We have discussed the potential for SAAMS (Surface to Air Missiles) MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) being used against passenger planes, specifically in the North Africa region, amid these pages for over 4 years.

Did it just happen?  …. and would they even tell us if it did?

ISIS is claiming responsibility for the loss of a Russian passenger aircraft killing 224 passengers and crew:

The Russian jet which crashed in Sinai killing all 224 people on board did not lodge an SOS call before it hit the ground, it has emerged.

[…]  The Islamic State group affiliate in Egypt has claimed it downed the aircraft, but has not said how it might have done so. Cairo and Moscow, however, have denied any possible terrorism link in the incident, one of the deadliest Airbus crashes in the past decade.  (link)

Here’s the case for how this can connect to the Libyan Uprising and Clinton’s Rebels.

In 2011 thousands of SAAM’s (Surface to Air Assault Missiles), and MANPADS went missing during the Libyan Islamist uprising.  Some went West and South, further into Africa as noted by Chad’s President Deby (asking for help), and some went East into Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

These points are not disputed.  They are widely accepted.  Here’s a few data images from the 2011 time-period when these missiles went missing. (more…)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Russia and Syria unleashed a coordinated assault by land, air and sea on Wednesday, seeking to reverse recent gains by rebel groups that were beginning to encroach on President Bashar al-Assad’s last bastion of power.

Moscow said it had fired 26 cruise missiles on Syrian targets from naval vessels in the Caspian Sea, 900 miles away, though it was not immediately clear whether they hit targets in the area of the ground offensive.

The ground assault, and airstrikes, seemed to focus on an area of northern Hama Province and southern Idlib Province, around three villages that insurgents consider the first line of defense of the strategic Jebel al-Zawiyah area. (more…)

Russia only gave the United States an hour’s warning ahead of the strikes and did not specify where they would occur, riling many in the Pentagon who had been hoping for clearer and more detailed lines of communication.
A Russian general asked the U.S. to remove its planes from Syrian airspace Wednesday, just hours before Russian airstrikes began there.  It would appear Russia is creating a battle space to re-stabilize Assad…

SYRIA – The Russian three-star general, who was part of the newly formed intelligence cell with Iraq, Iran, and the Syrian government, arrived in Baghdad at 9 a.m. local time and informed U.S. officials that Russian strikes would be starting imminently—and that the U.S. should refrain from conducting strikes and move any personnel out. The only notice the U.S. received about his visit was a phone call one hour earlier.
The Russian strikes were centered about the city of Homs, according to initial accounts in the local press and in social media. That’s significant, because Homs is not known to be an ISIS stronghold. (more…)

Our favorite ideological cabinet member appeared on CBS this morning replete with new linguistic skills.  Listen to question at 01:58, and within the answer: “de-conflict” … it reappears a few minutes later in another retort.
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(more…)

Last night during the GOP debate the question of Syria was asked; none of the candidates spoke of an increasingly specific aspect to the Syrian reality.

Anyone who has a basic understanding of the current situation in the Mid-East must accept that Russia is playing chess, and the Obama administration is insufferably getting out-played.
It was only a few weeks ago when Egypt’s Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah went to Moscow and met with Vladimir Putin.
A little over a week later Putin begins putting additional Russian military forces into Syria presumably to assist Bashar Assad in removing his adversaries, various ISIS elements.
What Putin is inevitably doing right now is pushing out those elements within Syria who collectively create one side of the Syrian civil war.  He’s going to continue pushing those Syrian people into Turkey and, as a consequence of Erdogan’s unwillingness to be destabilized by those elements, ultimately they will travel into Europe. (more…)

Many people will look at this devastating sunlight upon the U.S Intel Community as a political embarrassment for the Obama administration.  However, I would disagree. 
This entire exposition smells more like a deflective shield targeted to give the White House an excuse for terrible Mid-East policy.   This “revelation” protects the White House more than it causes embarrassment; it gives Obama excuses for his failures…. and you’ll note this is surfacing at a time when Russia is entering Syria under the auspices of needing to fight ISIS, because the U.S. has failed.  There’s an obvious transparency to the timing…
(Via Daily Beast) More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military’s Central Command have formally complained that their reports on ISIS and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria were being inappropriately altered by senior officials, The Daily Beast has learned.
The complaints spurred the Pentagon’s inspector general to open an investigation into the alleged manipulation of intelligence. The fact that so many people complained suggests there are deep-rooted, systemic problems in how the U.S. military command charged with the war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State assesses intelligence. (more…)

Rumor has it that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to un-friend Lavrov on Facebook.  Meanwhile, President Obama is strongly considering approval for a pointed #Hashtag campaign.  Follow-up To This Story

(Via Reuters) Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart on Saturday the United States was deeply concerned about reports that Moscow was moving toward a major military build-up in Syria widely seen as aimed at bolstering President Bashar al-Assad. (more…)

It was two weeks ago when we alerted readers to Egypt’s Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah visiting Moscow – so it should come as no surprise to see Vladimir Putin now extending his influence into Syria.

President Obama has created an intentional leadership vacuum in the mid-east.
Intentional by design.
The two most stable forces within the region, Egypt and Jordan, have been ignored by President Obama for several years.  President Obama willingly allowing Turkey’s Recep Erdogan free reign on what takes place inside Syria, while Erdogan simultaneously provides a safe-haven for the Muslim Brotherhood.  The current events are not disconnected from this empirical truth.

WASHINGTON — Russia has sent a military advance team to Syria and is taking other steps the United States fears may signal that President Vladimir V. Putin is planning to vastly expand his military support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, administration officials said Friday.

The Russian moves, including the recent transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and the delivery of a portable air traffic control station there, are another complicating factor in Secretary of State John Kerry’s repeated efforts to enlist Mr. Putin’s support for a diplomatic solution to the bloody conflict in Syria.

(more…)

Remember this moment years from now when everyone wonders why Russia has replaced the U.S. in the sphere of influence.  Egyptian President Fattah el-Sisi met with King Abdullah II of Jordan during a scheduled visit to Moscow.  Both President el-Sisi and King Abdullah have been blocked from visits to the White House.

EGYPT – According to Egyptian presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef, the two Arab leaders discussed counter-terrorism strategies and acknowledged the importance of regional and international alliances in combatting threats posed by extremist and terrorist organisations in the Middle East. El-Sisi and Abdullah II also acknowledged the importance of military cooperation between their own countries and across the wider Arab world.

[…]  Regarding Libya, the two leaders renewed their support to the elected Libyan government and the national Libyan army, while advocating a political solution in the country. The heads of state also agreed on the importance of supporting the Iraqi government in its efforts to achieve stability and unity in the country. (more…)

The New York Times begins digging into some of the quid-pro-quo elements outlined in the upcoming book “Clinton Cash”. A review of a Russian bid to control U.S. Uranium mine interests exposes millions of undisclosed donations to the Clinton Family Foundation which occur during critical timeframes requiring coincidental approval by Secretary Clinton.
New York Times […] Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.
(more…)