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Page added on October 14, 2015
Is Washington Trying To Start World War III?
Why has Barack Obama airdropped 50 tons of ammunition into areas that “moderate rebels” in Syria supposedly control? This is essentially the equivalent of poking the Russians directly in the eyes. Much of this ammunition will end up in the hands of those that the Russians are attempting to bomb into oblivion, and so to Russia it appears that we are attempting to make their job much harder. And of course the truth is that there aren’t really any “moderate rebels” in Syria at all. Nearly all of the groups that are fighting are made up primarily of radical jihadists and/or hired mercenaries.
Personally, I don’t see anyone over there that you could call “the good guys”. At the end of the day, the U.S. supports just about anyone that wants to get rid of the Assad regime, and the Russians are working very hard to keep Assad in power. Just like the civil war in Ukraine, the conflict in Syria is in great danger of being transformed into a proxy war between the United States and Russia, and many fear that these conflicts could eventually be setting the stage for World War III.
The ferocity of Russian airstrikes in Syria has surprised observers all over the planet, and over the past couple of days these airstrikes have been extended to include some new areas…
Russian Air Forces have extended the range of their airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria to four provinces, focusing primarily on demolishing fortified installations and eliminating supply bases and the terrorists’ infrastructure.
Over the last 24 hours Russian aircraft have attacked terrorist positions in the Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Raqqa provinces of Syria. In total, 64 sorties targeted 63 Islamic State installations, among them 53 fortified zones, 7 arms depots, 4 training camps and a command post.
When I read reports like this, I am deeply troubled. The Obama administration claims that it has been bombing ISIS positions in Syria for over a year. So why in the world do these targets still exist?
Was the U.S. military incapable of finding these installations?
That doesn’t seem likely.
So why weren’t they destroyed long ago?
Did the Obama administration not want them destroyed for some reason?
What seems abundantly clear is that the Russians are doing what the Obama administration was either unwilling or unable to do. There is now mass panic among ISIS fighters, and thousands of them are fleeing the country…
An estimated 3,000 Islamic State fighters as well as militants from other extremist groups have fled Syria for Jordan fearing a renewed offensive by the Syrian army in addition to Russian airstrikes, a military official has told RIA news agency.
“At least 3,000 militants from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), al-Nusra and Jaish al-Yarmouk have fled to Jordan. They are afraid of the Syrian army having stepped up activities on all fronts and of Russian airstrikes,” the RIA source said.
The mainstream media in the United States is not talking much about this, are they?
But the U.S. media is reporting on this latest airdrop of ammunition to rebel groups in Syria. For example, the following comes from CNN…
U.S. military cargo planes gave 50 tons of ammunition to rebel groups overnight in northern Syria, using an air drop of 112 pallets as the first step in the Obama Administration’s urgent effort to find new ways to support those groups.
Details of the air mission over Syria were confirmed by a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly because the details have not yet been formally announced.
C-17s, accompanied by fighter escort aircraft, dropped small arms ammunition and other items like hand grenades in Hasakah province in northern Syria to a coalition of rebels groups vetted by the US, known as the Syrian Arab Coalition.
If you were the Russians, how would you feel about this?
I know how I would feel.
And just as Joe Biden has previously admitted, the “moderate middle” in Syria simply does not exist. The following is an extended excerpt from a piece that was originally written by investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed…
The first Russian airstrikes hit the rebel-held town of Talbisah north of Homs City, home to al-Qaeda’s official Syrian arm, Jabhat al-Nusra, and the pro-al-Qaeda Ahrar al-Sham, among other local rebel groups. Both al-Nusra and the Islamic State have claimed responsibility for vehicle-borne IEDs (VBIEDs) in Homs City, which is 12 kilometers south of Talbisah.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that as part of “US and Turkish efforts to establish an ISIS ‘free zone’ in the northern Aleppo countryside,” al-Nusra “withdrew from the border and reportedly reinforced positions in this rebel-held pocket north of Homs city”.
In other words, the US and Turkey are actively sponsoring “moderate” Syrian rebels in the form of al-Qaeda, which Washington DC-based risk analysis firm Valen Globals forecasts will be “a bigger threat to global security” than IS in coming years.
Last October, Vice President Joe Biden conceded that there is “no moderate middle” among the Syrian opposition. Turkey and the Gulf powers armed and funded “anyone who would fight against Assad,” including “al-Nusra,” “al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI),” and the “extremist elements of jihadis who were coming from other parts of the world”.
In other words, the CIA-backed rebels targeted by Russia are not moderates. They represent the same melting pot of al-Qaeda affiliated networks that spawned the Islamic State in the first place.
