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Iran aims to spend $8bn on Russian military hardware


RT
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 11:19 UTC
S-400
© Ruslan Krivobok / Sputnik
S-400 Triumf missiles.
Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan is on a two-day visit to Moscow to sign an $8 billion arms contract to buy Russian military hardware, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday. Tehran has already handed Moscow a shopping list and Dehghan's visit should speed up a number of key arms deals, according to the newspaper's sources. The Interfax news agency says special emphasis will be placed on the signing of new arms deals, not on the fulfillment of existing contracts such as the delivery of anti-aircraft missile systems.

"Iran would like to buy Russia's latest S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system, developed by Almaz-Antey. And they make no secret of it. On the eve of his visit to Moscow Dehghan openly said to Iranian media they want to purchase the S-400s," the source said. Iran needs to "seriously focus on its air force and fighter jets," said Dehghan prior his visit to Moscow. "We are moving toward a contract. We told them that we need to be involved in the production (of the plane) as well," he added.

According to Interfax's source, the second important topic of the talks is Tehran's possible procurement, or even a licensed production of the new Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM multi-role fighter. Iran is also interested in Russia's Bastion mobile coastal defense missile system, equipped with supersonic Yakhont anti-ship missiles, along with Mi-8/17 helicopters and other arms.

Comment: In 2015 Iran and Russia agreed to establish a joint bank. Last week Iran dumped the dollar and switched to euros in foreign oil trade. The two countries were signing nuclear construction deals. After the Putin-Khamenei meeting in 2007, it seems that Iran indeed pondered Putin's proposal and decided to counter NATO eastwards expansion.
See also:

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Bad Guys

Turkey is bombing the most effective anti-Daesh rebel group in Syria, with Washington's tacit approval

Marko Marjanović
Russia Insider
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 05:43 UTC
Turkey shelling Syria
© Stringer / Reuters
Wait a minute. What's going over there in the land of Syria? Haven't we for 5 months been hearing American officials, ideologues and media incessantly howl about how Russia, instead of fighting ISIS in Syria, is actually pouncing on moderate Syrian rebels, including groups that "have in the past proved to be efficient against Isis"?

Well it so happens that the biggest rebel coalition in Syria by far is the Syrian Democratic Forces which is composed of the Kurdish YPG and its minor Arab and Syriac/Assyrian proxies, like the (very rebelliously-named) Army of Revolutionaries.

It also happens this coalition unlike the jihadis in the Army of Conquest, Army of Islam and Ansar al-Sharia that Russia has been pounding actually has a claim to being 'moderate' seeing how the YPG is ideologically speaking basically the Syrian wing of the PKK - the secular, left-wing nationalist guerilla army of Turkish Kurds.

Comment: Further reading:

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Bad Guys

What US Congress researchers can tell us about Washington's plans for Syria

Stephen Gowans
what's left
Tue, 09 Feb 2016 13:33 UTC
US and Syrian flags
Documents prepared by US Congress researchers as early as 2005 revealed that the US government was actively weighing regime change in Syria long before the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, challenging the view that US support for the Syrian rebels is based on allegiance to a "democratic uprising" and showing that it is simply an extension of a long-standing policy of seeking to topple the government in Damascus. Indeed, the researchers made clear that the US government's motivation to overthrow the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is unrelated to democracy promotion in the Middle East. In point of fact, they noted that Washington's preference is for secular dictatorships (Egypt) and monarchies (Jordan and Saudi Arabia.) [1] The impetus for pursuing regime change, according to the researchers, was a desire to sweep away an impediment to the achievement of US goals in the Middle East related to strengthening Israel, consolidating US domination of Iraq, and fostering free-market, free enterprise economies. Democracy was never a consideration.

The researchers revealed further that an invasion of Syria by US forces was contemplated following the US-led aggression against Iraq in 2003, but that the unanticipated heavy burden of pacifying Iraq militated against an additional expenditure of blood and treasure in Syria. [2] As an alternative to direct military intervention to topple the Syrian government, the United States chose to pressure Damascus through sanctions and support for the internal Syrian opposition.

The documents also revealed that nearly a decade before the rise of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra that the US government recognized that Islamic fundamentalists were the main opposition to the secular Assad government and worried about the re-emergence of an Islamist insurgency that could lead Sunni fundamentalists to power in Damascus. A more recent document from the Congress's researchers describes a US strategy that seeks to eclipse an Islamist take-over by forcing a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Syria in which the policing, military, judicial and administrative functions of the Syrian state are preserved, while Assad and his fellow Arab nationalists are forced to leave office. The likelihood is that if this scenario plays out that Assad and his colleagues will be replaced by biddable US surrogates willing to facilitate the achievement of US goals.

