The Levant crisis.(Israel,SYRIA,Lebanon,etc) - II

[Austin]

Austin, the arrest was appropriate for sovereignty reasons. But the latest song and dance is playing upto anti-Iranian interests in the west. And Iran is not as strong as say, India or China in soft-power, to play out this game

Not sure whats the latest dance and song but these guys intruded they were caught and freed , unlike in past the drama didnt went for months , neither US denies that they didnt intrude Iranian water ......Kerry now thanked Iran for releasing US service people.

Not arresting them would been a mistake.

After the nucular sell-out, Iran should have broken out of that press conference to show "the latest thing from west that failed inside our borders". They do not seem to have an internal political need at this point.

The Nuclear deal if you ask me is a good deal for Iran , they never had the intention or capability to go nuclear but was simply supressed by US,Saudi and Israel for their own political motive , Unlike NoKo that has openly gone Nuclear , Iran was neither here nor there but simply suffered sanction for not having nuclear weapon.

[JE Menon]

^^There are doctrinal issues within Shiism, already articulated a few times by Khomeini and Khamen'i (IIRC), which holds Iran back from going full retard. One of the reasons they signed the NPT, I suspect.

Of course, all is hot air, all around. They can withdraw from NPT, and go for weaponisation, should the situation arise. The nuclear genie is well and truly out of the bottle.

Let's not forget that a 34-member Sunni military alliance has been announced by the wish of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, which includes a nuclear power and the largest standing Muslim military force (Pakistan), the second biggest military power in NATO (Turkey), the biggest military force in Africa (Egypt), and the country which straddles both the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz (Saudi Arabia). The wish of the Custodian may well just be the wishful thinking of his son, but the idea is now clearly out there, and the man effectively in charge of the military of the Islamic Holy Land is touring to make it happen. Not enough attention has been paid to this new reality. Who is to say that, at the very least, nuclear expertise will not flow back and forth through the Sunni pipeline greased by oil money, sectarian hatreds, and ancient pride? I maintain that it will, inexorably and inevitably.

[Austin]

Iran has made good progress in Ballistic Missile including development of advanced MaRV , so ineffect it does not need Nuclear Weapons as conventional weapons with required accuracy can do the job and it is not outside Irans scientific capacity to develop fission device or worst case dirty bomb even with the so called Nuclear Agreement in place.

The 34 member Saudi alliance is a case of Blind Leading the One Eyed when the time comes most of these 32 member would just leave the alliance and run away , Saudi itself has demonstrated bad military operation in Yemen only to be saved by West.

[Austin]

Mi-8AMTSh in Syria mounted DIRCM turrets on the pylons



Check the video

[deejay]

The SAA has captured some more villages in their progress to Al Bab in Eastern Aleppo. ISIS positions were over run leading to capture of some arms and Playboy magazines. Here are some interesting tweets:

Leith Abou Fadel ‏@leithfadel now2 minutes ago
Someone explain to ISIS fanboys that they don't need to buy Playboy magazines anymore. You can watch your goat ***** on @*****

Leith Abou Fadel ‏@leithfadel now47 seconds ago
I am asking the Tiger Forces to send these captured Playboy magazines to @ShamiWitness

Leith Abou Fadel ‏@leithfadel now38 seconds ago
LOL Tiger Forces captured a bunch of Playboy magazines in east Aleppo. Dear ISIS fanboys, isn't this haram?

@ShamiWitness was the twitter handle being operated from India. While no posts have appeared on this handle since Dec 14, the handle is not blocked.

[deejay]

US has a new plan for Syria - Sunnistan

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/328953-us-tu ... ing-syria/

Washington’s new & improved plan for Syria: ‘Sunni-stan, a safe zone for terrorists’
Published time: 14 Jan, 2016 15:00

The US and its allies want to chip off a piece of Syria and a piece of northern Iraq to create a kind of canton, which will ultimately be completely dependent on those powers that created it, says geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen.
Now, Washington is considering the Turkish government’s request to re-launch a US program to train so-called moderate rebels in Syria. If it’s approved this would be the third American training program attempted in Syria.

RT: The US has assisted in the training of so-called moderate rebels in the past - with mixed results. Do you think Washington has come up with a better strategy this time?