It has been well documented that many of these so-called “moderate rebel groups” in Syria have fought alongside ISIS and have sold weapons to them. So this false dichotomy that Barack Obama keeps trying to sell us on is just a giant fraud. The following comes from a recent Infowars report…
In September, 2014 a commander with the FSA admitted cooperating with ISIS and the al-Nusra Front.
“We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in … Qalamoun,” Bassel Idriss said. “Let’s face it: The Nusra Front is the biggest power present right now in Qalamoun and we as FSA would collaborate on any mission they launch as long as it coincides with our values.”
In July of 2014 a report in Stars and Stripes documented how the 1,000 strong Dawud Brigade, which had previously fought alongside the FSA against al-Assad, had defected in its entirety to join ISIS.
The same month factions within the FSA — including Ahl Al Athar and Ibin al-Qa’im — pledged services to the Islamic State.
Members of the Islamic State claim to cooperate with the FSA and buy weapons provided by the U.S.
“We are buying weapons from the FSA. We bought 200 anti-aircraft missiles and Koncourse anti tank weapons,” ISIS member Abu Atheer told al-Jazeera. “We have good relations with our brothers in the FSA. For us, the infidels are those who cooperate with the West to fight Islam.”
U.S. anti-tank weapons are playing a critical role in the Syrian conflict. As reported by the Washington Post, U.S.-made anti-tank missiles are being used by the rebels to destroy lots of Russian-made tanks that are being used by the Syrian army…
So successful have they been in driving rebel gains in northwestern Syria that rebels call the missile the “Assad Tamer,” a play on the word Assad, which means lion. And in recent days they have been used with great success to slow the Russian-backed offensive aimed at recapturing ground from the rebels.
Since Wednesday, when Syrian troops launched their first offensive backed by the might of Russia’s military, dozens of videos have been posted on YouTube showing rebels firing the U.S.-made missiles at Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles belonging to the Syrian army. Appearing as twirling balls of light, they zigzag across the Syrian countryside until they find and blast their target in a ball of flame.
Like I said earlier, this is looking more and more like a proxy war between the United States and Russia.
Could that be what Obama actually wants?
* * *
Obama is poking China in the eyes lately too. CNN is reporting that U.S. warships may soon be sailing into territorial waters around the Spratly Islands. These are islands that the Chinese government claims ownership over, but the U.S. government disputes that claim, and Obama seems determined to flex his muscles in the area…
The United States (US) may soon deploy war ships near China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea.
It wants to send a message that it does not recognize China’s territorial claims over the area.
This is according to a Financial Times report quoting a senior U.S. official who said its ships will sail within 12-nautical-mile zones that China claims as its territory around the Spratly Islands within the next two weeks.
If Obama sends warships into that area, there is a very real chance that they could get shot at. According to Newsweek, the Chinese are saying that they will not permit U.S. ships to violate those territorial waters under any circumstances…
“We will never allow any country to violate China’s territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in response to a question about possible U.S. patrols. “We urge the related parties not to take any provocative actions, and genuinely take a responsible stance on regional peace and stability.”
Such exchanges appear to be moving China and the U.S. toward a much feared, yet long expected, military confrontation. Just as unsettling, both sides seem confident they can prevail.
Over the past couple of years our relations with China have really gone downhill very rapidly, and if the trading relationship between the two largest economies on the planet breaks down, that would have massive implications for the entire global economy.
In addition to everything above, the civil war in Ukraine continues to rage on. The United States funded, equipped, trained and organized the forces that violently overthrew the democratically-elected government in Ukraine, and then once those thugs (which actually included some neo-Nazis) took power, the Obama administration immediately recognized them as the legitimate government of Ukraine.
The Russians were absolutely infuriated by this, and they have been providing soldiers, equipment and supplies to the rebel groups that are fighting back against this new government. Of course the Russians deny that they are doing this, but it is exceedingly obvious that they are.
The rebel groups that the Russians have been backing have been doing very well and have been steadily taking ground, and this is not how the power brokers in D.C. envisioned things playing out in Ukraine. So in a desperate attempt to shift the momentum of the conflict, a bill is going through Congress that would provide “lethal military aid” to the government in Kiev. Initially the bill would have provided 200 million dollars in lethal aid, but now it has been upped to 300 million dollars. There are some that believe that the final figure will be significantly higher.
