Close Air-Ground Coordination Is Russia’s Secret Weapon in Syria | And other stories
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February 18, 2016, 7:37 PM (IDT)
The Russians don’t waste time and money on training local troops as professional soldiers but adjust their aerial campaign tactics to the capabilities of the local ground forces available.
February 18, 2016, 7:45 PM (IDT)
Two Palestinians stabbed two Israelis who were shopping at a supermarket in the Sha'ar Benyamin industrial zone outside of Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon. Both were seriously injured and one, a man of 21, later died of his wounds in hospital. An armed citizen on the scene shot the two terrorists, who turned out to be boys of 14 and 15 from Bituniyeh, thus preventing any further casualties.
The Obama administration has reportedly turned down a U.S. military plan to strike the Islamic State terrorist group's growing hub in Libya.
The Pentagon has been pushing for more airstrikes and the deployment of elite troops in the region to combat the militant's growing presence there, particularly in the city ...
The Faithful Spy by fredslibrary
Title: The Faithful Spy
Author: Alex Berenson
Berenson, Alex (2006). The Faithful Spy New York Random House
LCCN: 2005044689
PS3602.E25 F35 2006
Subjects
Date Posted: February 18, 2016
Review by Jacob Heilbrunn[1]
If terrorist threats have given a new lease to Western intelligence agencies after the end of the cold war, they have also provided something of a fillip to the spy novel. The British, stalwart custodians of the genre, have already produced a number of these new thrillers, like Chris Cleave’s Incendiary—which was, coincidentally, released the day of the London subway bombings, July 7, 2005—and Giles Foden’s splendid Zanzibar. Now comes Alex Berenson, a reporter at The New York Times, to redress the imbalance with his first novel, The Faithful Spy.
Berenson offers a very American story—a sort of terrorist “High Noon,” whose Montana-born hero is abandoned not by the local townsfolk but, rather, by his employer, the Central Intelligence Agency. John Wells, laconic and reckless, was ordered to infiltrate Al Qaeda in the late 1990’s. Berenson, who has a superb eye for the telling detail, is excellent at describing Wells’s relations with his new chums in Afghanistan as well as battle scenes.
So successful does Wells become at going native and earning the trust of Al Qaeda’s higher-ups that the C.I.A. begins to wonder if he hasn’t succumbed to a kind of Stockholm syndrome, identifying more with the would-be jihadists than with the good, old-fashioned U.S.A. If Wells is such hot stuff, his superiors ask themselves, then why didn’t he warn them about 9/11? (The answer: he had heard only rumors of “something big.”) Wells quickly becomes a pawn pushed around by glory hounds in the C.I.A. Berenson deftly explores the jockeying for bureaucratic advantage—at the expense of rational policies—that goes on there. Reading him, one begins to suspect that if the war on terrorism is won, it will be despite, not because of, the agency.
After Wells is tapped by none other than Al Qaeda’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to return to the United States for a big operation, he reports to the C.I.A., which now views him as a hostile combatant. But Wells, determined to stop the next Qaeda attack in order to redeem himself for the 9/11 failure, gives the dunderheads in the agency the slip (only his handler and love interest, Jennifer Exley, continues to believe in him) and meets up with his Qaeda contact, one Omar Khadri. Khadri is a cool customer: “When his companions sang tales of black-eyed virgins who would pleasure them for eternity, Khadri turned away to hide his embarrassment. . . . Jihad was an obligation, not a game. Paradise might await in the next world, but Islam needed to triumph here and now.” Does Berenson want to portray Al Qaeda not as an organization of demented crackpots, but as a ruthless foe with a set of grievances and tactics that are . . . logical? Well, no, though he does, probably unavoidably, run the risk of showing empathy for Al Qaeda’s members simply by telling parts of the story from their point of view.
