WarSclerotic

Source: Russian airliner with 224 people aboard believed shot down by missile over central Sinai

NATO Chief: Russia Conducted Several Tests of Illegal Cruise Missile General defends U.S. tactical nuclear arms upgrade in Europe

BY: Bill Gertz
October 30, 2015 3:00 pm

Source: NATO Chief: Russia Conducted Several Tests of Illegal Cruise Missile – Washington Free Beacon

Russia is continuing to develop a new ground-launched cruise missile in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the general in charge of NATO and the U.S. European Command said Friday.

Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the NATO and Eucom commander, said both the United States and NATO allies are concerned about the new Russian cruise missile that was tested most recently on Sept. 2.

“Sept. 2nd is not the first time that we have seen testing that looks like it violates the INF,” Breedlove said during a meeting with reporters at the Pentagon. “So, the violation is not new, and yes we are concerned.”

Breedlove said the Pentagon has a framework for addressing the treaty breach that was outlined by Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier this year.

Carter testified that the United States will respond to the INF violation and several options are being reviewed. The options include increasing cruise missile defenses and deploying nuclear-tipped counterforce weapons.

Defense officials have said the State Department and White House have been blocking Pentagon efforts to counter the treaty breach.

The State Department has sought for over a year to coax Moscow into returning to INF treaty compliance but the efforts, through talks with the Russian officials, have been unsuccessful.

Russia has denied violating the treaty and countered U.S. charges by demanding more intelligence about the new cruise missile and by accusing Washington of violating the INF treaty.

The treaty was a centerpiece of Cold War arms control and banned all missiles with ranges of between 300 miles and 3,400 miles.

The recent flight test of what defense officials described as Russia’s new SSC-X-8 ground-launched cruise missile are a further indication of Russian unwillingness to abide by the INF accord.

The White House, according to a senior House Republican on the Armed Services Committee, has been blocking a Joint Staff report assessing the risks to U.S. security posed by the Russian missile violation.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates disclosed to Congress last week that Russia sought to pull out of the INF treaty as early as 2007 over concerns that it needs missiles with INF ranges to deal with threats from China and Iran.

Critics of the Obama administration in Congress have said the INF treaty violation, had it been known by Congress, could have led to blocking ratification of the 2010 New START arms accord. That treaty was approved by the Senate with no discussion of Russia’s plans to violate or withdraw from the INF treaty.

China also has a large force of intermediate-range missiles.

Asked about a recent threat by Moscow to withdraw from the INF treaty if the United States modernizes nuclear bombs stored in Europe, Breedlove dismissed the threat as a propaganda ploy.

“As far as withdrawing from the INF, what we hear are threats that are being made in the face of our upgrade, our life extension program to our tactical nuclear weapons in Europe,” Breedlove said.

“We’re not bringing new weapons, we are not bringing more weapons,” he said. “We’re ensuring the safety and the functionality of the weapons that are there. So, I actually believe this is just another way to create dialogue and to try to bring pressure on our alliance.”

Breedlove said the upgrade of B-61 aircraft-delivered bombs has been planned for years and “we are continuing with the upgrade of our weapons.”

“This is about safety and reliability. These are things that you want to have in nuclear weapons. I’m stymied at the concern,” he said.

The NATO commander also disclosed that Moscow conducted saber-rattling military maneuvers, including a staff nuclear exercise after NATO forces conducted a series of military exercises in the Baltic states.

“I think these are clear messages that are sent,” Breedlove said.

On Russian military intervention in Syria, Breedlove said he views the airstrikes in support of the Assad regime as aimed at diverting attention from Russian military action against the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

“What I’m concerned about is that folks have taken their eye off of Ukraine a little bit because of what is happening in Syria,” he said. “And that is a technique that I think has been employed here a couple of times. Invade Crimea. Take the world’s eyes off of Crimea by invading Donbas. Take the world’s eyes off of Donbas by getting involved in Syria.”

On European security threats, Breedlove identified an unpredictable Russia and a lack of visibility into the intentions of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, combined with growing Russian military capabilities near Europe, as the reasons for increases in NATO deterrence efforts.

The alliance is currently holding large military exercises aimed at improving readiness, involving some 36,000 troops from 30 nations.

The command recently completed the deployment of a heavy brigade worth of equipment and weapons to bolster defenses.

Without adding troops, military commanders are positioning arms and equipment that could be used by troops that are rapidly deployed in a crisis or conflict. Strengthened European defenses will be focused on protecting the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, as well as Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

For naval forces, a fourth Aegis-equipped U.S. warship was recently deployed to Spain and the ships have been conducting freedom of navigation operations in the Black Sea, where Russia has sought to prevent U.S. ships from operating. More naval forces have been requested, the four-star general said.

U.S. intelligence agencies also are increasing efforts to gather intelligence on Russia.

For the Middle East, European command forces are operating out of Turkey’s Incirlik air base in support of air strikes against Islamic State targets.

“Europe isn’t what it was 18 months ago, or even six months ago, and new threats and challenges seemingly emerge every day,” Breedlove said.

Russian aggression continues to be the most important priority.

“Russia’s actions prolong the conditions creating massive scale immigration of refugees that is further worrying our southern allies,” he said. “And the eastern allies continue to be concerned about Russian expansion. These concerns, combined with the flow of foreign fighters, are a strategic challenge for all of Europe.”

Asked about Monday’s unusual flight of two Russian Tu-142 bombers within a mile of the aircraft carrier USS Reagan near Japan, Breedlove said provocative Russian bomber and aircraft flights near Europe have dropped somewhat from a higher rate of bomber and military air intrusions several months ago.