Once this bill gets passed, it will be an extremely important event. For the Russians, it will mean crossing a red line that never should have been crossed. You see, the truth is that Ukraine is Russia’s most important neighbor. Just imagine how we would feel if the Russians helped overthrow Canada’s government and then start feeding weapons to the new pro-Russian government that they helped install. That is exactly how the Russians view our meddling in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, I wrote an article in which I discussed an opinion poll that showed that 81 percent of all Russians now view the United States negatively, and only 13 percent of Russians have a positive view of this nation. Not even during the height of the Cold War were the numbers that bad.
The stage is being set for World War III, but most Americans are completely and totally oblivious to all of this because they are so wrapped up in their own little worlds.
Most Americans still seem to assume that the Russians and the Chinese are our “friends” and that any type of conflict between major global powers is impossible.
Well, the truth is that conflict has already begun in Ukraine and Syria, and tensions are rising with each passing day.
It won’t happen next week or next month, but we are on the road to World War III.
32 Comments on "Is Washington Trying To Start World War III?"
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 8:54 am
The airdrop was to Kurds. The Kurds are happy to work with Russia also. It is Turkey who is pissed off. Both the Russian and American embassadors to Turkey were summon regarding their support for Kurds and Turkeys concerns. The people who wrote this article are idiots.
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 8:55 am
http://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2015/10/14/turkey-summons-russia-us-ambassadors-to-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-questions-relations-with-pyd
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 8:58 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/world/middleeast/us-airdrops-weapons-and-supplies-to-kurds-fighting-in-kobani.html?_r=0
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:05 am
Oops wrong link above
Here’s the correct one
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-airdrops-50-tonnes-of-weapons-to-new-syrian-rebel-coalition-a6692126.html
Truth Has A Liberal Bias on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:08 am
The supplies were dropped to the Syrian Arab Coalition. It had formed an alliance with the Kurdish YPG and YPJ forces, which have been fighting Isis in the north of Syria.
Davy on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:25 am
Good boy, liberal bias, you were able to have a responsible and useful comment. I bet you feel good turning away from the dark side.
Revi on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:35 am
Any way you slice it, it’s dicey!
penury on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:48 am
THALB, it iust good to know that someone knows who the arms were meant for and who received them. I am certain that the Kurds will appreciate the anti aircraft missiles. BTW isn/t Turkey fighting the Kurds? That would be a member of NATO arming the group fighting a member of NATO. Perhaps Putin was correct. Also the delegate from the E.U.
BobInget on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 10:19 am
http://atimes.com/2015/10/two-powerful-gulf-sheikhs-talk-syria-with-putin/
Excerpted, full story above>
Now, annoying Russia or confronting Russia would be the last thing on the Saudi mind today. Russia has a great tradition in diplomacy and without doubt, Putin’s confidence that the improvement of the security situation in Syria will open the door for negotiations leading to a political settlement is well-founded, contrary to the apocalyptic visions being disseminated by the US media reports.
Conceivably, Obama understands Putin’s game plan but is unable to say so openly. (And in any case, America’s political class and intelligentsia is not a mood to listen to Obama, either.)
Thus, Washington’s move Friday to start removing the Patriot batteries from Turkey; the Pentagon announcement Friday regarding the termination of the covert operation to build a rebel Syrian army to overthrow the Assad government; the US decision to shift its own military operations to northeastern regions of Syria (away from the theatre of the Russian air strikes); Obama’s categorical statement ruling out a proxy war in Syria against Russia (even while estimating that Moscow is risking a quagmire in Syria); Obama’s pledge that the only war US intends to fight in Syria is the war against the Islamic State – all these need to be seen in perspective.
Put differently, the visit by the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince to meet Putin underscores that the prospects for a Moscow-led diplomatic track opening on Syria in a foreseeable future might have significantly improved.
BobInget on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 10:21 am
Yes, thanky two times Lib Bias.
BobInget on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 10:27 am
Vice News Pipes UP
https://news.vice.com/article/thousands-of-iranian-troops-are-teaming-up-with-russia-for-an-assault-on-aleppo?utm_source=vicenewsemail
Three excerpts:
Iran has sent thousands of troops into Syria in recent days to bolster the planned ground offensive in Aleppo, the two officials told Reuters.
Meanwhile, a missile test announced by Iran over the weekend was an apparent violation of a UN Security Council resolution and Washington will raise it at the United Nations, the US State Department said on Tuesday.
Iran said it tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile on Sunday, signaling an apparent advance in Iranian attempts to improve the accuracy of its missile arsenal.
Plantagenet on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 11:32 am
Congrats to Bias for posting something with content. However, Bias does’t quite understand why Russia is in Syria. It really doesn’t matter if the Kurds are “willing to work with Russia” when the Kurds oppose the Assad regime. Russia is thee to prop up the Assad regime. That is why the Russians are targeting all groups that oppose Assad and not just IS.
