect, generally economic and logistical, steadily and with moral purpose, keeping their word and doing as they must do. The indirect effect of Yugoslavia… The empire telegraphed it’s intent… And everybody knows what’s next, so there is cathodic response. How else?
  
  That’s why the US is losing. Essentially they must lose, and have already lost, because of their own moral defects (which are manifest). Ru could lose the same way. Anybody can lose this way. Of course the demonstration of the facts will take a bit longer…
Ernesti on September 21, 2017 · at 6:44 pm EST/EDT

Sad to say that Russia is weak because there are too many powerful oligarchs. This is the main reason why Russia is not at all independent unlike common myth makers here are suggesting. It’s just wet dream. Soviet U was much much more independent than Putin’s Russia.

Ask yourself what has so called BRICS done to help Russia in case of Ukraine, Syria and all these list of western sanctions?
- Auslander on September 21, 2017 · at 7:26 pm EST/EDT
  
  The world changes and SSSR is no more. VVP inherited a disaster and to be blunt he has put the epaulets back on. Russia is anything but weak, witness the Russian flag flying over my city of Sevastopol. If Russia was weak the US flag would be flying here, that was the end all and be all of the debacle in maidan. It ain’t, so if nothing else by default Russia is more strong than USA. We are Russian now, not American.
  
  You need to read what I publish for a bit of a more in depth understanding of Russia than you have.
  
  Auslander
  Author
  
  Never The Last One http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK Love And Honor, Courage And Treachery. A Small War Fought In A Dark Corner Of A Vast Land.
  
  An Incident On Simonka https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
  - Mish on September 23, 2017 · at 9:31 am EST/EDT
    
    Auslander, where can i read “what you publish” apart from your books? Do you have a blog? Ican’t buy stuff on amazon, being in Russia. They don’t deliver to Russia. Or maybe they do now, but i’ve had a very upsetting experience where a big package of stuff from the US (privately mailed, not by Amazon) disappeared en route. Anyway, where can i get your books in English, in Russia? P.S. I visited Sevastopol this summer, late july early august. Made me very proud to see how a lot of Soviet symbols, possibly all of them are still in place, including Lenin bas-reliefs and the Doska Pochyota. Some households flying Soviet flags. Popular sentuiment very pro-Russian, pro-Soviet, patriotic. They use Soviet textbooks in school in Sevastopol! Could i possibly hook up with you on email? Mine is: spimisha@mail.ru
    - Auslander on September 23, 2017 · at 2:08 pm EST/EDT
      
      Mish, all you have to do is click on the link to either of my books, click ‘look inside’ and the email to contact me is on the first page after the title. Email is mail.ru and I am here every day.
      
      Much of what I write now is here on Saker Blog, just search ‘Auslander’ and most will come up.
      
      Pity we could not meet when you were here in summer. With all it’s troubles this is a very nice little city, very patriotic and very respectful of the history, all of it, in this area and in Russia. My wife and I are very active with a local museum and our Church in helping preserve the history and knowledge of events here.
      
      Auslander
      - Anonymous on September 25, 2017 · at 6:57 pm EST/EDT
        
        Fascinating, Auslander. I wish I could meet you too, someday…
- Red Ryder on September 21, 2017 · at 7:50 pm EST/EDT
  
  FYI, sir, the BRICS are not an alliance. They have never intended to be anything more than a group unified by their economic development levels below the fully developed economies. They have come together to work economically not militarily.
  
  Russia does not need any nation or groups to come aid them.
  What they needed they received from China, economic help in the crunch. Now the two have entwined their destinies in a unique relationship of economics, anti-terror (SCO) and military defense. But that too, is not an alliance.
  
  Russia’s attitude and needs are met by its own resources.
  
  The oligarchs of Russia were marginalized long ago by Putin. They mostly ran for cover in London, Geneva, Cyprus and Tel Aviv.
  
  The fact is from 1991, Russia began as a Federaton with a heavily damaged economy and a subverted society. Putin has been repairing both.
  
  Mix in some reading about the history of the RF and the Putin years.
Hugo on September 21, 2017 · at 6:46 pm EST/EDT

Hi there the Saker,

First of all, great commentary. I think the reasons why the West is going crazy are more financially driven/motivated. Even Holland (where Iam from) has joined the war crimes in Syria sadly. Let me elaborate, the Iraq war was indeed about oil but not in the way most think. It was ment to keep the oil in the ground so the price of oil could be driven high and thus more demand for petro dollars and thus extending the life of the dollar.

The Iran sanctions have the same goal, keep the price of oil high in Dollar terms and thus America can export its inflation! This strategy ofcourse helped Russia big time and added her means to rebuild to what it is now. When the big financial collapse happend it took America a while to understand that high oil prices had two big disadvantages. 1) It helped Russia and 2) the world could not pay them prices and that would end the petro dollar as well.

What is known in America is that their reserve currency status would end one day anyway since not gold based. Hence they! created the EUro so that would become the next reserve currency since it is issued from a free floating price of gold instead of being issued from US treasuries. Like the Yen for example.

Fortunately China and to a lesser extend Russia did not fall for it. This year the balance of power seems to be shifting. The Dollar is in (for THE reserve currency) in free fall this year. The BIS even leased and swapped 500 tons of physical gold yeat to date to support the Dollar but even that cannot stop its relentless decline. So to me Syria is the symbolic country that shows the world is ready for a paradigma shift based on a few decades long trends. Most of the whole EUrasian continent (and the rest of the BRICS not there) now issues their currency from gold and not the US treasury any more. China made that move last year btw. So to me it signals utter panic in western financial circles.

The handing over to the EUro as reseve currency failed and now the east is not going to get it either. Gold is, truely a sign of an honerable multi polar world. Japan, England to name the two very powerfull nations besides America will fall big time since they refused to join this initiative. To circle back to Syria, now it is for all to see that the multi polar world can and will defend an ally so if you run a country, you can now defy the west and its 500 year ”reign of terror” I hope my ramble made some sense since hard for me (I dont have your writing skills)

Regards,
Hugo
- Larchmonter445 on September 21, 2017 · at 10:19 pm EST/EDT
  
  Hugo,
  The best review of the facts of life of the petrodollar!
  Thanks for a succinct report.
  The US is running out of time. The vast bubbles the financialization of everything has wrought are poised to pop.
  
  You nailed it.
- One Tribe on September 22, 2017 · at 2:06 am EST/EDT
  
  Thanx.
  Though I have a rough idea of the falling US trade currency, I didn’t know the trend was already so well established and the fall currently in process.
  Very readable/understandable (btw).
  - Hugo on September 22, 2017 · at 5:21 pm EST/EDT
    
    Hello Larchmonter445 and One Tribe,
    
    Thank you for your kind words. If the Saker blog wants me to expand it into a guest post I be happy to do so. Then I will expand it to why the coup in Brazil is not such a big issue as some think it is. How the current (corrupted) concept of ”money” pits countries against eachother and how ordinary people can use their money to join the fight against the petro dollar. Maybe some other things as well. It will be hard to write so it will take some time
    
    Regards,
    Hugo
    - Avarachan on September 23, 2017 · at 1:48 am EST/EDT
      
      Hi Hugo, please do write this article. I’m interested, and I’m sure others are, as well. I’m particularly interested in your thoughts regarding Brazil.
      - Hugo on September 24, 2017 · at 2:54 pm EST/EDT
        
        Hi Avarachan
        
        Its pretty easy, there are actually two different monetary systems on this planet now. The old one, still based on the post WW2 standard where a country issues its currency from USS treasuries. A country doing that is totally dependant on the US dollar. After all, if the Dollar fails, that countries currency will also fail. Thus that country will be forced to support the Dollar big time. As the treasury secratary treasury secretary John Connally of the Nixon administation said well ”it is our currency but your problem”.
        
        That system ensures total slavery to the American empire. Making sure that on the most fundamental level a country has to export more to America then it imports thus via their currency a guaranteed vassal. Brazil adopted the currency system the Europeans introduced with the EUro. A currency issued from gold. Once a country issues their currency from gold, it does not have to support the Americans/dollar. Ofcourse it can choose to do so but considering local political issues, its way less likely.
        
        So even though there was a coup in Brazil, it does not matter to much. Since they now issue their currency from gold, the monetary system realignment means they are not by design a vassal anymore. Now its a political choice. Not a nessecary thing to keep the countries currency alive anymore.
        
        Hope this explains it enough. If not, feel free to ask!
        
        regards,
        Hugo
    - M on September 24, 2017 · at 1:01 pm EST/EDT
      
      would love to read your take on “dedollarisation” and the rise of multi-polar world
      - Hugo on September 25, 2017 · at 5:10 pm EST/EDT
        
        Hi M,
        
        I would say it is not so much dedollarisation but the world is ready to replace the failing currency regime in place since the late 1400 era needs a complete overhaul and they spend decades preparing for it. As far as I have been able to trace it back, at least since the early 1970’s. Within that system one needs a reserve currency but we know due to its dynamic, The reserve currency in question dies every 100 years or so. Leaving the issuing empire with a totally hollowed out economy once it collapses under its own weight. Thats why no one wants to be the new reserve currency.
        
