Syria Sitrep - Cleanup Around Damascus - WMD Rumors Prepare For New U.S. Attack
After the Syrian army liberated Douma, the next Takfiri held areas near the capital Damascus fell in short order. The Jaish al-Islam militants in Dumayr, north-east of Damascus, gave up without a fight. As usual by now the Takfiris were transferred to the north-western Idleb governorate held by al-Qaeda and other Turkish supported forces. The town of Dumayr controls the Damascus Baghdad highway. Capitulation negotiations in the nearby Eastern Qalamoun are ongoing.
The former Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk is an upbuild suburb south of Damascus. One part is in the hands of al-Qaeda and another was controlled by an Islamic State group. Offers to evacuate the groups were made but rejected. Yesterday the Syrian army launched a massive artillery barrage and the Russian and Syrian air force dropped bombs onto the quarter. Today, just twenty-four hours later, the Takfiris gave up. The al-Qaeda aligned militants will be evacuated to Idleb, the Islamic State aligned group to the eastern Syrian desert.
With each elimination of a 'rebel' pockets Syrian army is gaining strength. Ten-thousands of soldiers who were needed to hold the Takfiri held areas around Damascus surrounded and under control are now free to attack elsewhere. Some of the militants who did not evacuate also joined the government forces.
The evacuation of many militants to the north-west might later turn up to be problematic. They will eventually come under Turkish control and could be used in another Turkish attempt to take Aleppo. But for now they are infighting. Al-Qaeda in Syria, now renamed to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is fighting with other groups over control of the area. Over the last months about one thousand of the militants have killed each other, 3,000 were wounded and many of their heavy arms were destroyed. The Syrian government hopes that such infighting will continue for a while.
When all the surrounded areas within the government realm are consolidated the Syrian army will move towards the borders in the south. The area around Deraa up to the Israeli occupied Golan heights and the Jordan border is in the hands of various groups of militants. Like in the north rebel infighting is a frequent occurrence. Two days ago an Islamic State aligned group tried to wrest control over some villages east of Deraa from some other local militant group. Fighting has been ongoing since and both sides are losing strength. One wonders how many of these fights between rebels are instigated by undercover Syrian intelligence agents.
The greatest difficulty for the Syrian army operation in the south is the Israeli supply and support for a number terrorist groups in that area. Should Israel intervene in any form in the Syrian operation to liberate the area the fight can easily escalate into a larger war.
The destroyed city of Raqqa in the east is becoming a headache for the U.S. occupation force. The U.S. used unwilling Kurdish ground troops to attack the city. It was not much of an infantry fight. Anything that moved was simply bombed from the air or ground. The one U.S. artillery battalion that covered the city fired more than 35,000 155mmm rounds during the five month operation. Now some 80% of the buildings in Raqqa are completely destroyed. The rest is inhabitable.

The city has no water and no electricity. The U.S. claimed that 2,500 ISIS militants were in the city when the fighting started. In the end the U.S. let at least 500 of those leave the city and move further east to fight the Syrian army. It also said that only 30 civilians were killed in its attack. That is of course nonsense. At least 2,000 dead bodies have been recovered so far and 6,000 more dead are recorded as still lying under the ruins. There will be more. The city administration has no equipment and money to recover them. The U.S. is unwilling to spend any money for the city it destroyed and the Kurdish warlords who now occupy the city are incompetent and have no interest to help its Arab inhabitants. The population that has returned is hostile towards the U.S. and the Kurds. It wants to get back under Syrian government control.
Further east at the Syrian Iraqi border and north of the Euphrates some 3-5,000 ISIS fighters live unmolested by U.S. air or ground attacks. The U.S. prevented Syrian government troops who control the area south of Euphrates from attacking the ISIS forces. But neither Syria nor Iraq can allow that ISIS pocket to survive. Yesterday a high level meeting was held in the operation room in Baghdad where Russian, Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi commanders arrange common operations against ISIS. Shortly thereafter an Iraqi jet attacked a ISIS command meeting near Hajin in Syria. The strike had Syrian government approval. Syrian government forces have rebuild a military bridge that will allow them to cross the Euphrates in a future operation. Several battalions, including auxiliary troops under Iranian command, are ready to attack. Will the U.S. bomb them when they cross the river? Or will it hold back and allow Iraqi air support for the Syrian troops?
The neo-conservatives are busy insinuating that Syria still has chemical weapon program and that it is distributed throughout the country.
U.S. assessments following the U.S., British and French missile strikes on Syria show they had only a limited impact on President Bashar al-Assad’s ability to carry out chemical weapons attacks, four U.S. officials told Reuters.
...
U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the available intelligence indicated that Assad’s stock of chemicals and precursors was believed to be scattered far beyond the three targets.
This is of course just nonsense. Syria gave up its chemical weapons in 2013 and the OPCW confirmed that all weapon and precursor stocks were destroyed and all laboratories and production facilities dismantled.
This new fairytale of Assad's chemical weapons is designed to create a pretext for a another, more extensive bombing campaign against Syria. A fake pretext build on fake 'chemical attack' in Douma.
There is no evidence that any 'chemical attack' occurred in Douma. All the U.S., French and British government have are some videos created by known propagandists like the White Helmets who work for those governments. The State Department's spokesperson finally acknowledged that:
MS NAUERT: Yeah. ... We recognize and appreciate and are very grateful for all the work that the White Helmets continues to do on behalf of the people of their country and on behalf of the U.S. Government and all the coalition forces.
...
I’ve just exchanged emails with him the other day. My understanding is that their work is still going on, and we’re proud to work with them.
Republican Representative Massie remarked today:
Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie - 14:03 UTC- 19 Apr 2018In briefing to Congress, DNI, SecDef, and SecState provided zero real evidence. Referenced info circulating online. Which means either they chose not to provide proof to Congress or they don’t have conclusive proof that Assad carried out gas attack. Either way, not good.
After being stalled for five days the OPCW fact finding mission finally reached the area in Douma where the alleged 'chemical attack happened. It entered under protection of Russian military police.
The scientific research service of the German Bundestag published a report (pdf, German) today which concludes that the U.S. led attack on Syria on April 13 was evidently in violation of international law.
Posted by b on April 20, 2018 at 19:06 UTC | Permalink
next page »Thank you so much for providing such a brilliant and intelligent analysis. Il faut inlassablement exposer les menteurs, rendre leur honte, plus honteuse encore.
Posted by: Alain | Apr 20 2018 19:43 utc | 2
Time is running out for the iFUKUS faster then they can comprehend. All that is going on is just a road-map for a wider, more brutal conflict. I read the situation as the Resistance have played it out for Syria to be the place where to corner the Anglo-Zionist empire and slit it's throad ruthlessly in broad-daylight. A very dangerous game played by The Resistance and apparently a successful one.