Cheers!
Davy on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 11:42 am
Planter, I think that was about the dumbest thing you said in many comments. All I can say is DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
q on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 12:10 pm
Obama administration supports ISIS the same way previous administrations supported Taliban. Any terrorist is useful to USA when world domination is at stake.
Plantagenet on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 1:16 pm
@Davy
I miss the days when your posts actually contained some information rather then just ad homs.
Duh.
Cheers!
Plantagenet on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 1:19 pm
@q
The Obama administration has been bombing IS for the last year. Its been ineffectual, yes, but they have been bombing them.
How do you imagine that bombing IS constitutes “support” for IS?
Cheers!
Davy on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 1:33 pm
Planter, that is what happens when you hear about oil gluts and Obama ad nauseum. Maybe we can compramise.
GregT on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 1:41 pm
I see you’re back stirring more shit up lil’ planter. Do you not have anything better to do with your time?
Grow up for fuck’s sake.
ties on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 2:09 pm
wait until these weapons that America is supplying the terrorist are used in EUROPE in a terrorist attack…..or to shot down a Europe or NATO aircraft….
penury on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 3:33 pm
I think that the point Putin was making in his speech at the U.N. was blow back is a bitch, however he said it more diplomatically. As far as the U.S. trying to start WWIII, No they are trying to start Maiden style revolutions in China and Russia. The U.S. likes revolutions because while arming both sides they get to pick the friendlyst face to support.
BC on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 6:30 pm
http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/gs102/2008PowerPoints/29-GreatWave-GG102.pdf
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=2828
http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Wave-Revolutions-History/dp/019512121X
For those interested, I would highly recommend David Hackett Fischer’s “The Great Wave”.
We are likely entering the final phase of a “Price Revolution” dating from the early 20th century, culminating in a “Revolutionary Crisis” of the late Price Revolution prior to a “Price Equilibrium”, coinciding with the Schumpeterian depression of the deflationary Long Wave Trough AND with Strauss and Howe’s “Fourth Turning”.
The last time we faced the convergence of the Gleissburg and Suess/de Vries (look it up) cycles and 30-40 years of mid-latitude continental cooling thereafter was the late 18th century and early 19th centuries, the French and American Revolutions, and the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic War era.
There were 1 billion human apes on the planet.
makati1 on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:06 pm
We are on the road to World War 3 but some refuse to believe it. At the moment, it is a cyber/economic/financial war but it is escalating into a shooting war that I think will end in mushrooms on all of the northern continents. I hope not, but…
Turkey is afraid the Kurds will carve off a chunk of Turkey for their desired new country and the new Turkish dictator is panicking.
Then Russia fired a broadside across two countries to accurately hit targets in a 3rd, which also panicked the Saudis and the US. They proved that they can hit targets anywhere within 1000 miles of their ships and that covers most of the ME and southern Europe from the Caspian.
Military buildups are happening in most of the larger countries of the world, and that ALWAYS leads to war. It only a matter of time, and no country will be spared in this one. Especially the ‘exceptional’ one that had escaped the last two.
Boat on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:35 pm
Plant is right of course. Putin bombed rebels that the US were supporting. Expect those same rebels to become better armed. The USA will continue to bomb rebels that support Assad. You thought that would stop? Get real.
Obama just ended a program of training rebels to fight Isis because of lack of interest. They all want a piece of Assad.
GregT on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 10:37 pm
The rebels that the US has been supporting to overthrow yet another sovereign state, are the same forces that the US is pretending to fight against. Anyone who has been following Syria for the past three years would know this. Russia knows this as well. Unless the US intervenes, and ignites WW3, the Russians will do more damage to ISIS in a matter of weeks, than the US led coalition has pretended to do in over one and a half years.
Obama could not have ended a program of training rebels to fight the Islamic State, because the rebels themselves are the Islamic State. They all want the same thing, Sharia Law, and a worldwide caliphate. They do not want a secular state in Syria.
You may very well have taken first place now Boat. A real winner.
GregT on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 10:54 pm
“The USA will continue to bomb rebels that support Assad.”
Would you be referring to the Syrian Army Boat? They aren’t rebels. They are the soldiers of a sovereign state. A sovereign state that has been a member of the United Nations since 1961.
Davy on Thu, 15th Oct 2015 6:31 am
The US has succeeded in drawing Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah into a potential quagmire. Failed states with destroyed economies can generally be considered quagmires that are expensive to enter. Who do you think is paying for the Syrians to mobilize for battle? Yeap, you got it Russia and Iran. Russia is already paying for Ukraine and Crimea. Russia is sporting its military around the world with renewed vigor. You know all that costs money at a time their economy is in a nose dive. Who has the failed policy? I am not saying the right policy anti-Americans I am saying something that is achieving goals of drawing blood from an opponent.
