Russia in Syria: Moscow air strikes 'have killed thousands of civilians' already, warns UK Defence Secretary
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Michael Fallon says Russia's ongoing operations raise risk of accidental confrontation with Western forces
Pentagon: Top Khorasan Group Member Killed in Syriaby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
A U.S.-led coalition airstrike has killed a top al-Qaida-linked militant in northwest Syria, the Pentagon said Sunday. Saudi national Sanafi al-Nasr was killed Thursday, according to the Pentagon. He was described as a member of the so-called Khorasan group and "longtime jihadist" who handled finances between donors and various al-Qaida operations. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement that al-Nasr's death "deals a significant blow to the Khorasan Group's plans to attack the United States and our allies." The Pentagon said al-Nasr was the fifth senior group memeber to be killed in the last four months.
Approximately 170 tonnes of oil leaked yesterday from a Siberian refinery belonging Rosneft, according to emergency response officials. The spill took place in the early morning from one of the refinery’s reservoirs as excess water was being drained off, according to a Rosneft spokesperson who is quoted as saying: “The total size of the spill was about 170 tonnes and the size of the affected area is 1,200 square metres.” Rosneft has said that there was no risk to the surrounding territory and the spilled oil was being cleaned up. The article adds that hundreds of tonnes of oil are spilled every year in Russia, and the problem is particularly acute at Soviet-era fields with aging infrastructure.
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said yesterday that a deliberate oil production decrease by Russia would not support prices, responding to calls to reduce output. His comments indicate that Russia is still unwilling to cut oil output because it believes that its oil wells, located mostly in harsh climate of Siberia, will not be easy to restart once they are halted. Some leading oil producers, notably Venezuela, have called on Moscow to cut oil output in order to support prices, which have more than halved since peaking out in June 2014, but Russia is reluctant to decrease extraction of oil as its rivalry for global market share with the world’s other leading producer of crude, Saudi Arabia, has heated up after supplies of Middle Eastern oil have increased in eastern Europe, Moscow’s traditional market.
Here is published an opinion editorial by the prominent French author and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who writes that the goal of Russia’s intervention in Syria is not to contribute to the “struggle against terrorism,” as the Kremlin’s propagandists claim, but “to restore political control at any cost to the regime that spawned the terrorism in the first place.” The article adds: “Putin is not just a fireman who sets fires, he is an old-school imperialist. His operation in Syria is partly designed to divert attention from his dismemberment of Ukraine.” It argues that Europeans must wake up to Putin’s design before it is too late, otherwise it risks dissipating away the very security on which its unity and its prosperity are built.
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 Toronto Star |
Russia denies unidentified drone shot down by Turkey belongs to them
Toronto Star ANKARA, TURKEY—Turkey shot down an unidentified drone that flew into its airspace Friday near the Syrian border, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country's air campaign backing a Syrian government offensive has killed hundreds of ... Turkey downs drone near Syrian border; Russia denies aircraft lostWashington Post Russia's resurgent drone programCNN Turkey shot down Russian drone near Syrian border, official saysFox News RT -RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty -ARA News all 681 news articles » |
 Washington Post |
Russia's new kind of friends
Washington Post Until recently, Yakunin was the chairman of Russian state railways and a close ally of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin. Now he has been ejected from Putin's inner circle, but he still opened the forum in Rhodes this month. When asked, he angrily ... and more » |
 RT |
Russia offers US 'broader cooperation' in Syria, but Washington not ready ...
RT The offer of a wider collaboration and coordination, the deputy minister said, extends to all countries and Russia is actively trying to unite all those involved. Antonov says Russia has a direct phone line with Turkey, and Moscow is actively ... and more » |
The U.S. State Department is urging Turkey to uphold due process in the case of an Iraqi journalist who was arrested on August 27 while working with Vice News.
 Daily Mail |
Russia reportedly looking to remove itself from Internet
Fox News Andrei Semerikov, general director of Russian Internet provider Er Telecom, told the newspaper it was ordered by the ministry of communications and Russia's national Internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, to block traffic to foreign communications channels ... Russia tries to cut itself off from the World Wide Web as Kremlin attempts to ...Daily Mail Russia 'tried to cut off' World Wide WebThe Rakyat Post all 3 news articles » |
 РБК |
Медведев отверг обвинения в защите личной власти Башара Асада
РБК Глава правительства РФ отверг обвинения в том, что Москва поддерживает лично президента Сирии Башара Асада. По его словам, вопрос президентства Асада не является для российского руководства принципиальным. Премьер-министр России Дмитрий Медведев. Фото: РИА ... Медведев: операция ВКС РФ идет не в защиту Асада, а против террористовРИА Новости Новости России и мира сегодня, 18.10.2015: Национальные интересы страны в СирииМонаВиста Медведев: России не важно, останется ли Асад у власти в СирииИнтернет-газета Гарри Каспарова Газета.Ru-Новости туризма Турции-Вести.Ru Все похожие статьи: 240 » |
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Largest US Prisoner Release to Begin Next Weekby webdesk@voanews.com (Carolyn Presutti)
Greg Nelson, 58, stands at the bus stop as diesel trucks laboriously climb a hill and cars pass him by. Bus 35 is late. His permission slip is in his hand. He has one hour to get to the pharmacy and back. Bus tokens, something new and foreign to him, are in his pocket. In 2012, Nelson was driving to a drug deal when police stopped him. They found 55 grams of heroin with a street value of $6,000 in his car. He had no weapon nor any prior conviction. On federal conspiracy and distribution charges he was sentenced to four years in prison. "Any time is a long time when you are incarcerated," he said. Nelson leaves prison a year early, though — on October 30 — because of a recent decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In the biggest prisoner release in history, federal sentencing guidelines have been reduced for non-violent drug offenders. It’s a move to lower harsh sentences for non-violent crimes and to ease prison overcrowding. Six-thousand will leave by early November. In the next few years, another 40,000 will get early release. FAMM In the 1990's Julie Stewart's brother was sentenced to five years for growing marijuana in Washington — a state that has now legalized it. She started the non-profit Families against Mandatory Minimums. “We have just incarcerated, incarcerated, incarcerated because it’s easy," she said. "And it makes people