St. PETERSBURG, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has strengthened
its naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea for a possible evacuation of
Russian nationals from Syria, the Kremlin chief of staff said Thursday.
Asked why Russia is boosting its task force in the region, Sergei
Ivanov said: “Above all, given the presence there of amphibious landing
ships, they are intended for a possible evacuation of Russian citizens.”
Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said earlier on
Thursday that the country’s increased presence in the Mediterranean is
“a legitimate, natural and predictable reaction to the situation
developing” in the region.
“Our actions are in strict compliance with international law and the
UN Charter,” he stressed, adding that the Mediterranean Sea is “quite
close to Russia’s borders.”
However, he stressed that Russia’s naval presence in the
Mediterranean Sea does should not be interpreted as an indication that
the country plans to take an active role in any regional conflict, he
said.
“Our warships are a guarantee of regional stability, an attempt to
restrain other forces that are ready to launch military operations in
the region,” Antonov said.
Russian
media reports earlier cited senior Russian diplomatic, naval and
defense officials as saying that changes to Russia’s presence in the
Mediterranean was part of a “normal rotation,” that the fleet was not
being strengthened, and that these changes were not a response to
rising international and regional tensions over the conflict in Syria.
However,
on Wednesday, a high-ranking Defense Ministry source told RIA Novosti
that a new group of ships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet will join the
country’s Mediterranean task force within days.
The Defense Ministry source confirmed media reports that the
electronic intelligence ship Priazovye would be part of the new
grouping, and gave further details of the changes.
Also on Wednesday, a high-ranking member of Russia’s General Staff
told RIA Novosti that the Slava class guided missile cruiser Moskva was
heading from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, where it will take
over from the Admiral Panteleyev destroyer on September 17.
It looks like America’s military dominance on the world stage is
about to face its most serious test in decades, as Russia and China
appear ready to physically challenge Obama’s controversial plan to bomb
Syria.
Agence France-Presse via Yahoo! News reports three
Russian warships crossed Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait Thursday en route to
the Eastern Mediterranean near the coast of Syria. Based on a diagram
posted by Zero Hedge, Russia now has six vessels in the region versus 13 US ships and two US submarines.
If that’s not enough, Russian news source Telegrafist reported
Wednesday that at least one Chinese vessel is en route to the region.
However, it appears – at least publicly- China is only there to
“observe” the situation, although it’s clearly sending a message for the
US to back off.
Piling on to the drama, based on Zero Hedge’s diagram, the UK
and France – both US allies, already have a naval presence in the
region. The UK has a submarine while France has a ship in the Gulf.
All of this is over an alleged chemical attack by Syrian President
Assad’s regime, which has yet to be proven remotely true. Of course,
there are likely underlying issues contributing to the crisis, including
the US’ ever-present desire to remove the said leader.
Is Obama really willing to risk igniting World War III over this?
President Obama has scrapped a planned two-day trip to Los Angeles
early next week ahead of a congressional vote on a military strike
against Syria.
The cancellation of the trip suggests the urgency with which Obama needs
to press his case to win approval from Congress for military action.
“The president's trip to California has been canceled,” a White House
official said. “He will remain in Washington to work on the Syrian
resolution before Congress.”
While prospects for passage of a resolution in the Senate look positive,
the White House does not appear to have the votes in the lower chamber
to win — at least not yet.
The president had been scheduled to speak to an AFL-CIO convention while
in California, in what the White House had billed as a continuation of
his middle class jobs tour.
He was also scheduled to attend a $32,400 per plate dinner at the home
of Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of the sitcom "Friends."
MUST SEE: General Throws Kerry Under the Bus
At Tuesday’s Senate hearing, Rand Paul asked whether Obama would
abide by the vote authorizing force against Syria. Kerry blustered on
about what war means and concluded that Syria doesn’t qualify:
SEC. KERRY: “Senator . . . The president is not asking you to go to
war . . . He’s simply saying we need to take an action that can degrade
the capacity of a man who’s been willing to kill his own people . . .
