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Europe Ends Arms Embargo For Syrian Rebels, Desperate To Break Russian NatGas Export Monopoly
Moments ago, the British foreign secretary William Hague tweeted that the arms embargo to the Syrian rebels has officially ended:
Right EU decision tonight. Arms embargo on Syrian opposition ended. No immediate decision to send arms. Other sanctions remain
— William Hague (@WilliamJHague) May 27, 2013
Britain and France had pushed for the ban on supplying the opposition forces fighting Bashar al Assad's regime to be lifted and the failure of ministers to agree an extension to the embargo during 12 hours of talks means it will now end on June 1.
Mr Hague said after the meeting Monday that the decision "sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime".
Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said the decision would make little difference in the short-term.
"Already there are many sides arming the two sides that are fighting. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are pouring arms into the opposition," he said.
"What it means though, firstly, is that the idea of the united European foreign policy has bitten the dust.
"I suspect at some point, the British and the French will go ahead and try to arm some of the many, many group there are in opposition in Syria."
Diplomats said there had been an agreement that EU governments would refrain from sending an arms to Syria for now.
Financial and economic sanctions against the Assad government were extended for another year at the meeting.
Several of the 27 EU nations were reticent about more weapons being sent into a conflict zone that has already seen the deaths of nearly 100,000 people.
Others were not at all reticent about aiding and abbetting the murder of countless more by Qatari mercenaries.
The irony is that as has been known for a long time, and as the FT itself reported ten days ago, the Syrian "rebels" who actually have been Qatari mercenaries, have been receiving weapons shipments for years from the wealthy Persian Gulf country, with the implicit knowledge of both Europe and the US.
So why the rush by France and Britain to allow weapons armaments to resume by official channels, even if it means even more weaponization of the Assad regime by Russia and China, more bloodshed, and more death?
Simple: natural gas.
Recall that as we explained a week ago the whole point of the Syrian escalation is to provide a land route for Qatari natural gas pipelines to enter Turkey, and from there to proceed into Europe.
So there you have it: Qatar doing everything it can to promote bloodshed, death and destruction by using not Syrian rebels, but mercenaries: professional citizens who are paid handsomely to fight and kill members of the elected regime (unpopular as it may be), for what? So that the unimaginably rich emirs of Qatar can get even richer. Although it is not as if Russia is blameless: all it wants is to preserve its own strategic leverage over Europe by being the biggest external provider of natgas to the continent through its own pipelines. Should Nabucco come into existence, Gazpromia would be very, very angry and make far less money!
For this to happen, Syria would have to be controlled by pro-Western forces: most probably some spin off of the "Muslim Brotherhood" paradigm last seen in the western takeover of the strategically critical Suez Canal, and the far less important country surrounding it.
Needless to say, such optically noble considerations as the people's "liberation" or "ushering a new age of democracy" are not only irrelevant but completely meaningless and hypocritical in the scramble for European energy independence from Russia. But they sure make for great front page headlines.
In the meantime, here are the facts:
The origin of EU-27 energy imports has changed somewhat in recent years, as Russia has maintained its position as the main supplier of crude oil and natural gas and emerged as the leading supplier of hard coal (see Table 3). In 2010, some 34.5 % of the EU-27’s imports of crude oil were from Russia; this was the highest share recorded between 2002 and 2010 having fallen to a temporary low of 31.4 % in 2008.
The security of the EU’s primary energy supplies may be threatened if a high proportion of imports are concentrated among relatively few partners. Close to three quarters (74.4 %) of the EU-27’s imports of natural gas in 2010 came from Russia, Norway or Algeria – as such there was a diversification of imports as in 2009 the same three countries accounted for 79.2 % of natural gas imports. A similar analysis shows that 58.5 % of EU-27 crude oil imports came from Russia, Norway and Libya, while 64.3 % of hard coal imports were from Russia, Colombia and the United States. Although their import volumes remain relatively small, there was some evidence of new partner countries emerging between 2002 and 2010. This was notably the case for crude oil imports from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, or natural gas imports from Qatar and Libya.
In short: the great chess game involving the isolation of Russian natgas export dominance to its key trading "partner", Europe, goes on.
How Gazpromia Russia responds next - as the threat that it may no longer be the monopoly supplier of marginal nat gas to an energy-starved Europe becomes increasingly more palpable - is all that matters.
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Russia should tell the west to go fuck themselves and start selling Assad S-300s, tanks... etc... everything they need. This is a proxy war, let's cut the crap and admit it already.
