Illustrative image
On October 13, radical militants shelled the town of al-Bahsa and a base of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the northwestern Hama countryside with mortars and Grad rockets in a clear violation of the Russian-Turkish deconfliction agreement.
A source in the SAA told SouthFront that two soldiers of the SAA were killed and another one was injured as a result of the militant shelling. Furthermore, several civilians building in al-Bahsa were damaged.
The Turkish military claimed on October 10 that all heavy weapons, including mortar canons and rocket launchers, had been withdrawn from the demilitarized zone around the governorate of Idlib. However, the shelling on northwestern Hama indicates that Turkey had lied to protect the militants.
The October 13 shelling was not the first violation of the deconfliction agreement. A day earlier, the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation (NFL) destroyed a bulldozer of the SAA north of the city of Aleppo with an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM).
The SAA and the Russian Aerospace Forces may respond militarily to these violations. This will be especially likely if Turkey failed to force the radical militants to withdraw from the demilitarized zone before October 20.
And what Putin expected from his western “partners” ? It is the same story as in Allepo 2 years ago. Only fool repeats the same mistake twice.
“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”.
Just wait a few days and chill out, until we know what happened.
I agree. Honest Investigation first. Judgement second.
two soldiers of the SAA were killed and another one was injured. That happened. And they died completely in vain, having orders (from Purin) not to defend themselves.
The Auther of this article now understands. This is going to be a very long and difficult road. The Americans will try to bleed Russia at every chance they can get, spending as little as posible. Russia needs to Hold onto the Ural Mountains till 2020 by any means. 2020 is a Big year for Russia.
Who is bleeding?
There’s another big reason why Trump could blame the Federal Reserve for rising interest rates
President Trump has criticized the Fed for raising interest rates in a period of low inflation, but it’s another Fed policy move that is helping drive interest rates higher.
The Fed is unwinding its balance sheet, which ballooned during the financial crisis, and in the process is buying less Treasury securities, just as the federal government is issuing much more debt.
The fact the Fed has stepped back as a buyer, combined with the increased debt issuance, has been a topic of discussion in the bond market as interest rates were on the rise this month.
10-12-18
“Investors are starting to realize just how many bonds are coming at us in the year and two ahead. And I’ve talked about this repeatedly over the last couple of years. We had a budget deficit in the United States that went up from around $600 billion a couple of years ago to now the official number for fiscal ’18 in now over $900 billion. But that doesn’t really capture how much debt is really being added to the national debt in the United States,” said Jeff Gundlach, DoubleLine CEO on CNBC.
Gundlach said there is also a loan to the Social Security system that takes the figure to $1.27 trillion. There are also pension liabilities and veterans benefits.
“On top of that you have the Fed now cranking up quantitative easing to $50 billion a month, which is another $600 billion for fiscal 2019 if they continue on that course. Which takes you to around $2.25 trillion of debt increase. And this is at a time where we’re supposedly in a good economy,” he said. The Fed’s $50 billion a month reduction includes both Treasurys and mortgages. [emphasis added] . . .
“[QE] helped to lower [interest] rates. They’re no longer doing that, and it’s more complicated now then when the Fed first started on autopilot with reductions in its balance sheet,” Swonk said. The complication is that the deficit will swell to more than $1 trillion in 2019, with spending for tax cuts and stimulus.
“The federal government has more bonds to sell, and you don’t have an extra buyer,” said Swonk. Even China, the biggest holder of Treasurys has been buying less, though it is not a seller.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/12/one-big-reason-why-trump-can-blame-the-fed-for-rising-interest-rates.html
Exorbitant cost, multiple failures, years overdue: A recap of the ongoing F-35 calamity (VIDEO)
10-13-18
As the entire F-35 fleet was yet again grounded for technical inspections, in the wake of its first crash in September. RT looks at the abject history and prospects of the most expensive Pentagon program in history.
Over $300 billion has been spent on the project to create a state-of-the-art fifth-generation multi-role fighter since 1992, with the eventual cost likely to easily cross the trillion dollar threshold,unless the Pentagon decides that enough is enough.
Despite being introduced into service in 2015, the jets, which cost about $100 million each to manufacture had a readiness rate of 55 percent – which meant that almost half the planes were not capable of actually performing a mission, either due to maintenance, breakages, or design faults that made them unsafe. [emphasis added]
https://www.rt.com/usa/441182-f35-crashes-fuel-budget/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome
F-35 Program Cutting Corners to “Complete” Development
8-29-18
Officials in the F-35 Joint Program Office are making paper reclassifications of potentially life-threatening design flaws to make them appear less serious, likely in an attempt to prevent the $1.5 trillion program from blowing through another schedule deadline and budget cap.
The Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) obtained a document showing how F-35 officials are recategorizing—rather than fixing—major design flaws to be able to claim they have completed the program’s development phase without having to pay overruns for badly needed fixes. Several of these flaws, like the lack of any means for a pilot to confirm a weapon’s target data before firing, and damage to the plane caused by the tailhook on the Air Force’s variant, have potentially serious implications for safety and combat effectiveness.
POGO also obtained a copy of the Pentagon’s previously unreleased plan to control costs that shows the proposed savings may quickly be overwhelmed by the program’s rising costs.
https://www.pogo.org/investigation/2018/08/f-35-program-cutting-corners-to-complete-development/
Turkey will not force its terrorists to disarm themselves. Turkey is a western (USA-Israel-NATO) allied and will do what western order to do. How about the face with Russia, well, it is a two faces country. Terrorists at Idlib and Hama will continue to attack Russia-Syria elements as long as they be there, that is, forever.
Forgive me on this comment – please.
Unless the Turkish have totally gone nuts, I actually believe that the US *****s did this in order to split any potential ties between Russia and Kebab land.
Just lets give it a couple of days for any news and i can assure you, if I am wrong, I shall be the first to apologise.
Turkey arms the jihaShitters and drives this “rebellion”, so how Turkey should disarm them now..? And Russia know this
“Turkey will not force its terrorists to disarm themselves” Interesting, as this is the only card turkey has in the region. Russia tipped Erdegon off about the coup. and Most importantly, Erdegon wants to establish the Otaman empire, he is bent on this idea, this is another weakness of Turkey. Turkey cannot become Ottoman empire without Russian backing and Turkey wants to control the Terrorists in Idlib to Ultimatly Stab Russia in the back, Turkey will try to flood Russia with Muslims and for them, best case scenerio Trained terrorists so they can take Ukraine and dominate the Black Sea. Turkeys long game is to stab Russia in the back. This is the reason Turkey is investing into Idlib.
You deserve medal ?
Never trust the Turks
Whilst I hate to say this; I actually doubt that the Turks instructed the vermin on this matter.
God forgive me, about defending the Turkish inbred scum.
Notice the ‘up tick’.
Cheers big buddy !!!!.
The only solution is to eliminate the terrorist pocket of Idlib as it will remain a festering sore and US and Zionists will keep on funding and training headchoppers from there with Turkish support. Erdogan is kissing US arse big time now as the release of the CIA pastor showed.
Erdogan is incredibly stupid, and his politics on Syria will fall.
tan tana Wait and see
if Erdogan licks ass.you can suck erdogan ottoman dick how about that.scumbag stop Use your disgusting language low moron idiot
Patience please. When you throw a lot of snakes into one bag they will fight and destroy each other. Time is on the side of Assad.
Never trust Assad his looking for any excuse to attack and gas all IDLIB civilian.he should think twice
Youre Zionist troll that will burn in Hell. God bless Gulen!
God bless gulen yep yep ? hooray hooray who ever he is .now go and jump
Have my dick and Smile!
low life people can use this kind of language. I can only smile ? on top of your mama
Ran out of children to molest? Go blow yourself up, jihadi monkey
f…ck jihadi f…ck. you and people who think like you ..piss offff to your cave now
My dear Russians you just can’t be good with everyone, and at some point you have to realize your mistakes. Israel is using you and US is flirting with your vast resources and endless lands.
You r right but What should they do? Not many options for Russia like country which has strong military but very weak economy as compared to it’s enemies.Wars require gigantic economies.Russia as always constrained in a defensive position.This is why Its approach is defensive not aggressive. Actually this thing causing much problems for resistance axes.
Russia’s economy may be weak, but natural resources are immense (oil, gas, metals). A country’s ability to fight a protracted war is more dependent on resources than economy. Japan and Germany both had powerful economies pre ww2, but weak resources. History has shown the results . .
ive been singing this song from day 1…i explained to all..but everybody is so fucking intelligent here… one more last time…. ALL jihadi groups are virtually BROTHERS with the turks under this current turkish islamist erdogan AKP ruling….in turkey, before they were all forced to close, dozens of news papers printed the conversations between ISIS and turkish intelligence and al nusra and turkish intelligance (which were leaked by whistelblowers in the tukish intelligence) were they constantly call each other brothers, brothers here, brothers there.Erdogans power relies soley on the islamists of rural turkey..people who still live in medieval beliefs, unimaginable for folks of the western world or folks of the secular part of turkey.please dont forget that 100´s of thousands were arrested by the erdogan regime in the past 4 years including thousands of police officers and army officers, teachers,university scholars etc.. in short erdogan has transformed the former secular turkey into an islamist state.