Then there is the issue of torture. Berenson depicts what constitutes, under any reasonable definition, American torture of a detainee who ends up divulging information about Al Qaeda’s plans. “Lies only drew out the pain,” an interrogator named Saul reminds himself.” Eventually every detainee understood that, and when they did, they gave him what he wanted.” Hmm. Did they? One might wish that Berenson had distanced himself from Saul’s bogus claim that torture works effectively to elicit “information about attacks that hadn’t happened yet,” rather than to obtain a mere confession.
But the least persuasive part of Berenson’s exciting, if flawed, tale comes when it abandons any shades of gray to indulge in some chest-thumping. Wells, racked with a deadly plague, toughs it out to save the day at the very last moment. If only it were that simple.
[1] Heilbrunn, Jacob, “Our Man in Al Qaeda,” Sunday Book Review, The New York Times (May 7, 2006). Downloaded February 18, 2016. Jacob Heilbrunn, a frequent contributor to the Book Review, is writing a book on neoconservatism.
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A popular right-wing Polish newsweekly, wSieci or "The Network," published a deeply provocative magazine cover this week. It shows a young blonde woman, garbed loosely in the flag of the European Union, being groped by three men. Only the six swarthy arms and hands of the assailants are in view, but the message is clear and barely needs the brutal cover line: "The Islamic rape of Europe."
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. defense officials say the U.S. has asked Russia to avoid airstrikes in an area of northern Syria where American special operations forces have been working with Syrians fighting the Islamic State group.
The U.S. request was disclosed Thursday by Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., commander ...
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PJ Media |
Obama to Meet with Black Lives Matter Leader, Rev. Al Sharpton at the White House
PJ Media President Barack Obama will be meeting Thursday with DeRay McKesson, a Black Lives Matter activist who jumped in to the race for Baltimore's mayor earlier this month. Al Sharpton and other black leaders will also be at the White House for an event ... and more » |
U.S. defense officials say the U.S. has asked Russia to avoid airstrikes in an area of northern Syria where American special operations forces have been working with Syrians fighting the Islamic State group.
February 18, 2016, 7:37 PM (IDT)
A massive Russian air and sea lift is under way with large numbers of T-90 tanks and MRLS added to the northern Syrian front to speed the offensive for retaking Aleppo from rebel hands.
February 18, 2016, 7:37 PM (IDT)
The Iranian defense minister’s temper tantrum over Putin’s refusal to sell advanced tungsten for Iranian nuclear-capable ICBMs ended in Russia delaying the handover of S-300 anti-air missiles and the minister’s humiliation.
February 18, 2016, 7:37 PM (IDT)
Obama used the pretext of Russian Syria-based electronic surveillance to cut back both on the joint exercise and defense assistance to Israel.
February 18, 2016, 7:37 PM (IDT)
Obama and Putin have no intention of cutting Turkey and Saudi Arabia into their joint plans for the Syrian military conflict or future. Erdogan, while bitterly opposed to their sponsorship of the Kurds, will think twice before stepping into Syria.
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February 18, 2016, 7:37 PM (IDT)
Boutros Boutros-Ghali was never caught out in his clandestine role as a faithful Russian double spy and agent, during which he surreptitiously subverted US interests in one international crisis after another.