        It was actually China by purchasing massive amounts of US treasuries since the introduction of the Euro that helped to keep the (petro) Dollar alive. This allowed them and other friendly states likes the many ”stans” and Russia to aquire massive amounts of gold to get on equal footing with the EU(ro) countries or even surpass them in real money, gold.
        
        What you also have to keep in mind is that the eastern mind does not see money the same way as we see it. In the West people think it is good to save money in the currency itself for long term. Not realising it pits people, communities and even countries against eachother. This because almost all currency is issued as debt. When you save that long term you deprive the borrower the means of paying back the loan. Besides that, there is no final extinguisher or debt meaning debts always have to grow since the interest to be paid is not yet created. This means, all debts have to go parabolical in the end (gosh, what are we seeing now, smile).
        
        India, where one in seven people alive on the planet live have that totally in their ”cultural mindset” for centuries, maybe even milennia. Currency is for spending, gold for (long term) saving. So what is happening the last decades is creating the foundations for a lasting, multi polar world where goods and services produced matter. Solving a few fundamental problems we have for well over 500 years. Quite the paradigma shift isnt it? This goes way beyond dedollarisation, dont you think? Dedollarisation is something the world, including Russia and China actually fought hard to actually keep in place to position themselfs well for a world after the dollar inevitable collapses. Now they are all just accepting what will happen anyway.
        
        Hope this answers your question a bit! If not, feel free to ask more questions.
        
        Regards,
        Hugo
        
        .
    - Rita Lamar on September 25, 2017 · at 7:12 pm EST/EDT
      
      Hi, Hugo, are you an economist? I am very interested in your views about Brazil. After the coup, the new corrupt government is privatizing many resources. They are fast destroying every policy of the previous PT government. If you see any light at the end of this tunnel, please tell us…
      - Hugo on September 26, 2017 · at 6:09 pm EST/EDT
        
        Hi Rita Lamar,
        
        As I tend to joke, it took me fours years to become an economist and 8 years to unlearn being an economist (smile). I cannot comment on how things are going in Brazil since I do not follow it closely. What I do think, is that the privitasation vs nationalisation is a ruse since I think power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There are ofcourse exeptions to that but once they are not in power anymore, the rot begins or accelerates as Brazil does at the moment.
        
        I do see light at the end of the tunnel. In Europe there are many movements aiming for decentralisation. The more decentralised an economy is, the less prone to corruption it is. Once the paradigma shift in our money concept is finished. People will have an extra powerfull tool to fight corruption via their own money.
        
        I think good examples of that are Uber and Airbnb. They bring together a customer and a enterpreneur and both have to agree to the rules. Once they do, they treat them as adults that can think etc for themselfs. Besides that they ask only a very small fee for their services. Models like that, I hope, have the future.
        
        I hope this gives you some hope.
        
        Regards,
        Hugo
Anonymous on September 21, 2017 · at 6:51 pm EST/EDT

I’ll never forget Mark-1 Plumber’s truck sold in Texas winding up with ISIS in Syria.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10eea4ad7ced8bc2afe5821d9d323219b2a52949d6a14910bc91c0b7c72e2625.jpg?w=800&h=328
How a Texas plumber’s truck wound up in ISIS’ hands?
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-12-15/how-texas-plumbers-truck-wound-isis-hands
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/us/terror-truck-lawsuit/
Matija on September 21, 2017 · at 6:58 pm EST/EDT

Can someone please comment on the number of casualties and consequences of such a loss. 850 offensive troops, 11 (battle ready) tanks, etc. seems incredibly high and could have a strategic impact. Does this change the balance of forces compared to SAA? What about between other “rebel” groups? Does this mean Idlib/Hama area is secure for now and SAA can concentrate on Deir-Ezzor? Thanks!
- Wendigo on September 21, 2017 · at 9:47 pm EST/EDT
  
  Well, the terrorists just lost a battalion of assault troops. How much damage that is to them depends on their depth. Don’t remember what al-Nusra’s effective strength averages, but anything smaller than a division and those fighters will be sorely missed.
  - Larchmonter445 on September 21, 2017 · at 10:25 pm EST/EDT
    
    They have around 20,000 fighters, maybe 25,000 in Idlib province. With them are their “families”, thousands of women and children.
    Recall that thousands were bused in green buses from Aleppo and from the Damascus clearings.
    
    They have been decimated along the Jordan and Lebanon border.
    There are 4000-8000 Uyghurs with them in Idlib and Hama regions, with some in the Raqqa region.
    
    Recent photos of dead fighters clearly shows Uyghurs.
    - LZ99 on September 23, 2017 · at 10:52 am EST/EDT
      
      Precision in language is, they say, important – after all, if you would speak, let us be precise and clear about the terms. accurate…
      “Decimate” means to eliminate one in ten…is this the meaning you intend?
      
      The term comes from, obviously, Roman military doctrine. This called for tactical or strategic retreat or similar maneuvers when the operating force was reduced by one in ten, “decimated”.
      
      It means that the sitrep is going toward fubar, and ya better cut yer losses or you will soon yourself become fubar’d. Possibly permanently…
      
      It is a nice term, in arithmetic.
      
      In present war “decimate” has almost no meaning – the infernal machines men now use often create situations where the men are lucky if any survive an operation, let alone 90%
Banger on September 21, 2017 · at 7:19 pm EST/EDT

Fortunately for the Syrians, Russians and Iranian forces the U.S. military is incompetently led and, also, filled with deep divisions and this goes all the way to senior civilian leadership as well. The role of the U.S. military is to make sure they have enemies and make money for the MIC. So the Russians need not worry too much. Had the Americans been competently led they would have risked war from the beginning of the Russian involvement and instituted a no-fly zone and so on. The failure of the U.S. acting after the 2014 gas “attack” doomed the whole enterprise to failure. However, the default stance is that as long as tensions persist and ordinance is used up–they are happy. I don’t think there is a consensus to go to war against Russia or China or even Iran. The Chinese once called the U.S. a paper-tiger–it still is.
Edward on September 21, 2017 · at 7:41 pm EST/EDT

This is a situation where it probably would not be that hard for some party to engineer a conflict between the U.S. and Russia.
michael houston on September 21, 2017 · at 7:57 pm EST/EDT

As i stated regarding another post…..the Americans are in full DWI force….driven onward in total “blackout”…..beyond rational…..beyond normal critical situational awareness…..full speed ahead oblivious of the signs…..the warnings….the resultant end consequences of their actions….and its not just the military that is under the influence…..its the general American population….it’s the members in congress….the pentagon…..the cia…the lowly soldier…..the president….its a whole culture swallowed up in some kind of perverted dance to “exceptionalism”…..their house…..their homes….are soon to be engulfed in flames of financial collapse….their entire known world is about to become a pile of twisted wreckage…..their dollar a valueless shunned piece of paper…where the faces on every denomination are quickly being dis-recognized….forgotten….unremembered…..alien….yet they cheer when some aged hollywood character tells them”that they are at war with Russia”…..!!!!!…..in the end we reap what we sow….and in that is the “just desert”….
- lb on September 22, 2017 · at 8:17 pm EST/EDT
  
  i fear that’s the whole point: the mindless would much rather swim in nucler fallout than go out of pocket.
  
  p.s . my sense is that the coinciding diabolical address by the aged actor was planned as ” cream on top” of the hoped to certainly succeed, but thankfully failed attack action on russian mp…just imagine, had the attack worked, how high would the braindead now fly on the wings of their sick “victory”. morgan freeman would be playing on all msm sewer networks, blasting from tops of all minarets in saudis and elsewhere.
Penny on September 21, 2017 · at 9:05 pm EST/EDT

This is definitely a frightening situation. I see the reaction in Idlib in two ways- First, of course, to aid the besieged. Second the harsh reaction was, in my opinion, a message to the US regarding Deir ez Zor. Will the US heed it? That’s anyone’s guess.

Partitioning the country of Syria was always – The Plan.
It was the reason that ISIS tracked into Syria via Iraq in a manner directly related to, and along the geographical lines of the planned for Kurdistan or as I like to and have called it for years- Israel 2.0

I started covering the possibility of Plan A as early as in 2012. However, the goal became much certain, much more obvious to me in 2015.

Kurdistan NATO’s new Southern Flank from 2014
http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.ca/2014/11/kurdistan-natos-new-southern-flank.html

The American’s aren’t hiding behind the Kurdish militias. There standing alongside them- As they have for years… How else to explain such widespread & unrealistic perception/romanticization of these drug running, human smuggling terrorists as ‘freedom fighters’ with liberty and freedom for all- And girls with guns- As an exercise in perception management aka public relations the Kurdish militias have been graced with every benefit one could possibly elicit from all the media. Social. Regular. Hollywood. Bernard Henri Levy. That can only occur if you are ‘chosen’ (not talking about the regular folk, who are less then fussy about the PKK/TAK/YPG what ever brand of the day they’re using)
- Zena on September 21, 2017 · at 10:56 pm EST/EDT
  
  “The American’s aren’t hiding behind the Kurdish militias. They’re standing alongside them”
  
  Yes and now we are at the heart of the problem – as the layers of proxies are destroyed and peel away, we find – it was America all along.
  
