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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Snakes in Suits

US to review command structure amid current threats and budget cuts

John McCain
© AFP 2015/ Ross D. Franklin
The US military must reevaluate its combatant command structure to determine whether certain commands are needed amid the current threats and budget constraints, Senator John McCain said in a US Senate hearing on military effectiveness on Thursday.

McCain noted that US lawmakers repeatedly hear how "dramatic increases in civilian and military staffs have persisted even as resources available for warfighting functions are increasingly strained."

"We must ask whether the current combatant command structure best enables us to succeed in the strategic environment of the 21st century," McCain stated. "Should we consider alternative structures that are organized less around geography than trans-regional and functional missions."

Comment: Warmonger McCain just wants more money so he is crying about having to do with less even though the US spends the most on the military budget than any other country in the world.


Jet5

Greek jets target intruding Turkish F-16 jet

Turkish F-16 jet
© AP Photo/ Anatolia, Kenan Gurbuz
A Turkish jet intruded into Greek airspace, which according to the Turkish General Staff, led two Greek jets to keep a radar lock on it as a target.

Two Greek F-16 fighter jets held a radar lock on a Turkish F-16 over the Aegean Sea, the Turkish General Staff said on Thursday.

Comment: That's what the Greeks should do if they want to stop Turkey's airspace intrusions.


Info

More countries worried: Russia denies its helicopter violated Georgian airspace

A Mi-8 helicopter
© Vitaliy Ankov / Sputnik
Russia's Defense Ministry has denied claims of its helicopter violating Georgian airspace, advising Tbilisi to check their fact better before making such strong accusations.

"Russian military helicopters have carried out no flights over the territory adjacent to the Georgian border over the past 24 hours," Major General Igor Konashenkov, Russia's Defense ministry spokesman, said.

The spokesman stressed that the Georgian side made their claims based on unconfirmed reports by "some local witnesses."

"It's no surprise that the accusations, made by the Georgian representatives, didn't point, even approximately, to a place where the Georgian airspace violation took place," he said.

Comment: More countries seem to be on hyper-alert of their airspace lately.


Bomb

Italy declines to bomb Syria: No repeat of Libya

Italy
© theweek.com
Italy will not join U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced Sunday in a statement which warned against unintended consequences of reactive military interventions.
"If being a protagonist means playing at running after other people's bombardments, then I say 'no thank you,'" Renzi said. "Italy's position is clear and solid. We want to wipe out terrorists, not please the commentators. The one thing we don't need is to multiply on-the-spot reactions, without a strategic vision."
Renzi also drew comparisons to the 2011 NATO airstrikes in Libya, which successfully helped rebel efforts to oust Moammar Gadhafi but left the country a chaotic haven of terrorism:
"Four years of civil war in Libya show it was not a happy decision. Today there needs to be a different strategy," to deal with Syria, Renzi said. He added, "The one thing we cannot allow ourselves is a repeat of Libya."

Footprints

Voting with their feet: Over 10,000 soldiers desert Ukrainian army

desertions Ukrainian army
© Sputnik/ Julia Nasulina
Desertion galore: Ukrainian men understand the absurdity of the war their government is waging.

More than 10,000 cases of desertion have been registered in the Ukrainian Army since the outbreak of the Donbass war in April 2014, Ukrainian Vesti reported.

In 2014 the army suffered heavy desertion and nearly 30 percent of the servicemen called up in the first wave of mobilization (March 17) abandoned their positions, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada has announced six waves of mobilization so far. By the end of 2014 the strength of Ukrainian Armed Forces grew from 130,000 to 232,000.

Ukrainians have been protesting against the mobilization. They travel to work abroad or simply reside at their relatives' in other countries. Almost 1,3 million Ukrainian draftees live in Russia.

Since April 7, 2014 the Kiev authorities have been waging war against Donbass self-defense forces who rejected the legitimacy of the coup-imposed Ukrainian government and declared the independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Official figures estimate the number of victims to near 6,500. But the German intelligence reported of 50,000 victims in February 2015.

Eye 1

Russia is alone in backing Assad because he alone is interested in Syria stability

Russia backing Syria
© www.therussophile.org
Here is the situation in Syria as I see it: Russia is taking a long-range view and wants stability in post-ISIS Syria. France and the United States are taking the short-range view and really have no achievable plans for Syria's future stability. Turkey appears to have given little thought to Syria's future. Ankara may be willing to see indefinite chaos in Syria if it hurts the Assad regime on the one hand and the Kurds on the other.

The Russians may be the only party interested in the long-term political stability of Syria. There is certainly no doubt that President Vladimir Putin is more determined than Western leaders to act on the fact that the various so-called "moderate" parties standing against the Assad regime cannot work together and that this fault cannot be corrected by enticements from the United States. For the Russians, this fact makes the Damascus government the only source of future stability.

