Uprooted Palestinian: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM – سلام القدس عليكم: 25/02/2018

Saturday, 3 March 2018

Breaking: Syrian Army seizes 3 rebel strongholds across east Damascus in one fell swoop during massive all-out assault

–

03/03/2018

BEIRUT, LEBANON (4:47 P.M.) – Moments ago, vanguard forces of the Syrian Army scored a major advance inside rebel-controlled areas of Damascus’ East Ghouta region, seizing the militant stronghold towns of Uataya, An-Nashabiyah and Hazrama.

The victory was achieved after an entire day of heavy clashes between the Syrian Army and rebel forces of the Jaysh al-Islam faction near to and inside Uataya.

In the end, superior firepower in the form of tanks, artillery and airstrikes would propel Syrian troops to overrun all militant defense lines and strong-points within the town.

By this advance, the Syrian Army virtually isolated the towns of An-Nashabiyah and Hazrama from all other militant-held areas within East Ghouta and de facto split to the insurgent pocket into two.

However, when the Syrian Army entered An-Nashabiyah and Hazrama, it found the towns to be completely bereft of insurgent fighters who had fled both settlements in the final hours of the Uataya battle to avoid being encircled.

Thus in a day of campaigning, the Syrian Army has managed to wrest control of three large towns in East Ghouta which for years prior represented unbreachable militant strongholds.

SYRIAN ARMY CAPTURES THREE KEY TOWNS, REPELS MILITANT ATTACK IN EAST GHOUTA (MAP, PHOTOS)

On March 3, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Tiger Forces backed up by the Russian Aerospace Forces captured the strategic towns of Utaya, Hazrama and al-Nashabiyah in the southern part of the East Ghouta pocket, according to the Hezbollah media wing in Syria.

The SAA captured the towns of Hazrama and al-Nashabiyah on February 25. However, a counter-attack by Jaysh al-Islam forced the SAA to withdraw from them back then.

Furthermore, Syrian pro-government sources confirmed that the SAA’s 4^th Division had repelled an attack by the Ahrar al-Sham Movement on its positions in the Harasta district in the northern part of the pocket. SAA soldiers killed over 50 fighters of Ahrar al-Sham, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, Jaysh al-Islam claimed that its fighters had repelled an attack by the SAA on their positions in the town of al-Rayhanah in the eastern part of the East Ghouta pocket and had killed 12 SAA soldiers. However, pro-government sources reported that units of the Tiger Forces had manged to capture all the farms north and north east of al-Rayhanah.

The towns of al-Rayhanah, Shaffoniya, Bayt Na’im and Hawsh al-Ash’ari are the next targets of the SAA and its allies, according to local observers. Syrian opposition sources said that the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) and the Russian Aerospace Forces are already targeting the militants’ positions in these towns.

Government forces are in the souhern part of the East Ghouta pocket:

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Russia Warns the US and israel, “Your Games are at an End!”

Source

By Gordon Duff, Video by Southfront —

VT watches its media partner SouthFront very closely. We believe Russia “injects” warnings and policy material through this medium, but then again, this is just “theory.” Watch the entire video very closely, it isn’t just about Syria or terrorism. It tells the story, in oblique terms, of the insanity of the Israeli dominated military cabal now ruling Washington and the puppet Trump from behind the scenes.

This may well be the most classified material involving US/Russia relations ever leaked to the public.

The Russians, by my estimation, have just put the US and Israel on notice and with new weapons systems deployed, are planning to grind the US and Israel into the dirt, humiliating Trump and his puppetmaster, Netanyahu.

Watch the video

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US Propaganda Collapses in Syria, But Threats Remain. US Continues to Support ISIS and Al Qaeda in Violation of UN Resolution

Source

By Tony Cartalucci,

Propaganda used by the United States and its partners amid its destructive campaign of regime change aimed at the Syrian government has collapsed. Western media platforms find themselves relying on increasingly absurd narratives told to an increasingly smaller audience. They also find themselves the targets of growing criticism from around the world.

The US and its allies are currently reporting “violations” of the UN resolution regarding a ceasefire in Ghouta despite the text of the resolution itself authorizing continued military operations against Al Qaeda and its affiliates both in Ghouta and across the rest of Syria.