  In this development of the stern warning from Moscow, we are perhaps overlooking what it is that makes major confrontation seem inevitable – the Syrian army.
  They are charged with and must seek to liberate the whole country and thus fight with any who violently oppose them.
  If the US attacks the SAA as it advances east the SAA will have to respond.
  Where such a scenario will leave the Russians is flexible but for the SAA, if the US tries to stop them, Syria and the US will be at war.
  - RMM on September 22, 2017 · at 1:08 am EST/EDT
    
    And that’s what the Zionazis want: something to trigger that war, and damn the consequences.
    That’s what is frightening. How to deal with someone who just wants chaos…
  - Anonius on September 22, 2017 · at 1:13 am EST/EDT
    
    Well said, although I think that Syria and it’s allies will try to avoid direct confrontation against the master sh*t disturber. First they’ll try to get the others out of the way, because right now there are to many fronts.
- WizOz on September 22, 2017 · at 7:47 am EST/EDT
  
  Hi Penny,
  
  Look above at 4:22 amUTC.
  - Penny on September 22, 2017 · at 11:09 pm EST/EDT
    
    Hey WizOz!
    
    We had talked about that news last week- The Israeli media was presenting it as Fake news from Turkey- It most assuredly was not- I relinked in the comment section a post from 2016- quoting directly from Israeli news, who at that time, were openly suggesting the descendants of Kurdish jews should hightail it back to Kurdistan.
    I’ll drag my comment here, which was a response to another individual, but it fit your comment succinctly
    
    “I saw the article and I saw Israel was decrying it as fake news- but is it?
    
    Here’s a post from 2016:
    
    quoting from Israeli news
    
    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/212048
    
    “Autonomous Iraqi Kurds appeal to descendants of former residents, promising Jews will be ‘freer and safer’ there than in much of Europe.
    Looking to distinguish itself from the rest of Iraq and deepen ties with the Kurdish diaspora, the autonomous region of Kurdistan is courting religious minorities, including Jews.
    Some 300,000 Jews are descended from refugees who fled the region after the establishment of Israel in 1948. Today, most of them live in Israel, though a small community, numbering perhaps several hundred families, still exists in Kurdistan. Few if any practice any form of Judaism, but a sizable portion identify as “Kurdish-Jews” and in recent years have sought to reconnect with their Jewish roots.
    In recent months the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has made overtures to religious minorities including Jews, Yazidis, Bahai, and Zoroastrians….”
    
    It’s quite plausible according to Israeli media.
    The Israeli media was reporting, in 2016, that 300,000 Kurdish jew descendants reside in Israel- It’s not outrageous to consider that a whole bunch of them may head back to Iraq- lots of stolen Arab land to take as their own.
    
    Since Kurdistan is Israel 2.0 and Israel has been very clear for years now they fully support this creation which of course means dissolution of 4 existing nation states and all the death, destruction and displacement that entails- It should come as no surprise that Israel will promptly move as many of the tribe as possible- To all that land cleared of Arabs and Christians
    As history repeats itself….
    - WizOz on September 23, 2017 · at 2:32 am EST/EDT
      
      Thanks Penny,
      
      I try to retrieve a short historical presentation I made on your blog about ‘history repeating itself’ in the former land of Adiabene.
      
      Please respect this is the Saker’s blog and comment section. This discussion should be taking place on the other blog and not here. Thx. Mod
Wendigo on September 21, 2017 · at 9:33 pm EST/EDT

Trust the Saker to read the geopolitics and not focus on the military action itself, as fascinating as that is. To do so is is misdirected and textbook MSM, though in this case extremely tempting! Good work.
bandit on September 21, 2017 · at 9:38 pm EST/EDT

Well, this seems as good a time as any to lay down some smoke. Anybody care to join me? It’s an effective strategy, last employed in 2006, and despite pundit’s assertions it would never work, Congress stood down and surrendered, abandoning the “sure thing” of a National Amnesty for Illegal Aliens. Of course, the issue at hand has much farther reaching implications, including holding the very lives of thousands of innocents literally at gunpoint.

My patience has grown thin, and I must admit I have very strong feelings about this event and its actors. I’m always pleasant at the beginning of a rage, and I don’t wish to exclude anyone, but I must insist you be US citizens.

In my most insistent manner, in fact, I strongly urge each of you in that group to do so as in the example quoted below. Now.

“In response to continued illegal aggression by US Military Forces in Syria, including the construction of twelve military bases without permission, I’m serving notice to my Senators and Representative that unless they move to repeal the 2001 AUMF within one week, I will demand their resignation or announce to the public they will be let go for dereliction of duty.”

Thank you, and have a nice day …
- One Tribe on September 22, 2017 · at 2:14 am EST/EDT
  
  How do we get this plan out!
  I still think a co-ordinated one-day-long Google boycott would be well-worth the effort.
  
  The email-in protest
  
  Some kind of a viral meme would be useful.
  
  Think of maximally effective dates for the timing.
  - bandit on September 22, 2017 · at 3:14 pm EST/EDT
    
    Well, sir, I think co-ordinating your targets with this message is ingenious – people like their toys, that is. They’re on them everyday.
    
    You ask, “How do we get this plan out!” Which plan do you refer to, sir? I assume you refer to a “Fire Your Congressperson Day”, excluding Rep. Barbara Lee, of course? she wrote the initial repeal amendment of this Congress. She was also the lone Nay vote in all of Congress that passed the fateful 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.
    
    That resolution was limited to only the pursuit of the 9/11 conspirators – and nothing more.
    
    We can see how the order has been misaligned for the past 16 years resulting in countless horrors I won’t elaborate on. We’re all on the same page here.
    
    I’ve just begun to urge people to contact their Congressperson with this message;
    Replace the Senator or Representative if they continue to allow Congress to skirt responsibility by:
    
    a) allowing these illegal military intrusions to continue,
    b) failure to reconsider the motion to repeal the 2001 AUMF. (after a committee approval, the motion was tabled by Representative Paul Ryan)
    c) their deliberate avoidance of their Constitutionally mandated duty.
    
    most assuredly this is the law that has been broken, ignored and forgotten, at the expense thousands upon thousands of lives and treasure. I thought the opportunity was nigh upon President Trump’s election. I realized I wasn’t finished the night he ordered the Tomahawk missile attack on a Syrian air base. Not finished for the fact I was twice a delegate for Ron Paul’s Presidential campaigns with the same goals in mind .
    
    As for “viral memes”; I attempted to promote a meme on the most notorious of social media spaces, Facebook, hoping it would go viral. It had ten volunteers in the first five minutes. I must have caught them at home..
    
    My intent to target a market; self-described “Liberals” of a mind to value signal their solidarity, for a bland, non-threatening message that made mindful use of their timelines … #PostForPeace. Someone even made a logo! Exponential increases in shares, yes, that was intended – as well as the #AUMF meme to coordinate after. A sort of bait and switch – in a good way.
    
    Unfortunately, as outlined in several journals at the time, CNN and others among them, my launch coordinated with some changes in algorithms designed to create more diversity in the FB community. They were introduced as well to censor, splitting people apart and at odds with one another. If I would have been forewarned, I’d have known my account would shut down for a week without contact or explanation.
    
    eventually, I thought it wise to close the account, or suspending it as they say. I was unable to receive any Internet service after awhile. A shame to lose the opportunity. over a … glitch.
    
    Hadn’t thought of dates specifically; more of a groundswell, but where? I blog, and read news and commentary at a financial site that was listed in the WaPo as a Russian propaganda organ. The blog has a small but dedicated following more related to Japananese poetics than Western politics. Still, the topic garners pageviews in excess of other content with new visitors arriving – A third are from Russia, a smaller number from Ukraine. I write in English.
    
    The news site registers its commentator’s pseudonyms. Though they have a circulation numbering in the millions, the Club atmosphere seems enamored with a certain fatalistic outlook.
    
    I’ve made my presence known there, long enough not to be rejected by the core community who post there. Any such constraints taken are of a pragmatism tempered with disdain – you’d have to cut off their arms to get them all to respond – if they’re in, then their existence is meaningful – put up or shut up. Many are reluctant to commit to anything, preferring to exchange Doom scenarios.
    Debate has shown some the fallacy of their ways, but it’s an uphill battle, requiring leadership by example – and aggressive challenges to reasoning.
    
    The premise is so simple; it’s worked before, and against overwhelming odds. It only requires numbers.
    
    Organizing attendance at a location is difficult. That type of activism requiring gall as well as commitment. You have to show your face when you get there. Defining what a turnout will be is daunting; we don’t pay our attendees. A cameraman might show up and photograph varying numbers of people. It seems those who follow the law are outnumbered, and for a few seconds exposure amidst a rapid procession of sound bytes. Your effort is limited to a single date, also.
    
