Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
Russia to send robots and engineers to Syria to help demine Palmyra.
"‘We are hopeful this is step forward to restore Palmyra’- UNESCO"
Not surprisingly, not a single Western nation leader congratulated Syria, Russia and Iran for liberating UNESCO World Heritage Center from the hands of barbarians. It must be something they've all eaten. It probably rhymes with "sock".
In the other news, CIA-backed group is fighting against Pentagon-backed group.
And they killed a lot of nurses and nuns before that. ISIS are barbarians, a modern equipped force fighting with a medieval mindset, beheading, enslaving and raping their victims. Hopefully Assad doesn't see any merit in taking any alive, just wipe them all out.
You can't, he is a president of a NATO country and this grants you permissiveness to do anything you want. Most of the former Eastern Block countries wanted to join NATO not because they were afraid of Russia but because they were afraid of their other neighbors who were or were planning to become members of NATO.
Edit: Buggy forum.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Yes, because Poland is absolutely threatening to annex the Baltic states all the time. Look it up, it's totally true!
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/03/30 11:44:29
For thirteen years I had a dog with fur the darkest black. For thirteen years he was my friend, oh how I want him back.
The stunning thing about the whole ISIS thing is how the world really doesn't seem to want to do what it is going to take to crush ISIS on the ground, and that is a full scale invasion with overwhelming firepower.
I am not saying to bomb the area into oblivion, but there is going to have to be infantry on infantry combat, and if you are going to send your infantry into combat, might as well send in tanks and helicopters and everything else to properly support them.
I saw some interesting documentaries showing syrians working against ISIS, and how the relationships between the tribes in the area and ISIS worked. Some tribes tolerate ISIS because ISIS gives them a cut. Others are overwhelmed and have no choice. But some do work against them. Throw in world powers with conflicted interests, and you have a real mess. And how oil gets smuggled out into Turkey and the average Turk doesnt care as long as he gets cheap oil to run his tractors.
I think the US really needs to give up on the whole 'Assad has to go now' deal for now. But even still, if the world could agree on one post-Syrian civil war idea, and solely focused on ISIS, I don't know what else would be done. The Arabs haven't shown much interest in cleaning house. Most are either too incompetent, distracted, or flat out supporting ISIS. Europe is showing me that its nothing but a paper tiger, and Obama, like many democratic presidents, is afraid of putting boots on the ground. The 5000ish they have there now is designed for specific targeting and not a general beat down. Its amazing how unified the world was during WWII, yet here is an state (I stop short of calling them a country), which is attacking other countries, yet those countries are either helpless to strike back (Belgium), or don't have enough resources to meaningfully strike back (France), and no one really wants to commit the time and energy to do all this the right way. Europe/NATO as a whole could swoop down from Turkey and end this in a matter of months if it put its entire military to use, but no one wants to. Instead they treat it as a law enforcement issue, which it is not. The same can almost be said the way the US is handling it. So instead, this is being dragged out for years. Everytime Obama opens his mouth on the subject I just want to roll my eyes.
A lot of things have to be done right to defeat ISIS. The first thing is to grow a pair of balls. So until then ISIS will continue to exist, attacks on Europe and other countries will continue, and 2-3 years from now we'll still be having this convo.
And even if they do defeat ISIS, the vacuum left behind is going to cause a lot of fighting between the other parties (Assad and the various rebel groups), so we'll get to enjoy that on the evening news. But what also concerns me is what will grow out of that. Muslim Brotherhood -> Al Qaeda-> ISIS -> ???.
But maybe this is just they way its supposed to be. The middle east has been a messed up place for most of its existence. It wasn't until various conquerors kicked enough butt to pacify everyone that there was peace. And the British no doubt helped things in modern times, but all that is unraveling and the arabs seem to be going back to medieval times. Mostly because they have never left.
If you are going to do something, do it right. But no one is going to.
AlmightyWalrus wrote: Edit: Buggy forum.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Yes, because Poland is absolutely threatening to annex the Baltic states all the time. Look it up, it's totally true!
No, but other states like Hungaria or Bulgaria have threatened or even attempted to re-annex their lost territories before. Different states in Eastern Europe had different motivations for joining NATO. In the case of Poland and the Baltic states, this was mostly fear of Russia (and Germany to a lesser extent in Poland's case). But for the Balkan states who never had much to fear from Russia, the main motivation was to preserve the stability and protect themselves against their neighbours.
Also, regarding Poland and the Baltics, even though Poland may have not directly threatened to invade (no country has), it is no secret that Poland and Lithuania really don't like each other. There were quite a few tensions about a possible Polish re-annexation of Vilnius (Wilno) region in the 1990's. Unlike the other Baltic states, Lithuania definitely feared Poland more than Russia (well, until 2014 at least):
http://countrystudies.us/poland/90.htm
Europe is going to have lots of tough times ahead with all the migrants moving there. You cannot just inject that many people into an economic system and hope everyone is going to find good jobs, let alone a nice place to live and an education, or even integrate themselves into the culture (rather, they will hold on to their own and be seen as different). And when these people have children, they will grow up being resented by the 'native' countrymen and in turn will resent them. It will be like a mini-Brussels all over the place.