The UN resolution states clearly that:

…the cessation of hostilities shall not apply to military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da’esh), Al Qaeda and Al Nusra Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIL, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the Security Council;

Even Western “human rights” fronts like Human Rights Watch has admitted to Al Qaeda’s presence in Ghouta. HRW director Kenneth Roth in one social media post would claim:

Putin-Assad seem to be using the presence of an al-Qaeda linked group (Ahrar al-Sham) in one tiny corner of Eastern Ghouta as an excuse to attack civilians throughout the besieged enclave despite UN Security Council ceasefire.

Roth never explains why Syria or Russia would use their limited military resources to “attack civilians” instead of the armed terrorists Roth himself admits are present in Ghouta attempting to overthrow the Syrian government and kill both Syria and Russian personnel in Syria – and this among other unraveling narratives is why the West’s propaganda war has lost tremendous ground.

However, despite this important step forward, exposing and derailing the propaganda component of the West’s war on Syria alone is not enough to stop Western military aggression – both direct and by proxy – or to eliminate the threat Syria and its allies – as well as the entire region – still face.

Might Still Makes Right

The United States’ ability to wage war on nations like Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Syria is not owed to its ability to tell convincing lies. Instead, it is rooted first and foremost in its immense economic and military power which in turn affords it equally immense and unwarranted influence and political power.

This is reflected in the corporate-financier sponsorship of US policy think tanks – institutions of unelected policymakers who in fact devise long-term US foreign policy and merely have politicians rubber stamp it legislatively, while media organizations promote it publicly.

The ability of the US to intervene in, invade, and occupy nations around the globe is dependent on its massive resources, including a network of military bases and logistical hubs, fleets of ships used to move weapons and equipment into theaters of military operations and to continue resupplying forces for years at a time. This is a network that rising nations even as big as China will takes years to develop, if they ever develop them to the extent the US has.

Nations and blocs attempting to confront and balance global power against Western hegemony understand this fully. The rising economies of nations like China, regions like Southeast Asia, the BRICS association, a reemerging Russia, and other developing nations around the globe are accompanied by attempts to create an entirely alternative global order based on multipolar geopolitics.

This includes the creation of alternatives to the US dollar in global trade, alternatives to US and European dominated industries and markets, and the creation and proliferation of defensive military technology negating America’s long-standing military superiority.

These efforts are extensive. ongoing, and long-term. It will take years still to rein in US aggression and the military and economic primacy that underpins it. Until a global balance of power can be struck, the maxim of “might makes right” will continue to prevail and define the global geopolitics of the US and its allies.

Facing the Threat as Individuals

For nation states across the globe, the process of creating alternatives to compete with and eventually displace US and Western hegemony is already ongoing. Unfortunately, for most individuals around the globe, both the genuine root of the problem and the solution is still poorly understood.

For the many people invested in resisting Western propaganda, many still find themselves on a daily basis paying into the very corporations and financial institutions underwriting that very propaganda and driving the agendas that propaganda serves. Very few – even when aware of this – have the desire to commit themselves to a full spectrum boycott of the Western corporations driving Western military aggression globally. Fewer still have the desire or ability to contribute to alternatives to the West’s long-standing monopolies.

However, there is hope. The alternative media itself is an example of many ordinary people around the globe with differing political and ideological backgrounds creating alternatives to established Western media monopolies. They have forced Western media monopolies to react and adapt to the growing competition and in many ways it has been this growing competition that has compromised the many ongoing narratives the West had once been able to perpetuate with impunity. This includes the narratives the US has used versus Syria.

The main driving factor behind the alternative media has been technology. It once took large amounts of capital – both financial and human – to run a news room in order to reach thousands or millions of readers. Today, tools for publishing written, audio, and video content are free or cheap enough for virtually anyone to afford. A single person can access thousands, even millions of viewers. The smaller budgets available to developing nations are more than enough to compete with established Western propaganda, provided their content is of more substance than the West’s.

While Western monopolies have struck back with a series of technological solutions including algorithms designed to favor corporate media, these solutions will only provide a temporary reprieve.

Technological progress in other industries ranging from energy to manufacturing are helping decentralize the many economic and military fields the West has long dominated. Even within the West itself, technology is enabling emerging entrepreneurs who do not share Wall Street and Washington’s principles or lack thereof and seek a different and more constructive direction for the West.

