Author: Aylin D. Miller

Turkey Demands Russia Stop Operations As Russia Strengthens Air Defense in Wake of Downed Jet

Many times, when international incidents occur, there are unseen motives involved. So, as one side takes actions against another in one area, they really want something done in another. This happens because the first country does not want all the world to know how much they are invested. And this seems the case with the downing by Turkey of a Russian jet.

Fox reports:

Davutoglu also said Russia is an “important partner and tops the list of countries with which we have shown great sensitivity in building ties.”

The Turkish prime minister, however, also criticized Russian and Syrian operations in Syria’s Turkmen region, saying there is “not one single” presence of the Islamic State group there. Davutoglu demanded that operations there stop immediately.

While the world is waiting on Russia to produce the “objective proof” that they had not violated Turkish airspace, the Prime Minister of Turkey might have let the proverbial cat out of the bag. You see, as I reported yesterday, Turkey and Russia both have interests in the region. They both claim to be fighting ISIS. But they disagree with what they see as a successful end to the Syrian civil war.

Most people think that the coalition just wants peace. In reality, they both have a stake in what happens. The Russians are backing the pro-Iranian/Shia Syrian government. The Sunni Turks are backing the Sunni/Turkman rebels operating in Northern Syria. This means that though both governments are fighting ISIS, they are working for very different outcomes.

And this means that Turkey’s shooting down of the Russian fighter/bomber might have more to do with who they have been bombing and less to do with where they were flying.

But this might not have been the best move. And it sure may be their last free shot at Russia.

The BBC reports:

A cruiser has been dispatched to help bolster air defenses around the Russian base.

The sophisticated S400 anti-aircraft system is also being deployed and Russian planes will now be protected on bombing raids by fighter jets.

The message to Turkey and its allies is clear: don’t dare try it again.
As for the rescued co-pilot, he says he is impatient to return to the skies.

“I want to stay here,” he said, referring to the Russian airbase. “I want payback for my commander.”

The Russians seem very determined and focused on what they want to happen in Syria. They have yet to be deterred from their operations and have not failed to do what they wished; and this may well be the pretext for the downing of their jet. However, now they are beginning to make their own allegations.

The BBC continued:

Russia’s foreign minister has called the decision to shoot down the plane a “planned provocation”, without speculating on Turkey’s supposed motive.

But President Putin has already accused Ankara of siding with Islamic State (IS) by hitting the Russian jet; he also claimed some in Turkey are benefitting from the illicit sale of IS oil exports.

The world has begun to pay close attention to what these two neighbors are doing and saying. They are both speaking words of peace, but are making actions toward war. And Russia bombarded the region of Syria where their pilot was killed, attacking the very people Turkey demanded they not bomb.

What will the next move be?

November 27, 2015
Quotas from Karl Marx

Farshaad Razmjouie from Iran

1- Religion is the opium of the people.

2- My object (goal or objective) in life is to dethrone God and destroy Capitalism.

3- Anyone who know anything of history know that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included.

4- “Workers of the world unite!; you have nothing to lose but your chains!”

5- The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e., the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time it’s ruling intellectual force.

6- The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.

7- History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second (then) as farce.

8- Philosophy is to the real world as masturbation is to sex.

9- The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.

10- The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and to write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money.

Karl Marx

November 26, 2015
The Russians had it coming to them

Now the Turks have shot down a Russian warplane, Mr Putin might finally understand that if you play with fire, you end up getting burned

By Con Coughlin

Until Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet over its border with Syria on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin seemed to have convinced himself that Nato countries were just not serious about confronting Russia’s increasingly belligerent military conduct.

The Russian president recently made this view known when close aides warned him of Britain’s views on Russia. They told him that, when Britain outlined its National Security Strategy as part of the 2015 defence review, it would argue that, after Islamic State (Isil), Russia posed the greatest threat to global peace. But rather than being alarmed that his country was being cast in the same mould as the barbaric followers of Isil, Mr Putin simply shrugged. “Don’t worry,” he reassured his aides. “The British aren’t serious.”