Russia's chief prosecutor is investigating the case following claims of the independence being illegal by two members of the Duma.
It investigates, then what?
The only relevant part of that Wikipedia article has a "citation needed" tag, so... citation needed.
Find me another of the Baltic States' neighbours willing to entertain the notion that they are illegitimate states.
How about I find you nothing instead. You don't want to hear it because it goes against you've been told so far, it's your choice. We live in a free world.
Automatically Appended Next Post: March 30, 2016 Calais, France.
Look at those lawyers and and doctors from the 3rd world countries trying to sneak into UK.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/03/30 20:53:22
AlmightyWalrus wrote: Or you could tell me what your argument is instead of just throwing a link at me and expecting me to agree entirely with you.
After you basically told me that you won't even bother reading what is it about in the link I've provided you with? I think there is a high chance of that repeating and you just going to quote every one of my sentences to try to drawn me in the wall of text like it has happened before. What the point of wasting my time on you?
We're done going off topic then. Try not to be an ass to people who disagree with you in the future and you might get more constructive debates. Learn from Iron_Captain, he has, to my knowledge, never been anything but civil on the subject of Russia.
For thirteen years I had a dog with fur the darkest black. For thirteen years he was my friend, oh how I want him back.
AlmightyWalrus wrote: We're done going off topic then. Try not to be an ass to people who disagree with you in the future and you might get more constructive debates. Learn from Iron_Captain, he has, to my knowledge, never been anything but civil on the subject of Russia.
Gotcha. That was easy.
25yo father-to-be revealed as ‘Russian Rambo’ died fighting ISIS in Palmyra
Aleksandr Prokhorenko called a strike on himself when he was compromised and surrounded by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants near Palmyra, during a fierce battle between the Syrian Army and the terrorists.
“A Russian special operations forces [SOF] officer was killed near the town of Palmyra while guiding Russian warplanes to IS targets,” a military source at Russia’s airbase Khmeimim told Interfax last Thursday.
The source added that the special forces operator had been on a mission near Palmyra for at least a week, detecting the terrorists’ most important targets and providing coordinates for Russian warplanes to strike.
“The officer died a hero, calling a strike on himself after he was compromised and surrounded by terrorists,” the source added.
How about I find you nothing instead. You don't want to hear it because it goes against you've been told so far, it's your choice. We live in a free world
I think his point was that the article itself that you linked to calls the information into question, by pointing out there are no reliable sources for these claims.
You can claim the world is flat because Putin says so, but it does not make it actually true. (and before you demand to know how I know it is not flat, I've circumnavigated it.)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/03/31 22:10:31
Fate is in heaven, armor is on the chest, accomplishment is in the feet. - Nagao Kagetora
BaronIveagh wrote: You can claim the world is flat because Putin says so, but it does not make it actually true. (and before you demand to know how I know it is not flat, I've circumnavigated it.)
I don't think you quite realise the true extent of Putin's power...
And circumnavigating the world is not proof. For all you know there could be huge invisible portals at the edge of the world who teleport you to the other edge before you can fall off.
25yo father-to-be revealed as ‘Russian Rambo’ died fighting ISIS in Palmyra
Aleksandr Prokhorenko called a strike on himself when he was compromised and surrounded by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants near Palmyra, during a fierce battle between the Syrian Army and the terrorists.
“A Russian special operations forces [SOF] officer was killed near the town of Palmyra while guiding Russian warplanes to IS targets,” a military source at Russia’s airbase Khmeimim told Interfax last Thursday.
The source added that the special forces operator had been on a mission near Palmyra for at least a week, detecting the terrorists’ most important targets and providing coordinates for Russian warplanes to strike.
“The officer died a hero, calling a strike on himself after he was compromised and surrounded by terrorists,” the source added.
Didn't think it would happen, but I'm now shedding tears for fallen Russian troops.
Respect for Aleksandr Prokhorenko.
You say Fiery Crash! I say Dynamic Entry!
*Increases Game Point Limit by 100*: Tau get two Crisis Suits and a Firewarrior. Imperial Guard get two infantry companies, artillery support, and APCs.
The growing scandal over cooked ISIS intelligence just got much worse. Now, analysts are saying they’re being forced out for not toeing the Obama administration’s line on the war.
Two senior intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say the military has forced them out of their jobs because of their skeptical reporting on U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria, three sources with knowledge of their claim told The Daily Beast. It’s the first known instance of possible reprisals against CENTCOM personnel after analysts accused their bosses of manipulating intelligence reports about the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in order to paint a rosier picture of progress in the war.