It is important to understand the Syrian conflict in the much larger global paradigm it fits into. By understanding this, we can collectively expose and undermine the special interests fueling the conflict. Currently, the US and its allies have exhausted their proxies and find themselves more directly engaged in military intervention in Syria.

Defeating this conspiracy against both the Syrian people and the peace and stability of the Middle Eastern region can no longer be done by simply exposing and eliminating the West’s proxies. It must also include a strategy of exposing and eliminating the very source of power driving the West’s agenda in the first place, well beyond Syria’s borders – on Wall Street, in London, and Brussels. It must be done by identifying and displacing the unwarranted power and influence of Western corporate-financier monopolies.

The emerging victory over Western propaganda is only a start. But it is a start that can be built upon and expanded to include a continued campaign of raising awareness and pressure regarding Western aggression against Syria itself, as well as a campaign aimed at placing pressure on and even displacing the special interests responsible for this aggression.

*

Tony Cartalucci is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” where this article was originally published.

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Making sense of the Russian 5th generation fighters in Syria

March 02, 2018

[This article was written for the Unz Review]

When I got an email from a friend telling me that a pair of Su-57s was seen landing at the Russian Aerospace Forces base in Kheimim, Syria, I immediately dismissed it as a fake. The list of reasons why this could not be true would run for pages. I knew that, so I simply replied: “that’s a fake” and forgot about it. Over the next couple of days, however, this story was picked up by various websites and bloggers, but it still made no sense. Still, what kept me feeling really puzzled was that the Russian official sources did not dismiss the story, but chose to remain silent. Then another two Su-57s were reported. And then, suddenly, the Russian media was flooded with stories about how the Su-57s were sent to Syria as an act of “revenge” for the killing of Russian PMCs by the US; that the Su-57s had basically flattened eastern Ghouta while killing about “2000 Americans“. This was truly some crazy nonsense so I decided to find out what really happened and, so far, here is what I found out.

First, amazingly enough, the reports of the Su-57 in Syria are true. Some say 2 aircraft, some say 4 (out of a current total of 13). It doesn’t really matter, what matters is that the deployment of a few Su-57s in Syria is a fact and that this represents a dramatic departure from normal Russian (and Soviet) practice.

Introducing the Sukhoi 57 5th generation multi-role fighter

The Su-57 (aka “PAK-FA” aka “T-50”) is the first real 5th generation multi-role aircraft produced by Russia. All the other Russian multi-role and air superiority aircraft previously deployed in Syria (such as the Su-30SM and the Su-35S) are 4++ aircraft, not true 5th generation. One might be forgiven for thinking that 4++ is awfully close to 5, but it really is not. 4++ generation aircraft are really 4th generation aircraft upgraded with a number of systems and capabilities typically associated with a 5th generation, but they all lack several key components of a true 5th generation aircraft such as:

a low radar cross-section (“stealth”),
the capability to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners,
the ability to carry weapons inside a special weapons bay (as opposed to outside, under its wings or body)
an advanced “situational awareness” (network-centric) capability (sensor and external data fusion).

To make a long story short, the difference between 4th and 5th generation aircraft is really huge and requires not one, but several very complex “technological jumps” especially in the integrations of numerous complex systems.

The only country which currently has a deployed real 5th generation fighter is the USA with its F-22. In theory, the USA also has another 5th generation fighter, the F-35, but the latter is such a terrible design and has such immense problems that for our purposes we can pretty much dismiss it. As for now, the F-22 is the only “real deal”: thoroughly tested and fully deployed in substantial numbers. The Russian Su-57 is still years away from being able to make such a claim as it has not been thoroughly tested or deployed in substantial numbers. That is not to say that the Russians are not catching up really fast, they are, but as of right now, the Su-57 has only completed the first phase of testing. The normal Soviet/Russian procedure should have been at this time to send a few aircraft to the Russian Aerospace Forces (RAF) base in Lipetsk to familiarize the military crews with the aircraft and continue the testing while getting the feedback, not from test pilots but from actual air combat instructors. This second phase of testing could easily last 6 months or more and reveal a very large number of “minor” problems many of which could actually have very severe consequences in an actual combat deployment. In other words, the Su-57 is still very “raw” and probably needs a lot of tuning before it can be deployed in combat. How “raw”? Just one example: as of today, only one of the currently existing Su-57 flies with the new supercruise-capable engines, all the others use a 4th generation type engine. This is no big deal, but it goes to show that a lot of work still needs to be done on this aircraft before it becomes fully operational.