Patrick Henningsen: This is a war strategy at least for the Syrian people. I think the previous plan wasn’t so much embedded inside Syria. This proposal is basically deriving from a US military and foreign policy talking point that we have a problem of extremists leaving Syria and going through Turkey and traveling internationally. So that is the so-called problem in terms of a talking point. This was underlined by the recent bombing in Istanbul, which killed a number of Germans coincidentally.

The real problem is Turkey has never made any effort to secure its border, it is absolutely porous and terrorists are allowed to travel in and out of Turkey and have been since 2011. So this new policy is at worst to train Sunni fighters inside Syria, inside what they hope to become a safe zone. And what all this does is reinforce the status quo for Turkey. They don’t have to change any of their behavior, and the problems will continue because of it.

RT: Over the last few months, the US and Ankara have pledged to seal the Turkish border with Syria numerous times. But so far very little progress has been made on this. Is the task really that difficult?

PH: Well, you have to look at the big picture here, and there is a lot going on behind the scenes that doesn’t really get reported, or people aren’t connecting the dots. What you have here is a situation where the West and the coalition, including the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries specifically Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the others, as well, and Turkey and the whole NATO confab - they failed to remove President [Bashar] Assad, and they failed to collapse the country of Syria. In lieu of this, what they are doing now is just basically moving to take territory. And from this new territory, which will be a kind of a de facto Sunni state - and I am not just saying this, this is what John Bolton has said in a recent New York Times OPED before Christmas – is to create a Sunni state. This is what everyone is talking about in muffled tones in Washington right now: a new ‘Sunnistan’. It is not going to be a safe zone for the Syrian people; this is going to be a safe zone for terrorists. And if you look at the amnesty program that the Syrian government is doing right now, this would provide a place for the amnesty terrorists to go and flee, lay siege to Syria from a safe, internationally-recognized Sunni state. So this is what is going on behind the scenes between Washington, London, Paris, and Riyadh.

RT: Do you think the US has softened its stance on Bashar Assad?

PH: It has been politically convenient to sort of back off of what looks like a losing PR effort – and it has been an absolute loss for the West. They have been demonizing Assad for a number of years now, and his public approval rating within Syria is just getting higher and higher because the Syrian people are looking to him for real leadership, and it’s being shown. This is flying in the face of all the propaganda coming out of Washington and London.

So they are not softening their stance at all. What they are doing now is regrouping. The interesting thing is that the deal that has been struck between Turkey, the US, and the Kurdish regional government – that new deal is really the bulwark of what we’re going to see with them trying to establish this new Sunni state. So they are going to try to chip off a piece of Syria and a piece of northern Iraq to create this kind of canton, if you will, which will ultimately be completely dependent on those powers who created it. They decry the mapmaking exercises after WWI, but yet the same powers are involved in redrawing the maps again in further benefit for the next generation.

...

[Singha]

all know this sunni bantustan will result in a bloodbath in iraq
the baghdad govt and shia warlords will not let anbar nineveh and mosul go just like that

i dont think even iraqi sunnis want any part of it

[Philip]

The right place for "Sunnistan' is in Saudi Barbaria. It has thousands of sq. miles of desert sands and can easily accommodate such Sunni Barbarians,who can be given menial jobs in the kingdom,cleaning sh*tpots,removing garbage,construction slave labour,whatever. Mecca would be close by for them to undertake the Haj and it would alleviate the Saudis from employing people from non-Muslim nations who get walloped ,raped,beaten and burnt by their Saudi employers!

Just look at what Norway is now telling the refugees. Way to go Norway!
But what a godsend for Putin. He can tell the refugees to enlist in the Syrian Army and fight ISIS or be dropped with or without parachutes over Syria in the next bombing runs being carried out by the RuAF!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... [b]Refugee crisis: Norway tells 5,500 foreigners who arrived on bikes to ride back across the border to Russia[/b]
Thousands of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their home country have been refused asylum
Nadia Beard Moscow |

Norway is preparing to send over 5,500 refugees who crossed into the country from Russia on bicycles last year back across the border by the same mode of transport.