Anybody, including the russians, believing in turkey just pushing an inch on their islamist brothers is either insane or on heavy drugs ie. LSD
ps. turkey is in syria to stay…in all interviews the various heads of the turkish administartion have continusly stated that and i quote “afrin and idlib will be given to their true owners” so who might that be…they are and have been succesful in changing the demographics in afrin area.Changing the language in school and in official buildings, changing street names and town names to turkish names, changing the currency to the turkish lira, and virtually thworing out the native population out of their houses , farms and giving those to turkey affiliated folks.israel has been doing this for 70 years in palestine. In short…sooner than later, SAA will be at full war with turkey.Impossible not to happen.IMPOSSIBLE.
Hey dip shit, most of us, said the same – you are here, not CNN.
‘You are here, not CNN’. Lol priceless
Although I agree with what you say, the facts are Turkey has the largest army in NATO Europe and the US has the largest army in NATO.
Combating the US Coalition of Terror that has most of the wealth in the world is a Herculean task that will not be completed in a few months or years.
That the Syrian government and allies have achieved as much as they have is a testament to excellent strategic thinking. The result of engaging in open war with Turkey and the US IS imaginable to most us here , BUT IS unimaginable to the majority of the insouciant citizens of the US Coalition who have watched the Hollywood movies where the US never supports terrorism. And we all know the US does support terrorism whilst pretending to fight terrorism.
“ALL jihadi groups are virtually BROTHERS with the turks under this current turkish islamist erdogan AKP ruling” So You are Saying that the Russians should be weary of the turks? Are You Trying to say the moment Turkey finds a better position for its people they will kick russia in the Face? Hmmm…ok I see.
The Russians have an ace up its sleeve. The Russians have a Royal set of Cards, all they have to do now is Hold onto the Urals just a little bit longer, through the Nose, by any means. The turks will sit down come 2020, and dance around Russia Iran and China, if they do not, Iran will take over Belt and Road. Idlib, baby!
We hope that at midnight on October 20th a shower of Russian fire, Tos 1, will fry all the rats still at Idlib.
Russia needs to flatten Idlib as major urban renewal there is overdue.
Including civilian ?
Of these things, Americans and Israelis are more experienced.
You don’t want to be.like yanks and Israel .do you?
TURKEY = REAL ISIS (800 years of DEVSIRME.)
Turkey is just another useful idiot, ISIS is the US/Israel.
Turkey is Useful to Russia. Turkey is like a Concubine for Russia. If they leave, they do not get the propulsion technology of the Satalite killer missiles and all hopes and dreams of the Ottoman empire fade away with Erdegon who will ultimatly end up crying foul to NATO. Turkey can drop its desires of dominating the Black Sea, Ally with Russia and reep The Riches of the Belt and Road AND most importantly have access to Iranian Culture and Oil, a Slow but Solid move towards an Ottoman Empire, if Erdegon Gives 100% to China Russia Iran and the Ultimate reunification of Syria and Syrian Culture. I think Turkey will not side with China Russia Iran and Syria, They will probobly play short term games to gain 20-30 year old technology from Russia America and Europe and eventually fade away.
It is usually good to try and go the extra mile. Syria and Russia did just that with the Idlib agreement. They have one week to get their act together, the jihadists, or they are wide open to almost any possibility. Syria, Russia and even Turkey will be in the clear if it all falls apart because, they tried. Sitting back and observing. I wish well to all.
It was in Russia’s interest to delay the liberation of Idlib. Now they have the S300’s in place they are ready.
If you notice the Americans are using delaying tactics, they can’t win, and they know it, but to admit defeat before the elections would be political suicide. So all those people are dying for a good cause, it’s so American politicians can keep their snout in the trough.
If Trump withdrew US forces from Syria before the midterms, then the GOP would see their biggest win in US history. However, there’s too many people from both parties that are under the thumb of Israel and Saudi Arabia.
As expected, Erdogan is unable to fulfill his obligations which leads to weakening of his negotiation position. He still has some time till 20th. Let’s see what happens than.
I agree Erdogan looks weak but did anyone really expect him to have such control over the head hoppers – consider the troubles the US has had keeping their child monster creations in line. Erdogan has maintained power for quite some time so he cannot be a complete fool. So what is the agenda with the deconfliction agreements?
One thing it did is weaken the cohesion of the jihadist groups, making for an easier military operation if needed. The conditions were very unlikely to be adhered to by all the jihadi groups and I am sure Erdogan knew this – and has proven to be the case. The agreement also took the wind out of the sails of US warhawks that intended to use any offensive into Idlib as pretext for intervention. Erdogan is sending message to US (as a reminder) that he can disrupt US plans in the region.
So perhaps Erdogan and Putin understood the agreement would fail in the end but would weaken the jihadists through infighting and division. It also would provide justification for Turkey to act against the jihadist militarily along with SAA and Russia. This could mean a quick campaign that mitigates the refugee issues and also likely prevent large influx of Jihadist into Turkey.