And, given the impotent response by Britain and its Nato allies to Moscow’s various acts of aggression over the past decade, who could blame the Russian leader for his nonchalance? Georgia, Crimea, eastern Ukraine, the Baltics, Syria: the roll call of Mr Putin’s unwelcome meddling in the affairs of other nations does not make happy reading for Western leaders. And yet, until yesterday, Nato had done precious little to persuade Mr Putin to rethink his cavalier attitude towards other nations’ borders.

Nato turned a blind eye when, in retaliation for Georgia’s attempts to join the Nato alliance in 2008, Moscow helped itself to the former Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Last year’s illegal annexation of Crimea is now a fait accompli so far as Russia is concerned, while Nato’s response to the Kremlin’s continued sabre-rattling in eastern Ukraine and the Baltics has been to conduct a few war games and bolster its air patrols.

“Now Mr Putin might finally understand the truth of that old adage: if you play with fire, eventually you end up getting burned.”

So when Mr Putin embarked on his Syrian adventure earlier in the autumn, he had little reason to heed Nato’s blunt warnings of the serious consequences Russia might face if its warplanes continued to violate the airspace of Turkey, one of the alliance’s more volatile members.

Mr Putin’s belief that he could conduct Russia’s dealings in Syria with arrogant disregard for other regional concerns resulted in yesterday’s disaster. But as the world knows only too well from bitter experience, fundamental misunderstandings of this kind are how world wars get started.

Mr Putin continues to insist that Russia’s military intervention in support of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is aimed at destroying Isil, even though his critics claim the reality is that the Russians are concentrating their firepower on bombing Syrian opposition groups, many of which have Turkish backing. The Turks, who harbour their own desire to remove Assad, have been angered by Russia’s intervention, particularly as it has led to Russian warplanes violating Turkish air space when they bomb rebel positions in northern Syria.

Syria fields one squadron of the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24

Last month these careless Russian antics prompted the US and its Nato allies to issue a blunt warning that the alliance would respond militarily if Moscow continued with what Nato leaders called “unacceptable violations of Turkish air space”. This time around, Mr Putin should have taken Nato’s warnings at face value, particularly as the Turks were itching to teach the Russians a lesson. He didn’t, and now he must deal with the consequences of a Turkish F-16 shooting down a Russian Sukhoi SU-24 while on a bombing raid against Turkmen positions close to the Turkish border. If Mr Putin wants to play with fire, then he needs to learn he will end up getting burned.

The challenge now, for Nato as well as for Russia, is to prevent tensions between Moscow and Ankara from spiralling out of control. Turkey’s relations with Russia are already strained following Moscow’s Syrian intervention, with the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan warning that Turkey could cut its lucrative energy ties with Russia. The Turks would certainly resist any attempt by Russia to launch retaliatory action against the Turkmen, who yesterday claimed they had shot dead the two Russian pilots as they attempted to parachute to safety, although this was later denied by Turkish officials.

Turkey funds a number of Turkmen militias in northern Syria that are fighting to overthrow the Assad regime. It is unlikely the Turks would tolerate Russian attacks on their ethnic allies, which could easily lead to direct military confrontation between Russia and Turkey, with all the implications that would have for the Nato alliance, which would then be obliged to defend Turkey’s borders.

Mr Putin has badly misread Turkey’s determination to defend its interests and, by so doing, has further complicated the tangled web of alliances that underpin the Syrian conflict. He has also made life more difficult for David Cameron, who will tomorrow tell the Commons about his own plans for Britain to participate in the air war against Isil. Like Mr Putin, Mr Cameron says he wants to launch air strikes against Isil in Syria. But, after yesterday, Mr Cameron can be in no doubt that, however he views Mr Putin’s role in the conflict, it will most certainly not be that of an ally.

Telegraph-uk

November 25, 2015
President Putin: By Shooting Down Our Fighter Jet Turkey Practically Declared War on Russia, Turkish Dictator Erdoğan Is an Accomplice in ISIS Crimes

According to Moscow Times, the Russian President Vladimir Putin held an emergency cabinet meeting in Kremlin to evaluate the implications of the downing of a Russian Su-24 fighter jet near the Syrian-Turkish border area.

