Putin ramps up WW3 fears as he launches NUCLEAR MISSILES in terrifying show of power

Putin ordered a nuclear preparation drill last week involving more than 40 million people

 

RUSSIA has carried out a series of ballistic missile tests today as tensions with the US continue to rise over the conflict in Syria.

The Topol missile, the fastest in the world, was launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea off the Russian coast today as part of a series of ballistic tests.

Another was later shot from an island in the north-west of the country with its warhead hitting a simulated target, and a third missile – a nuclear-capable rocket – shot from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan.

Minutes to midnight: US cuts bilateral contact with Russia

 

Following Russia’s decree to end their joint nuclear deweaponization program with the US, the US State Department announced Monday that Washington has suspended bilateral contact with Moscow.

(VERO BEACH, FL) America has “suspended” bilateral contacts with Russia over the Syrian crisis, the US State Department said.

Missiles for the Jihad

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (Own report) – Berlins demands for a renewed ceasefire are being accompanied by reports of the possible initiation of a program to supply insurgents in Aleppo with man portable anti-aircraft missiles. The Syrian government and Moscow must immediately return to a ceasefire, admonished German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The combat in Aleppo is intolerable. Even though the combat is becoming increasingly gruesome, the ceasefire had been doomed to fail from the beginning, because important insurgent militias – partisans of the West – rejected it and continued their combat. They even refused to accept a key element of the ceasefire, rejecting the demand that they halt their collusion with al Qaeda and its Syrian affiliate, the Jabhat al Nusra / Jabhat Fatah al Sham. That demand was considered particularly important because, as experts have been warning for months, al Qaeda is establishing a jihadi emirate in northern Syria. Confronted with the eventuality that the Syrian army may recapture Aleppo, Washington is now considering supplying man portable air defense systems, or “MANPADS,” to insurgents allied with al Nusra – similar to the ones the US had previously provided the mujahidin fighting the Soviet military in Afghanistan. The German government remains silent because its own preferences will benefit – even though the missiles could wind up in the hands of al Qaeda.

President Obama’s ‘Tense’ Trip Through Asia Shows The Region’s Pivot Away From United States Towards China

President Obama’s travel to China for the G20 Summit appears to show the growing trend of countries pulling away from the United States to acknowledge other powers in the region that could fill in the gap, such as Russia.

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The U.S.-led coalition’s end-goal continues to be that Bashar al-Assad must be forced out of of Syria. But unless the United States is willing to engage in a massive war with Russia, President Obama has decided to take the route of diplomacy in order to help target terrorists instead.

The New Middle East: Exit America Enter Russia

Is the genie finally out of the bottle?

A myriad of seemingly unrelated events and loose ends are converging in a manner that points in the direction of a huge win for Russian diplomacy in the Middle East, and we only need to connect the dots to see this scenario unfolding.

What dots, one might ask?

In Alliance with Al Qaeda

BERLIN/DAMASCUS (Own report) – The ceasefire in Syria is threatened to be torpedoed by a militia, armed by Germany’s allies and included, under German government pressure, in the Syria peace talks in Geneva. According to reports, the militia, Ahrar al Sham, covered by the ceasefire, is participating in the current military offensive waged by the al Qaeda-affiliated al Nusra Front, which has been excluded from the ceasefire. Ahrar al Sham has been financed and armed by Berlin’s NATO partner, Turkey and by Qatar, one of Germany’s main Middle East allies. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had been vigorously pushing for al Sham’s membership in the delegation of the government opposition at the Geneva peace talks, even though it has been closely cooperating with al Nusra (al Qaeda) for years. A recent analysis published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) confirms that this military cooperation is based on a broad ideological kinship. Ahrar al Sham is said to have also been implicated in a massacre of members of the Alawite minority. The militia is often referred to as the “Syrian Taliban,” according to a leading German expert on Salafism and jihadism, who maintains that whoever “enhances its prestige,” is “indirectly also reinforcing al Qaeda.” This applies to Berlin’s close allies as well as its foreign ministry.

US may soon break Iran taboo with new military discussions

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pursuit of peace in Syria may require the United States and Iran to break new ground in their increasingly comfortable diplomatic relationship, propelled by last year’s nuclear accord and their more recent prisoner swap. Another taboo could be shattered soon: Military discussions.

Iran may be just one of 17 countries invited to the first gathering Friday of a task force the US and Russia are leading to forge a temporary truce in Syria’s civil war. But for the Obama administration, Iran is like no other country at the table.

Obama’s Syria Non-Strategy is Imploding

Secretary of State John Kerry got the headline he was looking for last week when the press reported that the United States and Russia agreed on a cease-fire in Syria that would allow the delivery of food and humanitarian aid.