Already bein done. S-300`s and Yakhonts already delivered.
It's a proxy war alright but let's establish that this war is about the Dollar and the Yuan. Russia and China are testing the waters.
Take the Dollar away and a Memorial (Holi or is that Holy?)Day is but a faint memory. Without the Dollar, nobody will want to remember anything.
They can't remember anything anyway. Except for maybe what that guy said to that other guy on TV. For about a day, maybe.
Silly humans want natural gas? Here ya go:
http://blogs.state.gov/2013/05/article/ten-things-you-should-know-about-arctic-and-arctic-council
-- sincerely,
Gaia
Cyprus bail ins were not the first shot to Russia. The cremation of oil prices after they invaded Georgia was the first
No love yet for Russia ?
Nothing like building a pipeline thru civil war territory that you started. This won't end well.
But but but ! It'll create jobs and it'll create a capitalist and democratic heaven!
Sorry wrong link. Use this one instead:
http://elcidharth.com/2013/03/20/9716/
More political bullshit. The Russians are trying to develop a means to harvest that methane to sell to the Europeans. Why am I not surpirsed to see the name 'greenpeace' involved?
"Russia and China are testing the waters."
I suspect R&C are further along than that. More like high-level ultimatum we haven't heard about.
Maybe why US keeps whinning about Iran's alleged nuclear development and does nothing.
I suspect there's a line in the sand over there somewhere R&C are daring US to cross.
... and folks in europe may freeze their asses off this winter.
About the dollar? About the "petrodollar," perhaps... but even that fails to identify the geo-political forces at work here. But, at least you're challenging the imposed narrative here... that is a good thing. Because, here... on the 'all new' ZH... the trail of red herrings (that we used to come here to seek relief from) seems to be growing into a superhighway of sorts...
And with a story like this one -which via self-incrimination ratchets up the talking points of a previous fishing expedition -
We get to see the speedy results of the hatchet work done on the welcome but surprise visit of one Andrew McKillop here a week or so ago... when his presentation of the energy-related facts(necessary to round out one's knowledge of the dynamics of our current stage of pre-phonywar buildups in the ME) was roundly criticised for lacking the desired uni-focal soundbites beloved of those who prefer unanimity of opinion- and information.
Now, if it's not easy to see why the Qataris are suddenly being thrust into the limelight here, the careful reader might remind themselves as to how the process of diversion works in a similar manner on the domestic front... where new storylines are of a sudden thrust into the front pages of the complicit media as smoke n mirrors suitable for covering up bigger items of importance. It's long been known that the Gulf States sheiks have been bankrolling the fake jihadis who, for example, tore Libya to pieces... but the supposition being presented here...
that they do this kind of thing - on their own behalf ... and for some kind of economic rationale... is so laughably naive and mundane... that if it did not conceal some more sinister purpose for being presented... would be merely ridiculous.
But it is ...indeed... sinister. In the interactive fashion discernible on the new ZH... tag teams of editors and commentors work to push story angles which we punters are helpless to resist... unless we come to the task of reading... with a suitably critical and suspicious eye... something many might have previously believed to be unnecessary when cruising the "Hedge" ...
but it's time to 'hedge' one's bets on the veracity of what we are fed here now. I believe this ship can still perhaps be turned around before hitting the iceberg of credibility corrosion... but it's gonna be a mighty task ... from the looks of things.
To keep things short here... I'll leave my specific rebuttal and counter-narrative to another comment on this thread... if such proves to be of interest to others....and such expression of dissent be allowed to pass the censor's scissors!
let's have some fun ! war is gonna end all our problems no more jobeless (dead) no more stocks (destroyed)
no more problems:http://youtu.be/lSmcM0jBUfg
Lights. Camera. ACTION!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls
War is a racket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0UV6ug96c0
Mein Fuhrer, I can walk! ... meaning the superpowers with nukes on the brink of committing genocide on the entire human race ain't much different than the nazis... and he's right.
They`re just making it official. Though for EU, not sure how they`ll do it. Since in Libya when they "took the lead" they needed to borrow munitions from the US. (granted higher priced missiles and such)
Europeans aren't the brightest since the 1600 hundreds. You know damn well the rebels are going to use those weapons against the banking families of the world and keep the pipelines for themselves.
I'd give that a decade or two first.
Or destroy it in the process if they really know whats up, right?
A decade? You're being awfuly generous.
Let me get this straight:
We are (supposedly) fighting in Afghanistan against al Qaeda and the Taliban,
But the U.S. and EU are sending arms to al Qaeda in order to enable their fight against the Assad regime?