Comment: The US is trying to force the Assad government to relinquish control of the country by any means necessary. No matter how deplorable, vile, destructive or morally unconscionable those means may be. Whatever it takes to further the American-Israeli Empire's dream of total world domination.

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Attention

Russian PM: Expect a "permanent world war" if Saudis invade Syria

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 19:31 UTC
boots
© www.gdnonline.com
Iran mocks. Ground troops to Syria, maybe? If asked?
"It's a joke. We couldn't wish [for] more than that. If they can do it, then let them do it — but talking militarily, this is not easy for a country already facing defeat in another war, in Yemen, where after almost one year they have failed in achieving any real victory." That's what one source in the Iranian military had to say about reports that Saudi Arabia is preparing to send ground troops into Syria.

If you frequent these pages you know why Riyadh (and Ankara for that matter) is considering the ground option. The effort to oust Bashar al-Assad and the Alawite government was going reasonably well right up until September. Sure, the conflict was dragging into its fifth year, but Assad's army was on the ropes and absent a miracle, it seemed likely that his government would fall.

As it turns out, Assad did indeed get a miracle from above although instead of divine intervention it was Russian airstrikes which commenced from Latakia starting on September 30. Contrary to The White House's prediction that Putin would find himself in a "quagmire," Russia and Hezbollah have rolled up the opposition and are preparing to recapture Aleppo, the country's largest city and a major commercial hub. If that happens, the rebellion is over.
Aleppo map
© Institute Study of War

Comment: Clearly Iran doesn't think the Saudis have it in them to go through with the plan to invade Syria and it would be suicide to do so. Iran sides with Russia. Also, any contingency from Turkey would be doubly suspect with its vendetta against the Kurds (now siding with Russia). And, Assad's home boys are looking and feeling pretty great having made a turn-around in the north. Russia sides with them. We know Russia isn't going home any time soon...so there are mighty big reasons to rethink this plan.

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Info

Further destabilization in Arab world as possible consequence of Turkey-Qatar military cooperation

Martin Berger
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 02:15 UTC
Turkish military
A short while ago Turkey and Qatar announced that they have an agreement in place to further deepen their military cooperation within the framework of the "struggle against common enemies", which implies the construction of two new military bases: a Turkish one in Qatar and a Qatari base in Turkey.

As it was made clear by the Turkish Ambassador to Qatar, Ahmet Demirok, Ankara is planning to construct a multi-purpose military installation that will become home to some 3,000 soldiers. By taking this step Turkey expects to become a state that is directly influencing security in the Persian Gulf. In the future, this base will also provide Turkish armed forces with an outpost for operations in the Red Sea, North Africa, along with the access to the waters of the Pacific, which Turkey lost back in 1950.
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Bad Guys

Turkey threatens Germany with 'hundreds of thousands' of refugees if Kurds liberate Syrian towns


Sputnik
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:35 UTC
refugee migrant
© AP Photo/ Matthias Schrader
Turkey wants to continue its attacks against the Kurds in Syria; in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkey's Prime Minister warned of a "new wave of hundreds of thousands of refugees" if Kurdish fighters start an offensive.

Despite international appeals, Turkey will continue its attacks on Kurdish positions in northern Syria, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) wrote.

This was announced by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), as his office announced on Sunday.

Comment: With this not-so-veiled threat Turkey once again uses the refugee crisis, which they helped manufacture, to strong-arm Europe.

Further reading:

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Quenelle

U.S. needs to admit Russia was right all along about Syria


Sputnik
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 00:46 UTC
Russian SU-25 jets
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
Moscow warned the US about the consequences of interfering in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and happened to be right. In the Syrian conflict, Russia also turned out more clear-sighted. Washington has to admit that both countries will benefit from cooperation and start supporting Moscow's strategy in Syria, a US analyst wrote.

Russia's strategy on settling the Syrian conflict has been more thought-out, a reputed American journalist and a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, Stephen Kinzer, wrote in an article for the Boston Globe.

As for Washington's policy on the matter, it was wrong all the way, he believes. By making the toppling of the Syrian President Bashar Assad its primary goal, the US basically reduced to zero the possibility of negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition forces and contributed to the escalation of the conflict in the country, the analyst wrote.

Comment: Further reading:
True to its trademark, clueless foreign policy mode, there's not much left for Team Obama except spinning.

The proverbial unnamed "US officials" spin on overdrive on Western corporate media that this postponed "cessation of hostilities" is a Russian trap - as Washington wanted an immediate ceasefire (no wonder; CIA remote-controlled "moderate rebels" are also being routed.) European and Arab vassals spin that Damascus and Moscow are "torpedoeing the peace efforts."

And yet Kerry caved in - to realism, actually. Lavrov must have made it very clear the two non-negotiables for Russia; win the Battle of Aleppo, still in progress, and seal the Syria/Turkey border against any manifestation of the Jihadi Highway, "moderate" or otherwise.

