There is a word in Italian “pazzo.” It means crazy, but actually has a somewhat stronger meaning, more like delusional, completely nuts. Stephens qualifies, particularly when he presumably includes the United States and Israel among the world’s “community of civilized nations.” Both have been bombing and shooting up Syria even though Damascus has neither threatened nor attacked them. And the Shi’ite crescent is a total fabrication, invented by Israel and repeated endlessly by suck-up American politicians and media talking heads like Stephens. Iraq is 60% Shi’ite to be sure, but the rest of its mostly Sunni population is well entrenched and has fought to maintain its autonomy. Syria is 75% Sunni and 9% Christian. Lebanon is 27% Sunni, 6% Druze, and 40% Christian. Do the math Bret!

And don’t you just love the “achieve core foreign policy objectives at a relatively reasonable price” bit? Destroying the country’s air force and airports, blowing up its government buildings, and assassinating its head of state might be reasonable for armchair warriors in Washington, but it looks a lot different on the ground where most would consider it undeclared war of aggression. That’s a war crime.

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https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/09/20/bret-stephens-neocon-v...

On September 13, 2018, two days after the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard addressed her colleagues from the floor of the House of Representatives. “Two days ago, President Trump and Vice President Pence delivered solemn speeches about the attacks on 9/11, talking about how much they care about the victims of Al-Qaeda’s attack on our country,” she observed. “But they are now standing up to protect the 20,000 to 40,000 al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria, and threatening Russia, Syria, and Iran with military force if they dare attack these terrorists.”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson backed Gabbard’s statement by noting, “More than 10,000 rebels in [Idlib] province are believed to be aligned with Al-Qaeda. So that would mean that 17 years after 9/11, America could soon find itself bombing a country to protect al-Qaeda sympathizers. Why would we do that?”

The short answer is: Russia.  

In July 2017, President Donald Trump closed Operation Timber Sycamore, a CIA program to train and equip opposition forces fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In announcing his decision, Trump observed that many of the weapons provided by the United States ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda affiliates inside Syria. Moreover, the CIA program was putting the U.S. on a collision course with Russia, whose 2015 intervention in the Syrian Civil War had decisively tipped the balance in favor of Assad.

Read more:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/trump-letting-al-qaeda-...

In two weeks time, the Russian Federation will hand over to Syria, S-300 anti-air defense batteries, and modern systems for automated control for anti-air command posts. This equipment has until now only been available in the Russian military installations in Syria.

The information was divulged by the Russian Minister of Defence. However he did not specify which model of the S-300 will be handed over to Syria. In 2013, the Russian Federation had promised S-300 version V4 to Syria. However Russia did not follow through with its promise so as not to endanger Israel’s control over its air space.

The Russian Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoigou, declared that handing over the anti-air missiles S-300 to the Syrian Arab Republic: “will specifically guarantee the centralized management of all forces and installations of Syrian anti-air defense, the vigilance of the air spaces and speedy decision-making. But more importantly, it will ensure that the Syrian anti-air defence identifies all Russian planes.

Moscow’s decision follows the British, French and Israeli attack of 17 September 2018 on Lataquia during which the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 was destroyed. 15 men were on board.

Syria is the seventeenth country to equip itself with the S-300.

The anti-air missiles of the S-300 system have a range of 300 km. This makes it impossible for enemy planes to fly over Syrian territory or to approach Syria from the Mediterranean or any neighbouring country. Supplying these missiles to Syria sends out a serious warning to the air forces of the United Kingdom, France and Israel.

Supplying Syria with these modern Russian anti-air systems will end Israel’s control over the air space of the Middle East. The handing over of S-300 had been planned five years ago. However it was cancelled and this was clearly at the “request” of the United States to protect the Israel’s vastly superior air capacity. The new decision taken by Russia clearly downgrades the US veto from its triple A status. However in the US National Security Council, John Bolton, defined this Russian decision as an “escalation”, clearly to preserve the image of President Trump during the campaigns for the US legislative elections.

But the Russian Minister of Defense commented in Moscow that “We are convinced that the implementation of these measures will help to cool down the "raging bulls” and to discourage senseless actions that threaten our soldiers.” If not, we will have to respond according to the situation”.

So he declared, with clear reference to Israel. Russia has already pointed that Israel was responsible for the death of 15 Russian soldiers that had been on board the Illushin-20 which had been destroyed in the incident on 17 September.

Translation 
Anoosha Boralessa

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http://www.voltairenet.org/article203162.html

When Russian military chief Sergei Shoigu announced this week Moscow's decision to send the modern S-300 air defense system to Syria there was a barely contained coldness in his voice.

General Shoigu, Russia's minister of defense, wasn't threatening anyone in particular. But it was clear from his stony demeanor that Russia has had enough of foreign bad faith and deadly mischief in Syria, which has led to the loss of Russian lives serving the call of duty.

A loss of lives made all the more poignant because Russian servicemen are in Syria to defend that country from international terrorism.

“He was as serious as a heart attack,” was how American political analyst Randy Martin described Shoigu’s resolute announcement of more powerful air defenses being delivered for Syria.

The deaths of 15 Russian servicemen last week was clearly the responsibility of an Israeli air attack on Syria. Russian military data shows beyond doubt that Israeli fighter jets were involved in chicanery that led to the shooting down of the Ilyushin IL-20 survey plane and the destruction of all lives onboard.