Breedlove attributed the decline in NATO aerial intercepts of Russian aircraft to Moscow’s military operations in Syria, which are taking up military resources.

“I would opine that in the past few weeks or so, it has been a bit more normal, because we have seen a real focus on Syria,” he said of the Russian flights.

“But these actions continue, and they continue all around the periphery of Russia. They are still happening in Europe. And they are still happening in the far east, in Asia.”

Russian airliner carrying 224 people crashes in Sinai Wreckage found of plane that crashed 23 minutes after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh; rescuers looking for survivors; all on board were Russian nationals

By Times of Israel staff, AFP and AP

October 31, 2015, 9:31 am

Source: Russian airliner carrying 224 people crashes in Sinai | The Times of Israel

A Russian charter plane crashed early Saturday morning in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula some 23 minutes after takeoff, with 224 Russian nationals on board.

The office of Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail confirmed Saturday that a “Russian civilian plane… crashed in the central Sinai.” Ismail canceled a trip to the Sinai city of Ismailia in the wake of the crash, Sky News Arabia said.

A senior aviation official said the plane was a charter flight operated by a Russian company and had on board 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were 17 children on the plane, according to the RT news channel.

A statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation said military search and rescue teams found the wreckage of the passenger jet in the Hassana area south of the city of Al-Arish, an area in northern Sinai where Egyptian security forces are fighting a burgeoning Islamic militant insurgency led by a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group.

“Military planes have discovered the wreckage of the plane… in a mountainous area, and 45 ambulances have been directed to the site to evacuate dead and wounded,” the statement said.

The time lapse between takeoff and losing contact with the aircraft means that the plane was possibly flying at a cruising altitude of some 30,000 feet when it crashed.

Militants in northern Sinai have not to date shot down commercial airliners or fighter-jets.

It is not immediately known whether there were any survivors. Egyptian search and rescue teams at the crash site said they were hoping to find people who were still alive, and reported hearing voices coming from the wreckage, Israel’s Walla website said.

“There is another section of the plane that rescue teams have still be unable to access and we hope to find survivors there. We have heard people crying out from inside the wreckage,” a member of a rescue team told reporters.

The Israel Air Force had helped Egypt to locate the wreckage, the Ynet news website said. Israel also offered further assistance to both Cairo and Moscow.

An official statement carried by Egypt’s MENA news agency said the flight took off from Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular destination for Russian tourists, at 5:51 a.m. local time and disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes after takeoff. It said the plane had been bound for St. Petersburg.

Investigators were looking at human error or a technical problem as a cause of the crash, Channel 10 television said. Security sources in Egypt said that the pilot had reported a technical problem to air traffic control and said he was planning to make an emergency landing. After that, nothing was heard from the plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the families of those on the plane on Saturday, and has ordered an inquiry into the reasons for the crash, the Walla website reported. Egypt’s new prosecutor-general, Nabil Sadek, has also ordered an investigation and dispatched a team to the crash site, Ynet reported.

Earlier in the day, an Egyptian official with the government’s Incidents Committee had told local media that the plane had briefly lost contact and was now safely in Turkish airspace.

‘J.V.’ terrorist group makes J.V. U.S. President eat his words.

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Published: October 30th, 2015

Source: The Jewish Press » » US to Put Boots on the Ground in Syria and Maybe Iraq

U.S. President Barack Obama
Photo Credit: WhiteHouse.Gov screen capture

In a startling turnaround – or one might characterize it as a pirouette in ultra-slow-motion – U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of dozens of Special Operations Forces to Syria. Also announced on Friday, Oct. 30, the U.S. is seriously considering sending Special Operations Forces to Iraq, to assist others fighting on the front lines against ISIS.

And so, this U.S. President who repeatedly swore that this country will not become involved in another military conflict in the Middle East, may be sending U.S. forces to fight in that region.

Try as they might, even the most ardent anti-Israel agitators in the U.S. and elsewhere will have a hard time blaming this military expenditure – in terms of financial outlay and personnel – on Israel.

The failure to recognize ISIS as a serious threat, President Obama disdainfully referred to that barbaric terrorist organization as a junior varsity team in January of 2014, and the endless dithering about how and whether to respond to the civil war in Syria, is why the U.S. now finds itself unable to act other than by sending in American troops.

As Secretary of State John Kerry explained earlier this week, ISIS (he now calls it Daesh) arose out of the chaos which ensued at the onset of the Syrian civil war.

The U.S. had focused its energy on an expensive “train and equip” $500 million strategy to shore up moderate rebels fighting against ISIS. The plug was pulled on that effort this month, after equipment and trained Syrians ended up either fighting with Assad or with ISIS or other terrorist groups.

The latest U.S. response comes late in the game, well after Iran and Russia have spent years and months, respectively, propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the U.S. is committed to sidelining.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week Gen. Joseph Dunford, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged, “no one is satisfied with our progress to date.”

It may be unfair to refer to a U.S. President in the second term of his presidency as “junior varsity,” but on May, 28, 2014 Obama made a speech at West Point that, in hindsight, might lead one to characterize his military thinking in those terms.

He said then that a,”strategy that involves invading every country that harbors terrorist networks is naïve and unsustainable.”

It was during that speech that Obama announced he would ask Congress for money to train the armies of “vulnerable” nations to carry out operations against extremists.

But now the U.S. is tentatively committed to sending in special forces units into both Syria and Iraq. As it turns out, the previous position of the U.S. was naive and unsustainable.

Picture added by JK