Posted by: Fantome | Apr 20 2018 19:49 utc | 3
thanks b.. excellent overview on where the world is at with syria at present.. the usa, israel and the west are going to continue.. i see no end in sight based on their approach to date..
it is such a shame what the usa has done to raqqa, and the msm will not be holding them accountable.. kind of like usa presidents.. none of them ever held accountable for their actions on the world stage.. meanwhile the usa openly supports isis east of the euphrates.. what else is new?
in the south, israel will continue to supply 'moderate headchoppers', or worse - think they can bomb syria without any consequences.. they are so used to no consequences for their warmongering, it is going to come as a shock to them when they get more of a response..
in the northwest, erdogan will find a way to use the moderate headchoppers for his own designs on syria.. hopefully russia can has some sway over him, but they really haven't so far..
bottom line.. russia continues on and have to continue to draw lines in the sand for all these warmongers.. it is a difficult task, but russia has shown the ability to do this... when the usa finally messes up with russia, we will be in war... it is not that russia wants war, but that the usa-israel and all the sycophants in this same corner - are all too stupid to realize how they have pushed russia too far with the countless lies and destruction of syria.. this will be where russia is forced to take a stand.. they have been all along, while trying to avoid war... so much for the stupidity driven west, who are incapable of seeing or wanting to acknowledge any of it..
Posted by: james | Apr 20 2018 20:07 utc | 4
Lavrov says that the unlawful attack on Syria gives Russia the right to supply Syria with S-300:
The President spoke about this. We have no moral obligations now. We used to have moral obligations, we promised not to do that some 10 years ago, as far as I remember, at the request of our known partners, and we took their argument into account, that it would lead to destabilization, although (these air defense systems are) purely defensive. We nevertheless heeded their requests, but we don’t have this moral obligation now.
According to EurAsia Daily, today at Tartus a Russian cargo ship has unloaded something under the cover of a smokescreen (presumably, to avoid observation by drones/satellites): https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2018/04/20/smi-v-siriyskiy-tartus-iz-novorossiyska-vozmozhno-pribyli-s-300 (in Russian).
Posted by: S | Apr 20 2018 20:21 utc | 5
The offloading of Russian supply ships in Syria has recently been masked from satellites through the use of smoke, which is the first time I've heard such reports.
Western Propaganda attempt to bash social media users as Russian Bots and Assad/Putin Apologists has encountered severe push back and extreme embarrassment--particularly when the Twitter platform was caught colluding with the effort. It's hoped that in its desperation the May government has finally overreached and ultimately discredited itself along with the great majority of UK media which will finally allow Corbyn to gain a majority.
Unfortunately, not knowing French or German limits my ability to observe and remark about the overall direction of European social media. Hopefully, the Bundestag's report b linked to will help. I've seen no reports of German media deliberately lying to viewers by falsely translating interviews with Syrians unlike Swedish, Dutch, and Danish media.
@Partisangirl Tweeted it best: "If British intelligence can't even confirm the fact I'm not a robot, how can we believe anything they say about #Skripal #Syria or #Russia?"
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 20:29 utc | 6
What would change in the second attack from the attack that just took place? They tried 103 pot shots the first day. To no avail. Then Israel tried another six shots the next day. That too, to no avail. So what would they try this time? A thousand?
After the third round of missle barrage, The launch platforms started to get lit up by Russian radar. The signal was: Enough is enough guys, stop right now. And sure enough the firing stopped. As a direct fight between Russia and the US was never on the agenda.
So what can the Zionist lobby do now? The neo-neocons can huff, and they can puff untill they fart themselves out to oblivion.
As for Trump, he will conjure out a way to pull his forces out. He has his reasons. And the deep state may not find the depth to stand against him. Is America finally trying to ditch the Anglo_Zionist empire in a very non-American fashion?
Posted by: meme | Apr 20 2018 20:39 utc | 7
@5,
See @194, @195 on prior thread.
James @4,
"it is such a shame what the usa has done to raqqa, and the msm will not be holding them accountable." Indeed. Syria clears Ghouta with a fraction of the civilian casualties the US inflicts upon Raqqa, and the imperial press depicts the former as an ethnic cleansing with a chemical on top, and hardly deigns to mention the latter at all. We deserve to suffer a very severe justice.
I would not be surprised if an insurgency develops in Raqqa.
Posted by: WJ | Apr 20 2018 20:42 utc | 8
Woops. Made an HTML typo in the above reply. Jin on the rocks can really work some tomes.
Posted by: meme | Apr 20 2018 20:43 utc | 9
I wonder if Raqqa as it is were best left abandoned as an open-air museum and reminder of the devastation caused by a particular 21st-century brand of scorched-earth war policy favoured by the US since the late nineteenth century in its wars against its native peoples and its war against the breakaway Confederate states. (I confess no love or admiration for the Confederacy, in case anyone jumps to conclusions about the previous sentence.)
A new city could be built close by the destroyed city for former Raqqa residents. The old city could be a source of funding for the new city, as a museum and site of study by forensic experts and military historians. The old city could also be open to tourists once the dead and all possible booby trap bombs and mines have been removed.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 20 2018 20:52 utc | 10
Seems German media will not follow BBC into the Bear Trap: "#Douma chemical attack is most likely staged. A great many people here seem very convinced."
Is a Sea Change about to occur?
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 20:54 utc | 11
What would change in the second attack from the attack that just took place? Posted by: meme | Apr 20, 2018 4:39:57 PM | 7
What could change is a lot as the Eisenhower and its entourage have 1500 missiles: The IKE CSG consists of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3, guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Monterey (CG 61), and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 26 with its associated guided-missile destroyers USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), USS Mason (DDG 87), USS Nitze (DDG 94) and USS Stout (DDG 55).
That number of missiles is a game changer and this latest run at Syria may have been to assess defenses for a further attack. BTW their stated mission is to defeat ISIS as well as to protect Europe.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 20:57 utc | 12
meme @7,
In the first strike, Pantsir + Buk2 + EWS + an integrated Iranian/Syrian/Russian tracking radar neutralized roughly 70 missiles out of 100 fired.
Do we know whether on the basis of this data the Russians are able more or less accurately to project the success rate of the integrated system above + S-300 + S-400 for a given number of missiles fired? Does the US know how many missiles must be fired in one wave to saturate the capacities of this more sophisticated integrated system? Does Russia?
Forgive me if this is a stupid question. I just don't know much about it.
