WAR 06-24-2017-to-06-30-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

[Housecarl]

(274) 06-03-2017-to-06-09-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...09-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(275) 06-10-2017-to-06-16-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...16-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(276) 06-17-2017-to-06-23-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...23-2017_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

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Posted for fair use.....
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...er-blows-himself-up-as-saudis-foil-mecca-plot

Suicide Bomber Blows Himself Up as Saudis Foil Mecca Plot

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI and JON GAMBRELL)
ýJuneý ý24ý, ý2017ý ý12ý:ý18ý ýAMý ýPDT

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the fasting month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jiddah, as well as two areas in Mecca itself, including the Ajyad Al-Masafi neighborhood, located near the Grand Mosque.

There, police said they engaged in a shootout at a three-story house with a suicide bomber, who blew himself up and caused the building to collapse. He was killed, while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry's statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, it said.

Saudi state television aired footage after the raid Friday near the Grand Mosque, showing police and rescue personnel running through the neighborhood's narrow streets. The blast demolished the building, its walls crushing a parked car. Nearby structures appeared to be peppered with shrapnel and bullet holes.

The Interior Ministry said the thwarted "terrorist plan" would have violated "all sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth."

"They obeyed their evil and corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilize the security and stability of this blessed country," it said.

The ministry did not name the group involved in the attack. The ultraconservative Sunni kingdom battled an al-Qaida insurgency for years and more recently has faced attacks from a local branch of the Islamic State group. Neither group immediately claimed involvement, though IS sympathizers online have urged more attacks as an offensive in Iraq slowly squeezes the extremists out of Mosul and their de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria comes under daily bombing from a U.S.-led coalition.

The disrupted attack comes at a sensitive time in Saudi Arabia. King Salman earlier this week short-circuited the kingdom's succession by making his son, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, first in line to the throne.

The newly appointed 31-year-old crown prince is the architect of Saudi Arabia's stalemated war in Yemen against Shiite rebels. He has also offered aggressive comments about the kingdom confronting Shiite power Iran.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned the Mecca plot and said it remains willing to work with other countries in confronting terrorism.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have cut diplomatic ties to neighboring Qatar and are trying to isolate the energy-rich country over its alleged support of militants and ties to Iran. Qatar long has denied those allegations.

As the Interior Ministry announced the raid, over 1 million Muslim faithful prayed at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina to mark the end of Ramadan. In July 2016, a suicide bombing there killed four members of Saudi Arabia's security forces.

Millions of Muslims from around the world visit the mosque, the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad, every year as part of their pilgrimage. The same day in July, separate suicide bomb attacks targeted a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia and near the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah.

The Grand Mosque has been the target of militants before, in part because it represents a symbol of the ruling Al Saud family's clout in the Islamic world. The Saudi monarch bears the title of "custodian of the two holy mosques."

In 1979, some 250 militants seized the mosque and held it for two weeks as they demanded the royal family abdicate the throne. When Saudi troops stormed the mosque, the official death toll was 229, including extremists and soldiers.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

 

[Housecarl]

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Posted for fair use.....
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article158017549.html

The Latest: Death toll from Pakistan attacks climbs to 85

PESHAWAR, Pakistan
The Latest on the attacks in Pakistan, which killed more than 80 people (all times local):

9:15 p.m.

A Pakistani official says the death toll from twin bombings at a crowded market at northwestern town of Parachinar has risen to 67, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks to 85.

Shahid Khan, a government official in Parachinar, said Saturday that many of the victims of the Friday attacks are in critical condition and feared death toll may further increases.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian Sunni extremist group, claimed the bombings in Parachinar, a majority-Shiite town.

A suicide car bombing near the office of the provincial police chief in the southwestern city of Quetta has killed 14 people. The Quetta attack claimed by a breakaway Taliban faction and the Islamic State group. Four police officers were gunned down in southern city of Karachi.

___

2:15 p.m.
A Pakistani official says the death toll from twin bombings at a crowded market in the northwestern town of Parachinar has risen to 55, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks on Friday to 73.

Shahid Khan, a local official in Parachinar, said Saturday that many of the victims of the attacks are in critical condition.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian Sunni extremist group, claimed the bombings in Parachinar, a Shiite-dominated town.