Police districts across Norway have been ordered to gather up and repair bikes that were abandoned by incoming refugees near the Storskog border crossing last year, after Norwegian authorities refused to grant asylum to the refugees who entered from Russia.

Germany's right-wing AfD party surges to new high

“We asked that the bikes which were left behind or claimed by the police to be gathered up for use by the foreigners who will be returned to Russia,” Jan Erik Thomassen, a section head from Norway’s National Police Directorate, said. “I can understand that it feels a bit awkward and odd.”

Despite the Arctic conditions this time of year, a border agreement between Russia and Norway means that bicycles have become the only way for refugees to cross from one country to the other. The agreement bars people from crossing over the border on foot and bans drivers from ferrying people into the country in their cars without documents.

Most of the cycles were abandoned upon entry to Norway (AFP/Getty)

Norwegian authorities said they hope Russia will allow the refugees to re-enter its Russian territory by bus, which would reduce costs and provide safer passage for those making the journey. But Russia, which has remained hostile to refugees despite the influx of migrants into Europe last year, seems unlikely to comply.

Support for refugees in Germany plummeting amid far-right protests
Seven refugees 'thrown overboard' off coast of Italy fleeing Somalia
Germany sending hundreds of asylum seekers back to Austria every day
Angela Merkel says Europe is 'vulnerable' to the refugee crisis

Most of the refugees who travelled to Storskog through Russia’s Arctic city of Murmansk hail from Syria. Braving sub-zero temperatures in the hopes of receiving asylum in Norway, refugees say that travelling through Russia is a cheaper alternative than other means of getting to Europe.

“To be honest, it costs much less than going to Turkey and from Turkey getting on a small, small, boat to cross to Greece, and then from Greece to Europe itself,” one Syrian refugee crossing the border from Murmansk into Norway told ABC last November.

The situation was exacerbated further in November last year, when Norway announced that it would immediately expel asylum-seekers who had originated from Russia. Moscow answered with a tit-for-tat measure, and both countries have since sent refugees back and forth.

Despite over a 60 per cent rise in the number of applicants for asylum last year – including around 12,000 Syrians – Russia’s Federal Migration Service awarded refugee status to less than 9 per cent of the total applicants.


More than a million people landed on Europe’s shores last year, with most travelling through Turkey and disembarking on Greek islands just a short – but dangerous – hop across the Aegean Sea, which can cost refugees thousands of pounds, compared with the hundreds that refugees reportedly pay for bikes to take the route across Russia.

The EU’s top migration official warned that efforts to manage the refugee crisis are failing as more countries tighten border security.

Bus-load of refugees sent to Merkel’s office

An irate local politician in the southern German state of Bavaria has dispatched a bus filled with dozens of refugees on a seven-hour journey to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin as a protest against her open-door policy.

A spokesman for Peter Dreier from the south-eastern town of Landshut said 31 refugees were voluntarily making the 340-mile trip to the capital.

A video on the website of the German newspaper Die Welt showed police officers shepherding dozens of men and women with bags on to a bus.

Mr Dreier appeared to be acting on a threat he made to Ms Merkel last year, critical of her policy on asylum-seekers. “If Germany is taking in one million refugees, mathematically that means 1,800 will come to my district. I will take them and if there are any more, I will send them to your office,” he said.

Mr Dreier represents the Freie Waehler, a loose grouping of politicians who campaign on mostly local issues.

Trust the Swiss gnomes to do just this to enrich their already overflowing coffers!
Switzerland joins Denmark in seizing assets from refugees to cover costs
Information sheet given to Syrian refugee shows seizure of assets over a limit of 1,000 Swiss francs, says Swiss news programme
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/j ... over-costs

[Yagnasri]

No one in EU is going to support these refugees. In public they may make politically correct statements. But that is all there will be. Soon even the politically correct statements will stop coming from everywhere Londonisthan.

[UlanBatori]

They can withdraw from NPT, and go for weaponisation, should the situation arise. The nuclear genie is well and truly out of the bottle.

JEM, they can simply outsource testing to not-so-tall fliends north of the DMZ. Already into hydrogen bum per the earthquake readings. Chinese hand in NoKo came out quite clearly when they said and blamed USA for the NoKo situation.