That’s not — I don’t — you know, I just don’t consider that going to war
in the classic sense of coming to Congress and asking for a declaration
of war and training troops and sending people abroad and putting young
Americans in harm’s way. That’s not what the president is asking for
here.”
Kerry has been to war and protested war. He got medals, said he gave
them back, then claimed he didn’t. He’s been against unilateral war,
then for it. If anyone has been on every side of war, it’s John Kerry.
Because of his vast experience with war, we can trust Kerry when he says bombing another country isn’t a war. It’s “an action.”
Then Kerry made a mistake. He asked an actual warrior to support him.
Someone who still has his medals pinned to his chest. Here’s what
happened:
It is somewhat surreal to watch the machinations of the Obama
administration as they try desperately to win approval and convince the
American people bombing Syria to teach Assad a lesson is the best answer
to a chemical weapons attack from a yet unproven enemy. The surrealness
of all this is because the same politicians who vehemently opposed
George W Bush taking out Saddam Hussein for his proven use of chemical
weapons over a couple of decades killing some 15,000 to 30,000 people,
are now the very politicians sucking up to the Dear Great Leader Obama
all gung-ho for a strike on Syria.
A great many Americans are not buying the con job though. The truly
anti-war liberals are still anti-war liberals and many pro-military
Republicans and most of the rest of the country are not behind President
Obama spending millions to billions of dollars launching a few hundred
cruise missiles into Syria based on some very shaky evidence pointing to
Assad being the source of a poison gas attack that killed some 300 to
1,000 civilians.
The problem all of us have that Obama can't seem to figure out is,
why should we be aiding a rebel group that is infiltrated up to 60% to
70% with Al Qaeda terrorists who oppose everything America stands for?
So if we blast Assad's military machine with a few cruise missiles and
that gives the upper hand to Al Qaeda rebels and they end up toppling
the Syrian government, guess what happens then? Al Qaeda starts their
march against Christians and anyone else they deem opposed to their
radical, bloodthirsty beliefs.
(Michael Snyder, Economic Collapse) -- Well, isn’t that convenient? At the moment when the Obama administration is feeling more heat then ever before, it starts another war. Suddenly everyone in the mainstream media is talking all about Syria and not about the IRS scandal, Benghazi, NSA snooping or any of the other political scandals that have popped up in recent weeks. As if on cue, Obama made headlines all over the globe on Thursday by claiming that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the rebels “multiple times”, and that the U.S. was now ready to do more to assist the rebels. That assistance is reportedly going to include “military support” for the rebels and a no-fly zone over at least part of Syria is being discussed. Without a doubt, these are acts of war, and this conflict is not going to end until Assad has been ousted. But Assad will not go quietly. And all it would take is for Assad to fire a couple of missiles at Tel Aviv for a huge regional war to erupt in the Middle East. And what happens if Russia or China decides to get involved in the conflict in Syria? Obama is playing with fire, but he has shown again and again that he is willing to do virtually anything if it will benefit him politically.
As far as the Obama administration is concerned, there is no such thing as a coincidence. The timing of this announcement regarding Syria was not an accident. If Obama wanted to use chemical weapons as an excuse to go after Syria he could have done it weeks ago, or he could have waited several more months before taking action. He chose to do it right now for a reason, and hopefully the American people will be able to see right through this.
So exactly what are we going to be doing for the Syrian rebels? Well, we will definitely be arming them and training them. And it is probably reasonable to assume that there will be American “advisers” on the ground inside Syria helping to organize the Syrian resistance. In fact, according to Debka, a large U.S. Marine force has already been deployed to the Jordanian border with Syria.
In addition, according to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. aircraft may be involved in enforcing a no-fly zone inside Syria…
The UK has fresh evidence
of the use of chemical weapons in Damascus, David Cameron has told the
BBC as he arrives in Russia for the G20 summit.
Scientists at the Porton Down laboratories have been "examining samples" from Syria's capital, he said.
Mr Cameron denied claims he had "no hand to play" over Syria after losing a vote last week on UK military action.
He said the UK would lead calls for more action on aid for refugees and push for fresh peace talks.
