© respect491.rssing.com
"Who's your Daddy?"
"Who's your Daddy?"
Of course, the only coherent forces on the ground fighting IS now are the Syrian government's troops and Kurdish fighters who now appear to be working with Damascus. Saudi Arabia's intervention to remove President Bashar al Assad from power would seem to work in IS' favor, not against it. To give Saudi Arabia's confusing threats some teeth, Riyadh announced its "Northern Thunder" military exercises which it claimed would be one of the largest military exercises ever held. The United Arab Emirates' The National, would report in an article titled, "Saudi Arabia hosts joint military exercise," that:
Armed forces from 20 countries have begun manoeuvres in northeastern Saudi Arabia, described by the official Saudi Press Agency as one of the world's biggest military exercises. Troops from the other five Gulf Arab states - the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar - as well as Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan are among those participating in the Ra'ad Al Shamal, or Northern Thunder, exercise, Spa agency reported. The military drill - which began on Saturday and involves ground, air and naval forces - will be "one of the world's most important military exercises based on the number of forces participating and the area of territory used", the agency said.While that sounds impressive, with Saudi news outlets claiming some 350,000 troops were expected to participate, not a single photo or video has surfaced so far showing this impressive force in action. The entire point of mounting such monumental military exercises is to show off one's military power to the world, not merely write about it in news articles. And more specifically, in Saudi Arabia's case, such exercises are meant to show those nations it is trying to coerce by threat of military force just what it faces if concessions are not made.
Comment: "Con"text is everything in this war. Nothing is as it seems in viewing Western actions and perspective. The idea that Saudi Arabia could pull off any kind of success in Syria is beyond reason, given its military struggle with Yemen (a novice and unprepared foe) and the hiring of flaky mercenaries to proxy a sub-par military. The proposed deception outlined in this article has interesting elements. New flag, new outfit, couple of drills and (shhh!) who's to know... ;-)