I am an isolationist now as a doomer and prepper. I want to see the US disengage and draw back within her boarders to prepare for the end of the status quo commonly called BAU. I am not advocating these policies of the US military nor the State Department. My point is they have succeeded in drawing blood out of the Russians. The US has succeeded in rending Assad impotent and no longer a force in the Middle East. Iran is in a committed engagement that will preoccupy it. You all can blame, complain, and whine but the US is meeting at least some of its goals of attrition of its opponents.
Anyone in the ME is involved with failed long term objectives in my opinion but currently if you are going to play you have to pay. The oil is in the Middle East and we are still in the oil age. If the US left the Middle East the vacuum created would be unpredictable. Maybe it would turn out better maybe not.
Russia’s policy may succeed in Syria. Putin may be rewarded with a huge victory. I have already said I equate Putin to Bob Lee. If you kids remember your history class Bob Lee with smaller forces and resources was able to consistently outflank and destroy larger forces until near the end of the war when attrition finally brought his downfall. It can be argued his fateful trip into Pennsylvania ended his offensive capabilities. Picket’s charge up Cemetery Ridge was Bob Lee’s Waterloo. If he had just disengaged and chose other ground for battle the war may have been different. Will Putin have his Gettysburg in Syria?
Putin may achieve his goals in Syria and also ride out the low oil prices. I doubt oil prices will ever stabilize satisfactorily to allow Russia the luxury of the economy they had for so many years with high oil prices. I might add high oil prices curtesy of the US Fed and China. The Russian economy is not significant in regards to being a driver of the global economy. So there you have it anti-Americans much on that with your morning coffee or in dog paw’s case evening beer.
Mary on Tue, 3rd Nov 2015 9:16 am
The time has come to know the superior powers, nothing can hinter them.
Mary on Tue, 3rd Nov 2015 9:19 am
It is rarely agreed.
GregT on Tue, 3rd Nov 2015 1:48 pm
“You all can blame, complain, and whine but the US is meeting at least some of its goals of attrition of its opponents.”
Opponents Davy? Of the US? Opponents of Big Oil perhaps, or of the central bankers, you know the same central bankers that almost collapsed the US economy back in 07/08? The ones that were rewarded with bail outs of trillions of dollars in US taxpayers’ money.
Not opponents of the US Davy, the US is fighting for the very opponents that are the greatest threat to the US. Russia is not the threat, Syria is not the threat, Iran is not the threat, Iraq is not the threat, Libya is not the threat, and China is not the threat. The greatest threat to world peace, the global climate system, and even the United States of America herself, is the US MIC, US multinational corporations, Big Oil, the central banking cartels, and the oligarchs that are controlling them all behind the scenes.
Russia is busy putting out fires that the US has started Davy. Russia did not instigate the coup in Ukraine, and Russia has not been actively destabilizing the Middle East for at least the past two decades. And even if you do believe that this is all about maintaining oil supplies for the US. Burning more oil is the absolute worst thing that we could possibly be doing not only for the US, but all future generations, and life as we know it on the planet Earth.
apneaman on Tue, 3rd Nov 2015 1:56 pm
Boaty, help a brother out! I’m just so confused – is it on or off or on again? Are the so called countries in the Anglo empire taking turns? It’s all so confusing gol darn it.
US to scrap Syria rebel training programme
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/overhaul-syria-rebel-training-programme-151009133250518.html
88 Syrian rebels fail to complete British military training
https://www.rt.com/uk/320629-syrian-rebels-military-training/
Davy on Tue, 3rd Nov 2015 3:17 pm
Greg, that comments was in regards to the neocons not my desired policy. In that regard the neocons are achieving their goal of bleeding Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah. I am just stating an observation in the third person.
I am a isolationist and would like to see the U.S. withdraw slowly back to its borders to prepare for global collapse. Of course that won’t happen but that is what should happen. Feel better now?
GregT on Tue, 3rd Nov 2015 3:57 pm
“I am a isolationist and would like to see the U.S. withdraw slowly back to its borders to prepare for global collapse. Of course that won’t happen but that is what should happen. ”
Absolutely agree. Except for one small detail. You are confusing a country with over 320 million citizens, with the corrupt people that have gained control over it’s military, it’s industries, it’s government, and it’s financial systems. I don’t have a problem with the USA Davy, I have a problem with those that have taken control over it.