The Saker — So What Are the Russians Really Doing in Syria?

It turns out that there was a small kernel of truth to these stories. No, Russia was not sending “MiG-31s to bomb Daesh”, nor is Russian going to send an SSNB (submarine armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles) to the Syrian coast. All these rumors are utter nonsense. But there are increasing signs that Russia is doing two thing:

1. increasing her diplomatic involvement in the Syrian conflict

1. delivering some unspecified but important military gear to Syria

The second item is the one which is most interesting. Needless to say, as is typical in these cases, the actual contents of the cargo Russia is sending by air and sea is not made public, but we can speculate. First, we know that Syria needs a lot of spare parts and equipment repairs. This war has been going on for 4 years now and the Syrians have made intensive use of their equipment. Second, the Syrians lack some battlefield systems which could greatly help them. Examples of that include counter-battery radars (radars which spot where the enemy’s artillery is shooting from) and electronic warfare systems. Furthermore, Russian sources are saying that Syria needs more armored personnel carriers.

We know that Russia and Syria have long standing military contracts and we know that Russia is now delivering her heavy equipment by sea and the lighter systems by air. Does all that indicate some kind of game changer?
No. At least not at this point in time.

So why the AngloZionist panic?.… 

"AngloZionists" = neocons.

To summarize the above I would say this: the AngloZionists are freaking out because their war against Syria has failed; while Daesh has created havoc and terror in several countries, there are many signs that the local countries are gradually becoming determined to do something. The US has also failed to get rid of Assad, the massive refugee crisis has triggered a major political crisis in Europe, and now the Europeans are looking at Assad in a dramatically different light than before. Russia has clearly decide to get politically involved with all the regional powers, effectively displacing the USA, and there are pretty good indications that the Russians are keeping their options open. And while there are absolutely no reasons to suspect that Russia is planning a major military intervention in the conflict in terms of quantity, there are signs that the Russian support has risen to a new qualitative level.

Two things need to be stressed here:

First, on a political level, it is still exceedingly unlikely that Russia would take any major unilateral action in this war.….

Second, on a military level, the country to look at is not Russia but Iran. The Iranians have a safe and secure land-line to Syria (via northern Iraq) and they have the kind of combat forces which could be successfully engage against Daesh. The same goes for Hezbollah which has, and will in the future, send its elite forces to support the Syrians in strategically vital areas. Should there be a need for a major ground operation in support of the Syrian forces, these are the forces we should expect to intervene, not the Russians.

With Europe buckling under the weight of the flood of refugees, look for a realignment not in Washington's favor, just as in Ukraine. The US is asking too much of its European vassals. Vassals aren't serfs.

The lesson for all those who resist the Empire is obvious: the hardest thing is to remain standing after the first “blow” delivered by the imperial forces. If you can survive it (as the Donbass and Syria have done), then time is on your side and the position of the Empire will begin to weaken slowly but surely because of its own internal contradictions. When that process being, you must not fall into the trap of over-commitment, but gradually occupy each position (political or other) given up by the Empire in the process of the disintegration while securing your own each step of the way.

It is way too early for any triumphalism – Daesh is still here, and so are the Ukronazis in Kiev, and the Empire has not given up on them quite yet. The good news is that the tide has now visibly turned and while there is still a long struggle ahead, the eventual defeat of the Takfiris and Nazis appears to be inevitable.

The Vineyard of the Saker
So What Are the Russians Really Doing in Syria?
The Saker