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The cease-fire agreement was the latest in a series of diplomatic initiatives by the Obama administration to make it appear that it is doing something about the Syria crisis.  The agreement was in response to the stalled peace process begun by Kerry last fall that produced a vague outline for peace talks.  This outline called for a peace process that would lead to “credible, inclusive, non-sectarian governance, followed by a new constitution and elections” to be administered under UN supervision.”  It also was agreed that formal peace talks under UN auspices would begin on January 1^st.

Battle over Syria (II)

BERLIN/DAMASCUS/BAGHDAD (Own report) – Germany’s close allies have torpedoed the agreement to halt combat in Syria, reached at the end of last week in Munich. Turkey has begun attacks on Syrian territory, with the objective of forcing Kurdish troops to withdraw from the airbase near Aleppo, which would be of benefit to the al Qaeda offshoot, Al Nusra, which had previously held the base. Saudi Arabia has also announced intentions of sending ground troops into Syria. This threatens an escalation in the war with Saudi Arabia and the NATO member Turkey fighting on the one side, and Syria’s armed forces and Russia on the other. The consequences would be unpredictable. While not only having massively built up Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s arsenals, and allowing AWACS airborne radar systems to be used in the Syrian war, Berlin is focusing on the period after combat has ended. Refugees are supposed to serve as channels for enhancing German influence in Syria. The German government is also hoping to enhance its influence in Iraq through a Marshall Plan-like reconstruction effort. German military personnel are beginning to consider Russia’s intervention in Syria as having prevented IS/Daesh from taking power in Damascus and carrying out offensives against other countries – including Israel.

Analysis: Saudi Arabia Cooking Up Strategic Move Against Russia

One can only assume, since there is no backlash from the United States or NATO in reaction to this buildup, it’s being encouraged behind the scenes by the Obama administration.

 

Saudi-Turkish threat to invade Syria points to the gap between the desire for a cease-fire agreement and reality. Judging by Russia’s conduct so far, Riyadh and Ankara might want to reexamine what could be a dangerous gamble.

The news from Munich on Friday that a cease-fire would be declared in Syria within a week was still fresh when Saudi Arabia announced its own initiative: It would send warplanes to Turkey and special ground forces to fight in Syria against the Islamic State organization. The Saudi-Turkish proposal demonstrated just how great the gap is between hopes for an end to the fighting and the situation on the ground.

North Korea threatens to ‘leave no Americans alive’ as Kim Jong-un boasts of nuclear arsenal, on Korean War armistice anniversary

North Korean citizens flocked to mass patriotic gatherings and dances in honour of the armistice day, in honour of the agreement, which was signed on 27 July 1953.

The armistice is hailed every year as a North Korean victory over America, which fought alongside South Korea and UN forces against North Korean forces, which were backed by China and the USSR.

Is Putin planning an invasion? Ukraine says ‘record number’ of Russian troops on border

A RECORD number of Russian troops are stationed on the borders of Ukraine, the under-siege country’s has warned amid claims of intensifying attacks by pro-Russian rebels.

President Petro Poroshenko claimed NATO, EU and even US sources had warned of large numbers of Russian Federation armed forces being manned along the war-stricken borders.

His caution came as defence forces in Ukraine complained of more frequent and dangerous attacks in eastern regions of the torn country.

He said: “We have information that there is a record number of the Russian Federation’s armed forces along with the borders of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Poroshenko warns of ‘full-scale’ Russia invasion

President Petro Poroshenko has told MPs the military must prepare to defend against a possible “full-scale invasion” from Russia, amid a surge of violence in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has denied that its military is involved in Ukraine, but Mr Poroshenko said 9,000 of its troops were deployed.

Clashes involving tanks took place in two areas west of Donetsk on Wednesday.

There was a “colossal threat” that large-scale fighting would resume, the president told parliament in Kiev.

Russia amasses heavy firepower on border with Ukraine

 

Khutor Chkalova, Russia: Russia’s army is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of weaponry including mobile rocket launchers, tanks and artillery at a makeshift base near the border with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter saw this week.

Many of the vehicles have number plates and identifying marks removed while many of the servicemen had taken insignia off their fatigues. As such, they match the appearance of some of the forces spotted in eastern Ukraine, which Kiev and its Western allies allege are covert Russian detachments.

The scene at the base on the Kuzminsky firing range, around 50 km (30 miles) from the border, offers some of the clearest evidence to date of what appeared to be a concerted Russian military build-up in the area.

‘We are already at war,’ Ukrainian PM tells FRANCE 24

In an interview with FRANCE 24 on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk discussed granting more autonomy to east Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fight “against the Western world” and said that Ukraine is “already at war”.

Responding to criticisms that the ceasefire called for by the “Minsk II” agreement signed in February has been repeatedly violated by both sides, Yatseniuk said Ukraine is “eager” to hold up its end of the deal.

“But too much, if not everything, depends on Putin – whether he wants peace and stability,” Yatseniuk said.