So much 4 EnnPeeTee. The west cheats, and the East has got good at cheating in return.

[UlanBatori]

BTW, I just remembered a book I had read a few saal pehle. It was about a midEast war where EVERYONE was using cruise missiles - thousands of them. Plus a few jehadis with their skulls emptied and with a chip installed to replace brain-control of bodily functions. One went into the Saudi petrochemical complex with a small tactical nuke inside the scooped-out skull.

All seem all too realistic now... except for the herrowic Ram-BO coming in to rescue the Dunia or what was left of it after all these jollies.

[Austin]

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem, who was visiting New Delhi to urgently “revive” economic relations with India, said Russia’s “intervention from the air” has helped the Syrian armed forces regain 20% of the territory lost to ISIS and given Syrians cause for hope.

Russia helps Syria reclaim 20% lost territory: al-Moualem

[Shreeman]

On madaya, the deal was icrc gets into madaya and in return two government towns similarly beseiged also get the same aid. guess what is showing on tv?

[Shreeman]

The whole hyooman rights charade is great, unless you actually have to deal with asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants at home. both oeurope and nato have now gotten tired just by a fraction that countries like india have hosted for half a century. in the end, country like mali will become french enclave again, and similarly most of middle yeast will revert to uncle protection more formally.

And that will be a good thing. This slavery by proxy is worse than direct rule.

[UlanBatori]

Russia uses combat robots?

battle in the Latakia province, leading to “about 70” dead rebel fighters and no dead SAA soldiers in fighting. Per the reports, these ten robots included six “Platform-M” systems and four “Argo” robots, which were controlled from a Russian command post.

[habal]

Syria, Latakia

Russian General With SAA/NDF Commanders watching Battle for Salma 01/12/16

[habal]

5000 Chinese Elite forces have entered Syria.

http://www.wanttoknow.nl/nieuws/5-000-c ... egen-isis/

[Singha]

i think all this news of chinese involvement in syria is fake.

they will come round later offering infra loans to prop up their civil engg sector overcapacity...and send 1000s of workers and few 100 security details.

[Singha]

BBC

A German town has banned male asylum seekers from a public swimming pool after women complained of harassment.
A government official in Bornheim said men from a nearby asylum shelter would be barred until they "got the message" that such behaviour was not acceptable.
It follows outrage over hundreds of sexual assaults in nearby Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve.
Those attacks, by men of mainly Arab and North African origin, raised tensions over the influx of migrants.
More than 1.1 million people claimed asylum in Germany in 2015.
The indoor swimming pool in Bornheim, western Germany, 15 January 2016Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
It is unclear how the ban will be enforced
The head of the social affairs department in Bornheim - about 20km (12 miles) south of Cologne - said the move to ban migrant men followed increasing number of reports of inappropriate behaviour from female swimmers and staff members.
"There have been complaints of sexual harassment and chatting-up going on in this swimming pool... by groups of young men, and this has prompted some women to leave," Markus Schnapka told Reuters.
He said none of the complaints involved a crime being committed, but that social workers in the town would help to ensure the asylum seekers changed their behaviour.
It is unclear how this rule will be enforced, although Germany is set to introduce new ID cards for migrants in February.
Support falling
Correspondents say the pool ban is the latest sign of increased tensions following the Cologne attacks.
On Thursday, the authorities in another town in west Germany, Rheinberg, cancelled a carnival parade planned for February over security concerns.
Rheinberg's public security chief, Jonny Strey, told German media that events in Cologne had influenced the decision and that officials were worried about from men from migrant backgrounds misbehaving.
Rheinberg Mayor Frank Tatzel later denied this, according to Reuters.
Cologne authorities expressed concern about the city's own carnival in February following the NYE attacks, promising to step up security and public awareness.
An opinion poll on Friday showed public anxiety increasing over the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Germany.
In the research, published by broadcaster ZDF (in German), 66% of the 1,203 respondents said Germany could not handle the arrivals, up from 46% in December.
Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel, under pressure over her policies to welcome refugees, also fell - with 39% of people agreeing the chancellor was doing a "good job" in this area, down from 47% in December.