Huh?
Yeah, I need a new program too.
It's called Kissingerism
Yes.
What could possibly go wrong?
Our government is grabbing our crotches looking for bombs at the same time they're giving surface to air missiles to Al Qaeda. It's all being done to keep us safe.
Nothing new.
Remember Reagan was selling weapons to both Iran and Iraq.
Divide et impera. Romans invented it. British perfectioned it. USA is the latest practitioner.
There's gotta be a RedShield in there somewhere...always has been, always will be.
Hey, all that military hardware sitting in inventory is getting obsolete....we got to unload it somewhere.
As you'll recall, it is the same Afghani's we helped to drive out Russia that rewarded us with 911....we think.
We really need to be shut of the entire ME and ban any new immigrants from that region, so we do not end up with the Muslim problem being faced by France and recently England.
No you have it right, the same people who supported the muj against the Russians in Afghanistan are the ones who rewarded us with 911.
Oh and... there is no problem with Muslims entering Western countries as TPTB care not if their plebs are brown, black or white, Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Jew. They'd like you to think there is a Islamic invasion, more divide and conquer.
We've always been at war with Eastasia...
We were paying, guiding and supporting 'al Qaeda' up to and through 9/11.
Gladio-B. Proxies. The strategy of tension. Divide and conquer.
Oddly enough - Most of the Amnesty pushing Gang of 8 - McCain, Rubio, Menendez, Lindsay Graham are up to their eyeballs in supporting Al Qeada for their hero Obama. There is also middle eatern drug running involved in this. This is another reason why they are pushing amnesty -drugs.
The big problem I have with the new amnesty idea is that they would not enforce the border like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham so charmingly (naively) believe they would...
The other problem is they came up with this same amnesty stunt back in the 80s to legalize 12mm (IFIRC) new voters. Rinse and repeat?
I think the concept is called doublethink as first popularized by George Orwell in 1984 of course.
The idea is to get the sheep to believe both of two conflicting truths at the same time and not be bothered by it... really doubleplusgood job by our handlers since 9/11 - the sheep graze on.
Someone last week said 1984 had become a playbook. I can't say he was wrong.
newsflah; the cynical elites at the top of the human pyramid dont care about the morons who enlist and go die for bullshit reasons; they only care about money, that allow them to keep their power and stay at the top of the pyramid. Who gives them the money, or how it is earned, doesnt really matter, the point is to survive and dominate others humans, nothing else.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." It's very Middle-Eastern and McCain is a convert.
How convenient..........John Mccain is in Syria right now meeting with alCIAda rebels
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331828/Senator-John-McCain-make...
Sick
You mean that Barry dicklicker....
He is? Ohhh man! I sure hope no one shows a video where they make fun of muhommad.
Someone should have taped a Prophet Muhammed catoon on McCains back...
Excellent Prank! And write on it, "Muhoumoed says behead me!"
''Andrew Cockburn reports in his book on Rumsfeld (2007) this conversation between the two George Bush : “What’s a neocon?” asks W. “Do you want names, or a description?”, says Poppy. “Description” “Well, I’ll give it to you in one word: Israel.”''
http://www.voltairenet.org/article178638.html
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-21/pentagon-admits-war-terror-will...
zionist & neo-cons.........
Al Qaeda never seems to attack Israel. How odd....
The Saudis are in that group too. The House of Saud are supposedly Iraqi you know whats.
The two biggest aspects of criminal shite about the EU
Are the mauling of the Southern European working people for the accursed Satanic euro, having Greek children beg for food while taxes go to pay banks and bondholders
And then NATO, the North Atlantic Terrorist Organisation
Now the EU itself supplying weapons to torturers and murderers, when it is clear most actual Syrians would rather have the brutish Assad instead of the Islamist terrorists supported by the EU
Go, Vlad, Go ... Be the Strong Russians and give Nato a good kick in the arse
I'm astounded. You are finally seeing the light!
And cannibals.
This is not going to end well. Anywhere.
I'm sorry, i somehow missed the cannibalism angle, is there a link to something about that.
Just google it, It was certainly all over the European news. Videos and all.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0c9_1368347673
Pedophiles, let's not forget their rampant pedophilia.
every single adult individual on earth is responsible for his life choices and who he accepts to suck off to survive. Not feeling sad for the europeons.
Check this out: "McCain sneaks across Turkey-Syria border, meets with rebels"
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57586327/mccain-sneaks-across-turkey-syria-border-meets-with-rebels/
Full court press man... over weekend they've been adding the spreading of conflict into Lebanon.
