Miscellaneous News

Monday at 10:49 AM
Apr 14, 2017
and now after reading
Carried away: The inside story of how the Carl Vinson's canceled port visit sparked a global crisis
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I admit I wouldn't have thought the spin doctors could be able to create such an suggestive illusion of 'options' of 'the US strike' ... it's also interesting how many people were self-confidently (LOL) talking about those 'options' of 'the US strike' at that time ...
'Powerful' USS Carl Vinson steams toward North Korea Published April 14, 2017
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and the story goes on: today PACOM Commander Takes Blame for Carrier Carl Vinson Confusion
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When U.S. Pacific Command announced April 8 that the Carl Vinson carrier strike group was canceling a planned port visit in Australia in order to
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amid rising tensions with North Korea, the White House was quick to hype the move.

"We're sending an armada -- very powerful," President Donald Trump told Fox News in an April 11 interview.

But when Defense News pointed out nearly a week later that the carrier had sailed south instead of north and
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, an uproar ensued, with abundant accusations that the U.S. had made an empty military threat.

In a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Adm. Harry Harris, the four-star commander of U.S. Pacific Command, took full responsibility for the flap and said poor communication was to blame.

"That's my fault on the confusion; I'll take the hit for it," he said. "I made the decision to pull the Carl Vinson out of Singapore, truncate the exercise that it was going to do south of Singapore, cancel its port visit to Australia and proceed north. Where I failed was to communicate that adequately to the press and the media. That is all on me."

The Vinson is now completing maritime exercises with Japan in the Philippine Sea, east of Okinawa, Harris said. The location, he added, puts the ship "in striking range, in power projection range" of North Korea if called upon.

Although rumors had swirled that the United States might take pre-emptive military action to derail planned North Korean missile tests, Harris downplayed the possibility of a crippling strike. While all options remain on the table for dealing with the rogue regime, he said, the goal is "to bring [dictator] Kim Jong-Un to his senses, not his knees."

Harris also pushed back on a statement from California Democrat Rep. Salud Carbajal that the White House and military leadership were out of synch and appeared to lack a coherent strategy to deal with North Korea, causing some of the public confusion.

"When dealing with an unpredictable regime, empty rhetoric can be dangerous," Carbajal said.

Harris said he believes that Trump does have a strategy, and his job as combatant commander is to provide military options to resource it. He added, later in the hearing, that the way for the United States to increase stability in the Western Pacific is to bring a credible show of military strength and solidarity with regional allies, including South Korea and Japan. To that end, he said, the
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nuclear submarine Michigan is now making a port visit in Busan, South Korea.

"It will be there for a few days and leave port and be operating in the area," he said. "This is a show of solidarity with our South Korean allies and a flexible deterrent, show of force to North Korea, should they consider using force against South Korea."

And only days ago, he said, an
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had flown across the Sea of Japan with a Japanese escort on one side and a handoff to South Korean forces as the aircraft neared the Korean Peninsula.

"This is a pretty complicated operation," Harris said. "And it demonstrated to our allies and friends and also to Kim Jong-Un that we had this capability and we can bring these forces to bear all around the Pacific to focus on him if need be."
 
I posted my mapping exercises here before
Apr 12, 2017
Monday at 9:37 PM

I presented the story in the pub yesterday :) now anyway adding
what
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had to say:
C9O4JTFW0AA8JZ7.jpg

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and oops
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Wilbur Ross: U.S. Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' for Mar-a-Lago
May 01, 2017
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U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
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the
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"after-dinner entertainment" for President Donald Trump's guests at Mar-a-Lago during a conference on Monday.

Ross, a billionaire banker without previous experience in government, was describing Trump's dinner with China's President Xi Jinping at the Florida club. He was speaking at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference, known for bringing together
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in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“Just as dessert was being served, the president explained to Mr. Xi he had something he wanted to tell him, which was the launching of 59 missiles into Syria,” Ross said,
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. “It was in lieu of after-dinner entertainment.”

The audience laughed at the remarks, Variety reports, and Ross continued: “The thing was, it didn’t cost the president anything to have that entertainment.”

At least seven were killed in the attack,
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the Syrian military.

The airstrike took place two days after the Syrian government
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against civilians.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
I posted my mapping exercises here before
Apr 12, 2017
and oops
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Wilbur Ross: U.S. Airstrike on Syria Was 'After-Dinner Entertainment' for Mar-a-Lago
May 01, 2017
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Disgusting if true. So basically Trump behaves like any emperor and uses killings as entertainment for his dignitary guest?:mad:
 

broadsword

Brigadier
Neither would I. The surprise was when people were shocked and disgusted by what were revealed about him during the election. After all, he is a businessman with interests in the entertainment industry. That he behaves like an Emperor is what his office is entitled to.
 

delft

Brigadier
The correspondent of my centre right newspaper NRC will have to leave Israel in early July because his visum will not be extended.
This morning there was a discussion on my favourite radio station about a report that freedom of the press had become worse in the World and they said that the norm was the freedom that we in the West experience. I remember that PM Blair in 2003 said that Saddam Hussein could attack UK in three quarters of an hour while we all knew that Iraq had never tested a missile to reach as far as Greece and no Western paper opened with the heading BLAIR LIES!
 
