If Russia wanted more aircraft over Allepo it would have sent more land based aircraft. SU-30s, TU-22s.
Russia has only one aircraft carrier and it doesn't have catapults. It has a ski jump ramp. You can launch SU-33s but they aren't good for anything other than air cover.
Putin has demonstrated he can strike targets from the Caspian Sea. This is nothing more than a freedom of navigation exercise. This is a fundamental concept in the global order and is cherished by the US Navy in the South China Sea.
I have to push back a little. Roughly half of Trump's supporters are over 65. They are retired with pensions. The average income of a Trump supporter is $72,000 dollars. Well above the national average.
Among voters with incomes below $50,000, Clinton held a 30% edge. Among voters with incomes above $250,000 dollars, Trump held a 30% edge.
This narrative of the blue collar worker is junk. This election was about culture and a backlash against modernity.
Gulen says Edrogen was behind the whole enterprise. He is channeling Alex Jones. Erdogen says Gulen was the mastermind. Politicians always look for a scapegoat.
Any reasonable person would reassess the policies that lead to increasing popular dissent. Authoritarians just crush their opponents. Erdogen is no worse than Putin. Mr. Trump has these same impulses. Pure democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.
People still pine for a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary.
Poor Journalism. Iran failed to defend itself in a US Court proceeding. In American if you don't show up in court, they issue a summary judgement. Iran could have hired a lawyer and submitted the text of official 9/11 commission report. Victory would have been assured. Instead they chose to ignore the proceeding with a predictable result.
The Iranians are extremely capable. One can only assume, they thought the propaganda value exceeded 10.5 Billion or they believe the JPOAC agreement overrides this ruling.
Would the map look any different today? All I hear from the experts is send in the ground troops. Does anyone think the Iraqi government would tolerate this? We know there would be massive resistance from the Shiite militias.
Are the experts proposing to overthrow an allied democratic regime, just so we can get at the Islamic State? If so, it will take a lot more troops than anyone is talking about.
I have to disagree with the esteemed Yale lecturer on one point.
In 1979, Iran backed an attack on the US embassy in Tehran.
It held 52 diplomatic personnel and their staff for 444 days.
Under international law an attack on a country's embassy is the same thing as an attack upon that country. It is a fact that Iran attacked the United States and imprisoned US captives. It was an unprecedented act of war in the modern age. It changed the dynamics of the presidential election and ushered into power the neocons. They have ruled foreign policy in the US since that time.
Warfare isn't pretty and air power can never hold territory.
In warfare their are two principles: Is it effective? Is it proportional? I will leave Kobani out of this and focus on TTP and AQAP. Both of these groups are engaged in active warfare against the United States. AQAP has repeatedly tried to blow up airplanes over US cities. TTP repeatedly attacks coalition forces in Afghanistan. They are conducting a war against the US and their allies and they are legitimate targets. But the US is just a secondary target. They primarily attack civil and commercial institutions. If they limited themselves to government installations and banks, it would be a classical insurgency. But they do not. They attacks schools particularly those that educate females. AQAP just ran two suicide car bombs into school buses in Yemen. I don't even know if TTP exists. It seems to be a bunch of Uzbeks and Chechens. Yet, they have made a statement. Let us win and rule or we will kill your children.
There seems to be an aversion to precision airstrikes. An artillery barrage by the Pakistan army makes that look like a walk in the park.
The US will not supply the Kurds with decisive weapons. Turkey fears a revolt and Iraq would cease to exist. If I was the US, I would start building a big airbase in Kurdistan. That might wake everyone up. It would upset Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and pretty much everyone else.
RE:Persian Gulf. A global economy based on trade requires freedom of navigation. The US may not use oil from the region, but our trading partners do. After their economies collapse, ours will too. International partnerships would be preferably to guarantee freedom of navigation, but the right wing in America thinks that is a plot.
In a time of slack demand with low production costs, what would you do? Try to drive out higher cost competition and slow the development of high cost sources.
Who is funding this Sunni National Guard? If it is the Dawa party, I will eat my hat. The Shiite will settle for influence between Baghdad and Basrah. The Shiite have oil. The Sunni have water. If the Shiite can control the dams, they have won..
You propose going to war with the Shiites against the Sunni. Specifically, ally with Syria and Iran. Syria uses nerve gas to kill their opponents. Assad and his regime are butchers and have killed 200,000 of their citizens.
It only seems last week, that the US needed to go to war with Iran. Bibi said it had to happen! The worlds most dangerous nation with the worlds most destructive weapons. Bomb now!
ISIS success is the result of the butcher Assad's campaign to put down a largely peaceful Sunni movement for greater democratic inclusion in the affairs of state. Now we have total war. This is not the fault of the US.
Lots of misinformation. The US decided to occupy Afghanistan. Military logistics required land routes from the closest seaports. That means the US viability in Afghanistan was dependent upon Pakistani acquiesce. The US was rendered powerless to conduct military operations on Pakistani soil. The US doesn't import much oil from the Persian Gulf. The US gets oil from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.. Our trading partners use Gull oil. Business as usual and profits for everyone. It appears this may change. But it will be disruptive for many people.
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If Russia wanted more aircraft over Allepo it would have sent more land based aircraft. SU-30s, TU-22s.