Too bad he did not get shot down and imprisoned.
Johnny's been there, done that... Doing it again might reverse the programming...
Hey Fonz... Are you sure you didn't mean "imprisoned and shot down"...?
Whole new tangent of "drone" warfare.
sneaks across border with an entourage of staff, CBS camera crew, reporters, probably a security detachment, a doctor for his piles and blood pressure medication...
sneaks...
Holy Jesus H Fucking Christ!
Listen to the Propaganda!
Sneaks as in Heroic Act!
Whata buncha tripe
Bang de War Drums
They were all in ghillie suits ;-)
"... over weekend they've been adding the spreading of conflict into Lebanon."
Just to be clear, Hezbollah is sending its fighters from Lebanon into Syria on the side of Assad. So it comes as no surprise they would take it right back into the Hezbo's living room.
"Sunday's rocket fire seems to be a response from any number of Sunni groups to Nasrallah's announcement Saturday that Hezbollah, a Shiite group, will continue to stand by Assad and assist him in his battle against Sunni rebels which he believes to be conspiring with the US and Israel."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4384491,00.html
And...Hezbollah is getting their ass kicked inside Syria...
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/hezbollah-slips-in-qusayr
////////////////////
For my little asinine junker ;-)
Hezbollah Commits to an All-Out Fight to Save Assad
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/world/middleeast/syrian-army-and-hezbollah-step-up-raids-on-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Obama had the benghazi issue and himself leaked the IRS issue so people do not focus solely on benghazi. If it weren't for benghazi, we'd never know about IRS.
Same old trick. How to halt QE without taking the blame? Wait until time comes to attack Iran or Syria.
It always works. It's working for Obama at least so far. The democrats in the republicans caucus, about 80% of them, do not really care.
Where is Boris Alatovkrap when you really need him?
If the Ruskies actually wanted to stop this they could, so why arent they? I've heard it bandied about over Iran, but will they really fall for that?
They're paging through old copies of Exekiel 38.
The brooklyn bridge is shut down right now because of a suspicious abandoned vehicle midway through the bridge.
is there a row of puff balls rimming the windshield with a bobble head jesus on the rear deck?
At least we do not have Mexican terrorists....(I am not counting the drug cartels as they are just businesses).
"The brooklyn bridge is shut down right now because of a suspicious abandoned vehicle midway through the bridge."
Its that damned Sequester again...the car has government plates!!!
(lol)
The Syrian free shit army is using CHILD SOLDIERS... and of course, not a word from the ``it's for the childrenz`` MSM...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUKLjIqPpRM
Obama is no different than an African warlord at this point.
we are all idi amin now. i know, old reference, but he is still the standard of record.
Forest Whitaker rocked that role.
African warlords don't suck dick.
Yeah they are more into cannibalism and ritual sacrifices... who knows what's really going on behind the scenes.
yeah Equatorial Guinea is one terrifying place... on the plus side the tax rate is really really low.
And the American public is as clueless and hopeless as the African public.
israel has not retaliated for the missile sent their way by hezbollah which leads me to believe russki anti aircraft batteries are awaiting them across lebanon and syria. the admission by nato that they are arming the forces of western freedom is a warning that the gloves are off signalling the formal declaration of a good old fashioned proxy war between the asses of evil (eurozone, israel qatar, saudi arabia and the usa) and the coalition of buttfuckers(russia, china with iran waiting on the bench). oil wrestling without the hot chicks, not as fun but will make for great youtubing. can't wait to see the clips of the idf pissing on themselves when someone shoots back at them.
Probably because it wasn't actually hezbollah, but maybe the rebels, to incite Israel against them and ease it up a bit on their front, and israelis know it.
i think hezbollah took responsibility but i agree it looks like a trap.
We all know who the actors are. Or rather actor. The Great Eye wants Syria and Iran gone. So it will be.
Tragic.
Burning Russian gas just now. Germany needs to boost it's solar subsidy back up again. Might think about putting panels in. :)
Germany pays 2.5X US rates for electricity. An article indicated it was due to the subsidies required for wind and solar which are 22% of German electricity production. If this is accurate, my back of the envelope calculation indicates that wind and solar electricity costs them 7.8X "normal" electricity. The last big thing to consider it that they are probably near the limit of what they can use without storage, which I would guess would cost an equal amount, so yes, for only 15 times what electricity costs in the US, Germany could get all their electricity from solar. Go for it! Think of the GDP boost it will give you!