The death toll from a suicide car bombing near the office of the provincial police chief in the southwestern city of Quetta has also risen, to 14. The Quetta attack was claimed by a breakaway Taliban faction and the Islamic State group. Also on Friday, four police officers were gunned down in southern city of Karachi.
___

11:15 a.m.
A Pakistani official says the death toll from twin blasts in the northwestern town of Parachinar climbed to 40 overnight, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks on Friday to 56.

Shahid Khan, a government official in Parachinar, said Saturday that many of the victims of the attacks are in critical condition.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian Sunni extremist group, claimed the twin bombings at a crowded market in Parachinar, a Shiite-dominated town.

. Another 12 people were killed in a suicide car bombing near the office of the provincial police chief in the southwestern city of Quetta, in an attack claimed by a breakaway Taliban faction and the Islamic State group. Four police officers were gunned down in southern city of Karachi.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...nato-russia-tensions-amid-war-games-1.3131368

Accusations highlight Nato-Russia tensions amid war games

Nato deploying battalions and armour to Baltics in response to Russia role in Ukraine

about 18 hours ago
Daniel McLaughlin in Tallinn


A close encounter between Russian and Nato warplanes over the Baltic Sea this week highlighted rising tension in the region linked to a series of major war games.

Footage shot from a Russian government plane carrying defence minister Sergei Shoigu showed a Nato F-16 jet flying alongside, and then a Russian air force Sukhoi-27 inserting itself between the two and lifting a wing to show the western fighter that it was armed.

Nato said its jet was scrambled as part of normal procedure to identify three planes that did not identify themselves. Once that was done, the F-16 returned to base.

US army soldiers disembark from Black Hawk helicopter during Suwalki gap defence exercise in Mikyciai, Lithuania. Photograph: Ints Kalnins/Reuters

Russian media lauded their fighter pilot for “chasing off” the Nato jet, and after landing in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, Shoigu said Moscow was being forced to respond militarily to Nato exercises and reinforcements in the region.

‘Likely to deteriorate’
“The intensity of the alliance’s operational and combat training is increasing,” he said at a meeting to discuss the security situation around Russia’s western border, which he claimed was “likely to deteriorate” due to Nato actions.

US CH-47 Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters take part in Suwalki gap defence exercise in Mikyciai, Lithuania. Photograph: Ints Kalnins/Reuters

“The alliance’s Baltops 2017 and Sabre Strike 2017 large-scale exercises are currently under way near Russia’s borders. Taking part are more than 10,000 servicemen, more than 70 warships and auxiliary vessels and about 70 aircraft, including B-52 strategic bombers,” he added.

“These events blatantly demonstrate our western partners’ clear reluctance to break from their anti-Russian course,” Shoigu said, announcing that Russia would form 20 new military units in western regions this year.

That would increase the Russian military’s already massive numerical advantage near the Baltic, and add fuel to the security fears of nearby Nato states that have seen the Kremlin send troops into Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.


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Multinational battalions
In response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and leading role in a continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine, Nato is deploying 1,000-strong multinational battalions and armour to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

US forces convoy during a trip to Suwalki near Augustow, Poland. Photograph: Ints Kalnins/Reuters

Alongside the kind of exercises that are now under way, the reinforcements have helped to reassure the Baltic states that Nato is committed to defending all of its members against any aggression.

But amid regular encounters between Nato and Russian aircraft and warships in the skies and seas of the Baltic, concern persists over the Kremlin’s intentions, particularly ahead of the “Zapad” (West) war games that are scheduled for September.

Nato officials think those exercises could involve 100,000 Russian soldiers, operating in western Russia, Kaliningrad – which is wedged between Poland and Lithuania – and neighbouring Belarus.

“When [Russia] went into Crimea, that was against the backdrop of an exercise. When they went into Georgia – that was an exercise,” Ben Hodges, commander of US forces in Europe, said this month.

Particularly vulnerable
As part of the Sabre Strike exercise, Nato troops last weekend practised defending the so-called Suwalki Gap, a 104km stretch of the Poland-Lithuania border that is seen as particularly vulnerable – if it were captured, the Baltic states to the north would be cut off by land from Nato allies and reinforcements.