Posted by: WJ | Apr 20 2018 21:03 utc | 13
In follow-on to my 12 post:
They used 103 missiles this time. It's approximately equivalent to:
the amount used in the entire Libya War 2011.
⅓ of what they used in entire Gulf War 1991.
⅛ of what they used in entire Iraq invasion 2003.
Twice the amount used in the entire Afghanistan war 2001-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.
You can do a lot of damage with 1500 missiles. My hope is Russia is expediting delivery of a bunch of S-300s.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 21:06 utc | 14
@meme: I don't think Israel will give up so easily. The slow-motion, decades-long land grab and the creation of a buffer against Iranian forces are among its primary goals. What better time than now to "slice another piece of salami" off of Syria? Also, Assad and Putin only offered a 5 km "no Iranians" buffer along the border, while Israelis demanded 40 km.
Posted by: S | Apr 20 2018 21:10 utc | 15
Adam Garrie on the Bot Plot rightly asks the question, why should we believe anything published/portrayed by major media when it's clear they lie so often?
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 21:13 utc | 16
Adam Garrie on the Bot Plot rightly asks the question, why should we believe anything published/portrayed by major media when it's clear they lie so often?
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 21:13 utc | 17
b- I apologize for an off-topic post, but does anyone know why Tucker Carlson has not been hosting his show the last few days?
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 21:14 utc | 18
For our German speakers, the news I alluded to @11 above.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 21:17 utc | 19
frances @14,
Am I wrong in assuming that the amount of missiles used during those wars (Libya, Iraq I, Iraq II, Afghanistan) is a direct reflection of the relative weakness of these countries' respective militaries? I mean, the US hasn't fought a real military in a really, really long time, no? Or is it more complex than this.
Posted by: WJ | Apr 20 2018 21:18 utc | 20
@12 Frances, what would likely change is these ships and their crews would be lying on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea...
Posted by: kgw | Apr 20 2018 21:27 utc | 21
@frances: S-300 would be an overkill against cruise missiles. The rule of thumb is: use Buk and Pantsir against cruise missiles and aircraft at short range, S-300 against aircraft at long range, S-400 against stealth aircraft and ballistic missiles.
Posted by: S | Apr 20 2018 21:35 utc | 22
@frances 12
What could change is a lot as the Eisenhower and its entourage have 1500 missiles: . . .
Last I heard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) ws in Portsmouth for overhaul. Do you have better information?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 20 2018 21:44 utc | 23
@ 22 Overkill! ???
Why do you think the RF Military guys suggested S-300 for Syria?
Would S-300 not deter Israel IDF striking Syria from Lebanon's airspace? Certainly Syria requires full defensive capability, especially from IsraHell.
Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 20 2018 21:45 utc | 24
Am I wrong in assuming that the amount of missiles used during those wars (Libya, Iraq I, Iraq II, Afghanistan) is a direct reflection of the relative weakness of these countries' respective militaries? I mean, the US hasn't fought a real military in a really, really long time, no? Or is it more complex than this.
Posted by: WJ | Apr 20, 2018 5:18:07 PM | 20
I do not have a military background, I do recall in Iraq II the US bought off a lot of the generals, so my uneducated guess is the answer is yes and no. Again my uneducated guess is the number of missiles used reflects the level of difficulty to some degree, plus the number of key targets and takes into account to what degree the target has been softened up by bribes, etc.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 21:45 utc | 25
@12 Frances, what would likely change is these ships and their crews would be lying on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea...
Posted by: kgw | Apr 20, 2018 5:27:33 PM | 21
Which would probably be the end of us all,except for any number of the Russians:) I am afraid the US is too stupid, too arrogant, too much a believer in its own fluff to back down.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 21:49 utc | 26
"....S-300 against aircraft at long range, S-400 against stealth aircraft and ballistic missiles."
Posted by: S | Apr 20, 2018 5:35:07 PM | 22
I agree, they would be overkill in a basic off shore shelling, but the fleet has a number of fighter jets, so they could be useful if they could be deployed in time.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 21:51 utc | 27
That German correspondent used the word "Provokation". I think that will inevitably remind Germans of a certain age of the Gleiwitz incident.
Posted by: lysias | Apr 20 2018 21:52 utc | 28
I ve spent five days looking, peeping out deep into various sources what in fact had happened in Gouhta & Douma. And only stop when results turn out a satisfactory
explanation.
Yes, people all over the world MUST study case by case on those war triggering episodes and so the logic of the empire will transparently appear in all its crudeness.
@8 wj / 10 jen... it's this approach that it's okay to make the planet uninhabitable that really gets me.. depleted uranian was discussed on the previous thread...raqqa and mosul are more of the same... the us and it's 'might makes right' philosophy is really sickening.. when will it ever end?
Posted by: james | Apr 20 2018 21:54 utc | 30
Last I heard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) ws in Portsmouth for overhaul. Do you have better information?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 20, 2018 5:44:58 PM | 23
I read it was to arrive on May 14th, let me locate that article, I read it about a week ago.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 21:55 utc | 31
@frances 31
Okay, I was a bit harsh on you, it was the Truman not the Ike.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 20 2018 21:58 utc | 32
@Likklemore, @frances: Oh, absolutely. Syria needs S-300 against fighter jets and bombers. My "overkill" comment was related to cruise missiles only.
Posted by: S | Apr 20 2018 22:04 utc | 33
karlof1 5:17:54 PM | 19
Uli Gack is still talking nonsense. He is talking about IS in Douma, there wasn't any. He is talking about a gas release - not an attack but still a release, some sort of trap for the Syrian army, there most probably wasn't any. The interviewer in the studio asks if its not a contradiction - no attack then, Russian postponing fact finding mission by the OPCW now - Gack answers, it seems like one, but bla bla. Fact is, not the Russian were hindering the OPCW work, it was the U.N. Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS)- this was acknowledged by the OPCW boss himself. In short; what Gack and the interviewer are talking about is an alternative 'reality' which has barely something to do with what really happened.
Posted by: Pnyx | Apr 20 2018 22:14 utc | 34
frances @18--
I'd guess that Mr. Carlson told too much Truth and thus became--or was made--ill. His last Twitter entry's for 12 April, making his current tweet gap the largest recently. Or, given who his colleagues are, maybe they fit him with cement shoes and sent him swimming.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 22:16 utc | 35
RT Arabic interviews the boy again, this time right in the hospital room where the filming took place; also, RT finally addresses the "barrel bomb in the bed" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaZRZo9FGQI
Posted by: S | Apr 20 2018 22:16 utc | 36
reply to Don Bacon 23
Last I heard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) ws in Portsmouth for overhaul. Do you have better information?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 20, 2018 5:44:58 P
Still looking for the article saying they were scheduled to arrive in the Med on May 14th; I did find that it is scheduled to return to service (after its overhaul) in 9 months which would be May. I also found this link; scroll down for the Med's 6th fleet current status:
https://www.navysite.de/navy/fleet.htm
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 22:19 utc | 37
re Tucker Carlson absence
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20, 2018 6:16:09 PM | 35
I am worried, but if he is alright and just on double secret probation; I hope he puts his resume in at RT:) would hate to see his voice silenced.