    My note, above, was exploratory, the tone deliberate. Level heads might not respond to the challenge. Fight Club would challenge you back just for the tone. How many responses do I see?
    
    59 comments currently, one positive response. Nice to meet you – stranger. Have I seen you round these parts …?
    
    Without verifiable numbers, I have to hope the theme will trickle down. I’m not going back to Facebook – I’m too afraid! My intuition tells me so. Must I lose the advantage of a familiar tag, text or slogan to a CIA funded data mining operation? Let’s hope not.
    
    Btw, a Google boycott is pure genius. At this juncture, we need participation, and that of a personal kind.
    
    https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-barbara-lee-denounces-republican-leaderships-decision-to-strip-aumf-repeal-amendment
teranam13 on September 21, 2017 · at 9:38 pm EST/EDT

The US forces are not going anywhere soon because the pot needs more stirring.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/private-corporations-will-benefit-kurdish-independence/
Peter from Oz on September 21, 2017 · at 10:06 pm EST/EDT

Things are dicey indeed.

If relative world “peace” can be maintained – then there will be the demise of the petrodollar and the US$ reserve currency status, impoverishing the US personnel in their 800 foreign bases, an end of empire, but potentially renaissance of US manufacturing and mainstream economy.

The 0.0001% that comprise the globalist financial-corporate oligarchy (with their degenerate spirit-cooking and Bohemian Grove get-together) would be the real losers.

Will they (who control Hollywood and the mainstream media) allow this?

A big war is their only other option.

Given the brainwashed masses, lack of a peace movement- it comes down to the courage of the non-corrupted generals and the professional colonels that Saker talks of.

Plus the slow awakening of the masses. On that note, a good awakening article on the petrodollar just published at ZH: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-21/petrodollar-under-attack-heres-what-you-need-know

Apart from that there is prayer and meditation – seriously. Link wasn’t working. Mod
- Peter from Oz on September 22, 2017 · at 8:54 am EST/EDT
  
  Sorry mod, this is meditation link: http://prepareforchange.net/2017/09/16/please-make-this-viral-september-equinox-unity-meditation/
  - bandit on September 23, 2017 · at 4:57 am EST/EDT
    
    Great. Too bad you’re in the antipodes, though I had friends down there (as we so blithely call it) I’d write with.
    We could use your help here. Cheers!
Anonymous on September 21, 2017 · at 11:42 pm EST/EDT

The Russians have deployed the S-350 Vityaz anti-aircraft system near Tartus. Each launcher carries 12 anti-aircraft missiles as opposed to 4 on the S-300/S-400. Are they expecting a mass aircraft attack? Are they just sending a message to the Zionists?

Some further info on the Hama attack. The Russians had prepared a rapid response system in anticipation of some kind of provocation against their forces away from the front. A good job these guys look a few steps ahead.

This video shows how close the attackers came to the Russian MP base.

http://rusvesna.su/news/1506022399
twilight on September 22, 2017 · at 12:44 am EST/EDT

The Americans are finished in Syria, and Trump’s handlers know this better than most here. So why the CIA operation that has astonished so many in its murdeous audacity? To present Trump with an absolute failure.

King Trump’s handlers have very big plans that King Trump must sign off on. But King Trump must be made to think it is his idea to want such nasty large scale covert operations authorised against Iran. What to do- what to do?

Easy peasy- get Trump to sign off on very stupid, bound to fail, smaller ops so Trump comes to the conclusion America is just thinking ‘too small’ and in the ‘wrong’ place. Then King Trump will say “present me with far bigger plans and for a place we can actually succeed”- giving his handlers what they needed all along.

So ***no***, there are no dangers in Syria. The top US generals have been withdrawing US military assets to match Russia’s advance, and have given up most of their skybound ops. In other words, the yanks are walking backwards- preparing for the time their president tells them they are leaving.

The ‘big words’ are for the readers of the zionist mainstream media alone. The dumbos who still believe America can win in Syria to some degree.

Trump ain’t gonna risk any US lives in Syria for a lost cause. Trump signed off on the Idlib CIA project for the same reason a person might buy a lottery ticket.

The ***real*** story that isn’t getting any coverage here is the greater Kurd situation- where the Kurds made a play for independence, only to find ***every*** significant nation on the planet was against it. Game Over for every Kurd leader who was dumb enough to buy into this cynical USA sold dream. Now the Kurds have lost all interest in taking on Russia + Assad, so there’s no-one (who matters) left to cause Russia problems in the last regions of Syria that need retaking. In the short term Putin has played a perfect game in Syria.

The wahhabi terror gangs are finished. Russia holds the big stick of Turkey over the Kurds in their part of Syria. America is trying to withdraw in a controlled dignified fashion without looking like a big loser. Putin is just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s.

And Trump’s handlers are laughing into their sleeves at the thought that their no.1 opponent has seen nothing yet. Russia gains a ruined version of a nation it already supposedly had, and the Deep State prepares their demonic nightmare in Iran.
Richard Steven Hack on September 22, 2017 · at 1:03 am EST/EDT

My guess is the SDF operation was done for two reasons: 1) complicate the advance of the SAA and its allies in the area of operation; and 2) capture some Russians to embarrass Russia AND POSSIBLY to create a climate for negotiations for the return of those troops with an eye toward changing the SAA’s conditions of advance.

In the latter case, it’s unlikely that the SDF forces would have harmed the Russian soldiers. Doing so would merely mean that Russia would rain holy hell on them, regardless of the US presence. Putin would have no choice for domestic reasons but to retaliate on the SDF.

Also note that the Russians declared “according to available data” that the US CIA or Special Forces were behind the attack. This implies either Russian or Syrian SIGINT interception of SDF communications or infiltrators inside the SDF reporting to Russian or Syrian intelligence.

The statement also explicitly says that “gunmen of Jabhat al-Nusra and joining them units that don’t want to comply with the cessation of hostilities terms”, which implies that US intelligence, i.e., CIA, is directly working with Al Qaeda in Syria. Which is no surprise to us, but that Russia would (more or less) explicitly state this is telling.
- Larchmonter445 on September 22, 2017 · at 2:13 am EST/EDT
  
  You have the wrong group. You are confusing al Nusra who attacked and attempted to capture MPs with SDF.
  SDF is a Kurd-Arab group managed by US.
  
  The al Nusra attackers of course are also funded and armed and moved when necessary by US with help from Israel and Jordan.
  
  Al Nusra are the worst of all AQ groups in ME.
  
  SDF is over in the East, near Deir ez Zor and the oil fields. And are also used in the battle to take Raqqa.
  
  This attack was northeast of Hama in Idlib de-escalation zone.
  - Richard Steven Hack on September 22, 2017 · at 8:15 pm EST/EDT
    
    Yes, I didn’t bother to check the title of the group. I just assumed the group was the main US-supported one, which as you correctly state is the SDF. Although I was a bit confused about how Al Nusra got mixed in with them.
    
    Good catch.
Sturm on September 22, 2017 · at 8:07 am EST/EDT

Well, US/NATO will need to find a new casus belli to remain in the Syrian conflict. Their ISIS puppet is fast expiring. With news on the accelerating de-dollarization by Russia and China, it puts both the hegemony and world peace on borrowed time.

Expect them to pull another stunt.
Rob on September 22, 2017 · at 10:57 am EST/EDT

It is the way of reacting of the Russian forces that worries most.

When the USAF attacked the SAA to protect their ISIS friends, the Russians simply blew up a ‘secret’ rebel command center, dense loaded with NATO ‘advisors’.

The ominous part of the (public!) message to me, is that it is mentioned that the RF have intelligence that the US initiated this attack.
Normally the Russians are very reluctant in letting know what kind of information sources they have, in order to shield that off. That they mentioned this, means something serious.

I have the impression that this is far from over yet. The IDF is meddling more and more, and it looks like the USA, Israel and Saudi Arabia are getting desperate, with chances that one makes a fatal mistake.

Syria was meant to be the stepstone to the next confrontation with Iran. I don’t expect especially Israel to accept the present developments. Can we expect a next false flag?
- Larchmonter445 on September 22, 2017 · at 3:56 pm EST/EDT
  
  They could try a chemical attack false flag.
  And the US could try a huge missile attack on Assad personally immediately.
  
  Other than that, the US-Tel Aviv warmongering is running out of proxies to fight for them.
  
  The Kurds in Syria will be missing the express train to the future if they fight Astana negotiations.
  