“We have to practice, we have to demonstrate that we can support allies in keeping [the Gap] open, in maintaining that connection,” Lt Gen Hodges said.

Security analysts believe an attack on the Suwalki Gap could be a component of the Zapad war games, as could the use of Russian missile forces in Kaliningrad, where nuclear-capable Iskander rockets are stationed.

Nato advance force battalion group (EFP) demonstrates a water obstacle crossing during an International exercise, Iron Wolf 2017/Saber Strike 2017, in Stasenai, Lithuania. Photograph: Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images

“It is important to understand that the scenario of the exercise is of a military operation targeting Nato. So we should follow very carefully what they are preparing or rehearsing for,” said Estonian foreign minister Sven Mikser.

“Zapad is something to keep an eye on...The Russians have previously used large-scale military exercises for cover for doing something more sinister.”

If Russian troops stay, that would change the strategic equilibrium and then we would have to go back to Nato and discuss what to do about it

Across the Baltic states - which regained independence from the Kremlin in 1991 after five decades of Soviet occupation - there are particular worries over whether Russian troops will actually leave Belarus once Zapad is officially over.

“The biggest concern currently is Belarus,” said Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics.

Strategic equilibrium
“If Russian troops stay, that would change the strategic equilibrium and then we would have to go back to Nato and discuss what to do about it. From this point of view, it will be a litmus test.”

In interviews with The Irish Times, Mikser and Rinkevics said they did not fear a direct Russian attack during Zapad but would be monitoring developments very closely.

“It is important that we and our Nato allies have a heightened sense of awareness,” Mikser said, “and keep our eyes very wide open during the exercise.”


Topics:
Edgars Rinkevics
Sven Mikser
Sergei Shoigu
Ben Hodges
Nato
Belarus
United States
Estonia
Russia
Ukraine
Europe
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Georgia
Crimea

Read More
Russia accuses West of pushing pro-Albanian agenda in Macedonia
Russia and Nato states trade accusations amid military build-up
Donald Trump tells Theresa May he is ‘100% behind Nato’
Cheers and fears greet Trump from Baltic to Black Sea
Estonia is in the vanguard of Europe’s cyber battlefield

 

[Housecarl]

Hummm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-bl...he-groundwork-to-develop-nuclear-weapons-on-a

Has Iran laid the groundwork to develop nuclear weapons on a moment's notice?

By Jack Caravelli and Sebastian Maier, opinion contributors - 06/24/17 11:20 AM EDT
62 Comments

Hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough at its signing in July 2015, Iran’s nuclear agreement with leading members of the international community—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—has achieved some notable short-term successes, many in Iran’s favor. Most, not all, of Iran’s nuclear activities are either frozen or highly circumscribed. In exchange, Iran is reaping the benefit of receipt of billions of dollars in previously frozen assets as well as a return to international commerce where Europe and China, among others, are seeking to invigorate trade and investment with the theocratic regime. This will be a boon for Iran’s chronically mismanaged and struggling economy.

The bad news is that it is misleading to conclude that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been shuttered or that those ambitions will no longer pose a threat to the security and stability of the Middle East or beyond. This is because the agreement has finite limits, ranging from 10 years to 15 years depending on the issue.*

For the time being, Iran has incentives to abide by the agreement’s terms, beginning with its financial windfall and reintegration into the international community. None of that has lessened Iran’s fervor for supporting terrorism or the murderous regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.*

Moreover, even now there are signs Iran in the long-term has no plans to abandon its nuclear program—and all that implies for the possible development of nuclear weapons.*
*
A recent report from the highly credible Institute for Science and International Security takes note of a statement from Ali Akbar Salehi, the director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. According to the Institute report and quoting Salehi, Iran “has the capability to initiate mass production of advanced centrifuges on short notice.” Centrifuges are the machinery that enriches uranium and creates the fissile material needed to make a nuclear weapon.

While Iran may make the specious claim it has the right to do so in coming years, on practical grounds there should be no reason for Iran to devote resources to this activity if it does not intend, as it so claims, to pursue a nuclear weapons capability. Mass production of advanced centrifuges, if carried out, would give Iran a decided advantage if it wanted to shorten a rush to a nuclear weapon.