Posted by: frances | Apr 20 2018 22:25 utc | 38
Pnyx @34--
Thanks for your reply. I guess the German-English speakers I follow on Twitter overplayed the importance of what was actually being said. Sigh!! Tried following the twitter thread generated by the tweet through Yandex translation which seemed to agree with the attack being staged despite the arguing.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 22:30 utc | 39
Dear Frances,
Don't forget to factor in physical geography in your war-gaming scenario. Western Syria and Lebanon may be mountainous. (That accts for why the area is a refuge for small and diverse religious groups.) At some stage in the next attack the US and allies must put boots on the ground.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 20 2018 22:45 utc | 40
Amazingly BBC newsnight just started preparing viewers for the possibility that there was no sarin attack, and the missile strikes might just have been for show, i plying Trump did it for political reasons. Narrative changing a bit.
Posted by: Paul Cockshott | Apr 20 2018 22:56 utc | 41
Aside from the propaganda aspect, this is OT but important. Something remarkable and actually critical to the proper functioning of the Rule of Law within the USA occurred Wednesday that I just learned about thanks to Ray McGovern of VIPS and Tom at ICH:
"Wednesday’s criminal referral by 11 House Republicans of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as several former and serving top FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials is a giant step toward a Constitutional crisis.
"Named in the referral to the DOJ for possible violations of federal law are: Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey; former Attorney General Loretta Lynch; former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe; FBI Agent Peter Strzok; FBI Counsel Lisa Page; and those DOJ and FBI personnel “connected to” work on the “Steele Dossier,” including former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.
"With no attention from corporate media, the referral was sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber. Sessions appointed Huber months ago to assist DOJ Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz. By most accounts, Horowitz is doing a thoroughly professional job. As IG, however, Horowitz lacks the authority to prosecute; he needs a U.S. Attorney for that. And this has to be disturbing to the alleged perps."
The content McGovern writes about is provocative to say the least given the rank of those being targeted for their criminality. But will anything of substance finally come about? IMO, it must absolutely. But the media blackout must be overcome, and People Power via Social Media may be the only answer to seeing justice finally done and Russiagate finally buried.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2018 23:07 utc | 42
It'll be interesting to see how Russia plays this when the US starts blustering. Putin knows AmeriKKKa bloviates above its weight. He also knows that they know they'll be lucky if they can limp home after a direct, hot, confrontation. So, however their next ploy unfolds, it'll be a provocation aimed at getting Russia bogged down in (??) to 'bleed them out.' But they can't afford to forget the Ru promise to retaliate against launch platforms.
I'm predicting that the Full Spectrum Dumbinance crowd will shoot themselves in the foot. There's one helluva thick concentration of self-absorbed, Colonial Christian brainlessness bobbing around in the Med at present. Something's gotta give...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 20 2018 23:12 utc | 43
The problem, as always, is with Israel. The very UN resolution which recognised the artificial construction of their state has willfully not been followed up by a fair and just settlement for the people who were kicked out to form that state. As far as I am concerned Israel ceases to be a recognised state and should be dismantled.
Posted by: Bill | Apr 20 2018 23:20 utc | 44
re: USS Harry S. Truman CV-75 may be on its way to the Med
I've posted before why carriers are obsolete, but I guess some carrier fans think that a carrier in the neighborhood is a big deal. We've long been told that, so it must be true, right? And worth the investment of circa twenty billion for each carrier group, total eleven? Wrong.
Look at it this way. The US has had a carrier parked in the Persian Gulf most of the time, sometimes two (none right now). They were mainly used to fly sorties of destruction over Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. But they were also a part of the stupid US foreign policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was frequently summed up as "all options on the table." Did Iran quake at the sight of a carrier continuously off its shore? No, because Tehran knew and Washington knew too that the carrier was a sitting duck if the balloon went up. It was a potential easy target for missiles, torpedoes and mines. Actually the carrier presence was an insurance policy AGAINST a US attack on Iran. Sending five thousand swabbies to Davy Jones's locker is not an option for the Pentagon, no matter what some smart-ass politicians think.
By the way expensive obsolete carriers are high-maintenance 'way beyond Stormy Daniels territory. Of the eleven US carriers only two are currently deployed, which is about average.
There's a bigger point here, and that is that the US military is pretty much useless for anything important, which it has fully demonstrated, and one reason is that corruption in military acquisition has only provided the troops with a bunch of expensive complex useless crap. So you can bet your booties that the arrival of the Truman probably (my guess) portends some agreement between Russia and the US, in Russia's favor. The US can claim that it was the carrier's presence that pressured Russia and the carrier won't have to do a damned thing, which is in its favor.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 20 2018 23:42 utc | 45
@45 I'm not so sure. I think the Truman is either on a routine cruise or Donald got goaded into a knee-jerk reaction. And I can't imagine what kind of deal Russia is supposed to agree to at this stage. They may hold off on the S-300 deployment I suppose so that Donald can score a couple of points.
Posted by: dh | Apr 21 2018 0:33 utc | 46
Guess the "mission accomplished" statement was, in fact, true. The empire and their minions have made another target in their cross-hairs, a failed state, like Libya.
Syria will never be again, what it was.
This monstrous empire continues......
Posted by: ben | Apr 21 2018 0:34 utc | 47
@ S 33
Thanks for clarifying.
If you haven't read John Helmer's "Bear and sitting Duck suggest it be added to your weekend read.
A few snips:
US President Donald Trump didn’t mean to start a revolution. President Vladimir Putin tried persuading him not to. But on April 14 the revolution was launched by American warplanes, surface ships and a submarine.The outcome is that the US can no longer count on air superiority anywhere in the world where Russian air defences operate, backed by Russian command-and-control systems. Without air superiority, the US has no force multiple on the ground of the magnitude required for the Pentagon to attack; that is, the ratio of American men and firepower the Pentagon calculates for making sure their enemies on their ground can be defeated.
This is revolutionary, and has spread instantly to every war front — the Russian lines with NATO; the Korea-Japan front; the Taiwan Straits and South China Sea for China; and the Indian Ocean for India and Pakistan.