[Satya_anveshi]

^^ is the image .
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/ ... artoon.jpg

[Singha]

green vs green
FSA captures a IS fighter

[Singha]

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle ... leppo.ashx

ALEPPO, Syria: Pro-government fighters are preparing to launch a major assault to recapture Syria's second city Aleppo, a security source in the northern province told AFP.

"Through its operations, the army is trying to broaden its security zone around the city," and prevent the rebels from receiving supplies and reinforcements from the suburbs, the source said.

Once Syria's commercial hub, Aleppo city is now divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east.

The broader province is split as well, with ISIS largely in the east, and rebel groups and Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate,the Nusra Front, in the west.

But with backing from Russian airstrikes and foreign fighters, Syria's armed forces are slowly advancing south and southeast of the city.

"This will be the biggest military operation in Syria since the beginning of the war," one commander with pro-government forces told AFP.

He said loyalist forces were fighting on seven fronts around the city of Aleppo in a bid to cut off rebel supplies and isolate the city's east.

According to Syria analyst Fabrice Balanche, rebel fighters entrenched in the city have set up "serious defence lines" against attacks from the western neighborhoods.

[habal]

i think all this news of chinese involvement in syria is fake.

they will come round later offering infra loans to prop up their civil engg sector overcapacity...and send 1000s of workers and few 100 security details.

the Chinese are there, or will go there chasing the Uighurs who are all set to join ISIS seeking refuge and running away from xinjiang or those uighurs who are exhausted and disbanded and will now return to China as their groups are disbanded after syria failure. As can be seen in various parts of Africa, the ISIS that returns are deployed to create havoc in their home countries. Either these countries are structurally weak like the African ones or did provide a philosophical refuge to Islamism as could be seen in Indonesia. ISIS striking back in their parent countries is a part of retribution by those western intelligence agencies that sponsored ISIS in first place and due to failure of their syrian strategy. The surviving ISIS that returns to their countries will form secret groups and morale is kept high by such strikes of shock & awe. China is aware of this and is taking preventive steps to ensure that these uighurs do not come back. It is classic SF operations.

[Austin]

Russia warplanes in Syria made 5662 sorties since operation start — general staff

http://tass.ru/en/defense/849903[quote]

"Since September 30, the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria have made 5,662 sorties, including 145 sorties made by strategic missile and long-range bomber aviation, the Russian military have also carried out 97 launches of sea-based and air-based missiles," Rudskoy said.

The airstrikes are targeted at infrastructure facilities, fortified localities, at areas where the terrorist manpower and equipment are concentrated.
[/quote]
More:
http://tass.ru/en/defense/849903

[IndraD]

sorry, error!

[Singha]

by end of 2016 , iran might take many of the american/eu/russian history tourists that earlier went to syria and turkey
they can let in some private chains to start beach resorts along the coast too.

NYT
Iran’s judiciary said Saturday that that it had released four Iranian-American nationals as part of a prisoner swap with the United States. The Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian was among the prisoners freed, Iranian media reported.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... story.html

VIENNA — Iran has released four imprisoned U.S. citizens, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, as part of a swap, the office of Tehran’s prosecutor announced Saturday, according to Iranian news media.

The other released prisoners include Amir Hekmat, a former U.S. Marine, and Saeed Abedni, a pastor--both imprisoned since 2012--and a fourth unnamed American. All four are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens. Rezaian has been held since 2014.

According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, the four were ordered released in exchange for six Iranian-Americans held in the United States on sanctions-related charges.

[Lalmohan]

IS must be feeling the pinch on the syria-iraq front

1. stepped up nuisance levels in europe with the uncovered meat afficianados
2. keep pushing migrants through turkey at the mercy of the weather, seas and the wolves
3. jakarta attack
5. burkina faso attack

the mumbai model is being repeated almost daily now

[member_29325]

From regular attacks in the heart of EU and US, IS has now moved to countries with less sophisticated police and security forces, and a large muslim populace. Now is a good time to watch the travel channel and resist the urge to go and travel to unusual interesting places.

[Singha]

http://turkishnavy.net/2016/01/07/more- ... -albatros/

they claim to have busted a 13t shipment of marijuana from tartus on a bolivian flagged ship.