READ MORE: 'Are We in For a Nightmare?' — Israeli Media on S-300 Deliveries to Syria

As Shoigu revealed the latest radar signals showing Israeli culpability, what no doubt added to Russia's sangfroid was the way that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to wriggle out of responsibility. Tel Aviv has blamed Syria, and even Iran, for the shoot-down.

Moreover, the Israelis have insulted Russian intelligence by trying to claim that their fighter jets were not hiding behind the IL-20 — thus putting it in danger — when in fact the objective radar data irrefutably evinces that the stealth maneuver is exactly what the Israelis did do.

READ MORE: Supplying Syria With S-300 Will Increase Security Risks — Netanyahu to Putin

Not surprisingly, Russia perceives a gross betrayal of its past deconfliction agreements with Israel. If the Israelis cannot honor the agreements, then Moscow has every right to install the most sophisticated air defense systems in Syria in order to protect its servicemen. No discussion.

The S-300 system is a major upgrade of the current S-200 air defenses that the Soviet Union supplied Syria during the 1980s. The fatal shoot-down last week was partly caused by the S-200 not being able to distinguish between friendly and enemy aircraft. That will no longer be the case when the S-300 is installed in the next two weeks, as its more advanced command and control will be able to identify allied Russian and Syrian planes from others, thereby not repeating the same fatal error as last week.

READ MORE: Russia May Supply Syria With Other Defense Systems Along S-300 — Senior Lawmaker

Furthermore, the S-300 has a much greater targeting distance, reportedly up to 250 kilometers. When the Israeli F-16s were attacking Syria's northwest coast last week, they were doing so from a distance of some 50kms. From now on, in other words, those aircraft will be well within range to take down.

Israeli media reports, citing Russian sources, say that up to eight S-300 batteries are likely to be delivered by Moscow to Syria, which will give the Arab country virtually total air defense, along with all its borders.

Another major measure that Russia is taking in Syria is to install electronic jamming equipment which can block hostile aircraft and warship communications in the eastern Mediterranean off the Syrian coast. Such a blackout should ensure that foreign warplanes trying to launch future attacks on Syria will not be able to do so from easy striking range. If such attacks are launched they will be from a much greater distance beyond the jamming zone, which in turn makes their missiles more vulnerable to be neutralized in mid-air.

The irritated reaction from the Americans and Israelis to the new Russian air defense systems for Syria was almost laughable. The hawkish national security advisor John Bolton said it was a "big mistake" and represented a "serious escalation" by Russia. Netanyahu also said the S-300s "increased dangers in the region".

Richly ironic, isn't it? The US and its Israeli accomplice have been escalating the war in Syria for years by illegally bombing the country and causing countless deaths among civilians. Now that they won't be able to get away with such criminal aggression, they call that an "escalation".

One wonders why this violation of international law by the Americans and Israelis was ever tolerated by Russia.

In 2013, Moscow was ready to send the S-300 to its Syrian ally, but at the last minute balked due to Israeli concerns over its national security. Presumably, the Israelis feared that the Russian surface-to-air missiles could end up in the hands of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

But Russia's tolerance of Israel and indeed US air strikes on Syria has only been abused by these foreign powers.

Certainly, the latest fatal incident of the Russian IL-20 and loss of 15 servicemen is shocking proof of Israeli contempt for agreements with Moscow.

The Russian information shows that the Israelis misinformed their Russian counterparts about the air raid on northwest Syria. The warning time and the misleading location of aircraft and targets made it impossible for the IL-20 and its men to escape death.

Not only that, the reckless maneuvering by the Israelis could have endangered civilian transport planes that also use the area.

Russia, therefore, is just right. Its principled military intervention in Syria to salvage that country from a foreign-backed war of aggression involving terrorist proxies is being obstructed by the same foreign backers of the aggression with their air forces.

Agreements that Russia entered into in order to avoid accidental air disasters over Syria have been trashed and exploited by Israel in such a way that not only violates Syria's sovereignty but also now has cost Russian lives.

There is no need for further explanation. Russia has the right to protect its people and its Syrian ally from unlawful aggression. Agreements with the US and Israel are evidently not worth the paper they're written on. From now on, it's "in S-300s we trust".

The people who see such a legitimate defensive move as a dangerous escalation are the aggressors and war criminals. Such people don't understand reason or words. They only understand the action.

READ MORE: Russia Supplying S-300 to Syria to Have No Effect on Ties With Israel — Moscow

On second thoughts, maybe Russia should reconsider. And instead install the even more advanced S-400, S-500 systems in Syria. Just for good measure.

The views and opinions expressed by Finian Cunningham are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

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https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201809251068322054-s-300-russia-deliv...

During a rally in Southaven, Mississippi the US president said that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman would not stay in power “for two weeks” without the support of the US military.

Saudi Arabia is one of the closest allies of the US in the Middle East, however during his campaign rally before the November midterm elections Trump made suspect remarks about the nature of US-Saudi relations, Reuters reported.

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia Spied on Dissident Using Israeli Phone Hacking Tech — Report

“We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they’re rich. And I love the King, King Salman. But I said ‘King — we’re protecting you — you might not be there for two weeks without us — you have to pay for your military,’” Trump told the cheering crowd of supporters.

Trump did not mention when exactly he said these words to the Saudi King. The last time the two leaders spoke was on Saturday over the phone, discussing the efforts being made to maintain supplies to ensure oil market stability and global economic growth after the sanctions on Iranian oil took effect, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/201810031068539668-trump-saudi-king-might-not...

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