The treaties which promise US allies that an attack on them will draw US military support for their collective defence – Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), Article 4 of the Australia New Zealand US Treaty (ANZUS), Article 3 of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio), and the Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and Israel defence treaties – are dead letters.
So long, shock and awe – that was the American warfighting doctrine against people who lack Russian-standard defences. [.]
The S-300, which Iran and Greece operate, and the S-400, which guards the Russian naval and air bases in Syria and which Turkey is acquiring, are capable of striking both aircraft and missiles. This is the game-changer for Syrian defence against Israel if the S-300 is delivered, as the Russian Defence Ministry is now proposing. [.]
Oh my, NuttyYahoo is on the phone.
Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 21 2018 0:46 utc | 48
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Posted by: gmail login | Apr 21 2018 4:16 utc | 49
Re: Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20, 2018 4:29:35 PM | 6
I hope Corbyn realises that if he wins Government without first purging the Labour Party of the despicable Blairites, they will bring down his Government to destroy him.
This is painfully obvious to anyone with a functioning brain. So has he purged or disendorsed these backstabbers yet??
Unfortunately I see no evidence he has done this.
@ Lozion with the DNS error
Me too. MoA was on Maint mode with Cloudflare from 6:30 PDT to some time after 9 pm for me
Thanks for the Syria status update b.
Unfortunately the folks that own my country will probably direct my government to kill more people and cause more global grief by extending the war crimes committed in Syria....what is the next bullet going to be that humanity has to dodge like the latest Syria attack?
At the pace we are watching the world spin lately I suspect we won't have to wait long for more "movement" to occur. Given the truth-out on both the Skripal event and the Syria chemical accusations, the price of obfuscation is quite high.
Onward! Into the breech or some such wording....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 21 2018 4:49 utc | 52
jen mentioned something interesting. the game of duopoly has been played out over and over.
federalist/statist = ultimately empire
union/confed = ultimately empire
latin america right/left = ultimately bases in latin america
republican/democrat = de-evolution of its citizens on a mass scale.
Posted by: jason | Apr 21 2018 5:45 utc | 53
shiite- sunni ........
west - east
we good - you are bad
programming works.
Posted by: jason | Apr 21 2018 5:46 utc | 54
@49 lozion.. ditto... it was a typepad thing, as it was happening at pat langs site as well.. maybe it was the cloud host out of seattle for me..
Posted by: james | Apr 21 2018 5:56 utc | 55
@55 Yes dychotomous thinking reigns supreme in the US, see Hegel's dialectic..
Posted by: Lozion | Apr 21 2018 6:38 utc | 56
#Germany's state media senior correspondent (who is in Damascus right now & also visited Douma) on primetime evening news on German television: "#Douma chemical attack is most likely staged. A great many people here seem very convinced."
https://twitter.com/Brasco_Aad/status/987432370595876864
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 21 2018 6:47 utc | 57
Karlofi#35 and frances#18
Michael Quinn on Russia Insider is wondering about the same thing too: Tucker Carlson MIA for 2 Days After Exposing Syria Gas Hoax - Deep State Revenge?
I too hope he will return soon, he seems to be one of the last sane voices of the msm. Hopefully high viewer rates help to bring him back, but he wouldn't be the first one to vanish from the screen, despite high ratings.
Posted by: Fran | Apr 21 2018 6:55 utc | 58
"mission accomplished"
Mission accomplished was another preemptive strike against the neocons/hegemon rather than against Syria or Russia.
I seem to be on my own here so I guess I will be wrong, but I see the Skripal/Novichok/Douma false flags as designed to push Trump/US into all out war on Syria. Like the Shayrat strike, Trump preempted the neo-cons and took the wind out of their sails. Russia recognizes this, which is why they did not respond.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Apr 21 2018 7:00 utc | 59
Peter AU 1
Trump bombed Syria just like Neocons wanted...because Trump wanted to stop neocons?
Sorry, there is no logic in that.
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 21 2018 7:34 utc | 60
@ WJ 13
I think you are looking at the arithmetic of the situation in trying to find a possible deterrent against a bigger attack. However as Magnier tried to ellaborate in his article, that iFUKUS have the power to start a war but they wont be able end it at their pleasure. Remember the Israel - Hizbullah war about a decade ago? If the cruise missile barrage is big enough for saturating air defences then surely a much bigger war between Russia and the US would start. And somehow even if they were able to avoid hitting Russians, the Iranians and Hizbullah would definitely be hit. Surely a swarm of tiny unstoppable missiles would then start to fly in the direction of Israel and its undoing would commence.
Probably the motive behind the recent strike was to evince this stalemate. A larger conflagration that draws in other regional powers will definitely not be in Israel's interest. The idea was probably to draw this point home. Some crazy Zionists would still not get it, neither would some nut-cons. But who gives a shit
Posted by: meme | Apr 21 2018 7:35 utc | 61
@S 15
I agree. But what other sane choice does Israel have? Start a bigger war? And craziness is bounded by the directive of Darwin, that evolution stops for no one. :) Enjoy
Posted by: meme | Apr 21 2018 7:38 utc | 62
Tragic to see the north korea surrender to Trump,
Japan not satisfied with N. Korea’s nuke test halt, wants ‘complete & irreversible’ denuclearization
https://www.rt.com/news/424748-tokyo-seoul-nuclear-reaction/
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 21 2018 7:47 utc | 63
Anonymous | Apr 21, 2018 3:34:53 AM | 60
The Trump cruise missile strike was coordinated with RU military in Syria.
It did no damage to speak of and forestalled plans for a much larger, wider ranging US strike.
The fuk US strike was a nothing burger.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Apr 21 2018 8:26 utc | 64
North Korea has hardly surrendered, rather it has agreed to stop testing nukes and ICBMs and also it will dismantle a nuclear test center. They still have their nuclear arsenal and I seriously doubt if that is going to be dismantled any time in the near future.
Posted by: Perimetr | Apr 21 2018 8:28 utc | 65
Before my eye sight went, I read constantly, mostly history and war, as war is what creates the major changes in history.
In all that reading, I have not read about what Russian leadership is doing in Syria. The consolidation of Syria, as RU leadership is doing, seems an original.
It is how Putin defeated the US and KSA in Chechnya.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Apr 21 2018 8:33 utc | 66
Tucker Carlson will be away from Fox News for as long as is needed to reprogram him in isolation. Anyone here who lives in Salisbury in the UK should familiarise him/herself with his photos in case s/he happens to see him.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 21 2018 8:36 utc | 67
What I don't understand is why the Syrian government takes such pains to actually provide bus transportation for ISIS rebels once they surrender. WTF!? I mean, ISIS has basically laid wasted to Syria's major cities such as Raqqa, Homs, Aleppo etc and have viciously killed thousands of Syrian civilians and soldiers. Why not kill them all? Why provide them transport to some other location where they can regroup, reorganize, etc.?