feel good but it doesn’t actually make us safer and it’s really really expensive. ” Warning from US attorneys But not everyone agrees. According to FBI figures, US crime has dropped 12 percent over the past five years. Some say that was due in part to the tough sentencing guidelines. The attorneys who prosecute criminals predict violent crime will rise again with the shorter sentences. "The recidivism rate among offenders nationwide is nearly 77 percent," says Steve Wasserman, treasurer of the National Association of Assistant US Attorneys. He cites a study from the National Institute of Justice, saying "It’s virtually guaranteed a large percentage of the individuals, the inmates being released, are going to reoffend." Non-violent or violent Julie Stewart, though, points out the offenders being released are non-violent drug criminals whose sentences don't fit the crime. "When I was a kid," she said, "Murderers went to prison for 20 years, not the people growing marijuana or selling drugs on the street corner." Wasserman counters, "Drug dealers by definition cannot go to the police when their drugs are stolen, So, the idea that drug traffickers are engaged in some innoculous, non-violent act is just false. These are individuals that habitually carry firearms." Volunteers of America halfway house Volunteers of America Chesapeake runs the residential re-entry house in Maryland where Greg Nelson lives. Program Director Jennifer Masslieno is busier than she's ever been in her career due to the thousands being released. She can house 148 men and women and manage 50 on home confinement. She has one slot left in her residential capacity and is 16 over her limit on home confinement. She's also down two case workers. But she worries about the inmates who won't go through transitional housing. "There’s a certain population that’s going to be released, and they’re going directly to the community," she said. "So they aren’t going to have re-entry services. I think every offender should have re-entry services, whether thay come from a high-level security or a low-level security facility." Masslieno's center counsels inmates on jobs and housing — inmates stay there before they get total freedom. “They need to have the tools to be successful, and not go back to the lifestyle that they previously went through prior to incarceration,” she said. Greg Nelson says his time in the center has prepared him for release and to be successful without drugs. "They introduce you back into society, but they do it slowly," he said. " I think the biggest thing I learned was to separate what I want from what I need. What I want doesn’t matter, as long as I have everything I need."
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Criminal Justice Reform is Topic of Obama's Weekly Addressby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The United States is the world's largest jailer. U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday in his weekly address that he is encouraged by congressional efforts and other endeavors to change the fact that while the U.S. is home to five percent of the world's population, it has 25 percent of the world's prisoners. The president said, "Every year, we spend $80 billion to keep people locked up." Obama said the "real reason" for the soaring prison population is over the last few decades, the U.S. had "locked up more non-violent offenders than ever before, for longer than ever before." He said "in too many cases, our criminal justice system is a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails." The president said he has taken steps to reverse that trend by investing in schools that at-risk youths attend, signing a bill reducing the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, and commuting the sentence of dozens of people "sentenced under old drug laws we now recognize were unfair." President Obama said he will travel around the country over the next few weeks "to highlight some of the Americans who are doing their part to fix our criminal justice system." His itinerary will include a visit to a community battling prescription drug and heroin abuse, and talks with law enforcement leaders "determined to lower the crime rate and the incarceration rate." The president is also scheduled to meet with former prisoners. Obama visits federal prison Earlier this year, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal prison, as part of his push for a fairer justice system and prison reform. He met with both law enforcement officials and inmates at the El Reno prison in the central U.S. state of Oklahoma. Obama said in his weekly address he was encouraged by the bipartisan effort in the Senate earlier this month, resulting in an agreement on a criminal justice reform bill. The president said the bill would reduce mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders and reward prisoners with shorter sentences, if they complete programs that make them less likely to commit a repeat offense. The harsh sentences were handed down in an era when a "tough on crime" stance resulted in the prison population surge. The mandatory minimums were joined by a law called "three strikes, you're out" which mandated life sentences without parole for a third felony involving drugs. Congress may act New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said recently that the Senate bill is "a moment where, after decades of our country moving in the wrong direction, after decades of seeing our federal prison population explode 800 percent, we have gotten our criminal justice system — with this piece of legislation — moving this country forward." The House of Representatives is also working on a criminal justice reform bill. "From the halls of Congress to the classrooms in our schools, we pledge allegiance to one nation under God with liberty and justice for all," President Obama said Saturday. "Justice means that every child deserves a chance to grow up safe and secure, without the threat of violence. Justice means that the punishment should fit the crime. And justice means allowing our fellow Americans who have made mistakes to pay their debt to society, and re-join their community as active, rehabilitated citizens." Obama said "Justice has never been easy to achieve, but it's always been worth fighting for. And it's something I'll keep fighting for as long as I serve as your president."
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 RT |
Why Russia had to intervene in Syria
RT That is why Russia has been unable to join the US-led “global coalition” against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). The coalition was established in circumvention of the UN Security Council, and its operations in Syria violate the sovereignty of ... |
Could a Russian Fake Provoke a War in Central Asia?by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 17 – Russian news outlets, either through simple ignorance and general lack of journalistic standards or possibly for more nefarious goals, have been promoting the idea that Uzbekistan is on the edge of a war with Kyrgyzstan by distorting the historical record and reality, according to an expose by Central Fergana portal.
This started when the Regnum news agency reported that Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov supposedly had said in the Kazakkhstan capital of Astana on September 7, 2015, that “water and energy problems in Ccentral Asia may deepen to the point that they could cause not only serious conflict or even war” (fergananews.com/articles/8732).