Apr 14, 2017
in a certain Thread Jan 9, 2017
...
the ISIL defense tactics is simple:
while keeping ISIL losses as low as possible, inflicting as heavy losses as possible to the Iraqis storming Mosul, so VBIEDs are optimal; of course there's a problem of attrition

...

and ISIL assumption is it'll be Iraqi units still willing to fight

...

who will get attrited ... recently the Iraqis suffer around 200 KIAs daily this way ...
which I then repeated Mar 20, 2017
and now noticed (in Russian Internet:
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) ISIL had claimed 9100 KIA of Iraqi Army and Military Police (plus unspecified number of Vigilantes) during the first six months of the Mosul Campaign, which makes me wonder about the fate of
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and since then I've been very infrequently looking at Mosul (after like half dozen failed Iraqi Victory Dates, the recent announcement is for May 15 if I'm not mistaken) for example

on April 18:
qaoI2.jpg


on April 23:
DBlHg.jpg


now:
9qvQE.jpg



the modern variant of a war of attrition
 
Syrian rebel delegates walk out of press conference as 'safe zone' deal is signed
First published on Thursday 4 May 2017 16.21 BST
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Turkey, Iran and
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have signed an agreement calling for the creation of four “safe zones” in Syria, a proposal rejected by opposition fighters who walked out of a press conference in the Kazakh capital, Astana, where the deal was announced.

An angry opposition delegation said they would never accept
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as a military guarantor of a peace process, and claimed there was a huge gap between Russian promises and actions. They also questioned whether the plan could lead to Syria’s disintegration.

The Astana talks, which involve armed rebel groups, are the latest attempt to reduce the violence in
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, where a six-year conflict has killed more than 400,000 people. Stop-start negotiations held under the auspices of the UN, and involving the Syrian political opposition, are due to recommence in Geneva in May.

According to a three-page memorandum from the Astana talks
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by the Russian Kommersant newspaper, the use of weapons would be forbidden in the safe – or “de-escalation” – zones, allowing for the restoration of infrastructure and essential services and the return of refugees. Humanitarian aid would also be allowed to these zones, which include areas in the provinces of Idlib and Homs, the eastern Ghouta suburbs outside Damascus, and an area in the south of the country, all of which include significant rebel-controlled enclaves.

With all major countries with a military stake in the conflict – Iran, Russia, Syria,
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and the United States – now apparently endorsing the creation of safe zones, the proposal marks a rare chance at a breakthrough. In effect the zones would freeze the conflict in the four areas, but allow fighting to continue elsewhere, especially against Islamic State and other extremist terror groups.

America’s initial reluctance to jump behind the Russian safe zone plan is underscored by reports that Western intelligence believes it knows the location of three sites where the Syrian government is still making chemical weapons in breach of undertakings given to the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The BBC reported the intelligence documents showed chemical and biological munitions were being produced at three main sites near Damascus and Hama. All three are branches of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, a government agency.

It alleges that both Iran and Russia, the Syrian government’s allies, have knowledge of Syria’s activity.

The French government last month published an intelligence report claiming “France considers that Syria, despite the commitment to destroy all its stocks and capacities, has maintained a productive capacity”.

Opposition figures asked why the anticipated ceasefire would not cover the entire country. They had walked out of the talks on Wednesday, protesting about continued Syrian air force attacks, but returned on Thursday. It is not clear if their objections will mean the agreement collapses.

Osama Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, said: “We demand guarantee of aid entry, the immediate release of detainees and a cessation of hostilities.” He also insisted that the FSA rejects “any initiative, military or political agreement if it is not based on UN resolutions”.

The document seen by Kommersant said “security zones” would be established along the boundaries of four “islands of safety” to prevent shelling, and allowed for foreign troops from “observer countries” to be deployed at the demarcation lines. The agreement also allows for refugees to return to their homes.

The US has long been wary of the Astana process, fearing it will supplant the UN-backed Geneva talks, which are more focused on a long-term political settlement, as opposed to a military ceasefire. But in a sign of a change of thinking, Donald Trump sent a top diplomat to observe the Astana discussion this week.

The Syrian foreign ministry said the regime, which is not a signatory to the agreement, backed the safe zone proposal. That represents a concession given that earlier this year the president, Bashar al-Assad, called it “not a realistic idea at all”.

The two major pitfalls of the agreement, apart from opposition objection to Iran acting as a guarantor, is the extent to which the Russians will enforce Syrian air force compliance, and the extent to which jihadi forces linked to al-Nusra but active inside the safe zones could be regarded as legitimate targets by Russia or Syrian war planes.

It is generally accepted that an overarching solution for the whole of Syria is not yet possible. Despite the
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, Assad does not have the forces to defeat the rebel troops outright. The war has also broken up into multiple geographical disputes.
according to what I read in Russian Internet now, Russians should watch over Mr. Assad's Air Force respecting no-fly zone over Idlib!!

Russia opposed to Syrian no-fly zone
February 18, 2016
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