  So, in a month or two, the Kurds will move away from resistance and begin participation in the future of Syria as designed by Russia.
- Quintus Sertorius on September 24, 2017 · at 10:31 am EST/EDT
  
  I agree with you, Rob, it doesn’t bode well. Trump is now alleging on Twitter that Iran and North Korea are working together, wink wink.
BKG on September 22, 2017 · at 12:52 pm EST/EDT

Learned yesterday from a relative of US Army Special Forces soldier that many of his cohorts are becoming increasingly disillusioned by Pentagon’s endless wars and multiple deployments. The word is many soldiers, even with 10 years in the bank, are leaving. This is heartening news as it indicates that the internal collapse of the US war machine is underway. It makes sense really as endless war takes a huge toll on the troops. In order to cut costs the Pentagon is messing with troop retirement promises, etc while at the same time massive new military appropriations that will go into the pockets of weapons corporations are happening. The troops just might be waking up.
- Anonymous on September 22, 2017 · at 1:43 pm EST/EDT
  
  did not something like that happen in the Russian Imperial Army a few years black,,,some fella name o Lenin…was it not?
  - Paul Greenwood on September 24, 2017 · at 8:53 am EST/EDT
    
    It was Kerensky that implemented General Army Order No1
- bandit on September 22, 2017 · at 3:33 pm EST/EDT
  
  Maybe this is another group that could be approached to bolster a movement to repeal the 2001 AUMF that has been the source of so many woes, including the death of thousands of innocents.
  
  Our US Congress only serves as the handmaidens to the Deep State. They are compelled by self-interest, a stance that is weak at best. A direct challenge to their hypocrisy, carried out repeatedly and consistent with denial of their desires, really works.
  
  The evidence of this dereliction is multiplying at an incredible rate. It only requires participation in a cause that supersedes most others. Removal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force that propels these atrocities.
vot tak on September 22, 2017 · at 1:51 pm EST/EDT

Saker

Well done analysis.

The attack appears to have been coordinated with others I. Syria as the begining of a new israeloamerican strategy. The recent israeli air attacks being part. All timed with trump’s un diatribe and un “reform” proposal.

In some ways, the israeloamerican american attack on the Russian MPs resembled the 2008 israeloamerican attack on South Ossetia. Both involved israeloamerican proxies being used to attack a small Russian peace keeping force. Perhaps both had similar goals of “teaching Russia a lesson in humility” when dealing with the zionazi/nazi “gods”. Both ops ended up with israeloamerican proxies severely defeated and routed, with israeloamerica suffering the humiliation instead.
vot tak on September 22, 2017 · at 2:09 pm EST/EDT

This is also part of the israeloamerican strategy initiated by quisling trump at the UN:

United States Establishes First Permanent Military Base in Israel

http://www.theeventchronicle.com/news/middle-east/united-states-establishes-first-permanent-military-base-israel/#

“For the first time ever, the United States has established a permanent military base in the nation of Israel, a small air defense base set up inside Israel’s Mashabim Air Base, in the nation’s Negev Desert.

He added it would allow for an improvement in interception operations.

The establishment of the base, however, makes America’s commitment even more overt, and likely more long-lasting.

Though Brig. Gen. Haimovich declined to say if this meant US forces would participate in Israeli combat operations in the future, he said it was “much more significant than that” simply to have a presence of US soldiers in the country. Exact sizes aren’t clear, but estimates are that several dozen US soldiers will remain at the base.”

Here we see how trump’s personal loyalty to israel is taking shape. The longer term plan I believe is for israel to make use of their colonial american military more directly in israel’s offensive ops.
mark on September 22, 2017 · at 5:16 pm EST/EDT

The important point is the one made by the author – think what COULD have happened here.
Russian troops captured and filmed having their throats cut and being beheaded.
The US handlers of these terrorists planned it that way.
That’s what they wanted to happen.
If it had, they would be laughing their cocks off.
Like they say, it’s the thought that counts.

When is Russia finally going to wake up and treat the United Snakes as the utterly vile, implacable, hate filled enemy it so clearly is???????? WTF is going on??????? Just what else does the United Snakes have to do??????
- Auslander on September 22, 2017 · at 6:29 pm EST/EDT
  
  Now now, calm down, Mark. Rome was not built in a day nor will Russia rise to the pinnacle of greatness she will attain in a day, or a decade, either.
  
  So far VVP has kept war from coming to Russia whilst at the same time Mother has destroyed US aspirations of having their navy based in the finest harbor on the Black Sea, prevented Novorossiya from falling and at the same time giving thrice a resounding thrashing to the orcs and their us/european handlers and has categorically destroyed the us/european plans to dismember Syria and run the POL supply pipelines through Syria to the coast of the Med to destroy the lucrative Russian supply of POL to europe. I would opine that these fulfilled tasks are not bad for 3.5 years considering VVP/Mother has completely stymied plans made and put in action 10 years ago in foggy bottom.
  
  Auslander
  - WizOz on September 23, 2017 · at 1:44 am EST/EDT
    
    There is an old Arabic proverb (I know only its Turkish variant: it ürür, kervan yürür) universally adopted: “The dogs bark, the caravan moves on”. The slower, the better. There is another proverb (Italian): “Chi va piano va sano e va lontano”, with the English rendition: “slow and steady wins the race”, “haste makes waste”. Why would the Russians ‘do something’ when they watch their ‘partners’ gleefully tearing themselves apart?
    - Mish on September 23, 2017 · at 10:07 am EST/EDT
      
      There are two exact same proverbs in Russian: Собака лает, караван идёт; Тише едешь – дальше будешь
      - Anonius on September 26, 2017 · at 12:15 am EST/EDT
        
        @Mish,
        You should have translated it. I’ll try if you do not mind:
        “The dog yelps, the caravan goes; If you ride in silence – you get further.”
  - mark on September 23, 2017 · at 3:52 am EST/EDT
    
    I’ll tell you what I see.
    The outer ring of prey countries (Venezuela, Iran, North Korea) being set up for the full Iraq/ Libya treatment.
    Russia and China pursuing a policy of appeasement and facilitating/ enabling US aggression/ regime change/ economic strangulation. Giving it legitimacy and diplomatic cover in return for vague promises the US doesn’t have the slightest intention of ever keeping.
    There is a long history of this. In the past, both countries have stabbed Iran, Libya, Iraq, Yugoslavia and North Korea in the back and acted as the US accomplice.
    Now they are doing the same again, endorsing US strangulation of NK. China has just kowtowed to US demands for yet more sanctions. It seems totally lacking in any shred of self respect.
    Once this outer ring of countries is gone, the US will target Russia and China directly. Mysterious new Islamic terror groups will spring up in Dagestan and Xinjiang. There will be more economic warfare and propaganda vilification. More antics from their armies of bogus NGOs and internal 5th column. More attempts at regime change. Maybe even assassination attempts – these have been openly discussed and threatened. More military provocations and encirclement. Maybe culminating in the first strikes they openly discuss. The three countries in the outer cordon could be targeted simultaneously, followed up by a simultaneous attack on Russia and China. If this happens, and Russia and China do go under, they will have only themselves to blame. They have played the weasel once too often and thrown too many countries under the bus. Countries like Venezuela, Iran and North Korea would do well to view Russia and China as just as much of an enemy as the US.
    - Uncle Bob 1 on September 23, 2017 · at 4:25 am EST/EDT
      
      My opinion is that relying on Russia and China for defense is not a good idea.Unless they are willing to take on that role (and I don’t see them willing),Then its a losing proposition for those countries to do.A better idea is to form a defense pact among themselves.If Iran,North Korea,and Venezuela (with other countries joining later) signing an agreement that “an attack on one is an attack on all”. And will at once be answered by an attack on the aggressor attacking them. The US no matter how powerful a military force it thinks it has. Can not fight 3 full wars in different parts of the world at the same time. Especially,while at the same time,worrying about Russia and China joining the war.And if an alliance like that was formed.There is a good chance that soon,Syria,Cuba,and probably Iraq,would join it. With the US seeing that attacking those countries would cause war with all of them “at once”,they would be forced to see reality.
voltaire1964 on September 22, 2017 · at 5:28 pm EST/EDT

Again, (Sep 22), Israel has attacked Damascus airport with missiles.
And neither Russia or Syria responded.
Assuming that “what we see is what there is” the idea that not responding to Zionist aggression may lead to peace is, based on history, gigantically misguided.
Unwilingness to force Israel to retreat from the occupied Palestine land in 1967 was the trigger for the extreme Zionist invasion of the US (and European) political landscape.
To hear Mr. Lavrov say that “Russia and the US are engaged in the same fight against terrorism” (paraphrase) seems to me either supreme diplomacy or supreme blindness. With all respect for Mr. Lavrov.
For until Israel will be declared a ‘pariah’ or ‘terrorist’ state and dealt with accordingly, they will continue to rule and impose Zionist will at will.
Speaking of Carthage and of its danger to Rome, before the third Punic War, (149 BC), Cato the Censor said “Carthago delenda est.” (Carthage must be destroyed). This followed continued incursions and harassments by the Phoenicians, not unlike what Israel has been doing for 70 years in the Western world. No one should be killed, but Israel is the cancer of humanity and should be recognized and dealt as such.
- Penny on September 22, 2017 · at 11:12 pm EST/EDT
  
  There were reports that Syria had responded. Verified or not I don’t know with any certainty.
Daniel Gladstein on September 22, 2017 · at 6:01 pm EST/EDT

Once again, the big picture is central to the evolving situation.