The notion that the Russians sent the Su-57 to Syria to somehow compete with the F-22s or otherwise participate in actual combat is ludicrous. While, on paper, the Su-57 is even more advanced and capable than the F-22, in reality, the Su-57 presents no credible threat to the US forces in Syria (if the Russians really wanted to freak out the Americans, they could have, for example, decided to keep a pair of MiG-31BMs on 24/7 combat air patrol over Syria). The Russian reports about these aircraft flattening Ghouta or killing thousands of Americans are nothing more than cheap and inflammatory propaganda from ignorant Russian nationalists who don’t seem to realize that flattening urban centers is not even the theoretical mission of the Su-57. In fact, as soon as these crazy reports surfaced, Russians analysts immediately dismissed them as nonsense.

Utter nonsense is hardly the monopoly of Russian nationalists, however. The folks at the National Interest reposted an article (initially posted on the blog The War is Boring) which basically dismissed the Su-57 as a failed and dead project and its deployment in Syria as a “farce” (I should tip my hat off to the commentators at the National Interest who immediately saw through the total ridiculous nature of this article and wondered if Lockheed had paid for it). On the other hand, in the western insanity spectrum, we have the UK’s Daily Express which wrote about Vladimir Putin sending his “fearsome new state-of-the-art Su-57” into the Syrian war zone. Just like with the Kuznetsov, the Ziomedia can’t decide if the Russian hardware is an antiquated, useless pile of scrap metal or a terrifying threat which ought to keep the entire world up at night. Maybe both at the same time? With paranoid narcissists, you can’t tell. Finally, the notion that Putin (personally?) sent these 4 aircraft to Syria to help him in his re-election campaign (peddled by the Russophobes at Ha’aret z ) is also devoid of all truth and makes me wonder if those who write that kind of crap are even aware of Putin’s popularity numbers.

So what is really going on?

Well, frankly, that is hard to say, and Russian officials are being tight-lipped about it. Still, various well informed Russian analysts have offered some educated guesses as to what is taking place. The short version is this: the Su-57s were only sent to Syria to test their avionics in a rich combat-like electromagnetic environment. The more detailed version would be something like this:

The Su-57 features an extremely complex and fully integrated avionics suite which will include three X band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar (one main, two side-looking), another two L band active electronically scanned array radars in the wing’s leading edge extensions, plus an integrated electro-optical system location system (working in infra-red, visible and ultra-violet frequencies). All these sensors are fused (5 radars, 2 bands, plus passive optics) and they are then combined with the data received by the Su-57’s advanced electronic warfare suite and a high-speed encrypted datalink, connecting the aircraft to other airborne, space, as well as ground-based sensors. This is not unlike what the USA is trying to achieve with the F-35, but on an even more complex level (even in theory, the F-35 is a comparatively simpler, and much less capable, aircraft). One could see how it would be interesting to test all this gear in a radiation-rich environment like the Syrian skies where the Russians have advanced systems (S-400, A-50U, etc.) and where the USA and Israel also provide a lot of very interesting signals (including US and Israeli AWACS, F-22s and F-35s, etc.). To re-create such a radiation-rich environment in Russia would be very hard and maybe even impossible. The question whether this is worth the risk?

The risks of this deployment in Syria are very real and very serious. As far as I know, there are still no bombproof shelters built (yet) and Russia recently lost a number of aircraft (some not totally, some totally) when the “good terrorists” used mortars against the Khmeimim base. So now we have FOUR Su-57s (out of how many total, maybe 12 or 13?!), each worth 50-100 million dollars under an open sky in a war zone?! What about operational security? What about base security?