Just does not make any sense. They should most definitely all be mowed down with machine gun fire; bombed to bits from the air; shelled to smithereens. This is the only way to finish the job, by making an example of what will happen if ISIS tries to re-invade Syia with CIA/USA help: certain death.
Posted by: deschutes | Apr 21 2018 9:26 utc | 68
68 - I'll tell you. Everytime you give safe passage to militants, it encourages other militants to take that road, you save civilian lives that would otherwise be lost in an urban war with said militants and you save infrastucture. It's a very clever and compelling way to get the goat molesters out of the cities and then deal to them in Idlib or the eastern deserts.
Posted by: jezabeel | Apr 21 2018 9:50 utc | 69
Further points about the White Helmets and East Ghouta.
The White Helmets claim to support all Syrian people although when Jaish al-Islam surrendered to the SAG and were exiled to northern Aleppo (or where ever), all the White Helmets fled with Jaish al-Islam. I've always thought that volunteer first responders were honor-bound to stay with the people they support so the White Helmets are really there to support terrorists like Jaish al-Islam. As that fat f**k, victor of East Aleppo and high-ranking terrorist official, Sheikh Abdullah al-Muhaysini, said "the White Helmets are the civil defence of the mujahadeen" and only the the mujahadeen.
There have been stories in the western media claiming that the doctors in Douma who had the balls to stay behind with their patients (unlike the ball-less White Helmets) and were denying the attack involved chemical weapons were intimidated by the regime - not something the reporters actually in Douma seemed to detect, which suggest that people on the ground in terrorist-controlled areas felt some degree of safety with the Syrian government, enough at least to risk their lives.
Looking back at Aleppo only about 65% of the local population stayed behind to go under government control, while in East Ghouta it seems that 80% of the local population stayed behind to go under government control even those who fled a while back to government-controlled areas. It looks like the Syrian government really has turned the corner with its real "heart and minds" approach.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Apr 21 2018 9:59 utc | 70
he, he, he....
sorry b, directly nothing have to do with the topic, but if viewed in context of time and events...
cooking oil
https://themoscowtimes.com/static/uploads/publications/2018/4/20/95dc6d787e3f4557a8f63aff6d50e9e2.jpg
and,
inevitable, Vodka
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbOOJ3hXUAA5cmq.jpg
excellent way to 'threat' your enemy buy using "culture", mock them, see them as an idiots, Untermensch. I hope it will be some tv show about it, and so on.
Posted by: partisan | Apr 21 2018 10:01 utc | 71
deschutes 68
ISIS are being moved out of the city to the eastern desert where they are easier to target and can be destroyed with less chance hitting non jihadists or doing more damage to buildings/infrastructure.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Apr 21 2018 10:07 utc | 72
>>>>: deschutes | Apr 21, 2018 5:26:57 AM | 68
Just imagine the uproar in the western media if big bad Assad and Putin were shown to be machine-gunning or imprisoning the poor innocent defenceless lambs of ISIS.
In the meantime, the Russian and Syrians are doing their best, air raids and Golan 1000s included, to kill as many as possible but in urban areas eventually you have to send in the pbi to flush them out. Far better to frighten them into surrendering then dumping them into Idlib so that they and HTS can kill each other to their hearts' content.
Now, if only the Chinese would come up with a $25 knockoff of JDAM that works with Golan 1000 rockets, they must have enough samples by now or are they concerned about American IP rights?
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Apr 21 2018 10:18 utc | 73
@ partisan 71
I am sorry, but cooking oil and vodka, so....
Is it some insider joke I am not supposed to understand ? You succeeded!
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Apr 21 2018 10:23 utc | 74
@63 "... wants ‘complete & irreversible’ denuclearization"
Sounds like a good policy in theory -- why not invite Israel to lead the way and go first.
About equivalent degrees of claimed hostility in the near environment.
Posted by: dunno | Apr 21 2018 10:26 utc | 75
Ghost Ship 70
I wonder of the percentage difference between Aleppo and East Ghouta reflect the number of Mujahideen or foreign fighters and their families that where present in these areas? Aleppo was a free run from the Turk border whereas east Ghouta has been an enclave.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Apr 21 2018 10:29 utc | 76
No sign of a general surrender to the Government yet in Yarmouk. Heavy bombardment and large scale assault is still underway this morning.
But big success over Jaish Islam in East Qalamoun (Jebal Batra & Afai)where the Government is working its way through the large amount of munitions and armour that they have captured. It appears as if the have recovered most of the 559th Armoured Battalion that was seized in March 2014 making it the biggest haul so far.
Posted by: JohninMK | Apr 21 2018 10:42 utc | 77
Ghost Ship
one of the nurse who speaks has shaved his beard between him in the video and the interview; some of them migt have been supporters at the beginning but the fact they had families there (the East Ghouta can be quite homogen in certain areas) and they were medics would probably have had them stay; plus the 3 women in the video, covered almost up to the eyes...
Anyhow the gov does not need to intimidate them since the truce is for anyone who has no weapons.
Posted by: Mina | Apr 21 2018 11:33 utc | 78
@Jen | Apr 20, 2018 4:52:52 PM | 10
This is the single most insensitive comment that I have read over the past twelve months. What on earth makes you think that the traumatized inhabitants of Raqqa want to live next door to a ghoulish ghost city?
Would you like to live there, waking up every day and seeing the horrific devastation of your one-time home, right from your bedroom window? Living within sight of the place where your friends and family were killed?
That'll do wonders for the poor folks' PTSD...
Posted by: renchon | Apr 21 2018 11:40 utc | 79
Deschutes @ 68: Much more productive for the SAA to herd the jihadists into a small area like Idlib next to the Turkish border so they can all fight one another, wasting their own firepower and killing themselves off. If they feel like moving somewhere else, they can always go into Turkey and then they'll become President Erdogan's headache.
Plus if the jihadists were being cauldroned by the SAA, they might fight more desperately and be more inclined to kill civilians recklessly and with CWs, wreck even more infrastructure and be so vindictive as to plant landmines and booby traps that could kill them as well as their enemies. If the jihadists are receiving advice from Israeli advisors as well as British, French and US advisors, they may be familiar with a version of the so-called Samson option: if you're going to die, you should take as many of your enemies as you can with you.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 21 2018 11:46 utc | 80
Renchon @ 79: I didn't say that Raqqa as it is now had to be preserved. My suggestion is only an idea. It's up to the people of Raqqa to decide whether they want to rebuild Raqqa on the same site or build a new Raqqa on a different site. Maybe close by or farther away, whatever they believe is best for them.
