US official: Russia sends troops and missile defense systems to Syria as peace hopes fade:

Forget that! Will he stop before WW3 is the question

A Russian military unit has arrived in Syria, according to Russian news reports, a development that a United Nations Security Council source told ABC News was "a bomb" certain to have serious repercussions. Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad's strongest allies despite international condemnation of the government's violent crackdown on the country's uprising, has repeatedly blocked the United Nations Security Council's attempts to halt the violence, accusing the U.S. and its allies of trying to start another war.

Now the Russian Black Sea fleet's Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency. The Iman replaced another Russian ship "which had been sent to Syria for demonstrating (sic) the Russian presence in the turbulent region and possible evaluation of Russian citizens," the Black Sea Fleet told Interfax.

US official: Russia sends troops to Syria as peace hopes fade: Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there, United States military officials told NBC News Friday, in a move certain to frustrate Western efforts to put pressure on the regime of President Bashir Assad. Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia’s deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.

The U.S. officials also said Russia has not sent additional attack helicopters to the Syrian government, but replacement parts for the Russian helicopters the Syrians are already flying. Tartus is one of Russia’s most strategically-important assets, giving it military access to the Mediterranean Sea. Russia says it is fulfilling existing contracts for air defense systems against external attacks. President Vladimir Putin, due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama next week, said the weapons Russia sends could not be used in civil conflicts.

A Russian arms dealer has said his company is shipping missile defence systems to Syria that could be used to combat international intervention in the country. Anatoly Isaykin, the general director of Rosoboronexport, said the advanced defensive missile systems could be used to shoot down planes or sink ships. Speaking in an interview with the New York Times, Isayakin said his disclosure was not a threat but a warning.

"I would like to say these mechanisms are really a good means of defence, a reliable defence against attacks from the air or sea. This is not a threat, but whoever is planning an attack should think about this." Isaykin said weaponry being shipped to Syria included the Pantsyr-S1, a radar-guided missile and artillery system capable of hitting planes at high altitudes, Buk-M2 anti-aircraft missiles and land-based Bastion anti-ship missiles, which can fire at targets 180 miles from the coast.

Lavrov said Syria is their strong ally and they do not have to and will not tell the US anything. Not good. I told you of the dangers of Putin to the world and our future! US hegemony is the real target in Syria. What we are watching unfold is the first salvo in the war for future dominance. Russia is not going to let us have our way here. I hear they will stop short of WW3 but I would not count on that.

Remember when Putin was rallying and uniting the world to take on Bush and his drive to dominate the world? Absolutely as the world's mayhem ensues amidst its drive to dominate as we move through the 21st century is Putin's only agenda. It is an old thought. I remember when term limits made him have to leave last time. There was immediate speculation as to him taking back the Presidency after his term as PM. Putin is not to be trusted and Russians have felt his grubby little hands around their necks for 12 years as he intimidates and tries to control Russia's future for his party.

Be scared be very scared! The USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that Russia risks six lost years when Vladimir Putin returns to the presidency, echoing rumblings of dissent over his Kremlin comeback. I always find myself agreeing with Gorbachev but that is putting it mildly. This is bad news for the US and the world!

This is very concerning. I remember back in 2008 when Putin was going to try and be President for life. He was not alone. Leaders aligned with Russia were all trying to get permanent leadership so they could be at the helm of their prospective countries to take on then President Bush when his war mongering hit the point where Russia, the 135 non aligned Nations, Iran, and others were prepared to join forces and take him and our allies on.

I remember when Bush first met Putin and he said he shook his hand and looked him in the eye and saw a man of compassion, a man who was true to his word, and a man he could work with. I shuttered at Bush's stupidity. I looked at Putin and saw a man deceitful to the core who was not to be trusted period.

We were too pompous then and were pushing the world towards WW3 with our take it or leave it, my way or the highway, interference around the world. Putin was determined to head us off, to directly confront us when we were on Russia's front door trying to instigate war by installing the so called missile shield in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and return Russia to the role of a world leader.

Personally we blew it when Russia broke up and the Berlin wall came down. We were the world leader and had the perfect opportunity to be humble, show we were the leader, and bring the world together to proceed successfully through the 21st century.We egged on the likes of Vladimir Putin who understandably chaffed under our we are the boss do what we say take it or leave it, it your face tactics of Bush and Cheney.

I had great hope when we elected President Obama who set the reset button with Russia and Russia who had elected Dmitri Medvedev who agreed to work with the US to proceed through the 21st century as partners instead of heading towards WW3 as adversaries. With the return of Putin to the Russian Presidency I am again very concerned and see an end to a partner country whose leaders words and actions we can trust and a return to a confrontational relationship with Russia. I do not like the man, I do not trust the man, and I am very concerned as to which direction Russia and the United States are headed now and at a time when China is surging militarily.

I am a little worried that China too is getting a little too heavy handed and abusive with her new position of power and beginning to take what she wants instead of being content with what she has which is what I constantly lecture has to be the case if we are to have a future. The time when man and the planet could handle war is over, period or else! Be very concerned for our future!




James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com