Fergana provides a screenshot of the Regnum report but points out that Karimov was not in Kazakhstan a month ago as the article suggested and that he had made those points not last month but three years ago (fergananews.com/news.php?id=19412). Unfortunately, the story and the problem haven’t ended there.
The paper argued that this was all the more so because the words cited by Regnum had supposedly appeared on the website of the Uzbekistan president and thus must reflect Tashkent’s official policy. In fact, the Fergana investigation found, no such words have ever appeared on Karimov’s site.
And on the other, “Gazeta” committed another gaffe: It asserted that “the sources of the majority of major mountain rivers are, for example, in Kyryzstan while Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are downstream,” clearly confusing Tajikistan, where many such rivers rise and about which Tashkent has complained, with Kazakhstan where they don’t.
The most innocent explanation for what Regnum did and what “Gazeta” continued is that the Russian outlets confused the joint statement of Karimov and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of October 2015 with earlier remarks. But their statement last week was far more measured than what the Russian outlets said (fergananews.com/news/23979).
Uzbekistan outlets, Fergana continues, have not raised the issue of a possible “’future’ war with Kyrgyzstan at all. At the same time, they have not exposed the Russian “mistakes,” possibly because, as Fergana’s chief editor Daniil Kislov says, the Russian errors serve to highlight the importance of the water issue for Tashkent.
But he suggests that the recent Russian errors bear a greater resemble to “conscious disinformation than to the mistakes of journalists.” If that is so – and Fergana’s investigation clearly indicates that it is – then what has appeared in the Russian media may be less about Tashkent’s plans than about Moscow’s.
By stirring the pot, especially at a time when Kyrgyzstan is clearly in the Russian camp and Uzbekistan is not, Moscow appears to be setting the stage for increasing tensions between the two countries, possibly sparking the kind of conflict into which Moscow could intervene in order to rein in Tashkent.
If that is the case, and unfortunately Vladimir Putin's behavior elsewhere does not give much ground for optimism that it is not, then what appear today to be “mistakes” in the Moscow media may be the beginning of a new “hybrid” Russian war against Uzbekistan and Central Asia more generally.
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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has rejected charges that Russia is defending Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Yerevan has Absorbed 16,000 Armenians from Syria and is Ready to Take in 16,000 Moreby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 17 – Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in 2011, more than 16,000 ethnic Armenians have come to Armenia, 4,000 during 2015 alone; and officials say that Yerevan is ready to take in 16,000 more, a step that would virtually end the Armenian presence there and put new pressure on Moscow to allow Circassians to return to the North Caucasus.
There were approximately 150,000 Armenians in Syria in 1918, Suren Manukyan, the deputy director of Yerevan’s Museum Institute of the Armenian Genocide says. By 2011, their numbers had dwindled to between 60,000 and 100,000. Now, as the outflow has become a flood, the community numbers only 15,000 or 16,000 (kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/270768/).
Since that time, more than 16,000 Syrian Armenians have come to Armenia, according to Firdus Zakaryan, an official at the Armenian government’s diaspora ministry and chairman of the commission on Syrian refugees. Yerevan has not been able to support all of them, but it has contributed in various ways such as free medical help to help them settle in.
He told the Kavkaz-Uzel news agency that “if necessary, Armenia is capable of receiving just as many compatriots from Syria” in the future as it has so far. That would mean another 16,000 and mean in effect the end of the Armenian presence in Syria.
Much of the flow of Armenians from Syria to Armenia is handled by the Armenian Mission, a charitable group supported by the UNHCR. Its coordinator for refugee programs Anzhela Ovsepyan says that any Armenian with a Syrian passport receives helpt; it is not necessary for them to have refugee status.
Armenia’s generosity in this regard, albeit for not entirely unselfish reasons given that country’s demographic problems, contrasts sharply with Russia’s which has refused to open the gates for the return of Circassians from Syria to their North Caucasus homeland. (On this, seewindowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2015/09/actions-in-support-of-repatriation-of.html).
But the Circassians are gaining ever more support among non-governmental groups in the Russian Federation. The latest comes from Damir Mukhetdinov, the first deputy chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) of the Russian Federation and secretary of the International Muslim Forum.
In an article entitled “Russia Does Not Cast Away Its Own! Let Us Save the Adygs [Circassians] of Syria,” the Muslim leader says that it is both politically and morally necessary to help these people escape from a war zone and return to the land from which their ancestors were expelled in 1864 (islamrf.ru/news/world/w-opinions/37907/).
By opposing the Circassian requests for allowing their compatriots to return home for so long, Moscow has once again transformed what had been a limited ethnic issue into a broader religious one, something that will allow the Circassians to count as allies many peoples within the borders of the Russian Federation and beyond.
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Survivors of the regime’s barrel bombs are fleeing Syria’s second city in showdown between east and west
After many scares and several false starts, the crucial battle for Syria’s second biggest city has begun.
For more than a year the southern edges of rebel-held Aleppo have been a wasteland. Regime soldiers have been fixed in their positions several kilometres from the battered city limits, while rebels have shored up defences on their side of the ruins.