Iran Sees Oil Freeze Pact As Not Enough To Help Marketby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Iran believes a global agreement to freeze oil output will not be enough to help prop up prices as the world is producing too much crude, Iranian oil sources told Reuters. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh and his counterparts from Qatar, Iraq and Venezuela held talks in Tehran on Wednesday aimed at persuading Iran to join a global pact to restrain output, agreed this week by OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC member Russia, the world's two largest oil exporters. Zanganeh chose his words very carefully after the meeting saying Iran, OPEC's third largest producer, supported the initiative as a first step to rebalance the markets and help prices recover from their lowest in over a decade. But during talks Iran stuck to its standard line that Tehran needs to regain market share it lost during years of sanctions while adding that regardless of what Iran does, the world was already awash with unwanted oil. "The problem in the oil market is the glut. There is a need to do something to bring down these extra barrels. The freeze for those people that have been producing to the maximum does not help the market," one Iranian oil source familiar with discussions told Reuters. A second Iranian source said the global pact idea should be discussed further when "countries that have increased their output - mainly Saudi Arabia - drop their production and Iran reaches pre-sanction levels of production". Oil market unimpressed Saudi Arabia and Russia said the global deal to freeze output could become the first step in the right direction to balance the market if all major producers agreed to abide by it. But the idea has failed to impress the market so far with oil prices fluctuating sharply this week and trading on Thursday at $35 per barrel. This is a fraction of what most producers need to balance their budgets resulting in ratings agency S&P downgrading ratings on major oil nations on Wednesday. The West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, said this month that even in the optimistic scenario of flat OPEC output this year, the world would continue to stockpile huge volumes of unwanted crude adding to the already record inventories. The IEA said it saw the pace of stockbuilding slowing in the second half of 2016 but still continuing until 2017: "In the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term." Meanwhile, the likelihood of OPEC keeping output flat is very low given that Iran has pledged to raise exports after the lifting of Western sanctions in January. The sanctions, imposed over Iran's nuclear programme, were lifted last month after an agreement with world powers, allowing Tehran to resume selling oil freely in international markets. Tehran has pledged to raise supply by around 1 million bpd in the next 6-12 months and on Wednesday some Iranian banks were reconnected to the SWIFT global transaction network, which will allow it to facilitate banking business.
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International Business Times |
Most Americans Still View Russia Unfavorably Amid Conflicts In Syria, Ukraine, Poll Finds
International Business Times Russia People wave U.S. flags during a hockey match, marking 100 days before the 2016 IIHF World Championship, in Moscow's Red Square, with the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin seen in the background, Russia, Jan. 27, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Maxim ... Poll: Americans view Russia as less of a threatThe Hill (blog) all 4 news articles » |
Bloomberg |
Kurds Warn Turkey of 'Big War' With Russia If Troops Enter Syria
Bloomberg Russia has promised to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria in case of a ground offensive by Turkey, a move that would lead to a “big war,” the Syrian group's envoy to Moscow said in an interview on Wednesday. “We take this threat very seriously because ... Turkey warns Russia over Ankara attackFinancial Times Turkish Foreign Ministry invites ambassadors of Russia, China, US, UK and FranceTASS Turkey's shelling of Syria amid 'unique' intl peace effort unacceptable – Russia's UN envoyRT all 3,131 news articles » |
The recent Congressional testimony of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sharply frames the conundrum the United States faces when countering the Islamic State and other jihadists. The ISIS threat is growing, yet America's ability and capacity to counter it is not.
Росбалт.RU |
МИД РФ: По итогам Мюнхенской встречи решено, что операция российских ВКС в Сирии будет продолжена
Росбалт.RU Россия намерена продолжить операцию ВКС в Сирии по борьбе с терроризмом. Об этом заявила официальный представитель МИД РФ Мария Захарова. «В части, касающейся борьбы с терроризмом, операция ВКС будет продолжена. Об этом было условлено по итогам Мюнхенской ... МИД РФ: любое вторжение в Сирию будет означать срыв мирного процессаРИА Новости МИД России напомнил Турции о «прописных истинах» в ситуации с СириейРБК В МИДе назвали вторжением действия Турции на границе с СириейИзвестия BFM.Ru -Утро.Ru Все похожие статьи: 166 » |
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Ukraine is set to prove in court that the $3 billion Russian loan Kiev failed to repay was a bribe, the Ukrinform news agency reported Thursday, citing Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin.