“…Today they practically declared war on us by shooting down our fighter jet. Our patience wears thin with Erdoğan and his criminal clique who is accomplice in all atrocities committed by ISIS terrorist. To avoid a bitter war which nobody craves, for several times, I told Americans to muzzle their rabid dog in Turkey,” Russian News Agency TASS cited the Russian President as saying.

“I was informed that Turks have shot down a Russian aircraft on the border with Syria and reportedly the navigator has been killed; my deepest condolences to his family and the Great Russian nation,” said Mr. Putin vowing that the ‘revenge’ is what the Turkish dictator will receive in return.

We are indeed on the verge of an all-out war with the godfather of all terrorists in one of the extremely volatile areas in the world, added Mr. Putin, we worked diligently to solve the Syrian crisis through diplomatic means, but much to the international community’s chagrin, the Turkish AK Parti-led regime under Erdoğan seeks to ignite the fires of war.

Russia’s defence ministry, in a series of tweets, confirmed a Russian Su-24 had been shot down, but insisted the plane had never left Syrian airspace and claimed that fire from the ground was responsible. “At all times, the Su-24 was exclusively over the territory of Syria,” the defence ministry said.

“The Su-24 was at 6,000 metres and preliminary information suggests it was brought down by fire from the ground. The circumstances are being investigated.”

Tensions between Turkey and Russia have risen over Moscow’s bombing campaign against Islamist rebels close to the Turkish border. Turkey has repeatedly expressed concern over the attacks on the Islamic State positions.

AWD News

November 25, 2015
‘STAB IN THE BACK’: Outraged Putin warns Turkey it will suffer ‘significant consequences’

Putin’den ilk açıklama…

Sounds like Russia will totally justified in launching strikes against Turkey.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian warplane near Turkey’s border with Syria is a “stab in the back” and it would have “significant consequences” for its relations with Turkey, as NATO called an emergency meeting over the incident.

Putin said the Russian Sukhoi-24 jet was shot by a missile from a Turkish jet over Syria about just over a half-mile away from the Turkish border, which he described as a “stab in the back by the terrorists’ accomplices.” Turkey said it warned the jet several times that it was in its airspace.

Putin was meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Sochi. Prior to the meeting, The New York Times said Putin was “speaking slowly and clearly angry.”

NATO called an emergency meeting in Brussels on Tuesday after the incident.

“The aim of this extraordinary North Atlantic Council meeting is for Turkey to inform allies about the downing of a Russian airplane,” NATO’s deputy spokesperson Carmen Romero told the Associated Press.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition based out of Baghdad said the U.S. indeed heard Turkey on “open channels” issue 10 warnings to the Russian jet before the incident.

Rebels said they fired at the two parachuting pilots as they descended, and that one had died. A rebel spokesman said they would consider releasing the body in exchange for prisoners held by Syria. The fate of the second pilot was not immediately known.

Putin’den ilk açıklama…

Olayın ardından Rusya Devlet Başkanı Putin’den açıklamalar geldi. Putin, “Rus uçağının vurulmasını sırtımızdan bıçaklanmak olarak yorumluyoruz” dedi. Putin, “Uçak düşürme olayının Rusya-Türkiye ilişkileri açısından ciddi sonuçları olacaktır” diye konuştu.

Rus uçağının düşürülmesinin ardından Rusya Devlet Başkanı Putin’den açıklamalar geldi. Putin, “Rus uçağının vurulmasını sırtımızdan bıçaklanmak olarak yorumluyoruz” dedi. Putin, “Uçak düşürme olayının Rusya-Türkiye ilişkileri açısından ciddi sonuçları olacaktır” diye konuştu.

PUTİN’İN AÇIKLAMALARI ŞÖYLE

“Rus uçağının Suriye’de düşürülmesi olayı terörle mücadele çerçevesinin dışına çıkıyor. Şimdi sırtımızdan da bıçaklandık” diyen Putin’in konuşmasından öne çıkan bölümler şöyle:

“Uçak Suriye topraklarında, Türkiye sınırından 4 kilometre ileride bir bölgeye düştü. Saldırı esnasında, 6000 metre yükseklikte ve Türkiye topraklarından 1 kilometre uzaklıkta bulunuyordu. Rus uçağı ve pilotları, Türkiye için hiçbir şekilde tehdit teşkil etmedi. Bu çok açık. Suriye’de düşürülen Rus uçağı, IŞİD’le savaş görevini yerine getiriyordu. Teröristlere önleyici vuruşlar gerçekleştiriyordu.