[Singha]

how many countries in africa can the french army and us africa command put forces in to tackle incidents like this?
there are 50+ nations, some very large in size with multiple cities.

africa is where the western strategy of quick reaction highly trained CT units always available nearby will be stretched until it tears and breaks down.

same for indonesia. nobody has the resources to closely police that collection of 6000 islands.

training up police in such a vast continent is a decades long undertaking and one cannot have honest and efficient police in struggling countries even if money is thrown at it.

so IS has found its ideal staging area and weak zone to disappear into and rebuild. like a mutating virus it will emerge with some other ideas.

[UlanBatori]

UAV heaven! I mean Indonesia. The distances are too great in Africa. I think we are about to start intensive geography lessons / Google Earth visits in interior Africa. Like I visited the Maldive islands during the post-djinn-MH370 festivities. Fascinating to be like, standing on a street corner in a distant part of the world as if one lives there.

Classic statement:

The West, particularly France, considers Burkina Faso a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda.

O, another MUNNA!

[Prem]

5000 Chinese Elite forces have entered Syria.
http://www.wanttoknow.nl/nieuws/5-000-c ... egen-isis/

China says Russia, US must avoid fighting proxy war in Syria

BEIJING: The United States (US) and Russia must not allow the conflict in Syria to develop into a full-blown proxy war, China's ruling Communist Party said Tuesday, chiding both Moscow and Washington for having an outdated Cold War mindset.In an editorial in its flagship People's Daily newspaper, the party also reiterated China's view that a negotiated political solution is the only way to end the conflict, setting Beijing apart from the US, which is backing the opposition, and Russia, whose forces are aiding Syrian President Bashar Assad.While the US and the former Soviet Union frequently used diplomatic, economic and military means to extend their influence in other nations, that thinking belonged to the last century, the paper said."However, the world has entered the 21st century and people's thinking should enter the 21st century as well," it said."People shouldn't allow the Syrian conflict to escalate into a full-scale proxy war, or lightly give up on efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis and cannot permit the Syrian humanitarian disaster to continue."Early in the 4-year-old conflict, China was criticised by the US for joining with Russia in blocking outside intervention at the United Nations. Since then, China has largely remained aloof on the issue, although it has warned of Chinese Muslims joining in the fighting and urged the international community to do more to aid refugees.

[UlanBatori]

[ur=http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35334902l]All-out attack by ISIS in Deir-az-Zour. [/url]

The IS assault on government-held areas in the city began at dawn on Saturday, Syria's Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said.

A car bomb explosion was followed by a ground attack, the LCC said.
Government forces retaliated with air strikes and heavy artillery, the report said.
Russia said it had dropped aid to civilians caught up in the siege. There have also been reports of Russian airstrikes in the vicinity.
According to the Syrian observatory, IS now controls around 60% of the city.

[Singha]

probably an effort by IS to divert govt attention south from where they are hurting in the north.

nevetheless, the govt cannot afford to lose that place as it would be a instant massacre. they might with russian help have to feed in another brigade worth of men and materials to stabilize the situation.

[Satya_anveshi]

Posting here because Oil is central factor in the Levant Crisis:

Petropolitics 101: Why Waging Oil Wars is a Bad Idea
http://sputniknews.com/politics/2016011 ... -east.html

The past century has seen countries make fateful military decisions, which revolved around black gold, but history warns that oil wars could be devastating for those who start them, defense analyst Michael Peck wrote for the National Interest.

Chaco War
one of the first oil wars took place in the mid-1930s. Known as the Chaco War, the conflict saw Bolivia and Paraguay engaged in a three-year-long struggle for control over the northern Gran Chaco region, believed to be rich in oil. The conflict is said to be the bloodiest Latin American war of the 20th century

Hitler's Stalingrad Gambit
When thinking about World War II, oil does not immediately spring to mind. Yet oil was one of the key factors behind Hitler's strategy for the Soviet Union.

Nazi Germany failed to defeat the USSR in a blitzkrieg offensive in 1941. By 1942, Hitler focused his limited resources on southern Russia to carry out Operation Braunschweig, which was aimed at crashing Soviet forces in Stalingrad and capturing oil fields in the Caucasus.