Light Sabers

Yemeni forces cutoff loyalists' last supply route in southern Yemen

Yemen
© Unknown
The Hadi loyalists and their allies from the Saudi-led Coalition suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Yemeni Army's Republican Guard and their popular committees near the Yemeni city of Ta'iz on Wednesday.

According to a battlefield journalist that is embedded with the Yemeni Army's Republican Guard, the latter and the Houthis carried out a powerful attack on the defensive positions of the Hadi loyalists at Mount Hayd Al-Baqr, resulting in the popular resistance forces taking full control of this site that overlooks the villages of Dabeen and Juraybah, which are located between Ta'iz and Al-Lahj in southern Yemen.

In addition to their success at Mount Hayd Al-Baqr, the Yemeni Army's Republican Guard and the Houthis imposed full control over the Al-'Arous Camp's main entrance and the nearby village of Al-Shaqab after killing several enemy combatants from the Saudi-led Coalition forces.

As a result of their success in southern Yemen, the Yemeni Army's Republican Guard and the Houthis have cutoff the last loyalist supply line to Ta'iz; this leaves the latter with only two choices: fight their way out or surrender to the popular resistance forces.

Take 2

Symbolic: Trump attacked by bald eagle during Time Magazine photo shoot

Trump
© Unknown
Donald Trump has been attacked by all sides this week for his comments about Muslims, including former vice president Dick Cheney, but new footage released show that even the symbol of America has issues with the billionaire.

Video from a TIME magazine photo shoot in August shows a bald eagle named Uncle Sam refusing to participate with the Republican candidate.

The Donald's infamous "hair" was put in jeopardy when the 27-year-old bird attacked his head. Later, when sitting at his desk, Sam went for Trump's hand.

"What you will do for a cover - this bird is seriously dangerous but beautiful," said Trump.

"It's hard to plan what animals will do. There's not much training you can do with a wild bird and Mr. Trump was a little hesitant holding the bird, so it was very tricky to get the bird to [stay] on his hand", said Martin Schoeller, the shoot photographer.

"Donald Trump is an icon, and this bald eagle is an icon," said Jonathan Wood, the bald eagle's owner.


Comment: Considering the bald eagle represents American freedom and democracy, it's no wonder it lashed out at the fascist Donald Trump. Freedom, and all it stands for, is definitely in danger in the hands of someone like Trump.


Megaphone

"Detached from reality": Russian Foreign Ministry calls Turkish accusations of Russian ethnic cleansing in Syria groundless

syrian turkmen fighters
© Stringer / Reuters
Syrian Turkmen fighters are seen near the northern Syrian village of Yamadi, near the Turkish-Syrian border, Syria, November 24, 2015.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied Turkish accusations that Russia is conducting ethnic cleansing in Syria, saying they are groundless and demonstrate Ankara's detachment from reality.

"It is strange to make such statements as they demonstrate the complete detachment of the Turkish leadership from reality, from what is actually happening in the region," said the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Turkish leaders, including President Recep Erdogan, have been accusing Russia of deliberately targeting ethnic Turks in Syria after the downing of a Russian warplane on the Turkish-Syrian border. A Turkoman militant group killed the pilot of the downed bomber as he was parachuting to the ground, an act the US State Department claimed was self-defense, but which the Geneva Convention unambiguously forbids. Russia launched retaliation attacks on militants in the area after the incident.

Speaking at a weekly briefing, Zakharova lashed out at the ongoing Turkish incursion into Iraq. Last week, Ankara sent a tank battalion into western Iraq and refused to withdraw despite protests from Baghdad.

Comment: Turkey is following in the footsteps of its American masters by demonstrating a complete detachment from reality in its statements and actions. It's a perfect US puppet state!


Star of David

Israel defied UN Security Council, sold $400k worth of gold to N. Korea

israel gold
© Nayef Hashlamoun / Reuters
Israel has sold gold worth an estimated $400,000 to North Korea, according to the Israeli tax authority - an action which is in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions in place for almost 10 years.

The Knesset Economics Committee ordered a ban Wednesday on exporting luxury goods to North Korea, in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted in 2006 after Pyongyang's first nuclear test.

At the same Knesset hearing, the export director of the Israel Tax Authority, David Khoury, admitted "there was export of gold, and regretfully [the UN] discovered this and we were required to give explanations," as reported by Israeli news agency Haaretz.

Khoury told the committee the gold exported since 2006 was worth $400,000 in total. Since 2011, there have been no exports to North Korea besides the gold, save for "books and dental implants," and in 2014 there were no exports at all.

Comment: Since Israel is protected by the American Empire, it's doubtful they will face any repercussions for their illegal actions. If Syria had done the same, no doubt the hypocritical US would be blasting them for breaking UN laws.