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA), Hezbollah, and allies, with Russian support, are committed to the encirclement and defeat of DAESH remnants in the Euphrates Valley and elsewhere. The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the SAA are committed to the removal of al-Nusra Front from Idlib Province, as stipulated under the de-escalation agreement. That operation is at least two-thirds into its planning stages and should assume centrality soon. Once DAESH and al-Nusra are neutered, most of Syria will be under government control, excluding Afrin, which is Russia-backed anyway, and the Daraa/Golan corridor, which is split between the U.S.-Russia de-escalation (ceasefire) zone and Israel-backed DAESH in the Golan. This situation would leave only the U.S.-Israel proxy Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to deal with.

To begin with, the SDF and DAESH, like the rest of the terrorist groups in Syria, are one and the same in terms of membership and personnel. They have always collaborated with each other under NATO-Israel-GCC tutelage. SDF’s battlefield successes, aside from Kobani, have mostly to do with DAESH retreating or joining SDF in agreed-upon fashion, as we are currently seeing near Deir ez-Zour, along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. The entire notion that the SDF is fighting or has ever fought DAESH is a falsehood. The siege of Kobani had nothing to do with DAESH. There is no independent information that DAESH and SDF fought anyone other than helpless civilians at Kobani. At Kobani, the Terrorist Coalition destroyed a city in order to “save” it, that is, put in an SDF proxy to threaten Turkey and the legitimate Syrian government. DAESH left or merged with SDF.

Many Kurds involved in the SDF and in associated militias are Sunni Islamists or Western intelligence agents or both, so of course they switch uniforms to fight under either DAESH or SDF banners as NATO-Israel-GCC demand. Ditto for DAESH, al-Nusra Front, and the rest. Bribes, threats, and internecine grudges work. Of course, like most of the other terrorist forces, the Kurdish elements are often not even from Syria, but Kurdish volunteers from Europe and other lands. (Kurds do not have a long history in Syria to begin with, dating back to the migrations of the late nineteenth century.) Most of the mercenaries in DAESH and Co. arrived from outside Syria, and probably had more dead than SDF. The real battlefield losses and successes are those of the Resistance Bloc, comprising Syria, Iran, Russia, and Iraq, with China providing background support.

Here is the key. Russia is allowing the Kurdish militias and DAESH 2.0 to seize the oil fields east of the Euphrates while the Resistance works on and finalizes the rest of Syria, to the west of the Euphrates. As noted, DAESH and SDF are one and the same, and Russia has made clear that the SDF has advanced unopposed through DAESH territory on the eastern bank of the river. DAESH 2.0, or Kurdish-inflected “not-so-Islamic State,” is the same Anglo-Zionist beast as the rest of the proxy terrorists in Syria since Day One. But as with everything else, Russia and its allies are making a strategic, long-term gambit. The Resistance knows that once the rest of Syria is cleared, the U.S. and its agents will be exposed as never before. Russia is working with its partners so that a unified regional alliance will be in place once the rest of Syria is secured.

Here is why the current SDF advances are no surprise to the Resistance:

*The de-escalation zones apply only to areas of Syria that the Resistance Bloc has been or is in the process of liberating, or to areas that have been or are being mutually agreed on (Daraa, Idlib, Afrin, etc.).
*There is no de-escalation zone or “line” to the east of the Euphrates.
*The official Russian response to the SDF is that attacks on the forces of Resistance will not be tolerated, but says nothing about the SDF’s advances east of the Euphrates River being blocked. This is Russia’s strategy.

Thus, Russia is doing absolutely nothing to stop the SDF. But neither does Russia proffer the least indication that it accepts the SDF’s presence. In short, Russia is dead silent about its ultimate plans for the SDF. Given the high stakes, this silence is enormously significant, given the other events that are unfolding: the Iraq-Iran alliance against the Barzani clan and the Kurdistan Regional Government, Turkey’s role in the Astana process and the clearing of al-Nusra from Idlib, the ongoing Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) offensives against DAESH in Iraq, and unprecedented levels of cooperation between Turkey, the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq, and Iran that center on a number of regional issues, including those that directly relate to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

This is why the Israeli regime has made clear its support for the Anglo-Zionists’ Project Kurdistan, a longstanding NATO (U.S. and U.K.) agenda in the MENA. The fragmentation of Iraq and Syria into Takfiri-Kurdish protectorates allows NATO to establish bases for the penetration and control of Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa from a central location, which dovetails with related regime-change projects and color revolutions (“Arab Springs”) in the MENA, as well as with NATO/EU expansion and containment of China. Iraq and Syria lie between Turkey and Iran, on the central transit route for pipelines and narcotics to and from Central and South Asia. That is why the Anglo-Zionist gambit for world domination cannot succeed without Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Gaining control of this space is necessary to defeat Iran and move on to the subjugation of first Russia, then China—one or the other at a time, per U.S. doctrine.

Now, however, in all but name Turkey is irrevocably out of NATO’s camp, even if its leadership tries to follow its own (and sometimes disastrous) agenda, and the Resistance is about to deal a decisive blow to the dismantling of Syria and Iraq. This leads to the key point: that the Anglo-Zionists’ Takfiri-Kurdish “Trump card”—pun half intended—is succeeding precisely at the moment it is a Pyrrhic, useless, and probably short-lived victory, and only because the patient Resistance is allowing it to happen. That is because the Resistance is allowing the Anglo-Zionist forces to walk into a trap partly of its own doing. None of the Resistance powers or Turkey will allow a Takfiri-Kurdish “geopolitical Israel” (to quote Andrew Korybko) to ensconce itself atop oil fields in the central Euphrates Valley.

To wit:

*Very soon, we will end up with a divided Syria: a Resistance-controlled west and a Takfiri-Kurdish east under Anglo-Zionist tutelage. Likewise, all of Iraq except the Takfiri-Kurdish north will come under Resistance control.
*The Takfiri-Kurdish protectorate will have no recourse to survival, as Resistance and aspiring Resistance forces will surround it: Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, with Russian and Chinese assistance. The U.S. game is up.
*The U.S. and its allies can either withdraw its protection from the Takfiri-Kurdish militias, or face a united front and potentially significant conflict with the Resistance and its allied forces. Turkey will not support the U.S.

The biggest victory of all is that the U.S. and its allies will have no excuse for its presence atop stolen oil wells in Iraq and Syria, as DAESH and other bogeymen will be but a distant memory except in Takfiri-Kurdish land. Russia will be in an ideal position to begin releasing all the data it and its allies have collected on U.S. aggressions, crimes, and terrorism in the region and elsewhere. Now would be the moment, on the eve of a significant conflict, should the Anglo-Zionists make a wrong move. That is why the mainstream media are so quiet. This is the calm before the storm. This is why the Anglo-Zionists would love nothing more than for the Resistance to attack the SDF now rather than finish business and let the SDF walk into the trap. Putin, of course, is not taking the bait, much to their chagrin, but is instead letting the Astana process run its course while working to set up an impregnable regional alliance. The Resistance has crafted its strategy so masterfully that it only needs to await Anglo-Zionist moves, not to make (visible) moves of its own, for now.
- JJ on September 22, 2017 · at 9:15 pm EST/EDT
  
  Appreciate your post….Iranian General saying today isis will be gone in 2 months…very confident and both he and Iranian President being very strident and forthright that isis=usa….plus Russia offering Iraq support against isis now…everyone seems very confident although fortruss is reporting possible attack by sdf against saa at deir ez zor today….
- Penny on September 22, 2017 · at 11:27 pm EST/EDT
  
  Daniel Gladstein “The entire notion that the SDF is fighting or has ever fought DAESH is a falsehood. The siege of Kobani had nothing to do with DAESH. There is no independent information that DAESH and SDF fought anyone other than helpless civilians at Kobani. At Kobani, the Terrorist Coalition destroyed a city in order to “save” it, that is, put in an SDF proxy to threaten Turkey and the legitimate Syrian government. DAESH left or merged with SDF.”
  
  I’ve been stating that since 2014 at my blog- And until very recently all it earned me was scorn and derision- but I always knew the day would come when what was obvious to me would become obvious to everyone- when the symbiosis could no longer be hidden. Kobani was ethnic cleansing. Pure and simple. As is Raqqa-
  It’s been a long time coming- but to quote the Tragically Hip
  It’s been well worth the wait
  
  http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.ca/2014/11/kurd-isis-symbiosis-impending.html
  
  What about this relationship between ISIS and the Kurds? (not brand Yazidi specific)
  It’s seems to be a real working relationship. I have remarked on that symbiosis, more then once here at the blog. And elsewhere too!
  
  It seems much more likely that there is cooperation and coordination between the Kurds and ISIS. It’s a thought that has been in the back of my mind for sometime now. When one takes a look at the land grabbed by ISIS and the desired Kurdistan one can’t help but see something taking shape. Something like a new nation.
  