Continue reading... The Guardian |
Russia paves way for Assad regime's Iranian-backed advance on Aleppo
The Guardian Now, three weeks into Russia's intervention in the Syrian war, there is movement on one of the conflict's most static fronts. And weary opposition forces don't like what they are seeing. “The regime advanced six kilometres [on Friday] and they took ... Russia says still deploying drones in Syria to aid strikesYahoo News Russia still deploying drones in SyriaSky News Australia Russian and Iranian offensive may allow Isil to 'seize more territory' in SyriaTelegraph.co.uk New Zealand Herald-VICE News all 225 news articles » |
Medvedev: Russia’s Military Operation Aimed at Defeating ISISby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Russia's prime minister said Saturday that Russia’s military aim in Syria is to defend its national interests and defeat the Islamic State and not to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power. In an interview with the Rossiya TV channel, Dmitry Medvedev said that it is not important to Russia who leads Syria in the future, as long as it is not ISIS. “It should be a civilized and legitimate government,” he said. Medvedev said that the United States and other states should be discussing political issues. One day earlier, Medvedev criticized the U.S. in another interview on Russian State Television for refusing to hold talks with Russia and Syria. He called the U.S. position “silly” and said that the U.S.-led coalition’s air campaign effectiveness was “almost zero.” The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the air force made 36 sorties in Syria, hitting 49 Islamic State targets in Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus and Aleppo regions in the last 24 hours. Obama: ground offensive will not work Speaking to reporters Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama said that a ground offensive in Syria is "not going to work." Even though the Russians have come in and Iran is sending in more people, "it's also not going to work because they are trying to support a regime that in the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the Syrian people is not legitimate," Obama said. His comments came as the U.S. and Russia reached an agreement in principle to avoid each other's aircraft as both countries conduct air campaigns in Syria. Obama said that was the only issue the two countries agreed on since Russia began its contentious military campaign at the end of September. There has been "no meeting of the minds in terms of strategy," he said. Syrian troops launch Aleppo offensive Syrian troops on Friday morning began a military offensive in the province of Aleppo, the latest campaign to regain territory amid ongoing conflicts with both Islamic State militants and government opposition groups. Russian officials also said their airstrikes allowed the Syrian army "to go into assault across the whole country," Interfax news agency reported. Both Syrian and Russian news sources claim Syrian government troops reclaimed several towns in multiple provinces, including Latakia, Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and Homs. Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are fighting alongside Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters and Shi’ite militias from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Aleppo operation, and across the country. Russia joined the Syrian military coalition in late September. Moscow's daily airstrikes rankled other foreign forces carrying out air offensives against Islamic State militants and have become a repeated issue with Syria's northern neighbor, Turkey. Turkey The Turkish military on Friday said it shot down an aircraft of unknown nationality that had intruded into its airspace near the Syrian border. In a statement, Turkey's military said the plane ignored three warnings before Turkish warplanes shot down the aircraft Friday. Turkish broadcaster NTV reported that the aircraft was a drone and was brought down about 3 km inside Turkish air space near the Syrian border. An unnamed U.S. official told Reuters the U.S. believes the drone was a Russian aircraft, however the Russian defense ministry said all its planes in Syria had safely returned to base and all its drones were operating "as planned" after Turkish officials announced the shootdown. "All our drones are either in mission areas or at the airbase... Whose this downed drone is, you either guess or find out yourselves," Russian Armed Forces Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said Friday, according to Interfax news agency. Turkey has in the past shot down Syrian jets and helicopters for violating Turkish airspace during Syria's four-and-a-half-year civil war. More recently, Turkey has complained about at least two instances of Russian warplanes violating its territory. Earlier this month, Turkish officials warned that Russian planes that cross the border into Turkey could be shot down. Ankara, which supports Syrian rebels, has strongly criticized Russia's military intervention. Moscow has blamed navigational error for some of the intrusions, but some Western officials have said the violations are deliberate. Also on Friday, a senior Russian military official said Russia’s air and land assets in Syria will be merged with its Soviet-era naval facility at Tartus to form a single Russian military base. Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, deputy chief of the Russian armed forces’ general staff, told the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda Russia is establishing one military base in Syria that “will include several components — sea, air, land.” He said the Russian naval group currently located in the Mediterranean Sea is mainly providing “material resources,” but is also being protected by “attack ships” that will also provide the Russian base with anti-aircraft defense. These air defenses, Kartapolov said, will not be used against the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition. He also said that all 26 cruise missiles fired from Russian ships at targets in Syria in the Caspian Sea earlier this month hit their targets, denying U.S. claims that four missiles had crashed in Iran. Separately, Kartapolov told journalists in Moscow in a briefing Friday that ISIS is increasingly demoralized and experiencing “mass” desertions.
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 Voice of America |
Medvedev: Russia's Military Operation Aimed at Defeating ISIS
Voice of America Russia's prime minister said Saturday that Russia's military aim in Syria is to defend its national interests and defeat the Islamic State and not to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power. In an interview with the Rossiya TV channel, Dmitry Medvedev ... WW3 THREAT: Ex-Navy chief calls presence of Russia's SAMs in Syria 'extremely...Express.co.uk Support for Putin's bombing campaign among Syrians in RussiaYahoo News Russia and Allies to Raise Guard at Borders With AfghanistanNew York Times Fox News-CNN all 4,477 news articles » |
Police in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi have killed at least eight militants wanted for carrying out targeted killings and attacks on police officials.
The skies over Syria are dangerously crowded these days with the US, Russia, and the Assad regime all bombing various actors on vaguely opposite sides of the country's multidimensional conflict.
In both Iraq and Syria, the reality of overlapping aerial operations among countries with little geopolitical fondness toward one another has already led to claims that British aircraft have been authorized to engage Russian aircraft over Iraq if threatened.
The British government denied these reports, but they still underscore the possibility of confrontation between allied and Russian military aircraft.
Several presidential candidates, including Democratic front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have called for an allied-enforced no-fly zone in northern Syria — a development that would be partly aimed at containing Russian operations.
In Politico, former State Department official Frederic Hof recently advocated a robust US response to any deliberate Russian provocation: "But if Russia seeks out armed confrontation with the United States in Syria, it would be a mistake for Washington to back down," Hof wrote.
"People like [Russian president Vladimir] Putin will push until they hit steel."
There's already been one alarming incident: According to AFP, Russia announced on October 14 that one of its planes had approached a US aircraft over Syria "for identification purposes," with one Russian official explaining that Russian aircraft "often come within visual recognition distance of US warplanes and drones."
So what would happen if Russian and US aircraft began shooting at one another over Syria?
SukhoiA Russian Su-35 Flanker.
One plausible answer comes from an unlikely source: David E. Hoffman's "The Billion Dollar Spy," a gripping account of Cold War spy Adolf Tolkachev.