Germany's forces succeeded in reaching Stalingrad and capturing several oil fields. But the Nazi leadership wanted its Army to pursue both goals simultaneously. As a result, the months-long battle for Stalingrad ended in the destruction of Germany's 6th Army, which was also forced to withdraw from the Soviet oil-rich region. Moreover, the battle also marked a turning point in World War II.

Japan's WWII lesson

The Empire of Japan decided to attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 to prevent Washington from ruining Tokyo's plan to capture oil fields in the Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asia. Japan badly needed petroleum since the US, Tokyo's main oil supplier, and Europe introduced an oil embargo earlier that year.

Tokyo succeeded in taking the oil fields under control but was unable to ship oil back home since the US imposed a naval blockade of the islands and bombed Japanese waters.

"Attacking America was supposed to guarantee Japan unlimited oil, but instead it led to the destruction of the empire," Peck noted.

Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait

In 1991, Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait, which at the time had approximately 10 percent of global oil reserves.

The decision to occupy the Arab country is believed to have been sparked by Baghdad's inability to repay the 100-billion-dollar debt incurred during the Iran–Iraq War. Kuwait's oil overproduction and Baghdad's ambition to capture the country's vast oil reserves have also been cited as a reason for the operation.

"The result was 500,000 US troops in Saudi Arabia, the American-led blitzkrieg of Desert Storm and the devastation of Iraqi military power. Iraq had previously been one of the major powers in the Arab world; Saddam Hussein's quest for oil left it broken and isolated," Peck observed.

{May be in future they add the below to the saga of Oil Wars and Outcomes}

9/11 False Flag; US invasion of Iraq; NATO/GCC/Israeli war to destroy Libya and Syria

[habal]

It seems all those killed were sunnis. Should help hasten the inevitable demise of ISIS. Those daeshbags fleeing back to their countries should be caught, tried nuremburg style and quickly executed.

[member_29325]

If oil is a central factor in the Levant Crisis, then why are oil prices so low and oil supply at peak levels? Surely these countries did not have to fight a war in Northern Africa to do this -- the Saudis seemed to do that all on their own, and do not seem to be keen to back down on their decision either, even as they bleed money. And now Iran joins the frey and adds more supply to the already crazy oil market. Saudis seem to have cut prices for some reason, possibly because they are boneheads, because I cannot see why they are bleeding themselves dry without any upside, but I am not complaining. Sooner the Soothi Barbarians burn down to the ground, the better for the rest of the planet.

The only people who have benefitted by the "liberation of Iraq" are Turdogan's family and ISIS and the rest of the islamist scum in the region who are pushing the same agenda as ISIS. so if this was what was "planned" by the US and its allies who started the war, then it all seems like some really low IQ cr@p from the ex-cold warriors who wanted to re-ignite hostilities with Russia, using the Sochi olympic games as a means of bad-mouthing Putin and starting a war with Russia, and pushing refugees in to EU and Russia. Seriously, if this is some kind of awesome strategic thinking from the US, these strategic thinkers must be using a pigeon taking a cr@p on a chessboard as their model. The simpler explanation is the US strategerists effed up big time (or were influenced by a powerful ideological cabal to start these wars), and they are finding out that running an empire was not easy these days as it was in the past.

[UlanBatori]

It seems all those killed were sunnis. Should help hasten the inevitable demise of ISIS. Those daeshbags fleeing back to their countries should be caught, tried nuremburg style and quickly executed.

The report said 50+ SAA plus as many as 300+ civilians dead so far in the ISIS attacks. This is bad. The VBIEDs appear to have hit this time. With attack helicopters available, it should be a turkey shoot, pun intended, and literally. How can the erDOGan-kebacche take territory without air superiority?

[Satya_anveshi]

If oil is a central factor in the Levant Crisis, then why are oil prices so low and oil supply at peak levels?

This relationship of If-Then is not logical; they are correlated but not direct cause and effect.

That hypothetical section of sputniknews report I posted, may have the text along the following lines:

9/11 False Flag; US invasion of Iraq; NATO/GCC/Israeli war to destroy Libya and Syria

Using 9/11 false flag as pretext, US invaded Iraq destroying its military, socio-economic fabric completely and responsible for killing millions many of them women and children. Later, a kangaroo court hanged Saddam Hussain, who for all his faults and brutality against his own people per the western narrative, kept the internal factions in control and let the country function by and large. However, as US exited Iraq, it handed off vast swathes of Iraqi territory in the control of extreme islamists terrorists who perpetuated (are still perpetuating) genocide against native yazidis and kurds.