In an interview with BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson, Mr
Cameron said he took "full and personal responsibility" for the decision
to recall Parliament and could not have guaranteed MPs a say in whether
Britain should take part in US-led action had he not acted so swiftly.
His "only regret" was that Labour, which voted with Tory and
Lib Dem rebels against the government motion, had chosen "the easy and
the political path not the right and the difficult path".
UNITED
NATIONS - The United States declared on Thursday that there is "no
viable path forward" in the UN Security Council on Syria because Russia
is holding it hostage in an effort to protect the government of Syrian
President Bashar Assad.
US Ambassador to the United Nations
Samantha Power's remarks appeared to leave no doubt that Washington
would not seek UN approval for a military strike on Syria in response to
an Aug. 21 chemical weapon attack near Damascus. She said a draft
resolution Britain submitted to the five permanent council members last
week calling for a response to that attack was effectively dead.
"I
was present in the meeting where the UK laid down the resolution, and
everything in that meeting, in word and in body language, suggests that
that resolution has no prospect of being adopted, by Russia in
particular," she told reporters.
"Our considered view, after
months of efforts on chemical weapons and after 2-1/2 years of efforts
on Geneva (peace talks), the humanitarian situation, is that there is no
viable path forward in this Security Council," she said.
After
Britain submitted the draft resolution to fellow Security Council veto
powers China, France, Russia and the United States, its parliament voted
against British participation in planned US military strikes to punish
Syria's government for the chemical attack.
BEIJING: China on Thursday showcased its latest-concept unmanned helicopter even as the country is developing choppers with the ability to fly at speeds twice the current average.
The JY-8, which does not feature a tail rotor, can reach a maximum speed of 400km per hour.
It is expected to be subjected to trials in 2015, said Zhu Yinchui, an engineer with the China Helicopter Research and Development Institute.
It was exhibited at the second China Helicopter Exposition in the northern city of Tianjin.
The coaxial double-oared JY-8 adopts similar high-speed technologies as
the X2, an experimental helicopter developed by US aircraft
manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"China has mastered the core technologies of unmanned helicopters, and
has started serialised production," said Fang Yonghong, who is in charge
of the research of unmanned helicopter technologies with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, (AVIC) China's major aircraft maker. The company has developed unmanned helicopters with take-off weights of up to one tonne.
The range of low-cost and highly mobile helicopters is intended for
uses ranging from communication relaying, precise positioning, to aid in
emergency rescue operations, border patrol and scientific surveys.
Also, China is developing helicopters with the ability to fly at speeds twice the current average.
Lin Zuoming, AVIC President, said China is striving to make helicopters that can achieve speeds of 500 kms per hour.
AVIC produces a wide range of helicopters, from ultra-light varieties to high-altitude adaptive helicopters.
AVIC says it has cracked core technologies in key areas like rotors, flight control and avionics.
China's helicopter industry has been on a steady rise over the last decade.
On August 26, the ingenuously developed military attack helicopter
WZ-10 launched its first air-to-air missile successfully intercepting
low-altitude targets. -
I don’t think there’s a more apt metaphor for what the UK is doing to itself with Islam than the story of Mr. Laurens Vallender.
A former trained soldier swapped his Territorial Army beret for a veil and became Britain’s first transgender Muslim woman.
Laurens Vallender now calls himself Lucy and says he is finally ‘true to herself’ after a sex change three years ago. He is now married to a Muslim man he met on an online dating site, but he did not know he was once a man when they wed.
I just bet. Look at that face. Who could possibly suspect Laurens/Lucy is a man?
But finally the UK has its transgender gay Muslim soldier. If it were the US, the Democrats would already be encouraging him to run for President.
He now wears a full veil outside her Swindon home to show the world he is married.
This is the rare case where everyone can unite around a Burka.
Mr. Vallender told his GP he was ‘in the wrong body’ and three years ago had his sex change. He then went back to work as a Ministry of Defence kitchen porter.
In another major life change, he then converted to Islam because it promoted peace last September.
‘I had thought about it for a while but it is such a taboo I thought,’ he said. ‘But I did it because it is a nice religion – so peaceful.
If there were any doubts that this man is completely delusional, they have just been resolved.
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