In the early and mid-1980s, Tolkachev, who was the head of a Soviet weapons-research laboratory, gave the CIA specifications for the next decade's worth of Soviet combat-aircraft radar systems.
"The amazing thing is that Tolkachov was bringing us not only what was happening now but what would be happening 10 years from now," Hoffman told Business Insider in an interview earlier this year.
Tolkachev allowed US military planners to peer into the future of Soviet aircraft capabilities.
Since the Soviet Union was the US' primary conventional foe, that information led the US to build specific counter-capabilities into its own aircraft — ways of evading advanced Soviet aircraft radar or of exploiting gaps in radar coverage.
"This intelligence went right into electronics that were deployed, but never mentioned in anyone’s National Intelligence Estimate," Hoffman explained to Business Insider.
This technological and intelligence edge is one of the reasons for the US' aerial superiority over Soviet-built combat aircraft since the fall of the Soviet Union.
During the 1991 Gulf War, while in "direct aerial combat over Iraq, the US Air Force downed every Soviet-built tactical fighter that it confronted," Hoffman writes, even though they were being flown by pilots from what was then one of the most formidable militaries in the Middle East at the time.
US pilots had a similarly perfect record when facing off against Yugoslavia's Soviet-built aircraft and air defenses during the 1990s Balkan conflicts.
"The record is stark," Hoffman writes. "For every six enemy aircraft air force pilots shot down in Korea, the United States lost one. In Vietnam, the United States lost one airplane for every two enemy planes shot down.
"Thus, the kill ratios went from six to one in Korea, and two to one in Vietnam, to 48-to-zero for the air force in the wars in Iraq and the Balkans."
As a partial result of Tolkachev's espionage, "The United States has enjoyed almost total air superiority over Soviet-built fighters for more than two decades," he writes.
The technical superiority that Tolkachev's espionage enabled has applications in the present day, in situations where US aircraft might come into conflict with Soviet fighters built in the 1980s and early 1990s. But it could conceivably extend to planes built after that period as well.
ISW
Even some of the most advanced Russian aircraft began their development either at the end of Soviet period or in the immediate post-Soviet period, when communist-era state defense institutes were often left intact.
For instance, the Su-34 Fullback multirole fighter jet — four of which are currently in Syria — first flew in 1990, although the plane didn't officially enter service until 2014. Russia also has Su-30 Flankers in Syria.
Both planes are descendants of the SU-27 multirole fighter, the radar specifications of which were fully known to US military planners, thanks to Tolkachev.
Hoffman speculated to Business Insider that some of Tolkachev's information is still relevant to US national security.
"I still think there are big parts of what Tolkachev delivered that are still in use and that are legitimately still classified," Hoffman said. "Even though this case is three decades old, it’s quite likely that some of that stuff is still considered pretty valuable intelligence."
Tolkachev's information helped the US dominate the skies in earlier operations against Soviet-built fighters. And if there's shooting over Syria, an intelligence operation from the Cold War's critical final decade might come in handy all over again.
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 Business Insider |
Here's one surprising reason Russia might not want to pick a fight with US ...
Business Insider The skies over Syria are dangerously crowded these days with the US, Russia, and the Assad regime all bombing various actors on vaguely opposite sides of the country's multidimensionalconflict. In both Iraq and Syria, the reality of overlapping aerial ... and more » |
Iran: Missile Test Not in Violation of UN Resolutionby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Iran has rejected allegations that its recent long-range missile test violates the United Nations Security Council resolutions. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday that, contrary to the claims of the United States and France, Iran’s “missile tests have nothing to do with Resolution 2231, which only mentions missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads." "Everybody acknowledged that our missile testing had nothing to do with the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] and the United States itself has repeated this, said Zarif. We seriously believe that our missile testing has nothing to do with the 2231 resolution, because in the 2231 resolution missiles that are designed for nuclear capabilities are mentioned and none of the Islamic Republic of Iran's missiles are designed for nuclear capabilities," said Zarif. Speaking to reporters in Teheran alongside German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Zarif added “none of the Islamic Republic of Iran's missiles have been designed for nuclear capabilities." "The Islamic Republic of Iran has proved and shall prove again that nuclear weapons have no place in our defense doctrines and never shall have a place, therefore our missiles have never been designed for carrying nuclear warheads because we have never planned on having nuclear warheads and shall not either," said Zarif. Maintaining trust Steinmeier said he would not judge based on media accounts whether violations of international law had occurred, but he said it was important to make sure there were not misunderstandings and urged full transparency from Iran. Steinmeier said therefore all sides are bound not to destroy this trust that has been built up. "I cannot judge based on press reports whether they were violations of international rules, but to avoid a public discussion about it and to make sure there are no misunderstandings, I can only advise that what is needed is the highest possible transparency, with American partners too, and that the language is escalation should be avoided where possible," he added. Without specifying its exact range, Iran announced Sunday (October 11) it had successfully tested a new Iranian made long-range missile. The United States will seek “appropriate action” in the U.N. Security Council “in the coming days” against Iran for its launching of a ballistic missile earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said on Friday. “We have looked into the facts and it now does appear that the missile launch that Iran conducted did violate U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Power said. “So we will indeed bring it to the U.N. Security Council and press for the appropriate action, and we are also looking bilaterally at things we can do as well.” WATCH: VOA INTERVIEW WITH SAMANTHA POWER Power said the United States is preparing a report on the incident to present the Security Council’s Iran Sanctions Committee and would also raise the matter directly with Security Council members. “The Security Council prohibition on Iran's ballistic missile activities, as well as the arms embargo remain in place and we will continue to press the Security Council for an appropriate response to Iran’s disregard for its international obligations,” she said. She told VOA that the violation was unlikely to affect implementation of the July nuclear deal agreed between Tehran and the six major powers. “We are getting close to the beginning of the Implementation period, and I think that will go forward. It is in everyone’s interests to see the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear weapons program as quickly as possible,” she said. “But we have got to do both at once — we have to hold Iran accountable for its violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions and we have to move forward and ensure that it does not pose a threat and does not obtain a nuclear weapon,” Power said. VOA's Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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Moscow Views Finno-Ugric NGOs as Enemies, Threatening Survival of These Small Nations, Estonian Deputy Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 17 – “The role of civil society in the preservation of languages and cultures” of numerically small peoples “is not simply important; it has decisive importance,” Estonian parliamentarian Sven Mikser told a Tallinn Conference on the Finno-Ugric (Op)position.
