U.S. Marines conducted a live fire exercise in the southern Syrian desert after Russia said it intended to enter the deconfliction zone near an American base in the area.
More than 100 U.S. Marines, backed by artillery fire, took part in the exercise to send a “strong message” to Russia, two U.S. defense officials told Fox News. Continue reading
Washington (CNN)Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard is expected to soon begin a major naval exercise that could demonstrate its ability to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial conduit for global energy supplies, US officials say.
The exercise in the Persian Gulf could begin as soon as the next two days, according to two US officials directly familiar with the latest assessment of the Revolutionary Guard’s troop movements.
A time sequence of the construction of radome containing parabolic antenna at Bejucal sigint facility. (Source: Victor Robert Lee & Digital Globe)
According to a new surveillance report from The Diplomat, exclusive satellite imagery from March 2017 to May 2018 reveals a newly expanded “signals intelligence” military facility near Bejucal, Cuba.
The report focuses on a massive radome sitting on top of an elevated concrete mounting structure. From satellite imagery, the structure looks like a giant golf ball, but it is actually a protective dome housing a super sophisticated radar antenna inside. As mentioned by The Diplomat, this radome is the first of its kind among the various spy antennas at Bejucal, which have been used to intercept electronic communications, ballistic missile monitoring, and tracking of satellites from the United States. Continue reading
(Photo Credit: Vitaly V. Kuzmin via Creative Commons 4.0)
The kingdom has threatened to build a nuclear waste dump literally at the border with its diminutive neighbor too.
King Salman has said Saudi Arabia would take military action to eliminate the Russian-made S-400 aerial defense system if it is installed in neighboring Qatar, which has reportedly entered into a deal to purchase several of the launch systems despite being home to a major U.S. Central Command base.
Accoring to Reuters, Salman “recently” wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron that states, in part:
“The kingdom would be ready to take all necessary measures to eliminate this defense system, including military action.” Continue reading
Defense secretary nominee Gen. Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis believes ISIS is “al-Qaida on steroids” and must be defeated in head-to-head “battles of annihilation” that leave “no survivors” on the enemy side, according to a recent discussion he participated in with a conservative think tank.
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Mattis made the eye-opening remarks in a little-noticed interview with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution in Palo Alto, Calif., where he is a visiting fellow. Continue reading
U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says Turkey’s purge of military leaders is hurting efforts to defeat the Islamic State militant group.
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Clapper and U.S. Central Command chief General Joseph Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on July 28 that the purge had swept aside many Turkish officers who assisted the United States in its efforts to defeat IS, and landed some of them in jail. Continue reading
On June 16th, Russian warplanes bombed a secret military base in Syria used by U.S. and British special forces, killing at least four members of ISIS.
Nearly a day before the strike, 20 of 24 British special forces pulled out of the CIA linked base.
The warplane dropped a cluster bomb, according to U.S. and rebel officials, which immediately prompted U.S. central command air operations center in Qatar to call Russia’s air campaign headquarters in Latakia, Syria to inform the Russian’s that the base shouldn’t be attacked.
ABOARD THE USS NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps on Monday dispatched five military vessels to monitor a U.S. warship hosting one of America’s top generals on a day trip through the Strait of Hormuz, coming as close as 500 yards (meters).
For Army General Joseph Votel, who oversees all American military forces in the Middle East, the approaches were a safe though worrying reminder of how little time American forces have to decide whether IRGC ships might pose a threat. Continue reading
The enemy isn’t at the gate. The enemy is within the gate. The enemy within the gate isn’t in the trojan horse. The enemy within the gate has left the trojan horse and is now doing its job of gutting America.
America itself hasn’t woken up and is following mostly the Kardashians. That small portion who aren’t following the Kardashians are three steps behind in thinking the enemy is at the gate.
America is being purged and in trouble with deep wounds that may not be curable.
The growing scandal over cooked ISIS intelligence just got much worse. Now, analysts are saying they’re being forced out for not toeing the Obama administration’s line on the war.