  We can see that ISIS is allegedly holding desired Kurdish territory. As it has on more then one occasion. Mosul. Sinjar. Kobane. But the Kurds always emerge victorious. How can ISIS be portrayed as so threatening when the Kurds can beat them so handily? By the way Kobane/Kobani is looking about to be taken by the Kurds.
  
  ” Many suspect that Erdogan supports ISIS? But does he?
  I mean, yes, support of ISIS could explain why he refused to join the coalition against ISIS?
  But, I don’t think it does. With all the new information I have come across lately it seems vastly more plausible that Erdogan would not join the fight against ISIS because he knows, as I have written, that the fight against ISIS is a fight to create Kurdistan. And that ISIS is a pretext created by the West specifically for that reason. In other words Turkey is not going to participate in it’s own downfall.”
  
  The trolls attacked me viciously, my readership dropped way off, I was banned from certain sites. I remained undeterred in pursuing the truth to the best of my ability-
  
  Truth exists; only lies are invented.
Outlaw Historian on September 22, 2017 · at 6:49 pm EST/EDT

Speaking of so-called special services, here’s an excellent interview with the author of The CIA As Organized Crime, Douglas Valentine, that briefly recaps the depths of depravity which defines the Outlaw US Empire, https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/22/the-cia-70-years-of-organized-crime/

Please read and share far and wide!
Izaates bar Monobazeus on September 23, 2017 · at 12:00 pm EST/EDT

North Korea: The Worlds Poorest Advanced Economy

http://www.38north.org/2017/09/jbaron090717/
Paul Greenwood on September 24, 2017 · at 8:52 am EST/EDT

I would have assumed Russian “Evergreen” containers would already be on the road on US Interstates or in warehouses pre-positioned for the day Club K systems are necessary.

After today Germany might well have a minority government as the SPD melts away in coalition or opposition and Germany could end up like Netherlands without an elected government. Merkel will need to tilt as her relations with US and UK are going to be very disagreeable. Every British PM since 1972 has been destroyed by the EU and May will be disposed of soon now she has set the EU Exit Train in motion for 29.03.2019 with no agreements on air transport, truck clearances or certification or even residence rights. Chaos is going to be manifest in Northern Europe with no wish to see Ukraine or Syria or Iraq or Turkey blow up.

Russia is going to see US alliances implode and Trump just made a speech before the UN reminiscent of Hitler’s Sportpalast Speech on 4 Sept 1940………

„Wenn die britische Luftwaffe zwei- oder drei- oder viertausend Kilogramm Bomben wirft, dann werfen wir jetzt in einer Nacht 150.000, 180.000, 230.000, 300.000, 400.000, eine Million Kilogramm. Wenn sie erklären, sie werden unsere Städte in großem Maße angreifen – wir werden ihre Städte ausradieren!“
- LZ99 on September 24, 2017 · at 1:27 pm EST/EDT
  
  The H speech quoted dovetail with Churchill’s design to deliberately force Germany to bomb England – thus assuring domestic support for war, as opposed to Peace with Germany.
  
  To be clear, the facts are really plain – Churchill demanded that Berlin be bombed precisely for this design – and Hitler was actually like a pawn as the gave that speech…walking into trap anyway…and the trap was sprung…
  
  The rough translation for those who wish it, in English, is this:
  
  “If the British Air Force throws two or three or four thousand kilograms of bombs, we will now throw 150,000, 180,000, 230,000, 300,000, 400,000, one million kilos in one night. If they declare they will attack our cities to a great extent – we will eradicate their cities! ”
  
  More comprehensively, some may be aware that the British Far East Cipher Bureau was reading 100% of the Japanese traffic … Churchill saw everything of value. And he did not share. Both H and FDR were manipulated by expert…diabolical expert.
  
  If a leader can get an enemy to bomb his people, they will fight. That’s what bad leaders do.
  
  Like Macbeth…and of course there are contemporary examples a-plenty.
  
  Now then, moving to to-day…
  
  Obvious, eh?
  
  LZ
  - Paul Greenwood on September 24, 2017 · at 2:04 pm EST/EDT
    
    Now translate what Trump said to the UN
    
    we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,
  - Anonymous on September 24, 2017 · at 2:32 pm EST/EDT
    
    This probably won’t surprise any readers here, but the Russia military has announced that it has seen US special forces imbedded with ISIS.
    
    https://www.rt.com/news/404365-us-special-forces-isis/
  - Sturm on September 25, 2017 · at 2:52 am EST/EDT
    
    I’d have to commend the Germans, they’re very precise and detailed :) Where one said oh! 2/3/4 thousand, it is countered with a reply of 150,000, 180,000, 230,000, 300,000, 400,000 and 1,000,000,000.
    
    All major participants in WW2 knew a casus belli needed to be established to justify the war to their general population. It wasn’t the case of manipulation in the fullest sense, but continuous provocation through antagonistic actions against the target.
    
    Historians (on the winning side) tend to focus on the leaders and their decisions, however rarely on the pre-conditions that led to the casus belli being established. It is as it should, for if this information is discussed in the open, fomenting wars would have been much more diffficult (hint for counter-propaganda writers).
    
    Both Germany and Japan were heavily sanctioned, through various means, not only economically just before the start of WW2. This was the provocation. Being belligerent of their military strength (either stupidity or manipulated by their elites), it didn’t take long for them to fall into the trap.
    
    You can see this being repeated ad-nauseum today. The various antagonistic actions will continue until one-side breaks down. They can keep doing this forever. Major aim is to clinch a casus belli that secures the moral high-ground*. That’s all there is to it in essence for that part of the game.
    
    * Remember the case of chemical weapons being used in Syria, framed onto Assad?
    Putin broke that off wonderfully.
    
    P.S. Thus pertaining to North Korea situation for example, China/Russia won’t act openly until they’ve secured the moral high-ground. If North Korea makes the mistake of being the first to fire a shot in anger, they’re done for. Of course, the hegemony will keep on egging North Korea until they crack. It’s amusing watching them both throw spittles at each other like children … for now :P
Oliver Bailey on September 25, 2017 · at 6:03 am EST/EDT

I came to this site via PCR. Follow PCR as a speaker of truth in the face of US and Western lies. So far, agree with most of the Saker’s views and analysis that I have read. However, am seriously disheartened by much of what I read in the comments.

I get the impression from many posting here that chauvinism and nationalism and empire are bad things…if they’re western. Forgive me but when I look at a map I see this IMMENSE land mass named ‘Russia’ which is palpably an empire in its own right already ( acquired by, what…love n kisses?) I see a country misruled again and again. Has there ever been a more incompetently-run land mass than that named Russia? With all those resources, why is Russia not the wealthiest nation on earth? What is the matter with the people who always end up running the country? Something very strange about that.I mean this as no insult to the Russian people themselves who seem an incredible and very long-suffering people, who have had to survive their own rulers every bit as much as outside invaders – more probably. I repeat, I am on this site because of sympathy for the threatened and demonized Russians. But… reality. The NKVD never happened? Famine in the Ukraine? Maybe some of the anti Russian feeling goes back to that a little? No Nazi Soviet pact? No invading of Poland and putting flouride in the water supply to keep the Poles down? No naughty KGB? No purges? No gulags? No millions of dead in Siberia? Never happened? Or going further back in history, to the time of the so called ‘great game’? What, Russia has all along been an innocent babe in a cot? No trying to expand? No trying to get warm water ports? I repeat, how can an empire with what is it? a hundred time zones, need MORE land, or sea or anything? So there is a problem with Russian attitudes and actions too, not just western.

Quick insanity-check : Russia cannot ‘win’ an all out nuclear war as some keyboard generals here seem to think. . Nobody can. Everybody loses. Stupid, chauvinistic, arrogant nonsense. As stupid, arrogant and chauvinistic as the US-NATO Israeli rogue ‘world tour’ rampage. Boys-with-toys not comprehending if toys go off, game over. For everybody. Forever.

What led me to this site was disgust with the lies and evil and idiocy of MY COUNTRY ( Britain) in supporting The Great Bully in its insane and evil attempt to achieve – yawn – ‘world domination’ while at the same time, invert its every founding principle. But I’m starting to feel as disillusioned by the attitudes expressed here as I am, say, with Trumpuppet.

Yea, the hatred runs deep on this site,of the Russia-threatening, Russia-hating NeoCon crazy US and its many proxies and quislingesque supporters (MY COUNTRY, shamefully, among them). And that is understandable. But some seem to think that so long as there is an American AND a Russian empire ( euphemistically called ‘poles’ or ‘spheres of influence’) then sweetness and light and all is well with the world. Because Russian domination good, US domination bad? Sorry. Either dominating and oppressing and conquering others ( and forcing your ideology on them) is wrong or its not.