“In a world where small peoples are forced to stand up to waves of mass culture, where often scholars cast doubt on the survival of the languages of these small peoples making it difficult to preserve their identities, he told the delegates from Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Karelia, Udmurtia, the Komi Republic and other regions (mariuver.com/2015/10/17/fu-oppoz/).
“But it is much more difficult to preserve small peoples in places where the authorities consider a large part of civil society internal enemies or foreign agents,” the deputy pointed out. “Unfortunately, that is how things stand with [Estonia’s] eastern neighbor,” the Russian Federation.
Estonia, Mikser noted, “is one of the Finno-Ugric peoples which has its own state, the task of which according to the Constitution is the preservation of the Estonian language and its culture. But we know that in the world nothing is completely independent of everything else” and thus seek to help other Finno-Ugric peoples who do not yet have their own statehood.
Other speakers at this conference in the Estonian capital yesterday, one sponsored jointly by the Estonian foreign ministry, the Estonian parliament, and the Finno-Ugric Institute, expanded on those points.
Jaak Prozes, the head of the Institute, noted that “approximately at the end of the 1990s, it became obvious from Esotnia that the local authorities [in Russia] were making efforts to strongly influence national organizations and congresses.” As a result, “recentlyi, ever less has been heard about their activity.”
The activist said that people had asked him why the Tallinn meeting was about “’the (op)position” in Finno-Ugric communities in Russia. The answer is simple, he suggested: “Today something is a position; tomorrow it is the opposition, and the next day it changes place again.”
At present, most Finno-Ugric activists are in opposition, but that is not something eternal.
And Leonid Gonin, a leader of the Udmurt national movement, welcomed the Estonian effort because as he noted “enthusiasm in social organizations” among the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia because of the opposition of the government. Some of these groups have fallen under the power of the bureaucratic apparatus.
Regardless of what the nationality of an individual employee of the government may me, he concluded, “the bureaucrat has no nationality [stress added]. He has his pay and his boss, and thus for any of our organizations there is a risk since the authorities will be able to insist on the positions which they must fulfill.”
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 Российская Газета |
В Петербурге локализовали крупный пожар в промзоне
Российская Газета Крупный пожар в северной промзоне Петербурга локализовали с помощью вертолета. Площадь возгорания превысила 10 тысяч квадратных метров, сейчас пожарные тушат последние очаги возгорания, специалисты приступили к разбору завалов. читайте также. Фото: МЧС по Санкт- ... На складе в Петербурге начался сильный пожарРБК В Петербурге горел склад с машинным маслом и запчастями: горожане потянулись за противогазамиКомсомольская правда МЧС сообщает, что нет необходимости использовать марлевые повязки и противогазы после пожара на складе в ПетербургеInterfax Russia Коммерсантъ-Информационное агентство России ТАСС-Газета.Ru Все похожие статьи: 390 » |
 Jerusalem Post Israel News (blog) |
Russia's Pyrrhic Diplomacy
Jerusalem Post Israel News (blog) Sometimes a “police action” is a war in disguise such as America in Vietnam and Russia in the Ukraine to make the odium of war more palatable and other times “war” is a police action such as the war in Grenada or the Falkand islands but are called war ... and more » |
 Forbes |
Fitch Says Russia Sanction Threat Has Diminished
Forbes They maintained Russia's long term credit rating at BBB-, one notch above junk bond status. “Measures that would affect the payments system or trade have diminished. The rate of casualties and military activity in eastern Ukraine has subsided,” Fitch ... Negative outlook remains for recession-hit Russia: S&PChannel News Asia Risk of More Anti-Russia Sanctions 'Has Diminished' - FitchSputnik International all 15 news articles » |
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 The Seattle Times |
A chessboard Middle East: Russia's pawn is Syria and U.S. is in a stalemate
The Seattle Times Officially, the Russians say they entered Syria to fight the radical Islamic State. But they come at the invitation of Syria's besieged president, Bashar al-Assad, and Russian bombing runs targeting U.S.-backed rebel forces underscore the fact that ... Support for Putin's bombing campaign among Syrians in RussiaYahoo News Russia and Allies to Raise Guard at Borders With AfghanistanNew York Times Moscow activists rally against Russian airstrikes in SyriaDeutsche Welle Express.co.uk- Voice of America all 4,501 Fox News all 4,502 news articles » |
 Российская Газета |
США впервые испытают "противоракетный зонт" в Европе
Российская Газета Военно-морские силы (ВМС) США совместно с союзниками по НАТО проведут первые испытания морского компонента системы противоракетной обороны в Европе и попытаются осуществить перехват баллистической ракеты. Как сообщает сайт Military.com со ссылкой на ... СМИ: США впервые испытают «противоракетный зонт» в ЕвропеBFM.Ru США проведут испытание системы ПРО в Европе в октябреАргументы и факты СМИ узнали о планах США впервые испытать морской компонент ПРО в ЕвропеРБК Коммерсантъ-РИА "VladTime"-Интерфакс Все похожие статьи: 76 » |
 The Australian (blog) |
Russia plans 300 Syrian sorties a day
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 Ynetnews |
Russia warns Israel over jets detected near Syria–Lebanon border
i24news Russian forces sent out a warning to the Israeli Air Force after Israeli jets were detected nearRussian controlled airspace near the Syrian–Lebanese border, Lebanese media outlet As Safir reported Friday. The warning was issued after a Russian radar ... Report: Russia blocks Israeli jets over LebanonYnetnews all 2 news articles » |
 NBCNews.com |
Why Russia Faces Another Islamic Terror Front: Afghanistan
NBCNews.com MOSCOW — All eyes are on Russia's expanding military operation in Syria, but it is not the only place where President Vladimir Putin appears to be expecting trouble from terrorists. Russia last week sent gunships to its biggest overseas military base ... Russia to escalate missions in Syria as troops advance on rebels in AleppoDaily Mail Russia plans 300 Syrian sorties a dayThe Australian (blog) Russia paves way for Assad regime's Iranian-backed advance on AleppoThe Guardian i24news-Express.co.uk all 4,982 news articles » |
Published on Oct 17, 2015
On this edition for Saturday, October 17th, 2015, thousands of migrants hit a detour in Central Europe as Hungary closes its borders with Croatia, concerns grow over expanding the American-trained national police force in Afghanistan, and in our signature segment, could hemp become the next cash crop in Kentucky? Hari Sreenivasan anchors from New York.