There is also a political risk. It is well known that the USA has been putting an immense political pressure on India to withdraw from the joint development between Russia and India of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) program. To make things worse, India currently has too many parallel aircraft programs and there are, reportedly, disagreements between the Russians and the Indians on design features. With the apparently never-ending disaster of the F-35, the very last thing the USA needs is a successful Russian 5th generation competitor showing up anywhere on the planet (especially one which has the clear potential to far outclass both the successful F-22 and the disastrous F-35). One can easily imagine what the AngloZionist propaganda machine will do should even a minor problem happen to the Su-57 while in Syria (just read the National Interest article quoted above to see what the mindset is in the West)!

The Su-57 also has formidable competitors inside Russia: the 4++ generation aircraft mentioned above, especially the Su-35S. Here we have a similar dynamic as with the F-22: while on paper the Su-57 is clearly superior to the Su-35S, in the real world the Su-35S is a well tested and deployed system which, unlike the F-22, also happens to be much cheaper than the Su-57 (the F-22 being at least twice as expensive than the Su-57). This issue is especially relevant for the internal, Russian market. So the real question for the RAF is simple: does Russia really need the Su-57 and, if yes, in what numbers?

This is a very complex question, both technically and politically and to even attempt to answer it, a lot of very debatable assumptions have to be made about what kind of threats the RAF will face in the future and what kind of missions it will be given. The biggest problem for the Russians is that they already have an array of extremely successful combat aircraft, especially the Su-35S and the formidable Su-34. Should Russia deploy more of these or should she place huge resources into a new very complex and advanced aircraft? Most Russian analysts would probably agree that Russia needs to be able to deploy some minimal number of real 5th generation combat aircraft, but they would probably disagree on what exactly that minimal number ought to be. The current 4++ generation aircraft are very successful and more than a match for their western counterparts, with the possible exception of the F-22. But how likely is it that Russians and US Americans will really start a shooting war?

Furthermore, the real outcome from a theoretical Su-35S vs F-22 (which so many bloggers love to speculate about) would most likely depend much more on tactics and engagement scenarios than on the actual capabilities of these aircraft. Besides, should the Su-35s and F-22s even be used in anger against each other, a lot would also depend on what else is actually happening around them and where exactly this engagement would take place. Furthermore, to even look at this issue theoretically, we would need to compare not only the actual aircraft but also their weapons. I submit that the outcome of any Su-35S vs F-22 engagement would be impossible to predict (unless you are a flag-waving patriot, in which case you will, of course, be absolutely certain that “your” side will win). If I am correct, then this means that there is no compelling case to be made that Russia needs to deploy Su-57s in large numbers and that the Su-30SM+Su-35S air superiority combo is more than enough to deter the Americans.

[Sidebar: this is a recurrent problem for Russian weapons and weapon systems: being so good that there is little incentive to produce something new. The best example of that is the famous AK-47 Kalashnikov which was modernized a few times, such as the AKM-74, but which has yet to be replaced with a fundamentally new and truly different assault rifle. There are plenty of good candidates out there, but each time one has to wonder if the difference in price is worth the effort. The original Su-27 (introduced in 1985) was such an immense success that it served as a basis for a long series of immensely successful variants including the ones we now see in Syria, the Su-30SM, the Su-35S and even the amazing Su-34 (which still has no equivalent anywhere in the world). Sometimes a weapon, or weapon system, can be even “too successful” and create a problem for future modernization efforts.]

Whatever may be the case, the future of the Su-57 is far from being secured and this might also, in part, explain the decision to send a few of them to Syria: not only to test its avionics suite, but also to score a PR success by raising the visibility and, especially, the symbolical role of the aircraft. Russian officials admitted that the deployment to Syria was scheduled to coincide with the celebration of the “Defender of the Fatherland” day. This kind of move breaks with normal Soviet/Russian procedures and I have to admit that I am most uncomfortable with this development and while I would not go as far as to call it a “farce” (like the article in the National Interest did), it does look like a PR stunt to me. And I wonder: if the Russians are taking such a risk, what is it that drives such a sense of urgency? I don’t believe that anybody in Russia seriously thinks that the US will be deterred, or even be impressed by this, frankly, hasty deployment. So I suspect that this development is linked to the uncertainty of the future of the Su-57 procurement program. Hopefully, the risks will pay-off and the Su-57 will get all the avionics testing it requires and all the funding and export contracts it needs.

