© YouTube/CNN
It is unknown what lead to Major General James Martin Jr. collapsing, but he was carried from the podium and taken to another room before being brought to the hospital as a precaution.
Puppet Masters
It is unknown what lead to Major General James Martin Jr. collapsing, but he was carried from the podium and taken to another room before being brought to the hospital as a precaution.
© AP Photo/ IRIB News Agency
The photos and video were aired on state television and shared to social media by Iranian reporters. Some of the images feature one of the sailors emotionally wiping away tears.
Recent peace talks in Geneva were convened with one goal in mind, to prevent Syrian President Bashar al Assad and loyalist forces from retaking Aleppo. The negotiations failed, however, when Washington's mercurial allies, the so called "moderate" rebels, refused to participate. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Syrian opposition withdrew "under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two of the main backers of the rebels." The WSJ's admission was later confirmed by Secretary of State John Kerry who according to a report in the Middle East Eye "blamed the Syrian opposition for leaving the talks and paving the way for a joint offensive by the Syrian government and Russia on Aleppo."
© Alexander Kots/Komsomolskaya Pravda via AP
Syrian government troops fire at terrorists' positions near Mahin
Syrian government troops fire at terrorists' positions near Mahin
"The start of the Russian air task force's operation in Syria has prompted radical changes in the balance of forces both 'in the field' and in the political sphere," the Russian diplomat said.
"All the sides involved in the Syrian crisis became aware that there would be no quick fall of the regime of Bashar Assad. Many of those who earlier counted on the military solution have realized that now this will hardly happen," the ambassador said.
Comment: Routing the terrorists was a natural first step in achieving a solution to the Syrian conflict. But the terrorists themselves were just pawns in a larger game, and some of the bigger players still have their sights set on regime change. See:
It's possible that some in the Obama administration and the military/intelligence hierarchy see the way the wind is blowing and would be willing to give up on their "Assad must go" policy. But like MoA points out above, there are some for whom this is not an option, including factions within the U.S. power structure. Any softening of their line is likely to be only skin deep. The real test will be whether Obama actually does anything productive. We'll just have to wait and see how the U.S. responds to Russia's "concrete plan" to end the war in Syria.
You and whose army: Turkey's Erdogan threatens war with Russia and Iran
© Dmitriy Vinogradov / Sputnik
SU-34
SU-34
On September 30, Russia launched an air campaign against terrorist groups in Syria following a request from President Bashar Assad. Russian authorities have stressed that the military operation will continue as long as the Syrian Armed Forces continue their offensive liberating the country's regions from militant groups.
"We are seeing Russia demonstrates tremendous capabilities as they've done their out-of-area deployment in Syria," Stewart state.
Comment: Further reading:
"The leaders of NATO member states and a number of European countries, especially Britain, the Nordic countries, the Baltic counties neighboring us, Poland, Romania and some others, are whipping up 'Russia's threat' myth, as well as the idea that we are planning to use our nuclear weapons to intimidate Sweden and the Baltic countries," Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.
"There is the impression that Russia is nearly the main stumbling block in international relations, because today the dominant media sources spread news from only the Western point of view," he added.
Lavrov: West whips up hysteria over myth of Russian nuclear threat
© Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
Moscow has intelligence that Islamic State's (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) command continues to hold backdoor negotiations with the Turkish leadership, Lavrov told Russian newspaper MK in a vast interview in honor of Diplomats' Day.
The airstrikes of the Russian Air Force in Syria have severely disrupted "traditional smuggling routes," so the Turks are discussing in all seriousness creation of "IS-free zones" in Syria.
© Unknown
The letter from FBI general counsel James Baker comes one day before the New Hampshire primary.
The message does not offer new details about the probe, which the bureau has been reluctant to discuss. However, it represents the FBI's formal notification to the State Department that it is investigating the issue.
Since last September, "in public statements and testimony, the Bureau has acknowledged generally that it is working on matters related to former Secretary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server," Baker wrote to the State Department.
[r]eiterates its call in resolution 2249 (2015) for Member States to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da'esh), Al-Nusra Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIL, and other terrorist groups, [...] and to eradicate the safe haven they have establishedThe U.S. for now seems to go along with that resolution and lets Syria and Russia do what they must. But there are others who are more invested in Syria than the Obama administration. The immediate aim of the Syrian forces is to close the border with Turkey and to liberate Aleppo city from the Jihadi insurgents. 6,000 additional soldiers from Iran have arrived to support that effort. A major campaign is planned to launch during next months. But the Saudis, Qataris, Turks and Israelis want to fight the Syrian government down to the last Syrian rebel and foreign mercenary. They will not give up the dreams and the very large investments they made to bring Syria down. The Syrian insurgent groups were just summoned to Ankara to receive new orders.
Comment: It's possible that some in the Obama administration and the military/intelligence hierarchy see the way the wind is blowing and would be willing to give up on their "Assad must go" policy. But like MoA points out above, there are some for whom this is not an option, including factions within the U.S. power structure. Any softening of their line is likely to be only skin deep. The real test will be whether Obama actually does anything productive. We'll just have to wait and see how the U.S. responds to Russia's "concrete plan" to end the war in Syria.
In the meantime, some European countries are softening their tone when it comes to Russia:
- Germany wants Kiev to compromise on debt to Moscow
- French FM Fabius slams US for lack of commitment to settle Syria crisis
- Europe lays out conditions for Russia's South Stream return
© AFP 2016/ GEORGE OURFALIAN
No doubt civilians are caught up in this war. But many of those portrayed as refugees fleeing now from the northern city of Aleppo are actually retreating militants, who are capitulating because of Russian and Syrian military success in terminating their insurgency.
As ever distorting reality, the Western news media are transmitting a classic psychological operation in their coverage of the latest stage in what is actually the foreign-backed war of aggression on Syria.
Incredibly, Russia and the Syrian Arab Army are painted as the "bad guys", and in turn this narrative is used to build a pretext for "responsibility to protect" - the faux humanitarian cover to allow for unwarranted foreign intervention.
That intervention could be either in the form of a US-led military invasion into Syrian territory; or in the form of political, legalistic pressure on Russia and Syria to stop their otherwise very effective offensive against illegally armed groups.
Comment: Yes the war is far from over, and yes it is only a matter of time before the U.S. and its regional allies miscalculate again and effectively create more misery and death for some part of the world's population - but right now we can imagine and relish the fact that after many decades of bullying the world, the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is scuttling around with its tail between it legs. That's something.