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Yaroslav Trofimov in Dubai and
- Yaroslav TrofimovThe Wall Street Journal
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Philip Shishkin in Washington
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130 COMMENTS
Pretty much everyone in the Middle East is supposed to be fighting against Islamic State. Yet, the Sunni extremist group retains large swaths of Syria and Iraq and is spreading elsewhere in the region.
This isn’t because of its military might or strategic sophistication. The explanation is different: For most of the major players in the complicated conflicts ravaging the Middle East, the defeat of Islamic State remains a secondary goal, subordinate to more pressing objectives.
For some of these powers, Islamic State’s existence and its barbarism are actually useful, for now, because they serve as a lever in conflicts with more immediate and dangerous foes.
Though able to take advantage of sectarian fissures in Syrian and Iraqi societies to carve out a territory the size of the U.K., Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, isn’t strong enough to represent a conventional military threat to the region’s biggest nations.
But these countries do live in existential fear of some of their neighbors.
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A photo Oct. 3 from the Russian Defense Ministry showing Russian pilots checking their plane before a flight at their base outside Latakia, Syria. Photo: russian defence ministry press/European Pressphoto Agency
In particular, the Saudi-led bloc of Sunni Arab nations bitterly competes with Shiite-dominated Iran in what has become a zero-sum contest for influence—a contest that Russia has now entered on the Shiite side by supporting the Syrian regime.
That contest is also playing out in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling Iran-supported Houthi militants while Islamic State affiliates strengthen their position and attack both sides.
“Everyone hates their neighbor more than they hate ISIL,” said a senior Obama administration official.
Among the powers involved in the conflict, the U.S. is probably the only one, together with its European allies, focused on degrading and eventually destroying Islamic State as a primary goal.
But that effort, too is subordinated to the Obama administration’s overriding concern about preventing American casualties. This severely limits America’s ability to help forces fighting against Islamic State. It has also given rise to widespread theories claiming that Washington, too, doesn’t actually want the group to be defeated because it supposedly seeks to perpetuate regional instability.
The gap between American objectives and means has bolstered Islamic State’s narrative of invincibility, allowing it to draw thousands of recruits.
“We have an interest in defeating ISIS, but we don’t want to do that ourselves: We want other people to go in and lose their lives in doing it,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
In both Syria and Iraq, the U.S. targets Islamic State leaders and facilities, and seeks to roll back the group’s territorial gains by providing air support to local allied ground forces.
The U.S., which withdrew from Iraq in 2011, sent a small contingent back after Islamic State captured Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and arrived in the outskirts of Baghdad last year. But the Obama administration refuses to allow American advisers near the front lines.
In Iraq, the U.S. is depending on militias from the autonomous Kurdish region and on the Iraqi army—which has been receiving support from Iran and operates in close coordination with the more powerful Shiite militias.
In Syria, where the U.S. is also working with Kurdish guerrillas and a hodgepodge of moderate rebels, Washington is hoping to step up efforts against Islamic State in the north, including by airdropping ammunition to Syrian Arab fighters in the area. The Pentagon recently abandoned a more ambitious program to train Syrian rebels.
In Yemen, it has provided logistical support to the Sunni coalition fighting to restore the internationally recognized president, who fled the country in March as rebel forces advanced. The U.S. Navy sent additional warships to the Red Sea in April to help interdict any arms smuggling from Iran to the Houthis.
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Yemeni tribesmen supporting forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi holding Emirati and Yemeni flags in Marib province, east of the Yemeni capital of San’a, on Sept. 20. The United Arab Emirates has played a big role in the Saudi-led coalition's fight against Iran-supported Houthi rebels. Photo: nabil hassan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The closest U.S. ally in the region, Israel, is largely watching from the sidelines. It isn’t part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State and has abstained from active involvement in the Syrian war, although it shares the Sunni Arab states’ apprehension about the rising influence of the Iranian regime, which Israel views as a mortal threat.
Israel has struck targets in Syria to try to prevent the transfer of sophisticated weapons from Iran to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, which is fighting on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s behalf.
For its part, Russia has said it shares the U.S. goal of combating Islamic State. But its actions suggest the bigger priority is preventing the collapse of the Assad regime, its longtime ally.
The vast majority of Russian airstrikes have targeted other rebel groups that stretch from al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise to the nationalist fighters backed by the Central Intelligence Agency. These groups represent the biggest direct threat to the regime, especially after they advanced this year in northern Idlib province and in southern Syria.
“Russia has put an emphasis on supporting the regime, and from there the logic is military—they help them to fight those who are making the most trouble for the government at the moment,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Kremlin advisory body.