Üstelik biz ABD ile bu tür olayların önlenmesi konusunda anlaşma imzalamıştık. Türkiye de ABD öncülüğündeki koalisyon dahilinde terörle mücadele eden ülkelerden biri. Uçağın düşürülmesinin Türk-Rus ilişkilerine ciddi sonuçları olacaktır. Rusya, Türkiye’ye sadece komşu olarak değil, aynı zamanda dost bir ülke olarak yaklaşmıştır. Böyle bir adım kimin işine yaradı bilemiyorum ama bizim buna ihtiyacımız yok. Türkiye, Rus uçağının düşürülmesinden sonra acilen Rusya ile iletişim kurmak yerine, sanki uçağı Rusya düşürmüş gibi NATO’ya başvurdu”

KREMLİN’DEN DE AÇIKLAMA GELMİŞTİ

Kremlin Basın Sözcüsü Dmitriy Peskov, Suriye sınırında angajman kurallarını ihlal ettiği için düşürülen Rus savaş uçağına ilişkin değerlendirme yapmak için erken olduğunu söyledi.

Peskov, konuyla ilgili gazetecilere yaptığı açıklamada, bunun çok ciddi bir olay olduğunu belirterek, “Resmin tamamını görmeden herhangi bir yorumda bulunmak, varsayım ve değerlendirme yapmak için erken. Bu nedenle sabırlı olmak gerekiyor. Bu çok ciddi bir olay, ancak tam bilgiye sahip olmadan bir şey söylemek mümkün değil ve bu yanlış olurdu” dedi.

Rusya Savunma Bakanlığından uçağın düşme nedenine ilişkin kesin açıklama yapılmadığını aktaran Peskov, “Biz uçağın Suriye hava sahasında olduğunu kesin olarak biliyoruz. Savunma Bakanlığının açıklamasında ‘muhtemelen vuruldu’ ifadesi kullanılıyor” diye konuştu.

Peskov, “Rusya Devlet Başkanı Vladimir Putin’in uçak olayıyla ilgili Rusya Güvenlik Konseyini topladığı haberlerinin gerçeği yansıtmadığını” belirterek, Putin’in bugün Soçi’de Ürdün Kralı Abdullah ile yapacağı görüşmede bu konuya değinebileceğini kaydetti.

Genelkurmay Başkanlığınca, Türk hava sahasını ihlal eden uçağa, beş dakika içinde 10 kez ikaz edilmesinin ardından, Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanlığına bağlı iki F-16 tarafından müdahalede bulunulduğu açıklanmıştı.

RUSYA SAVUNMA BAKANLIĞI: İHLAL YOK

Rusya Savunma Bakanlığı, Suriye’de Su-24 tipi Rus savaş uçağının muhtemelen yerden açılan ateş sonucu düşürüldüğünü açıkladı.

Bakanlıktan yapılan açıklamada, uçağın 6 bin metre irtifada bulunduğu ve pilotların paraşütle atladığı belirtildi. Pilotların akıbetinin araştırıldığı bildirildi.

Açıklamada, Su-24’ün, tüm uçuşu süresince sadece Suriye hava sahasında bulunduğu öne sürülerek bunun radarlarla tespit edildiği savunuldu.

Türkiye’de Cumhurbaşkanlığı kaynakları, Su 24 tipi Rus uçağının, Türk hava sahasını ihlal ettiği ve uyarılara da aldırmadığı için angajman kuralları çerçevesinde düşürüldüğünü açıklamıştı.

İŞTE UÇAĞIN DÜŞME ANI

November 24, 2015
State Department Warns Americans: ‘Likelihood of Terror Attacks

As millions of Americans prepare to travel for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the State Department warned that potential attackers could target private or government interests.