Russia has only one aircraft carrier and it doesn't have catapults. It has a ski jump ramp. You can launch SU-33s but they aren't good for anything other than air cover.
Putin has demonstrated he can strike targets from the Caspian Sea. This is nothing more than a freedom of navigation exercise. This is a fundamental concept in the global order and is cherished by the US Navy in the South China Sea.
I have to push back a little. Roughly half of Trump's supporters are over 65. They are retired with pensions. The average income of a Trump supporter is $72,000 dollars. Well above the national average.
Among voters with incomes below $50,000, Clinton held a 30% edge. Among voters with incomes above $250,000 dollars, Trump held a 30% edge.
This narrative of the blue collar worker is junk. This election was about culture and a backlash against modernity.
Gulen says Edrogen was behind the whole enterprise. He is channeling Alex Jones. Erdogen says Gulen was the mastermind. Politicians always look for a scapegoat.
Any reasonable person would reassess the policies that lead to increasing popular dissent. Authoritarians just crush their opponents. Erdogen is no worse than Putin. Mr. Trump has these same impulses. Pure democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.
People still pine for a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary.
Poor Journalism. Iran failed to defend itself in a US Court proceeding. In American if you don't show up in court, they issue a summary judgement. Iran could have hired a lawyer and submitted the text of official 9/11 commission report. Victory would have been assured. Instead they chose to ignore the proceeding with a predictable result.
The Iranians are extremely capable. One can only assume, they thought the propaganda value exceeded 10.5 Billion or they believe the JPOAC agreement overrides this ruling.
Juan,
Would the map look any different today? All I hear from the experts is send in the ground troops. Does anyone think the Iraqi government would tolerate this? We know there would be massive resistance from the Shiite militias.
Are the experts proposing to overthrow an allied democratic regime, just so we can get at the Islamic State? If so, it will take a lot more troops than anyone is talking about.
I have to disagree with the esteemed Yale lecturer on one point.
In 1979, Iran backed an attack on the US embassy in Tehran.
It held 52 diplomatic personnel and their staff for 444 days.
Under international law an attack on a country's embassy is the same thing as an attack upon that country. It is a fact that Iran attacked the United States and imprisoned US captives. It was an unprecedented act of war in the modern age. It changed the dynamics of the presidential election and ushered into power the neocons. They have ruled foreign policy in the US since that time.
Warfare isn't pretty and air power can never hold territory.
In warfare their are two principles: Is it effective? Is it proportional? I will leave Kobani out of this and focus on TTP and AQAP. Both of these groups are engaged in active warfare against the United States. AQAP has repeatedly tried to blow up airplanes over US cities. TTP repeatedly attacks coalition forces in Afghanistan. They are conducting a war against the US and their allies and they are legitimate targets. But the US is just a secondary target. They primarily attack civil and commercial institutions. If they limited themselves to government installations and banks, it would be a classical insurgency. But they do not. They attacks schools particularly those that educate females. AQAP just ran two suicide car bombs into school buses in Yemen. I don't even know if TTP exists. It seems to be a bunch of Uzbeks and Chechens. Yet, they have made a statement. Let us win and rule or we will kill your children.
There seems to be an aversion to precision airstrikes. An artillery barrage by the Pakistan army makes that look like a walk in the park.
The US will not supply the Kurds with decisive weapons. Turkey fears a revolt and Iraq would cease to exist. If I was the US, I would start building a big airbase in Kurdistan. That might wake everyone up. It would upset Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and pretty much everyone else.
RE:Persian Gulf. A global economy based on trade requires freedom of navigation. The US may not use oil from the region, but our trading partners do. After their economies collapse, ours will too. International partnerships would be preferably to guarantee freedom of navigation, but the right wing in America thinks that is a plot.
You macro-economists are all alike.
In a time of slack demand with low production costs, what would you do? Try to drive out higher cost competition and slow the development of high cost sources.
Who is funding this Sunni National Guard? If it is the Dawa party, I will eat my hat. The Shiite will settle for influence between Baghdad and Basrah. The Shiite have oil. The Sunni have water. If the Shiite can control the dams, they have won..
You propose going to war with the Shiites against the Sunni. Specifically, ally with Syria and Iran. Syria uses nerve gas to kill their opponents. Assad and his regime are butchers and have killed 200,000 of their citizens.
It only seems last week, that the US needed to go to war with Iran. Bibi said it had to happen! The worlds most dangerous nation with the worlds most destructive weapons. Bomb now!
Correction
ISIS success is the result of the butcher Assad's campaign to put down a largely peaceful Sunni movement for greater democratic inclusion in the affairs of state. Now we have total war. This is not the fault of the US.
The only thing the Kurds need to create their own independent state is air defense systems and helicopters.
Lots of misinformation. The US decided to occupy Afghanistan. Military logistics required land routes from the closest seaports. That means the US viability in Afghanistan was dependent upon Pakistani acquiesce. The US was rendered powerless to conduct military operations on Pakistani soil. The US doesn't import much oil from the Persian Gulf. The US gets oil from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.. Our trading partners use Gull oil. Business as usual and profits for everyone. It appears this may change. But it will be disruptive for many people.