Addendum:

Just as I was writing these words, the Russians have announced (see here and here) that the Israeli satellite images were fakes, that the the Su-57 stayed only two days in Syria and that they have been flown back to Russia. Two days? Frankly, I don’t buy it. What this looks like to me is that what looks like a PR stunt has now backfired, including in the Russian social media, and that Russia decided to bring these aircraft back home. Now *that* sounds like a good idea to me.

The Saker

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Iran: No Missile Talks unless West Gives up its Nuclear Weapons

March 3, 2018

Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri

Iran’s armed forces spokesman said on Saturday that there can be no talks on the country’s missile program without the West’s destruction of its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

“What Americans say out of desperation with regards to limiting the Islamic republic of Iran’s missile capability is an unattainable dream,” Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri told the official IRNA news agency.

“The condition for negotiations on Iran’s missiles is the destruction of America’s and Europe’s nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.”

Jazayeri said US criticism of Iran’s missile program was driven by “their failures and defeats in the region.”

Source: Agencies

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Putin’s stunning revelations about new Russian weapons systems

If you have no read it yet, please check out Putin’s full address to the Federal Assembly. What stunned me, and many other, are the new weapon systems Putin has announced.

First, he confirmed that the Sarmat ICBM would replace the old but already formiable SS-18 “Satan”. Then he turned to new weapon systems:

A nuclear powered cruise missile with basically unlimited range
A nuclear powered unmanned submersible with intercontinental range, very high speed, silent propulsion and capable of moving a great depths
A Mach 10 hypersonic missile with a 2’000 kilometer range (named: Kinzhal)
A new strategic missile capable of Mach 20 velocities (named: Avangard)

All of these systems can be armed with conventional or nuclear warheads. Just think of the implications! Not only does that mean that the entire ABM effort of the USA is now void and useless, but also that from now US aircraft carrier battle groups can only be used against small, defenseless, nations !

Right now I simply don’t have the time to write a full analysis of the stunning, truly tectonic, implications of this announcement, so I will turn to my naval warfare expert friend Andrei Martyanov and repost his initial reaction to just one of these systems:

It Is Official And It Is Over.

While the whole Western media are shaking (incompetence will do this to one) in their boots from Vladimir Putin’s address, where he demonstrated, among many things, new RS-28 Sarmat ballistic missile, behind that revolutionary weapon system, one was almost completely ignored by media. Again, “education” based on catch phrases (such a “nuclear weapon) will do this to one. By far most shocking (albeit inevitable) revelation was deployment of a new hyper-sonic missile Kinzhal (Dagger) to regular service with front line Air Force units in Southern Military District. Mig-31 carries this weapon, I am positive any SU-35 or SU-30SM or SU-34 will be able to do it too. Here is a video and CGI simulation.

The missile is… well, for the lack of better word, is stunning–it is M=10+ highly maneuverable missile with the range of 2000 kilometers. The naval warfare as we know it is over. Without any overly-dramatic emphasis–we are officially in new era. No, I repeat, NO, modern or perspective air-defense system deployed today by any NATO fleet can intercept even a single missile with such characteristics. The salvo of 5-6 of such missiles is a guaranteed destruction of any Carrier Battle Group.

The mode of use of such weapon, especially since we know now that it is deployed (for now) in Southern Military District is very simple–the most likely missile drop spot by MiG-31s will be international waters of the Black Sea, thus closing off whole Eastern Mediterranean to any surface ship or group of ships. It also creates a massive no-go zone in the Pacific, where MiG-31s from Yelizovo will be able to patrol vast distances over the ocean. It is, though, remarkable that the current platform for Kinzhal is MiG-31–arguably the best interceptor in the history. Obviously, MiG-31’s ability to reach very high supersonic speeds (in excess of M=3) is a key factor in the launch. But no matter what are the procedures for the launch of this terrifying weapon, the conclusions are simple:

1. It moves aircraft carriers into the niche of pure power projection against weak and defenseless adversaries;

2. It makes classic CBGs as main strike force against peer completely obsolete and useless, it also makes any surface combat ship defenseless regardless its air-defense capabilities.

