Last week President Vladimir Putin triggered the most serious crisis of his presidency, as the Defence Ministry and the Russian General Staff (Stavka) declared that Putin’s explanation for the downing of the Ilyushin-20 electronic reconnaissance aircraft by Israeli fighters was false, and worse –capitulation to Israel.
Sources in Moscow report the military’s loss of confidence in the Commander-in-Chief has not been seen in public since President Boris Yeltsin countermanded orders for Russian military aid to Serbia under NATO bombing between March and June 1999, dismissing Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on the US demand.
“[Putin] has blundered with Erdogan, with Netanyahu,” commented one Moscow source. “In making all his concessions, one after another, Putin has been watched very carefully. His civilian advisors – [Foreign Policy Advisor Yury] Ushakov in particular – are making mistakes. They expect[ed] the show of strength in Syria would have changed US and European attitudes, and they would listen. They didn’t. So the Russian military have reminded Putin – we told you so.”
On Monday morning, following an unprecedented Sunday briefing at the Defence Ministry, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced measures which Putin has repeatedly dismissed over many years. The new Russian war policy puts a stop to Putin’s assurances to the US, the European NATO powers and Israel that he was resisting the recommendations of his General Staff. Putin’s resistance ended on Monday morning. Shoigu and the Stavka ended it....Dances with Bears
Putin Corrects Mistakes By Biting His Tongue On Telephone With Assad And Netanyahu
John Helmer
US to match?
The logical conclusion of the US-Israeli project lies in the removal of the Russian bases from Syrian territory. Neither the US nor Israel can countenance a military presence superior to Israel’s in the entire Middle East region. The actual Russian deployment to Syria may not be big, but Israel is very well aware that Russia has vast strategic depth, which it cannot hope to match.
The bottom line is that so long as Russia has a strategic presence in the Middle East, Israel cannot regain its military dominance in the region. And time doesn’t work in Israel’s favour, either. Iran is rising and Turkey remains unfriendly. The sooner things get done, the better for Israel – preferably while Trump remains in office.
Clearly, Bolton has thrown down the gauntlet. The tragic incident of September 17 cannot be viewed in isolation.Setting the stage for WWIII?
The Russian general staff will view it this way.
Strategic Culture Foundation
Syria: Bolton Throws Down the Gauntlet
Syria: Bolton Throws Down the Gauntlet
Melkulangara Bhadrakumar | Former career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service
See also
Strategic Culture Foundation
The Path to World War III
Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer, now Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
See also
Strategic Culture Foundation
The Path to World War III
Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer, now Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
1 comment:
Putin has allowed Israel to conduct over 200 airstrikes on Syria during the last 18 months. That’s an average of one Israeli air strike every 2.7 days, year-round. The latest strike caused the deaths of fifteen Russian personnel.
Maybe these new Russian measures will slow down Israeli aggression, unless Putin countermands them, in which case the Israelis will continue to do what they have always done. Israelis never learn until they get thoroughly stomped, as Hezbollah did to them…twice. The only thing that Israelis understand is naked merciless force. Many Americans are the same.
The Syrian no-fly zone is unofficial, which means it cannot be vetoed by Nikki Haley in the UN Security Council.
A number of bloggers lost readers over this latest incident. Reader frustration with Israel arrogance is high. Many bloggers responded to their readers’ frustration by insulting their own readers, effectively calling them idiots for wanting Russia to protect its personnel. “The situation is too complex for you morons to understand,” these bloggers say. “You fools need my genius to explain life to you.”
Such arrogance was a grave blunder that has badly hurt their blog numbers.
(I am not referring to anyone in the MNE blog.)
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