This follows a long pattern of the Assad regime trying to destroy the more moderate opposition groups first, so that the war becomes between itself and the extremists—making itself the lesser evil.
“Russia wants to put the international community in front of two choices: Assad or ISIS,” said Samir Nashar, a member of the main Syrian opposition body, the Syrian National Coalition.
Husam Salameh, a senior leader in the Ahrar al Sham rebel group, agreed: “The regime and its allies will never find a better card to play than ISIS.”
President Vladimir Putin lashed out at U.S. criticism that his airstrikes in Syria aren’t focused on Islamic State. “Some of our partners have mush for brains,” he said on Tuesday. “They don’t have a clear understanding of what’s happening on (Syrian) territory, what goals they wish to achieve.”
One result of Russia’s bombing, especially around the northern city of Aleppo, was to enable a recent advance by Islamic State into villages previously held by the more moderate groups.
Russian bombs struck the rebels’ position in Aleppo at the same time as an Islamic State suicide car bomb went off, said Capt. Hassan Hajj Ali, leader of the U.S.-backed Suqur al Jabal group. “We are getting hit from all sides.”
Conversely, for countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia that have long backed the Syrian rebels, the removal of the Assad regime remains, for now, more important than the destruction of Islamic State.
In such countries, “people may criticize ISIS’s tactics and ideology, but they sympathize with ISIS’s political mission, which they view as not ‘creation of the caliphate’ but ‘defeating Iran and the Shiites,’ ” said Vali Nasr, dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a former State Department adviser. “For this reason there is not a massive commitment to defeating ISIS.”
For Turkey, there is an even more pressing concern: defanging the Kurdish nationalist movement that also threatens Turkey’s territorial integrity.
Acting with U.S. air support, a Syrian offshoot of Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has proven to be one of the most effective forces fighting against Islamic State.
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Syrian Kurdish militia members holding a flag depicting Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed Turkish Kurdish rebel leader, in the village of Esme in Syria’s Aleppo province on Feb. 22. Photo: Mursel Coban/Associated Press
But when the offshoot, known as PYD, seized a strip on Syria’s border with Turkey from Islamic State this year, Ankara viewed that as a reason for alarm rather than celebration. Shortly thereafter, Turkey formally entered the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State—but the vast majority of its airstrikes turned out to be against PKK positions at home and in Iraq.
“For Turkey, there is no difference between the PKK, its extension PYD, or ISIS,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. “They are all terrorist organizations with bloody hands.”
Still, U.S. officials say Turkey’s recent decision to allow the Pentagon to use Incirlik air base for strikes against Islamic State indicates that Ankara is taking the threat more seriously, a threat that was underscored by the Oct. 10 suicide bombings in Ankara, in which Islamic State is a prime suspect.
While paying a high cost in lives lost, Kurds in both Syria and Iraq also have benefited politically from Islamic State’s rise.
Last year’s stunning advance by Islamic State and the resulting collapse of the Iraqi army allowed Iraq’s Kurdish regional government to seize the strategic city of Kirkuk and nearby oil fields.
In Syria, too, a PYD land grab in some Arab-populated areas hasn’t been opposed internationally because, after all, it is hard to oppose anyone rolling back Islamic State.
“The Kurds are taking Arab lands as war trophies from ISIS. What more evidence do you need that ISIS is a great help to the Kurds?” said Alya Nsayef, a Shiite Iraqi lawmaker.
For Iran, Islamic State hasn’t been all bad, either. In both Damascus and Baghdad, the extremist group’s spread turned Iran into a dominant, indispensable power. Following the rout of the Iraqi army last year, Iranian-guided Shiite militias now exercise real authority in the country.
Despite pledges made a year ago, the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad hasn’t moved on plans to create Sunni forces, such as the National Guard, that could fight Islamic State in the Sunni heartland.
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Shiite militia members fighting alongside Iraqi forces Friday to retake the strategic town of Baiji, north of Tikrit, from Islamic State. Photo: ahmad al-rubaye/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
“Having a strong Iraqi army means no need for Iran and its militias, and this is exactly what Iran doesn’t wish to see in Iraq,” said Ahmed al Masari, head of the Sunni bloc in the Iraqi parliament. “Iran is using ISIS to extend its influence in the area. It is the biggest beneficiary from ISIS in Iraq.”
The recent nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, including the U.S., also appears to have given Tehran and Moscow more freedom to maneuver and coordinate on Syria, a U.S. official said.
U.S. officials believe that Moscow’s efforts to prop up the Assad regime militarily don’t necessarily mean that the Kremlin will stand by him personally.
A potential compromise could involve a strengthened Syrian regime letting go of Mr. Assad while maintaining the power structures of the Syrian state—and keeping the opposition’s role limited.
“For us, the main question is not even Assad but the preservation of the institutions of power,” a veteran Russian diplomat said recently.
Meanwhile, the Russian military and the Pentagon, their ties frayed by the crisis in Ukraine, took more than two weeks to agree on measures to avoid an inadvertent clash in the skies over Syria, in a deal reached Friday. Russia and Israel reached a similar deal on Thursday.
Russia’s assumption of the role of principal benefactor of the Assad regime isn’t necessarily bad news for Israel, some Israeli analysts say. “Russia is not an enemy of Israel and Israel is not an enemy of Russia,” said Uzi Arad, Israel’s national security adviser in 2009-2011 and a professor at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. “There are obvious advantages of Russia and not Iran.”
The Obama administration official said that the region’s Sunni powers, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have underestimated the risks posed by Islamic State and other extremist Sunni groups.
Noting parallels with how Pakistan’s support for the Taliban in Afghanistan boomeranged to hurt Pakistan at home, the official said “if you lie down with the dog, you get fleas.”
—Mohammed Nour Al Akraa in Beirut and Ghassan Adnan in Baghdad contributed to this article.
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com and Philip Shishkin atphilip.shishkin@wsj.com
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