Are these the same alleged rebels that pledged their allegiance to A Q and that John McCain is now illegally meeting with because of this fact?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/27/exclusive-john-mccain-s...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22095099
McCain has either broken the Logan Act... or he did meet with the approval of the WH...(which is probably the case)... meaning that McCain was carrying orders/words from Obama for the terrorists.
with obama hoping he would have an accident.......
sounds like a recent movie plot .. the day is young
Well sufferin' butt balls, McCain has been carrying the WH's water for months now, supporting WH policies and demeaning them Tea Party folk as the tear-n-rust supporters that they are.
He been doin a lota Blamaies works
And Qatar is insane.... wouldn't have it been easier to make the pipeline go throught Kuwait, Iraq and then Turkey?? Way cheaper than funding terrorists.
They need a Sunni controllled route.
Insane is sort of an understatement
William Hague, another merciless statist and enabler of mass murder.
The Merry Men of the Council of the European Union are probably congratulating each other for this very accomplishment.
May death and destruction be brought upon all those who oppose TPTB.
This calls for another Nobel Peace Prize and well deserved I might add.....Norwegian politicians, help us out here!
William Hague should hang at the International Criminal Court at The Hague...
The International Criminal Court (commonly referred to as the ICC or ICCt)[2] is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Yep. Hague, among others, including Hillary, Holder, Obama, Bush, Blair, Cameron, Cheney, Rumsfeld and many others should be tried and hanged there.... if there's any justice left in this world... which it doesn't.
Truth cannot be found, and justice cannot be served, unless those who are expected to decide the fate of the accused are impartial.
I'm so happy about this, knowing nothing can ever, ever go wrong.
The MIC needs perpetual war to ensure continuing profits; all well and good for them; but what's in it for the US?
Bueller? Bueller?
The McCain thing reminds me of CNN finding OBL in his unreachable cave for an interview
How does Qatar get its Natural gas to Syria? I thought the Saudis gave them the middle finger to any pipes across THEIR desert
It's called a pipeline bridge to nowhere. In the name of jobs and the economy, so it shall be done. We are running out of thing to fight over here, so it's misuse energy just because you can.
Meanwhile back at the raunch...Because of the big oil and gas deposits found in The Med off the shore of Israel, Cyprus, and etc. The Russians are visiting Israel and talking nice on a variety of subjects, weapons technology, the price of fossil fuels, talks about the expat Russian Jews who served in the Russian Army during WW II, and the price of fossil fuels. The Israeli's seem to be trying to cut the Turks out of access to that off shore gas and oil. Not only can you not tell who the players are without a score card you can't even tell what team they are on.
OMG wait a second, so Israel want to go East after Iran, but Turkey and Qatar want to squeeze from the North and South, while the US, Russia and China vie over various targets east, west, north and south of Syria/Iran.
Anyone got a match I can't see very well...
But then again, maybe Obama will actually walk on water the way has sheep think he already does and go over the controllers heads and start a massive world peace initiative. He could be the MLK half the Country thinks he already is...yea right.
The Zionists have no interest in the East. It is north they want to go to conquer southern Lebanon and secure the rights to the Litani River and expell the Lebanese from the region. Iran is supplying Hezbollah, and Hezbollah has kicked their asses twice. Water, not nuclear bombs, is Israel's greatest national threat.
This may be a really stupid question, but why don't the Israeli's just build a de-sal plant or two?
Part of the manipulated commodities markets at this point in time is to drive oil lower.That way the U.S. gets economic stimulas through removing a form of a heavy energy tax.Europe also gets a boost.Seems to me that it's oils' turn to take the hit. (ya,I'm short oil)
If anyone has memory issues, the Ukraine tried this with a "Spanish billionaire" and got royally shafted [FSB PSYOP]. In response, they just turned it off. Now, we all know that it's important to get this done during summer, rather than winter, but hey...
No-one ever picked up on the link I gave to the EU-Russian energy treaty signed recently, it's called the "EU/Russian roadmap for energy co-operation until 2050". (EU needs decent web designers ASAP). So, I'll give it to you again.
Russia – the Union's largest energy resources importer (2009)
The EU – Russia's largest trade partner for energy goods
UK & France aren't doing this over energy. 30% is not a deciding bargaining chip, especially if you factor in the % that EDF owns and that it's far more important to Russia than the EU, ffs. They're doing it to remain at the table (Security Council). US is backing this Qatari lead plan (remember: they were the ones pushing for chemical weapon proof "with Washington's support") because the entire region is about to destabilize (food and water, it's all about food and water) and the US is playing support to it's patsies. The US and Israel have no expectation that this will ever happen.