One of the analysts alleging reprisals is the top analyst in charge of Syria issues at CENTCOM. He and a colleague doubted rebels’ capabilities and their commitment to U.S. objectives in the region. The analysts have been effectively sidelined from their positions and will no longer be working at CENTCOM, according to two individuals familiar with the dispute, and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The analysts’ skeptical views put them at odds with military brass, who last year had predicted that a so-called moderate opposition would make up a 15,000-man ground force to take on ISIS in its self-declared caliphate. An initial $500 million program to train and arm those fighters failed spectacularly. And until the very end, Pentagon leaders claimed the operation was more or less on track. Lawmakers called the plan a “joke” when Gen. Lloyd Austin, the CENTCOM commander, finally testified last September that there were just “four or five” American-trained fighters in Syria.
Earlier allegations from CENTCOM, the military command responsible for overseeing the Middle East, had focused on leaders there fudging intelligence reports about U.S. efforts to attack ISIS and undermine its financing operations. That analysts are now raising red flags around reporting on Syrian rebel groups suggests that, at least from the analysts’ perspective, there is a broader systemic problem than was previously known.
The Pentagon inspector general and a congressional task force are investigating allegations of doctored intelligence reports about ISIS.
The working environment at CENTCOM has been described as “toxic” and “hostile.” As The Daily Beast previously reported, more than 50 CENTCOM analysts have said that senior officials gave more scrutiny and pushback on reports that suggested U.S. efforts to destroy ISIS weren’t progressing. Analysis that took a more optimistic view of the war effort got comparatively less attention from higher-ups.
In a separate development, the head of Iraq analysis at CENTCOM, Gregory Hooker, is being reassigned to a position in the United Kingdom, three sources knowledgeable of the transfer told The Daily Beast. Hooker was identified last year by The New York Times as leading the group of analysts that raised objections about the ISIS reports.
There was no evidence that Hooker’s reassignment was a retaliatory move by his superiors; rather some suggested he had requested the change.
But for the analysts who have accused their bosses of improper behavior, the climate has become anxious, particularly as now some fear for their jobs.
“[They] are scared all the time,” one official told The Daily Beast.
There was no evidence that Hooker’s reassignment was a retaliatory move by his superiors; rather some suggested he had requested the change.
But for the analysts who have accused their bosses of improper behavior, the climate has become anxious, particularly as now some fear for their jobs.
“[They] are scared all the time,” one official told The Daily Beast.
The Syria analysts spoke out after Austin directed his subordinates last year not to retaliate against anyone who voiced concerns about political influence or bias being brought to bear on intelligence analysis, said one individual knowledgeable of their complaints. More than 1,000 analysts work at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Florida, and their reports are meant to help senior U.S. officials and policymakers understand the facts on the battlefield.
Investigators from the congressional task force have met with analysts at both CENTCOM headquarters and, last month, in Washington, half a dozen sources with knowledge of the meetings said.
Spokespersons for the task force declined to comment.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes previously told The Daily Beast that investigators were unable to obtain certain documents germane to the analysts’ allegations about altered ISIS reports, and that congressional staff had to interview the analysts in the presence of CENTCOM personnel, whom Nunes referred to as “minders.”
“They’re having a tough time talking to us,” Nunes said of the analysts whom congressional staff have interviewed in Tampa.
The Defense Department inspector general is also looking into the ISIS reports. The watchdog’s office has said the investigation, which is expected to be finished soon, “will address whether there was any falsification, distortion, delay, suppression, or improper modification of intelligence information,” as well as “personal accountability for any misconduct or failure to follow established processes.”
At CENTCOM’s intelligence unit, there’s growing anticipation for the results of the Defense Department inspector general’s investigation. Some have said they hope it will hold those they feel are responsible for altering reports, but there’s also concern that the findings will seek to downplay the severity of the problem and won’t lead to any significant changes.
At least one change is in the works. Last week, the Pentagon announced that Maj. Gen. Mark R. Quantock, currently the intelligence director of the U.S.-led military effort in Afghanistan, will take over as the head of intelligence at CENTCOM. Two officials described Quantock as a “straight shooter” who could help relieve tensions at the command headquarters.
Quantock, who is expected to arrive this summer, will replace Maj. Gen. Steven Grove, whom analysts have said is chiefly responsible for altering the ISIS reports. Grove and his civilian deputy, Gregory Ryckman, have also been accused of deleting emails and files from computer systems before the inspector general could examine them, three individuals familiar with the investigation told The Daily Beast.
Investigators from Capitol Hill and the Pentagon’s watchdog have pulled analysts away from work to ask them questions. Their colleagues try to glean insights about the course of the investigation by keeping note of who is being queried and for how long.
And in another sign of rising anxiety, some believe that that military leadership is trying to piece together which analysts have made allegations about Grove, and to whom, whether they be investigators or journalists.
As it should be. Many of our allies follow Islam. Should they be destroyed as well? How do you think a post like that sounds to them? You realize that there are American servicemen and women who are Muslim who have died fighting against Islamic extremism. How do you think saying something like that would sound to their parents, or their brothers and sisters?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/05/10 08:30:50
Mordant 92nd 'Acid Dogs'
The Lost and Damned
Inquisition