“Current information suggests that (Islamic State), al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions,” the State Department said in a warning posted on its website.

Although it did not mention the Nov. 13 Paris attacks claimed by Islamic State (ISIS) in which 130 died, the department noted that militants had carried out attacks in France, Nigeria, Denmark, Turkey, and Mali during the past year.

“Authorities believe the likelihood of terror attacks will continue as members of (Islamic State) return from Syria and Iraq,” it said. “Additionally, there is a continuing threat from unaffiliated persons planning attacks inspired by major terrorist organizations but conducted on an individual basis.

France and Belgium have launched a manhunt following the attacks in Paris, with a focus on Brussels barkeeper Salah Abdeslam, 26, who returned to the city from Paris hours after the attacks and is still at large.

Abdeslam’s mobile phone was detected after the attacks in the 18th district in the north of Paris, near an abandoned car that he had rented, and then later in Chatillon in the south, a source close to the investigation said.

Detectives were examining what appeared to be an explosive belt found in a litter bin in the town of Montrouge, south of the capital and not far from Chatillon.

The source said it was too soon to say whether the belt had been in contact with Abdeslam, whose elder brother blew himself during the gun and suicide bomb attacks.

One theory was that Abdeslam had intended to blow himself up in the 18th district but had abandoned the plan, although it was not clear why.

“Maybe he had a technical problem with his explosive belt,” a police source said.

Fearing an imminent threat of a Paris-style attack, Belgium extended a maximum security alert in Brussels for a week but said the metro system and schools could reopen on Wednesday.

“We are still confronted with the threat we were facing yesterday,” Prime Minister Charles Michel said. Potential targets remained shopping areas and public transport.

Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into the Paris attacks since French law enforcement bodies said two of the suicide bombers had lived there. Three people have been charged in Belgium with terrorist offences, including two who travelled back with Abdeslam from Brussels.

SOLDIERS PATROL BRUSSELS

As authorities tried to establish Abdeslam’s movements and whereabouts, a source said he travelled through Italy in August with a companion, but his presence caused no alarm because he was not a wanted man at the time.

His companion was Ahmet Dahmani, a Belgian man of Moroccan origin who was arrested in Turkey last week on suspicion of involvement in the Paris attacks, the investigative source said.

In Belgium, prosecutors said they had charged a fourth person with terrorist offences linked to the Paris attacks.

They released all 15 others detained in police raids on Sunday. Two of five people detained on Monday were also released while the other three had their custody prolonged.

Soldiers patrolled the streets of Brussels, the bustling European Union capital, which has been in lockdown since Saturday.

On the Grand Place, a historic central square that usually draws crowds of tourists, an armoured military vehicle was parked under an illuminated Christmas tree.

NATO, which raised its alert level after the Paris attacks, said its headquarters in the city were open, but some staff had been asked to work from home. EU institutions were also open with soldiers patrolling outside.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon told RTL radio, however, that the capital was still operating. “Apart from the closed metro and schools, life goes on in Brussels,” he said.

Workers were also setting up stalls for the city centre Christmas market, which is due to open on Friday, and organisers of the Davis Cup tennis final between Belgium and Britain in the city of Ghent, 55 km (35 miles) from the capital, said it would go ahead this weekend.

AIRCRAFT CARRIER

French jets from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier struck Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria on Monday, while Britain offered France the use of an air base in Cyprus to hit the militants behind the Paris attacks.

French President Francois Hollande met British Prime Minister David Cameron in Paris as part of efforts to rally support for the fight against Islamic State. Hollande is also due to visit Washington and Moscow this week. The French president and U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a joint news conference on Tuesday morning, the White House said.

Cameron offered air-to-air refuelling services and said he was convinced Britain should carry out air strikes alongside France and would be recommending that Britain’s parliament vote through such measures.

French jets taking off from the country’s flagship in the eastern Mediterranean destroyed targets in Ramadi and Mosul in Iraq on Monday in support of Iraqi forces on the ground, the French armed forces said in a statement.

In the evening, a raid was carried out on Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, where the French armed forces said planes destroyed several facilities including a command centre.

November 24, 2015