The pipeline, if it were to exist, would take 5-15 yrs to build (look to Libya to see how well the new regime is "facilitating" new contracts. TROLOLOL.) and the ME doesn't have that long.
It's about water.
Iraq is currently in the middle of a sectarian war, and Turkey just stole a large percentage of its water (bet you didn't read that in the MSM!). Israel is pissing itself over the very real chance that its major water sources could end up cut off (and Yahweh knows, they screw the Palestinians out of their water rights at every chance, and pollute the down-stream to Jordan deliberately). There's an extremely hard to find BBC documentary, circa 2005 that shows how Israel pollutes the downstream supply to Jordan with sewage and industrial run off as a military tactic [hint: this is extremely illegal under international law, and why Chernobyl lead to the break up of the CCCP, but I digress, that's a much more interesting story] and how it monopolizes water supplies in its region. It's basically been purged from the net by Israeli intelligence (but never fear, I'm not going to post the actual links here since they're so rare, fucking hyenas) but it was made, it was verified and it's on file.
We see what you did there. And we're not impressed. They're also trying to purge the fact they destroyed one of the world's last Mediterranean complex ecosystems of note, deliberately, just to spite future trade / tourism in a petty war that meant nothing [BBC].
tl;dr
The moment you descend from being excellent into being debased due to paranoia is the moment you fall. Sure, you can argue the Three Oaths were broken, but there's a deeper ruling.
?? ????? Bal tashchit. You broke the Covenant. The Nazis were the incarnate Avatars of the diametrically opposite of this, and now you mirror them? You are cursed and no longer Chosen. The Temple doesn't have to fall physically, it has already fallen in your hearts, and that is the point of the Talmud. We no longer see or hear your prayers. If you want to play Games, you yourselves destroyed the Temple, not some outside force and that's your curse.
Don't push it! That Russian military hardware is no joke.
Well we don't know since it's never been really tried for real...
AK47 kinda proved the point, as did Soviet WWII tanks, which, once made, rolled over the German Panzer divisions like butter, which were happily chewing up the inferior American tanks with ease. Might want to look into "four line Indian" tactics on the Western front for Allied tanks vrs Axis. Hint: One always got burnt out, one played chicken, the other two nimbly got behind for a kill. Yes, the Allied tactics were really that cynical about lives. Numbers game, that was all it was.
Ignorance is not a Virtue. And it'll never get tested now, since Russia (due to budget) basically focused it's $ into making sure the nukes still work (yeah, top priority), air power and missiles. Oh, and Spetsnaz who are still rock hard.
Might want to look up the Bradley for how "deadly and efficient" the modern US Army is; there's plenty of pork and inefficiency to go around.
I know all about this. Thing is, this was WW2... this is now. Russia is investing in their nukes because that's the only thing that will keep them a sovereign nation with the money and military tech development capacities they have... ``Modern`` Russian weapons haven't been tested against western weapons since the 73 Arab-Israeli war...
During the 2006 war against Hezbollah, the new RPG-29V was tested and they were quite good but now Israel has installed the anti-RPG Iron Fist system on quite a few of their tank/APC brigades... but this was just a minor conflict.
All the ``new`` Russian weapons have never been used in a real large scale war... for all we know, they could be total crap. Even Russia isn't so sure... that's why they changed their nuclear doctrine... any use of ``high tech`` weapons (long range bombs, GPS guided bombs, cruise missiles, etc...) against their army would be ground to nuclear retaliation (tactical at first) to make up for the difference...
Any serious reading of modern warfare has already moved from the Battlefield into 4GW / 5GW, if you want to play it cute. All parties (just look up any modern arms catalog, ffs) have moved towards small scale engagements with a smattering of either <total sphere dominance> or <high tech denial> mixed in with <infantry / small scale armor superiority> against lower tech opponents.