Re the ‘problem’ of ignorant American public ( and I have been there and met many) some of it is hard to fathom ( or believe) but I don’t really think this is the problem. Its sad and in a way funny to meet people who think the next state is ‘abroad’ and that Australia is in London ( not making that up). But at the same time most of these same people were very friendly, kind and in many cases the salt of the earth. Like children. Naive and innocent, under-informed but not out to get anybody, not even Russians…( Actually, as an aside, a lot of Americans seem to think they are still fighting the redcoats, when they have become the redcoats, but hey, what can you tell them?)The real problem with America and it goes a long way back is the dangerous nonsense about ‘manifest destiny’ and the whole ‘indispensable’ hogwash. Manifest evil more like. Just what was perpetrated on the Native Americans. Beyond shameful. Disgusting. And my country is guilty of much wrong in its past, much. But then what about non-Russian ethnic groups persecuted under Stalin? the crushing of Hungary? Czechoslovakia? Truth is truth. The Saker wants truth spoken out into the world. For truth to be spoken to power. I grew up with the Soviet Union knock knockin on the door, with all the joys of insane communist ideology, KGB and the gulags a-beckoning. Hard to just airbrush all that out of memory. Yes, we have been propagandized to see US and the west as the good guys and now realise much of this was for the nursery room, a children’s story. But presumably everybody on this site would agree that the Soviet Union posed an existential threat to surrounding countries? Or just cuddly teddy bear? No Stalin demanding more names of people to have executed because ‘not enough’? Its just I get the impression that some people here, of all sites, seem to be believing bedtime stories of their own, about Russia.

The problems are across the board. Yes, in this time in history the immediate threat is mad Uncle Sam. It has been Nazi Germany. Then and make no mistake about this, from a British perspective, it was the Soviet Union. But ultimately, as I see it, we, the ordinary people of ALL nations, are played off against one another, time and again. This is the trap to avoid falling into. Of course, Russia has a right to self-defence and I for one don’t believe that Russia, in this phase, is in anything other than a defensive posture. But in Post-WW2 Eastern Europe? Free elections? Or in 1956? 1968? In Afghanistan in the 1980’s? Or again in the future, given the opportunity and the right rulers? Is the idea here that Russia has never had ambitions of its own? Maybe America AND Russia AND China AND Europe AND Israel AND Saudi Arabia could just get the fuck out of everybody else’s business. Now how about that?

The stakes are too high. We are all clambering out of dark histories, in all our countries, East and West. We need to do that together. To build trust, to de-escalate. To not allow crazy leaders on either or any side to lead us all to disastrous war after disastrous war.

Long live Mother Russia ( within her ( inexplicably IMMENSE) ‘borders’) and long live every other country too.Peace and freedom and cooperation and the right to self defence for all but no hypocrisy please about the saintliness of Russia vis a vis other nations.
- Sturm on September 25, 2017 · at 12:25 pm EST/EDT
  
  @Oliver Bailey,
  
  The issue is more complex but it’s probably safe to say the current polarization centers on the revolt against the US dollar. This is common sense, the countries of the world can’t keep on supporting and subsidizing spendthrift USA forever. It’s against their individual interests to keep doing this. The imbalance has to come to a stop.
  
  The USA does not hold the moral high-ground (I have to stop repeating this phrase :P) in this fight. Nobody in their right mind, who’s rational and intelligent, would support the idea of subsidizing a foreign country at the expense of their own internal development – sometimes even losing their own sovereignty in the process. Would you like to be told to make food by a burglar in your own house?
  
  The negative comments on this website, against the hegemony are thus, justifiable. Simply because they make more sense vs mainstream BS. Use it as a dipstick measure.
  
  That said, the future with Russia/China (assuming the hegemony implodes on itself), we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’m fairly certain the majority readers/commenters aren’t the naive type. You can start talking about it after the dollar has been knocked down a few pegs.
- Anonymous on September 26, 2017 · at 5:11 am EST/EDT
  
  “The stakes are too high. We are all clambering out of dark histories, in all our countries, East and West. We need to do that together. To build trust, to de-escalate. To not allow crazy leaders on either or any side to lead us all to disastrous war after disastrous war.”
  
  The only problem with your formulation is that the Anglo Americans have been aggressively escalating in multiple theaters around the world, as part of their grand ambition to expand the Anglo Americans’ unipolar dominance of the planet that has existed since the fall of the Soviet Union.
  
  The phony War on Terrorism is but one example of this imperial Anglo war drive, which has been justified by Orwellian propaganda about “the threat of terrorism” like 9-11 or the British 7/7 bombing–both of which, incidentally, your own countries likely staged as false flag attacks against its own people.
  
  Like most Anglos, you seem unable or unwilling to see this and deep down rationalize your own nations’ aggression with the self-serving rationale that the “other side is bad too.”
  
  This is the standard moral equivalence argument that the Anglo Americans disingenously use to downplay their own nations’ criminality.
  
  At base, there is no principled political constituency against war in the USA and UK.
  
  At best, the Anglo Americans are only “opposed” to war out of naked self-interest and the fear that one day they will attack someone who can hit them back and turn their godforsaken nations into radioactive ash.
  - Anonymous on September 26, 2017 · at 8:11 am EST/EDT
    
    Anonymous, thank you for your reply.
    
    When you say “the Anglo Americans are only opposed to war out of naked self interest and fear” do you make any differentiation between the people of Britain and America and their sick and corrupt rulers? Or are all ‘Anglos’ bad in some innate way?
    
    Not that it matters much but I opposed the Iraq invasion, I opposed the ‘let’s bomb Syria’ drive, emailed my MP demanding that we not rain bombs down on another country, especially on its civilians. MPs voted against bombing, which at least delayed the progress of evil. I try to speak to my fellow countrymen and women, telling them not to believe the anti-Putin, anti-Russian, anti-Assad lies. But people are very heavily tranquilized, hypnotized and above all propagandized. They look at you as though you’re mad,they really can not see outside the box. Ironically, British people tend to see themselves as champions of the underdog and believing in ‘fairness’. But like with a computer – garbage in, garbage out. They look at you in a trance and mouthe ‘Putin bad! BBC tell me’. Babies. They cannot see that Assad and the Syrian people could be victims. If you try to say the chemical attack was a false flag ( as I told my MP) and that Assad would have had to be insane to voluntarily cross Obomber’s ridiculous ‘red line’, particularly while he was in a strengthening position militarily, they have nothing to say. It just does not compute. It is so at variance with the endlessly repeated,’surround-sound’ lies.
    I understand very well that 9 11 was a crime from within the US Deep- State – 7/7, very likely too, from ours or some sick combo of intelligence agencies, though I have spent far less time considering the evidence. War on terror bogus, a creation of the the corrupt regimes. Under no illusions about the people controlling my country. Nasty, vicious, cowardly, greedy, some at least appear to be paedophiles. Understood the NeoCon agenda for hegemony years ago. Get it, get it ,get it. I think it goes a lot further in fact – depopulation ( hmm, they think happily, a big war with Russia and China…Now that would go a very long way towards achieving depopulation…), vaccinations, microchipping the – remaining – population, GM foods, etc etc. It is a global elite who use different countries at different times to advance an overall agenda. That is how I see it.And the Soviet Union itself was a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal of one world government collectivist, total control dictatorship. As is the EU, which is one reason I voted to leave it. I want my country sovereign and independent.Especially of the US.Of Russia and China too.
    
    Of course you haven’t much to go on – just the one comment – but I assure you I am not simply motivated by fear, although fear of nuclear war seems reasonable enough. I am motivated primarily by the knowledge that evil is being done to many many innocent peoples around the world and the epicentre of much of it is the West, Washington in particular, supported by London.
    I am here, via Paul Craig Roberts. Doesn’t this tell you anything about my views and likely understanding? I see that Russia is being encircled. I see that the US went back on its deal about not expanding NATO eastwards. I see that to the US-UK,Israel,EU NATO rulers ( not their peoples) view countries around Russia and China as squares on a chessboard, to land on as stepping stones towards the ultimate goal. The trouble is, almost nobody else does see these things..Sleepwalkers, more concerned with the value of their home and who is on the telly. And in that context, Russia has every right to prepare to defend itself. If my country goes up in a puff of smoke, so be it. It would be a shame, from my point of view, naturally.Going to make a mess of my vegetable garden for one thing. But seriously, I would not celebrate the destruction of Russia.That would be a tragedy. Why do you conflate evil rulers with the ordinary people? All that Russian / communist verbiage about ‘international brotherhood’. Just so much guff.
    
    I don’t think evil and empire building is a uniquely British or American thing. Its just that in this time, this is where it is strongest. Used to be Rome. Persia. Mongols. Aztecs. Nazi Germany. Japan. Soviet Union etc etc. Its not an ‘Anglo’ trait. Its a human trait.. As is a sense of justice and of right and wrong.
    
    The key is, what can we all do to stop the slide to all-you-can-eat destruction? if a major war kicks off and it goes nuclear, its stating the obvious but there will be no winners. Sure, these sceptred isles will be eradicated ( hurray, you would cry, ‘cos all lthose ‘Anglos’ are jest pure evil !) but so will Russia. Granted, Russia will be a much, much bigger wasteland. In that sense, Russia would ‘win’. Doesn’t seem enough to me, somehow.
Birchi on April 05, 2018 · at 5:53 am EST/EDT

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