Huffington Post |
Russia's Future Lies With Europe and the West
Huffington Post Like many high officials, the Polish foreign minister is now calling for NATO troops to deploy to the border with Russia. Russia is now suing Ukraine over unpaid debt, and small nations like Serbia and Armenia are trying to navigate between Russia and ... Cutting A Deal With RussiaForbes Ukraine to Russia: That $3 billion bond was a geopolitical 'bribe'Business Insider Russia's mixed signals on eastern UkraineInternational Crisis Group New York Times-Bloomberg-BBC News all 148 news articles » |
Taliban Militants Kill 9 Pakistani Security Personnelby webdesk@voanews.com (Ayaz Gul)
Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for killing nine Pakistani security troops in two overnight attacks in a restive tribal territory bordering Afghanistan. Officials in the semi-autonomous Mohmand Agency say seven members of the Khasadar force were killed when insurgents staged a hit-and-run surprise attack late Wednesday on their security outpost in the Pandyali area. The second attack took place around the same time in the nearby Michni area, in which militants gunned down two security men guarding a solar-powered tube well. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which is fighting along side the Pakistani Taliban against the state of Pakistan, claimed its fighters carried out the two attacks. Mohmand Agency is one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts lining the border with Afghanistan. They have long been considered strongholds of local, as well as al-Qaida militants linked to Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency. The Pakistan military has been conducting ground and air offensives against suspected hideouts in the border region and officials claim to have mostly cleared it of insurgents.
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Dmitry Kamenshik, the owner of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, was arrested on Thursday as part of the investigation into the 2011 terrorist attack on the airport.
The United States says Russia's proposed sale of fighter jets to Iran would violate a UN arms embargo extended as part of the nuclear accord with Tehran.
Reuters |
Russia warns Assad not to snub Syria ceasefire plan
Reuters MOSCOW President Bashar al-Assad was out of step with the views of his main ally, Russia, when he said he planned to fight on until he re-established control over all of Syria, Russia'senvoy to the United Nations was quoted as saying on Thursday. Obama wakes up to see Russia as major military powerPravda 'For the Record': Russia's Role in the Middle EastTheBlaze.com SecDef: Man, Russia's going to regret their Syrian strategy, eventuallyHot Air Jerusalem Post Israel News -The National Interest Online -The Moscow Times (registration) all 934 news articles » |
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Pentagon Sets Date for Change of Command in Afghanistanby webdesk@voanews.com (Carla Babb)
The change of command for U.S. Gen. John Campbell, the leading American general in Afghanistan, and his replacement, Lt. Gen. John "Mick" Nicholson, is set for March 2, Campbell's top spokesman told VOA Thursday. Speaking during a phone interview from Kabul, Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner said the date was based on when they could get Gen. Nicholson to Afghanistan, as well as providing each of them enough time for the transition. Shoffner said the date was solidified on Wednesday. He would not release when Lt. Gen. Nicholson would arrive in Afghanistan due to security purposes. Gen. Campbell has said he will retire from the Army after the transition. Officials close to the general said he was offered another four-star general position by the Obama administration, but respectfully declined. Gen. Campbell assumed command of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in August 2014. He led the NATO transition from a combat mission to an advise-and-assist operation at the end of that year.
Haaretz |
Russia to Israel: Reservations About Rapprochement Deal With Turkey
Haaretz Russia to Israel: Reservations About Rapprochement Deal With Turkey. Since the downing of aRussian jet over Syria, Moscow's ties with Turkey have deteriorated, and the Kremlin is concerned by Turkish influence in Gaza and possible gas ties with Israel. Amid concerns Syrian war may widen, Russia urges Israel to resume peace processJerusalem Post Israel News all 4 news articles » |
Brutal Prison Torture Videos Spark Russian Investigationby support@pangea-cms.com (Carl Schreck)
Russian authorities say they are investigating the alleged torture of a prison inmate in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg after a local news portal published disturbing footage showing the man being subjected to humiliating punishments and indicating that he had been severely whipped.
The young man has been sentenced to four years and will be deported from the country once he has served his time
Чечня становится «теплицей» для ИГИЛ by golosamerikius
Эксперты: «Фаворитизм Кремля по отношению к режиму Кадырова способствует проникновению т. н. «Исламского государства» в Россию»
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/chechnya-isis/3196689.html
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/chechnya-isis/3196689.html
Власти опасаются, что он может быть использован террористами для изготовления «грязной бомбы»
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/iraq-nuclear/3196693.html
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/iraq-nuclear/3196693.html
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