Dear friends,

Thanks for all your replies to my latest post.  I will join the discussion later today.  Right now, just a few short “bullet style” news updates

  • The Russian Duma delegation has abandoned its plans to travel to the US to speak with US Congressmen after House Speaker John Boehner refused to meet with them.
  • Russian military sources indicate that the main threat to Damascus will come from cruise missiles launched from the southern direction by USN warships in the Red Sea which would overfly Jordan and strike Damascus.  If so, this would justify a retaliatory strike on Jordanian targets.
  • The same sources claim that while USN has the largest number of surface vessels around Syria, Russia has more submarines.  My guess is that they are shadowing US warships in the Mediterranean.
  • Russia is sending the following ships to the eastern Mediterranean:
Large Landing Ship “Nikolay Filchenkov”


Destroyer Nastoichivyi


Large anti-submarine destroyer Smetlivy 

Note: According to al-Akhbar, the “Nikolay Filchenkov” carries a “special cargo” for Syria.

The Saker