If Raqqa as it is now turns out to be polluted with toxic or radioactive chemicals, or has so many landmines that cleaning up the ruins is more expensive than relocating the city's population somewhere else, the ruined city might be best left as a memorial. What's so insensitive about saying that? Do you have a better suggestion?
Posted by: Jen | Apr 21 2018 11:57 utc | 81
At the end of WW2 the Germans in towns that had been largely flattened by western bombing removed the rubble to a site outside the town and piled it up. These4 mounds became parks, etc. but were also silent memorials to the barbarity of the war. Perhaps the Syrians in Raqqa should do this with the buildings that are beyond repair.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | Apr 21 2018 12:17 utc | 82
The spectacular percentage of success in shooting down of missiles in the recent attack on Syria is one aspect of a great change in military matters. Another huge change, often mentioned now in light of Putin's new weapons revelations, is the transformation of surface naval forces and far flung military bases from being projections of power to becoming vulnerable targets.
But an additional dark 'justice' has arrived with precise long range high speed missile capabilities, due to the early enthusiasm for the power and security assumed to be had by building many nuclear weapons, support technologies and requirements, and accompanying nuclear reactors, in countries of imperial pretensions/aggressive orientation habit.
The prone to war criminality countries Israel and United States and Britain and France will all now increasingly implicitly be held hostage by their own nuclear weapons of mass destruction and companion nuclear reactors. The development of precise long range missile capability, as demonstrated by the Russians in firing with deadly accuracy from (if memory serves) the Caspian Sea into Syria, and the acquisition of such technology by more and more countries, means that the aggressors 'homeland' can now too be reduced to radioactive hell, without recourse to nuclear weapons. Check out the photographs of the vistas in Japan of tens of millions of one tonne plastic bags containing radioactive soil and debris as a result of trying to clean up from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Complex explosions/ meltdowns catastrophe.
Yes, if other such catastrophes were to occur the radioactivity will spread around the planet eventually, but the ability for nuclear powers to intimidate non nuclear powers by flaunting their implied nuclear weapons threat is turning into at best a big problem/dire threat against the 'flaunters', who turned out to be only temporary and now bedeviled 'masters of the nuclear universe.'
Further implied is that, surprise, building friendship and trust and peaceful relations are the beckoning viable alternatives to wars of aggression, mass murdering preludes to piracy.
Posted by: Robert Snefjella | Apr 21 2018 12:22 utc | 83
About the destroyed Raqqa. I grew up in a city that was pretty much flattened during WWII, Warsaw, and when I was very young, the part just next to the city center (where I lived) had plenty of half-standing, half-destroyed buildings. Now it is something like a financial district, office towers, hotels etc. City location usually has some value worth to preserve: roads, railroads, underground infrastructure. During rebuilding the street network is usually improved and parts are converted to parks, and some large municipal projects can be added. Much more recently, Grozny was rather nicely rebuild, RF supporting the local authorities with an equivalent of few billion dollars.
Americans have scant interest in constructive activities, and Raqqa for them, and Saudis, is an unwanted orphan. What is the strongest possible economic purpose of Raqqa? Pretty close to the west is the largest industrial center of Syria, and Euphratus could provide a very economic way for transporting various raw materials from Iraq, Iran and perhaps even for Asia in general (ships to the large ports at the west end of Persian Gulf, river barges to Syria. Raqqa could be a trans-shipment point -- between the river and railroads, and an attractive location for the same industries that may flourish in Aleppo. Isolated from the rest of Syria AND Iraq, it could as well be abandoned.
If I were a property owner in Raqqa region, I would stay put and pray for the restoration of united Syria. Apparently some locals want to be more proactive.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 21 2018 13:09 utc | 84
@ deschutes 68
I've wondered about that, too. The only thing I can figure is it helps target and concentrate the enemy and get their power/influence away from helpless civilians. It may also serve to push the jihadists back into their allies like Turkey and Jordan.
Mission Accomplished
The mission to destroy these countries and set them back 100 years seems to be THE mission whether Iraq, Libya, or Syria. That these states are secular, independent, former Soviet clients, former PLO helpers, etc counts, too.
@ Piotr Berman 84
DW had a segment on yet another discovered unexploded bomb in Berlin that required a large area to be shut down and evacuated. They said this happens all the time there and that it was low quality control at the makers ... as if that's a positive. They can rebuild all they want but it's still a minefield unnecessarily created from an immoral Total War concept. You probably won't see Musk or others doing underground boring in these areas - too risky. But you're right that construction is not the concentration or skill emphasized, only destruction. I wondered about that in the Haiti earthquake relief. Why not create factories there to use/create materials to rebuild housing quickly?
Posted by: Curtis | Apr 21 2018 14:01 utc | 85
A nuclear weapon is actually an impotent weapon. Unless you are a Super power you can invoke MAD. But smaller powers still have to play by the rules, they can inflict horrible damage to an aggressor, but will be made to glass doing so. The nuclear weapons simply function as a barrier against idiocies like the Evil empire inflicted on Syria. Nuclear weapons make the super powers stop and think. You dont fock with nuclear weapons. Not even superpowers does that. But no problem really, if you have good governments. When retards are in power like Israel, Britain and France things go bad.
Even poor Pakistan and India has behaved as grown-ups and have not visited that zone. Bult home of Magna Charta and the Marseillaise are happy to play with fire. (I dont mention the US, because it is actually originally made up of rejects, and they still saviour that, The US is, well the US the spoilt child having a tantrum.
Us being a country far out to the west, where the world is prolonged with poison depots, nuclear waste depots, fracking, corporate greed, ect, ect it is no place for honest people, leave them alone and tell them to fock off.
When they have good focked off, the rest of the world can get on with important stuff, like eradicating, child poverty, child deaths, famine, doing fair trade, combating climate change, makes us live in the same world, dreaming of space and beyond, living like humans.
Maybe one day we might recolonize the Northern Americas, because it is empty, they have all killed themselves.
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Apr 21 2018 14:04 utc | 86
The other plus of bussing the jihadists out is that you record it and have a database of faces you can refer to in future when they claim to be innocent civilians. It will make it much quicker to filter them out. Some of them will almost certainly turn on the west so this would add currency to Damascus. A very sensible policy all round. I would prefer it if they attacked and brought down the gulf states instead, but I suspect that for most of them it is just a job, not a religious calling.
Posted by: et Al | Apr 21 2018 14:19 utc | 87
Speaking of those #FUKUS WMDs, we could all end up being 'collateral damage' from the ensuing DU cloud's hot particles...