By 2011, NATO/GCC/Israel extended this chaos into Libya and by 2011 killed Gaddafi throwing the country into civil war. Emboldened by this easy "success", NATO/GCC/Israel carried this further into Syria, which forms the gateway to sell Arab Oil into Europe via Turkey. Seeing the diabolical nature of the scheme and existing world order getting ripped apart, Russia came to the rescue of Syrian president Assad and prevented the fateful outcome. This Russian intervention delivered a devastating blow to plot of gobbling up oil resources and sealing the fate of the "gateway".

With Iran coming out of sanctions and enabling it to sell its oil in the international market, syrian gateway in doldrums, it is very likely that GCC, prime initiators of this crisis will meet the same fate of the earlier initiators of oil wars.

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Now to further answer why oil prices are lower - on the one hand there is supply and demand dynamic and the other hand there is marketshare dynamic that is causing prices to go lower.

- GCC enticing Europeans with cheap oil so they welcome the GCC loot plan and enable dislodging of Russia as primary supplier.
- Iran coming up in the market and wants to ensure it has long term contracts in place to be able to sell its oil on a predictable basis
- The biggest consumer China going with Russians in big way cutting their share of supplies from GCC
- US domestic production increases driving lower crude imports from Middle-East
- In addition to the above supplier dynamic, the demand itself is dampened due to macro economic situation caused by slow down in China and lack of any signs of recovery in US and Europe.

Iran just issued a statement that they will produce 1 mbpd despite lower oil prices taking the GCC challenge head-on. So, the ball is firmly in GCC's court.

[member_29325]

I was not implying a causal relationship between the attack on Iraq/Syria and oil, but questioning the claim that "oil is the reason" for the war, when the drop in oil prices happened well after the Iraq war had finished and ISIS had taken control of Iraqi wells, and some of syria's wells.

- GCC enticing Europeans with cheap oil so they welcome the GCC loot plan and enable dislodging of Russia as primary supplier.
- Iran coming up in the market and wants to ensure it has long term contracts in place to be able to sell its oil on a predictable basis
- The biggest consumer China going with Russians in big way cutting their share of supplies from GCC
- US domestic production increases driving lower crude imports from Middle-East
- In addition to the above supplier dynamic, the demand itself is dampened due to macro economic situation caused by slow down in China and lack of any signs of recovery in US and Europe.

Iran just issued a statement that they will produce 1 mbpd despite lower oil prices taking the GCC challenge head-on. So, the ball is firmly in GCC's court.

What we know is that:
1. Saudi/OPEC cartel unilaterally lowered oil prices
2. Saudis are deep in the red and have come to the point of putting up their family jewels (Aramco) on the stock market.
3. Saudi economy is on its way down due to huge entitlements given to its citizens
4. Iran is now going to be a primary source of oil for India
5. US shale oil companies are in the red, like canadian tar sands companies
6. ISIS's rapid spread was aided/funded by their ability to sell Iraqi/Syrian oil for the last couple of years

By 2011, NATO/GCC/Israel extended this chaos into Libya and by 2011 killed Gaddafi throwing the country into civil war. Emboldened by this easy "success", NATO/GCC/Israel carried this further into Syria, which forms the gateway to sell Arab Oil into Europe via Turkey.

The above does not make sense given that Russia was the primary supplier of oil to Europe in 2011 -- it is only after Ukraine that Russia is no longer supplying to the EU countries. Anyway, in the past few years, it looks like Russia is the target of all of these actions by the US, EU, KSA and its GCC allies. It looks like this drop in oil prices was just the mechanism to weaken Russian economy, and taken in concert with the crisis engineered by the US/NATO in Ukraine, cutting off the EU market for Russia was the other part of weakening the Russian economy. None of this explains this saudi penchant for committing suicide by reducing oil prices - granted that "stupidity" may top the list of reason why the Saudis would do such a thing, given that they are not the sharpest pencil in the box.