Pepe Escobar: Syrian "ceasefire" amid a sea of hostility


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Bad Guys

Turkey shells Syrian towns for 3 days running, has the gall to blame Russia for damage


RT
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 23:07 UTC
Turkey shelling Syria
© Stringer / Reuters
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said on Monday Ankara will not allow the town of Azaz in northern Syria to fall to the Kurdish YPG forces and promised the "harshest reaction," if the group attempts to re-take the city.

"YPG elements were forced away from around Azaz. If they approach again they will see the harshest reaction. We will not allow Azaz to fall," Davutoglu told reporters aboard his plane bound for Ukraine, Reuters reported.

He said the Turkish military would render Syria's Menagh air base "unusable" if YPG forces do not retreat from the area, which they previously captured from Islamist militants. He warned the YPG not to move east of its Afrin region or west of the Euphrates River.


Comment: This is a blatant act of aggression against a sovereign nation, and blatant support for Islamic terrorists.


Comment: Meanwhile the Russian coalition's effort to crush Daesh in Syria continues at a breath-taking pace:
From the south west a brigade-sized force of the Syrian army (red), soon to be reinforced by volunteer units, is pushing north-east towards Tabqa airbase which lies south of Route 4 and the city of Al Tawra. Both are held by the Islamic State (grey). The troops are now some 15 kilometers away from the base. Should the Syrian army take the base it would achieve firecontrol over Route 4 from Turkey via Al Bab to Raqqa and could stop most Islamic State traffic on that road. Should the army take Al Taqra city it could also capture the Taqwa dam of the Assad barrier lake. Then all Islamic State forces west of the Euphrates would be completely cut off from Raqqa and Iraq. They could be further split up by Syrian army forces coming from Aleppo going east and in the north by Kurdish forces (yellow) going west . The Islamic State would lose a lot of terrain in that move and, much more important, its sole open access route to Turkey. The difficult attack on Raqqa city itself, some 15 kilometers further east, would only come after the Tabqa base and Al Tawra are taken.

Race to Raqqa: The Syrian Army's campaign to defeat Daesh


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Eye 2

US shells another MSF hospital, Turkey blames Russia for it - Syrian ambassador


Sputnik
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 22:52 UTC
Syria
© AFP 2016/ STRINGER
Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad on Monday accused the United States of striking a hospital in Syria's Idlib province supported by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) aid agency.

MSF said the hospital in the northwestern Syrian city of Maarat Numan, in the Idlib province, was hit by four rockets on Monday morning. It did not say which of the parties was suspected to be behind the attack. However, later in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Russia of the attack.

"Actually, US Air Force have destroyed it, and Russia Aerospace Forces have no connection to it. Intelligence information proves it," Haddad said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television.

Comment: Further reading:
There is today a lot of indignation in "western" media over the Russian air campaign in Syria. One, two, three ... hospitals were bombed! And schools! An the rebels lost more villages! Barrel bombs! Cluster bombs! One must ask how many of these "hospitals" were really hospitals and not just quarters for Jihadi "rebels". From the videos that were published I could identify only one destroyed building that might have been a real hospital. But as ever, no medical equipment was visible in the debris. Could this probably arranged media assault be the preparation for some new false flag stunt or some other planned escalation?

Race to Raqqa: The Syrian Army's campaign to defeat Daesh


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USA

Texas judge raises new questions about Supreme Court Justice Scalia's health

Sam Hananel
WXOW
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 22:55 UTC
Antonin Scalia
© CNN
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was found dead on Saturday, February 13, was one of the most influential conservative justices in history. He was 79.
The Texas county judge who decided no autopsy was needed following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has raised new questions about Scalia's health in the days before he died.

Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told The Associated Press on Monday she spoke with Scalia's doctor on the day he was found dead in his room at a remote Texas ranch. She said the doctor told her that Scalia had a history of heart trouble, high blood pressure and was considered too weak to undergo surgery for a recent shoulder injury.

Those details are seemingly at odds with recollections of friends who described Scalia has his usual, happy self during the days leading up to his death. News that the 79-year-old justice was in declining health may come as a surprise to the public, but unlike presidents, the high court's members don't provide regular health disclosures.

Guevara told the AP that she consulted with Scalia's personal physician and local and federal investigators, who said there were no signs of foul play, before concluding that he had died of natural causes. She said she spoke with a "Dr. Monahan" at some point after 8 p.m. on Saturday to discuss Scalia's health history.

Rear Adm. Brian P. Monahan is the attending physician for members of Congress and the Supreme Court. A Supreme Court spokeswoman could not immediately confirm that Monahan had examined Scalia, and Monahan did not return a phone message left for him at his Capitol office Monday.
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