The DU Cloud of the April 14 Strikes in Syria
"A total of 105 cruise missiles with 65.4 tons of DU - look at the actual spikes in radioactivity after the wave of strikes. This confirms very well the fact that there is a VERY significant amount of depleted uranium incorporated in all of these missiles..."
Posted by: John Gilberts | Apr 21 2018 14:24 utc | 88
Russia tosses the US an attaboy....
Russia: U.S. Did Not Violate Red Lines During Syria Strikes
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the U.S. sought out and respected Moscow’s positions in Syria when it launched its air strikes last week.
Lavrov noted that despite the escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington, the U.S. made sure it didn’t harm any Russian personnel and positions during the strikes against the regime of President Bashar Assad following a suspected chemical attack on the town of Douma.
“We told them where our red lines were, including the geographical red lines,” Lavrov told Russian state television. “The results have shown that they haven’t crossed those lines.” . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 21 2018 15:12 utc | 89
@ John Gilberts 88
Conspirational nonsense does not belong here I believe, find somewhere else to spout this ridiculous blah-blah. Depleted uranium is used in antitank ammo. You are a fool and waste of time.
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Apr 21 2018 15:43 utc | 90
@90 den lille abe... i am curious to know why you say that.. it is true du is used for a lot of things, but i think it is also true that is it bad for people if they are exposed to it as well... at least my understanding is many soldiers and people have suffered from exposure to it... i guess you see it differently..
Posted by: james | Apr 21 2018 15:55 utc | 91
i notice now that my comments are not appearing automatically.. i guess b has changed the settings or something?
Posted by: james | Apr 21 2018 15:56 utc | 92
Den Lille Abe @74,
You have to read Cyrillic script to get the joke.
Posted by: Jonathan | Apr 21 2018 16:07 utc | 93
What is the meaning of globalist economic hitman Jeffrey Sachs appearing on Morning Joe on April 12, as a critic of the regime change war in Syria. Given who he is, who his sponsors are this is an interesting choice for a new face in the shift in propaganda on Syria. https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/should-the-us-be-part-of-solution-in-syria-or-leave-1209166915804?playlist=associated
Jeffrey Sachs is a run of the mill neo-liberal economic theorist, an economic hit-man with a humanitarian rhetoric. He is credited with helping to destroy the economy of Bolivia. In his opus The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time he claimed the global south is stuck in a 'cycle of poverty' but mosquito nets and fertilizers will eradicate poverty, especially if Bono is handing them out to the natives. Yes, this kind of nonsense can still make you a tenured celebrity at Harvard and Columbia, because it serves the fiscal interests of the northern imperialist class.
These days Sachs is a no holds barred advocate of payment for ecosystem services (PES), a green-washed version of natural resource privatization. the usual suspects from the World Bank to governments are locked and loaded to invest in the 'biosphere economy' and 'ecosystem services', market opportunities of, for example : deforestation. In other words disaster capitalism with nice cool greenwash . So why is Jeffrey Sachs joining the Syria truth party?
I have no idea, but it's an interesting development.
Posted by: majobrs | Apr 21 2018 16:19 utc | 94
Macron propaganda exposed on Douma:
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201804211063782181-le-drian-russian-flip-flopping-claims/
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 21 2018 16:26 utc | 96
From Xymphora an interesting snippet of scuttlebutt about the Brits carrying out some hasty improvements to their bases in Cyprus prior to the illegal April 14 attack on Syria. X links to an Unz Review article by Shamir titled "First Joust" as the source.
"An interesting bit of data, proving that preparations for the strike were carried out before the alleged attack, has been published by the Cyprus banking community blog. They say the British air base of Akrotiri on Cyprus had its perimeter urgently strengthened (by the British company Agility) on April 5, that is before the alleged Douma gas attack. The second British air base, Dhekelia, carried out similar works on April 12, a week later, before the decision to strike had been adopted by the British government. The Dhekelia works were done with great speed and urgency, and road-constructing equipment had to be taken from the nearby villages of Xylotympou and Ormideia. The payment to the local workers had been routed via HSBC bank in Hong Kong, they say. And indeed these bases (forcibly retained by Britain) were used for the strike on Syria."
Shamir's presumption is cute but begs the question "Why would the Brits bother reinforcing the perimeter of bases in Cyprus when the most likely Russian response to the Syria attack would be a missile attack: and the least likely would be a Russian ground assault."
On the other hand, if anti-Brit sentiments among Cypriots are as strong as elsewhere in the civilised world, maybe they decided that shooting angry protesters in Cyprus after the Syria attack would "create an unfavourable image."
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 21 2018 16:39 utc | 97
This is how the mainstream media lies with half-truths. This is a news alert I received from the Washington Post regarding the chemical weapons inspectors entering Douma:
International inspectors enter Syrian city of Douma after suspected chemical attack killed at least 43, prompted allied airstrikeThe U.S. State Department had accused Syria and Russia of seeking to delay the inspection as they removed evidence that would indicate the use of chemical weapons in Douma.
The suspected attack prompted the United States, France and Britain to launch military action last week against sites linked to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons program.
The blurb that I received in my email tells of the U.S. State Department accusations of Syria and Russia blocking inspectors, but it doesn't give the real reason for the delay, it was the UN causing the delay. This is a lie by omission, I read the entire article and the real reason for the delay, UN security is not mentioned.
This is why Moon of Alabama is so valuable. Without this site, I would not have known the reason for the delay, because the mainstream media did not tell the who truth. I owe the owners of the blog and the commentators of this blog a debt of gratitude for getting me the complete truth because otherwise, I would be like every other propagandized American.
Posted by: MusicalE | Apr 21 2018 16:54 utc | 98
@Jen: Leaving a 2262 year old city because of a 7 year war? No way.
Posted by: S | Apr 21 2018 17:31 utc | 99
@james 91
Depleted uranium is used for anti tank rounds. Or as penetrators on bunkers, not common.
It is non radioactive. It is a heave metal and poisnous, as is Wolfram or Tungsten. It is obvious that a large dispersal of this meatal will cause health hazards but it has been exaggerated by some media. So many rounds of depleted uranium were never fired, has never been fired as to cause a cataclysmic event. Fukushima has had a more severe impact.
Lets talk that instead.
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Apr 21 2018 17:38 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
PCR:
"The Russian government is captured by delusion if the Russians believe that the US government, in which Nikki Haley is Trump’s choice to be America’s spokesperson to the world, in which the crazed neoconservative war monger John Bolton is a principal influence over US military and foreign policy, and in which the President himself is under threat of indictment for wanting to normalize relations with Russia, has any prospect of avoiding war."
Posted by: Perimetr | Apr 20 2018 19:41 utc | 1