3. Sea Control and Sea Denial change their nature and merge. Those who have such weapon, or weapons, simply own vast spaces of the sea limited by the ranges of Kinzhal and its carriers.

I don’t want to sound dramatic and I knew that there were and are always surprises in Soviet/Russian weapons but today’s revelations from the highest podium in Russia about Kinzhal were shocking. The balance of power just shifted dramatically, with it the naval warfare as we knew it is no more. It is OVER!

I can only add that I fully concur with him. It is indeed set, match and game over for the Empire: there is no more military option against Russia.

The Saker

PS: here are a few videos illustrating these systems:

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Merkel, Trump Concerned over Putin’s ‘Invincible’ Weapons

March 2, 2018

US president-elect Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone conversation shared concern over President Vladimir Putin’s claim Russia was developing new “invincible” weapons, Berlin said Friday.

“The chancellor and the president voiced concern about Russian President Putin’s latest remarks on arms development and its negative impact on international arms control efforts,” said a statement by the German chancellery.

Putin unveiled the new arsenal Thursday in a state of the nation address, and showed a series of video montages of missiles crossing mountains and oceans, heading over the Atlantic before striking the US eastern seaboard.

Source: AFP

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Friday, 2 March 2018

israel arrests 90-year-old Palestinian

Source

MEMO | March 1, 2018

Israeli occupation forces arrested 90-year-old Palestinian Ali Al-Wahsh yesterday morning, Quds Press reported.

Large number of Israeli occupation forces raided Al-Khader neighbourhood in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, broke into houses, searched them and damaged their furniture before arresting Al-Wahsh.

Zakaria, one of Al-Wahsh’s sons, described the Israeli occupation’s raid, which lasted four hours, as “violent and barbaric”.

“We have never thought that the Israeli occupation wanted to arrest the old man, who is the chief of Al-Ta’amra clan which existed in the West Bank and Jordan and one of the reknown tribal judges in Bethlehem.”

Read: Israel arrests Palestinian child as he leaves school

Al-Wahsh has been arrested on numerous occasions by occupation forces, most recently in 1992. He has 120 children and grandchildren, Quds Press reported.

During the arrest campaign, the Israeli occupation confiscated his personal pistol, which is licenced by the Palestinian Authority.

Al-Wahsh is being locked up in Gush Etzion detention centre in the south of Bethlehem and will appear in court today.

Commenting on the arrest, Hussein Abed-Rabbu, spokesman of the PLO Commission of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners, said: “Arresting Al-Wahsh proves that the Israeli occupation does not care about common values and is targeting the Palestinian social system.”

Israeli occupation forces arrested 20 other Palestinians along with Al-Wahsh.

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Fueling impunity: israel’s (stolen, the gas belongs to Palestine) gas exports to Europe #BDS

Fueling impunity: Israel’s gas exports to Europe

Ongoing talks on the possibility of EU purchases of Israel’s natural gas put into question the EU’s commitment to Palestinian rights under international law.

Gas israel

The EU has made a strong commitment towards energy transition to renewable sources and has developed an ambitious strategy to meet Paris Agreement climate change targets. At the same time the EU has spent millions in the recent years on new gas infrastructure projects and billions of euros more are expected for 104 new gas projects included in the third list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) published by the Commission.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel composed of methane, which is 86 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas than CO2. With this massive investment, the EU is locking its dependence on fossil fuel for decades to come. As a recent report has shown, the gas corporate lobby is entrenching Europe’s addiction to fossil fuels. In 2016 alone, “gas corporations and their lobby groups spent over €100 million on influencing EU [energy] policy, with more than 1,000 lobbyists on their payroll. … By comparison, public interest groups lobbying against new gas infrastructure managed to mobilise just 3% of industry’s spending.”

This not only puts into question the EU’s ability to meet climate change targets but also give rise to serious human rights concerns and the adverse social impact on communities where the pipelines are expected to cross.

Ongoing talks on the possibility of EU purchases of Israel’s natural gas put into question the EU’s commitment to Palestinian rights under international law. As this briefing by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) explains, by purchasing gas from Israel, whether directly or indirectly, the EU would become complicit in Israel’s illegal annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory, its illegal settlements and the war crime of pillage of Palestinian natural resources – all in contravention of the EU’s international commitments and legal obligations.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

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