So let us see how this plays out.
you reading the picture wrong because you try to excuse, rather than understand.
I am speculating on alternative possibilities to what is happening and state as such. If you understand what is happening then please educate me. I generally respect your posts and so will listen.
if you been following what is happening in the general area and not been focusing only in syria then you should by now understand also the western plan to pull down russia and cut her to size. I never believed this new found love between russia and turkey. turkeys agenda is in line with nato planning against any one who oppose them plus she turks think that this will help them with their own planning which is to take control of the oil and gas in Mediterranean sea and Aegean sea.
All northern countries in europe are heavily invested in turkey and that is a love hate relation that can not be severed with out their economies collapsing as well and they are already at the end of the endurance economically, to risk another bubble blowing to their face.
turkey has released the CIA tool playing the role of a pastor typical jesuit cover operating behind enemy lines and trumpet make it personal so when the turks release him all is back to normal with turkey and all controversy, with the turks and s400 suddenly is forgotten and all is well.
I told you few times follow what is happening not only in syria. Russia is playing for time as well the nato does right now but for nato is the end of the line as they have no time left. wall street, already began to collapse with the brilliant politics of trumpet and this time it be not as it was back in 2008. So either the western globalist have their war or they fold and lay down to die. The question left to be answered is do they start it in the balkan area in order to take out serbia and greece, or they do it in ukraine and move the war directly in russias back yard and at the same time spread it in Georgia or every where at once, with turkey playing her role is been assigned in syria.
Russia maybe done well in syria but they can not face so many fronts at once unless they go very hot and start eliminate all threats surrounding them. That means total war against europe, unless they decide to hit all the american assets and eliminate them over the span of few hours.
I am aware of what you say and my speculation is not contradictory. Arrangements that suit Turkish and Russian interests can occur in pragmatic diplomacy. Even between absolute enemies as in Italy during WWII when German paratroopers and US forces agreed to ceasefire to evacuate wounded and they even helped evacuate wounded of opposing sides at Casino.
If Syria is lost, taking down Russia can be realised through provocations elsewhere and you mentioned a few. So Turkey created proxies that may now be seen as no longer of use and potentially problematic – just as Putin sees them similarly but as a current problem for Russia. So both Erdogan and Putin may see eye to eye on the issue given the reality of the situation in Syria and so come to some accommodation.
With release of Pastor, is all well? The US continues to support Kurds and provides weapons. Erdogan says deal with US is delayed but not dead on Manjib – the US has not adhered to agreement, at least in Erdogan’s eyes. I do not see the tension between US and Turkey as staged, smokescreen or facade – the Kurdish question is very important to Turkish security concerns in region.
I encourage posters to speculate and put out different ideas. They may be right, they may be wrong or partially so. They may even be wrong but spur debate that leads to the truth. Sharing ideas should not be shut down.
I would think you would know me enough that I do not excuse anyone, including myself, and above all, trying to understand is why I am here.
They could but not in this case. I know russian mentality and turkish ertogan mentality and their interest in every where including syria are in direct collision. And every passing day make it more and more difficult for this to be diffused. But time will show both of us how well we understand reality on the ground.
I think they are on a collision course as well and for quite some time, just as Israel and Russia have been on a collision course. And that weasel Erdogan may find someway out of his predicament but hard to say and hence my wait and see attitude. In the meantime, Erdogan may be pragmatic with Russia where and when interests align.
As of right now, I really am unsure where this will land regarding Turkey, Syria and Russia so I will neither be right or wrong – If I were to predict, well I may as well throw dice.
yes you are right. But if you see what turkey supports and promote in the balkan area and what the russians also support, then you understand that is not really throwing dice. You are right about ertogan. He does a good job as far turkeys national interest is concerned. For that you can not blame him.
Lets see how he balances nato interest and russias interest. Is there I dont see how the relation can go on, playing both tables.
Your last two sentences I think really hit the nail on the head.
” It also would provide justification for Turkey to act against the jihadist militarily “(c) – thats one important thing that Erdogan needed – saving his face for Turkish auditory.
not unable unwilling, it is a difference. Watch what happen now that the charade of partnerships and phony alliances is over and the real face of turkey is shown to all who believed that turkey and her handlers are not playing with russia. What it would be a big surprise for me, is if russia fall for that, and not been using it as long as she could. watch what will happen now they release that phony CIA tool pastor.
Erdogan wants the US to release Gulan to Turkey as he is the 5th colum in Turkey & Europe for CIA. The other important thing not being discussed is both Turkey & Syria is playing divide & conquer with criminal gangs so national sovereignty is established eliminating festering chaos. So far so good!
I want to know more about the divide and conquer. Can you suggest some articles I could read?
The big plus for Russia is Lavrov. He is no fool and can read them like a book.