The A10 gets used so much because otherwise it'd be embarrassing to admit that even in Iraq II no-one needed it, and it gives the grunts morale. That's the real benefit of the A10, morale for the grunts having to eat shit, dust and watch little boys get fucked: Nothing More. Even in Iraq II Apaches would have sufficed, but weren't even needed because Saddam knew (and everyone else for the last 50 years, look to Serbia ffs when NATO had to bomb infrastructure instead of hidden tanks) how pointless tanks are against a modern airforce. Let alone fucking stealth bombers (hint: we can track you through air movements. D'OH). No-one for the last 20 years, in modern arms technology, has been planning for parity battles in any serious manner. Note: most of the kerfuffle you see surrounding Chinese Type 5 fighters or whatever is ALL security theatre (and shit loads of crappy CGI). None of the players really imagine they'll ever use them, and the US is basically having to give China tech on the side (or did you forget that bit of Clinton's administration?) just to make them seem like a real threat. One air craft carrier, refitting from a Russian model. Yeeeeeahhhhhh... SO SCARY. The US Gov does it to sell advanced weapons to it's allies. [F22 - F35, cf Japan]
Parity warfare can no longer exist, and the reason is who controls the money. Grow the fuck up. It's all theatre at this point. Visa / Mastercard have more real power than the military, and that's why the Wikileaks over forcing Russia to scuttle it's internal CC plans were so important.
Grow. The. Fuck. Up. Nation States no longer go to war, because we're running out of Tin Pot Dictatorships we've armed for the last 30 years: Corporations might in the next 20 though. Might want to look into which Wall St. funds own Academi now (formerly Xe or BlackWater) and read a bit of Gibson and Stephenson.
p.s. If you need a reference point, look up "Puff the Magic Dragon" in Vietnam and compare to the A10. Golly Gosh, Zoinks! Looks similar mi'lud. Bring a better tool set to the table, or fuck off.
No totally true about Russian T-34 armor. They just had a lot more tanks than the Germans. The bigger weapon was Stalin's organ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha_rocket_launcher
Cheap, crude and devastating. These endless wars are sickening.
We are going to find out but only with a slap box. Children and families in the middle of a test of military technology in a proxy war, I hope most of them got out. Syria will fall. Iran will fall. Russia isnt going to back Syria 100% and go nuclear. If military tech was brought into the Ukraine, Russia would go nuclear but they are not going to end the world for Syria. Oligarchs run Russia just like everywhere. Nothing will really change except they will know that they are not sovereign nation much like the USA. All the players have their house nukes as insurance. Russia will accept its slice of the pie in the NWO and China will reluctantly follow. With the matter of the mideast wrapped up and R&C reluctantly on board we will experience world government for the first time as a species.
I don't think the Russians will escalate too much over Syria, either.
But I don't discount the possibility.
Outside of the actual geopolitical value of Syria, Russia faces a bigger question, a question of credibility in all future dealings with prospective partners anywhere in the world.
If Russian support doesn't make the difference between having power and getting killed, then why would anybody ever want to be a Russian client?
If a Russian alliance doesn't deter a foreign invasion, why would anybody ever want to be allied to Russia?
So if Russia can't demonstrate that its alliances are worth something when the chips are down, Russia will lose credibility and have a very difficult time making alliances in the future.
That's why I would not be surprised if Russian response over Syria gets bigger than the situation would "rationally" seem to warrant.
Now it's true that Russia, like every country in the world, is run by oligarchs who prefer to think of themselves as part of a global ruling class, rather than as an old-fashioned national elite.
However, that doesn't mean that the globalist oligarchs are all one big happy family. They're all global oligarchs, but the Russians are beginning to realize that some global oligarchs are going to be more equal than others.
Those nice FSA soldiers... forcing a kid to decapitate a prisoner... stay classy FSA... /sick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t026_4xg6ew
Always use LiveLeak, it's not under certain controls, and doesn't require you to log in to a tracking system.
[There's others, but we don't share them due to contamination.]
Bashshar would have been quite happy to build Qatari pipelines across Syria.
The relations between Syria and Turkey, and between Syria and Qatar, were all quite good until the risings began in 2011. Billions in Gulf Arab money was already being invested in Syria's construction sector. Syria and Turkey had a free trade agreement.
I was in Syria in 2005, and the typical Washington Consensus kind of liberalization was already well under way. Special economic zones, regulatory harmonization, etc.--the usual.
If pipelines were the main issue, then there was never any need for Qatar or Turkey to try to overthrow the Syrian gov't. If anything, the political turmoil is going to retard pipeline development.
So I just don't buy the pipeline argument. This isn't about natural gas. It's bigger.
The problem with Syria, of course, is that it is intolerable to have a dictator whose "concensus" harmonization includes weekly Hezbolah-bound weapons flights from Iran. Even worse, such a local-power-base dictator undermines the power of international big money to "influence" events in the country, an influence taken as "stabilizing" by the guys with votes. On top of that, Allawites are out of fashion. Three strikes. Next.