Two senior intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say the military has forced them out of their jobs because of their skeptical reporting on U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria, three sources with knowledge of their claim told The Daily Beast. It’s the first known instance of possible reprisals against CENTCOM personnel after analysts accused their bosses of manipulating intelligence reports about the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in order to paint a rosier picture of progress in the war.
Iran state media
Pentagon: Naval personnel held at gunpoint during arrest
Iranian military personnel likely removed two SIM cards from phones belonging to the 10 American sailors who were detained by Iran overnight last week, the Pentagon said.
The latest revelations in the circumstances surrounding the U.S. sailors’ detention last Tuesday came in the first public account of the events released by the U.S. Central Command Monday. Continue reading
If you’ve been following Global Geopolitics for the last two years or so, this would be a no-brainer. The good news is that the mainstream picked up on it.
Rare tweet by media giant alludes to sinister Obama policy
Matt Drudge’s first tweet in months came with a cryptic message: “A shocking truth is unfolding: America has been arming ISIS.”
The Obama administration has been plagued for weeks over news U.S. weapons supplied to Syrian rebels were inadvertently winding up in the hands of terror groups. The media giant’s tweet on Tuesday alludes to something far more sinister.
President’s overly cautious, centralized style irking Pentagon
Key lawmakers from both parties say frustration with the White House among the top military officers is at its highest level in decades, the product of President Obama’s cautious approach to the wars in Syria and Iraq and an indecisive inner circle of White House advisers who, critics say, have iced the Pentagon out of the policymaking process.
“There’s a level of dissatisfaction among the uniformed military that I’ve never seen in my time here,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain in an interview. “For some of us who are a little older, let’s go back and read the Pentagon Papers — what the administration is doing is the kind of incrementalism that defined much of the Vietnam conflict.” Continue reading
In the end, President Obama was forced to listen to his generals — not his political instincts — on Afghanistan troop levels, and he decided to split the difference.
Mr. Obama is keeping 5,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond his presidency, about half the strength recommended by his top general in-country. It marks the sixth time he has rejected the advice of a ground commander on the force size in the long Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Military experts call that streak unprecedented for a commander in chief. Continue reading
If you’ve been following Global Geopolitics for a little while, you will have seen the posts regarding the whitewashing and manipulation of the ISIS threat designed to ensure the public hears only happy stories. Ex-military officers have also claimed the exact opposite of what the Obama administration portrays. They’re even gaining ground in Afghanistan. Soon we might see a follow-up to this story where we find out 50-plus intelligence analysts were suddenly removed (purged) from their duties, like US Army Gen. Odierno, who was forced into retirement after going against the Obama administration grain.
Also, stories such as ISIS taking over Syria’s last remaining oil field (another oil field here) is another piece of proof hard to refute. Don’t forget about the oil and wheat fields they took over in Iraq. Furthermore, what’s worse is that they’re on America’s doorstep on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Along with the military, the intelligence communities have been infiltrated by a fifth column which during the next year or two will continue to shed away the ‘undesirables’ who are truly patriotic and concerned about America’s national security.
It’s being called a ‘revolt’ by intelligence pros who are paid to give their honest assessment of the ISIS war—but are instead seeing their reports turned into happy talk.
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.
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“The cancer was within the senior level of the intelligence command,” one defense official said.
Fall in line with the liars in the White House or get purged like this respected General. It remains to be seen how long Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner will last given his statement regarding ISIS gaining ground. All branches are being purged of those who hold the line against the Obama administration, or are Christian.
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno headed into retirement Friday amid controversy over his recent remarks on Iraq that were challenged by the Baghdad government, the State Department and now U.S. Central Command.
When asked if CentCom agreed with Odierno’s assessment that the campaign against Islamic militants in Iraq was essentially at a “stalemate,” Air Force Col. Pat Ryder, the chief spokesman for the command, said Friday, “No, I don’t agree with that.” Continue reading
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