Here is all you need to know about William Hague's quest to keep his country warm:
Britain 'was just six hours away from running out of gas': And experts say a new power crisis loomsDon't be retarded. The Daily Mail and Telegraph are running the FUD, one because they're stupid and they sell fear, the other because they're run by MI5 and it's geopolitically useful to them to suggest that the "big bad Russia" is coming.
The National Grid, which keeps data on the gas industry, revealed that the Liquefied Natural Gas terminal at the Isle of Grain near London, used by BP, Centrica and other big suppliers, was 40% full on 22 March. The South Hook LNG plant in south Wales, owned by ExxonMobil and Total, was 52% full on the same day, at a time when various pipeline and other supply problems caused gas prices to hit 150 pence a therm.[Guardian 24th May]
Don't be a stupid cunt. Muppet or Shill, I don't care; you're a chicken, so scram before I eat you.
EU's Nobel Prize winners are getting to work...
I look forward to massacres and slaughter o the civilians.
The reason why the West gives some support to the rebels is not natural gas. My impression is that they want to split Syria in two or three countries or make it unattractive for people to be a part of Syria or Syrian citizens. It would probably be unattractive to many people to live in a country ruled by Islamic fundamentalists or near-fundamentalists.
I also think that splitting Syria in two or three countries would perhaps be the best solution to the problem, but for other reasons than most Western politicians and those who pull the strings.
The goal is not only a failed state, but a failed nation.
I don´t think that the string pullers care about the aspects you mention.
That's a good news : that was the last signal Bachar needed to get these lovely S-300 missiles from Putin (who was rather reluctant to let his babies go).
"The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded. Its radars have the ability to simultaneously track up to 100 targets while engaging up to 12. S-300 deployment time is five minutes. The S-300 missiles are sealed rounds and require no maintenance over their lifetime"
(from Wiki)
Now the war's GOING to get started! Stay tuned!
Bildt served as non-executive director of the Baltimore-based US assets management company Legg Mason, Inc. He served as chairman of the board of Teleopti and chairman of the public affairs consultancy Kreab AB, and board member of the IT consultancy HiQ AB. He was chairman of Nordic Venture Network, which brought Nordic high-tech VC firms together in an informal network. In 2002, Bildt joined the board of directors of Vostok Nafta, a financial company primarily with holdings in Gazprom. Bildt was a member of the board of independent oil company Lundin Petroleum. He left his positions on the boards upon becoming Foreign Minister in October 2006.
Carl Bildt, Swedens foreign minister.
It was revealed that Swedish state pension funds (Swedish: AP-fonderna) had invested over one billion Swedish Krona(140 million US$ or 75 million GBP) in Vostok Nafta.
The muslims only care about their religion, the gas and oil are only of interest to them as financing for the spread of islam. All the casualties just thin the herd of young trouble makers and leave their sisters to breed more and supply the multiple wives for the sheiks back home. The schmucks die for a promise of 72 virgins from allah while the dudes in the emirates get real ones in this life time.
"For this to happen, Syria would have to be controlled by pro-Western forces"
Bashar Assad would have liked to have a natural gas pipeline through his country. It would surely have boosted Syria's economy. That, however, would be an intolerable situation for Netanyahu - who cannot stand the idea of a prosperous Syria constantly bringing attention to Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights. And that, in turn, isn't about Israel's security, either. It's about WATER.
So US/Nato countries are arming scumbag terrorists groups while (attempting) disarming law abiding citizens. Nuts!
Long guns
I don't like my government, maybe if i rise up the french will send me some guns. I too am a freedom fighter.
Interesting article by William Engdahl over at Voltairenet. More connections to Al CIAda and the Boston Bombings.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article178524.html and http://www.voltairenet.org/article178623.html
http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/12/21/connecting-the-dots-on-syria-fooling-enough-of-the-people-enough-of-the-time/
How War Reporting in Syria Makes a Larger Conflict Inevitable
Syria: We Can Learn a Lot From the “Small Stuff”
(A Few) Media Skeptical of Syria WMD Panic
Everything They’re Telling Us About Syria….is False?
‘Syria’s Torture Machine’: British Documentary Offers Cause For Concern In More Ways Than One
Syria has little to do with Natural Gas from Qatar? As Nabucco does not cross into Syria?
The Uk govt. beggars belief.
Not one week has passed since a soldier was mown down and then hacked to death in a London street by an Islamic revolutionary and now the UK foreign minister is patting himself on the back for having worked his magic on a plan to arm .. Islamic revolutionaries.
Has he taken leave of what few senses he had ?