Similarly, Iran continues to develop its ballistic missile program, an element of its defense regime that was left unhindered in the nuclear negotiations except for the fact that existing United Nations sanctions on the missile program are to be lifted in about six years.

The capability to deliver nuclear weapons to targets is all important; Iran recognizes this requirement and makes no secret of its commitment to maintaining and advancing its program. At present, Iran has ballistic missiles capable of attacking targets throughout the Middle East and probably beyond.*

In addition, Iran also continues to defy repeated international requests to come clean on suspect activities at the Parchin military facility where suspicions for years have been high that Iran carried out high explosives testing that can only be useful in developing a nuclear weapon.

Much of the international community would be pleased to see these and related questions not resurface but they are inconvenient truths that if left unaddressed may well lead to a future crisis.

The mechanism to take up these issues is the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. Most nations around the globe are IAEA members and they merit a clear understanding of Iran’s activities, in no small measure to convince them that the international community can deal with Iran successfully and that Iranian actions can be monitored credibly.

That conclusion cannot be reached with credibility until much more is known about the pace and scope of Iran’s nuclear and missile activities. Until those questions are resolved it is fair to conclude that Iran’s actions since the signing of the JCPOA are troubling and raise new suspicions.

Jack Caravelli served on the White House National Security Council staff from 1999-2000.*Sebastian Maier is an associate with the London-based corporate intelligence firm GMTL.

---

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://nationalinterest.org/feature...akistans-support-afghan-based-21241?page=show

America Must Confront Pakistan's Support of Afghan-Based Terrorism

As the Trump administration should consider creating new pressure points that raise the cost and pain level for Pakistan's support of terrorism inside Afghanistan.

Javid Ahmad
June 20, 2017

Kabul is mourning after a spate of deadly attacks over the past few weeks, including a truck bomb that killed nearly 150 people in the capital¡¯s diplomatic district. These security setbacks have plunged Kabul into a crisis. The Pakistan-based Haqqani Network was behind the gruesome truck bomb that carried 1,500 kilograms of explosives, according to the Afghanistan¡¯s CIA-backed intelligence agency. The Haqqani Network has been active for over thirty years and has conducted similar signature strikes in Afghanistan in the past to inflict fear. Due to the many civilian casualties the Kabul attack caused, the network has denied involvement to ensure the group maintains its grassroots support.

The group¡¯s leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was one of the jihadi leaders who settled in Miramshah, a town in Pakistan¡¯s North Waziristan, in the 1970s before the Soviet invaded Afghanistan. Besides its base in Miramshah, the Haqqanis maintained a strong presence in eastern Afghanistan. At the time, the senior Haqqani sought to overthrow former Afghan president Daoud Khan¡¯s regime. Khan was a nationalist who resisted regional meddling in Afghan affairs.

The Haqqanis¡¯ desire attracted the attention of Pakistan¡¯s powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, also known as the ISI, and has since remained a loyal ISI proxy. Jalaluddin soon became one of the key resistance leaders after the Soviets entered Afghanistan. Aiding his effort were the United States and Saudi Arabia, who sent money and weapons through the ISI. (The United States went so far as to reportedly host Jalaluddin at the White House to meet with President Ronald Reagan.)

Since the 1990s, however, the group has closely aligned itself with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Jalaluddin allowed Al Qaeda to establish its first camps in Afghanistan in Haqqani territory and became a close friend of Osama bin Laden. After the 9/11 attacks, the group switched sides and turned its battle skills on the current U.S.-backed Afghan government and NATO forces to cater to Pakistan¡¯s agenda in Afghanistan.

Although the Haqqanis operate semi©\autonomously within the wider Taliban movement, the group¡¯s evolving role in leading the Afghan insurgency from behind the scene has pointedly altered the dynamics of the insurgency.

The Haqqani network is a relatively small, clan and family-based organization that operates under a centralized decisionmaking body, though it is decentralized in its execution. The group has leveraged its clan-based alliances to consolidate its power by serving as a key mediator for business and tribal disputes, marginalizing or defeating its rivals, and assuming a subordinate role in its relations with other militant groups, including the Taliban. This approach has enabled the group to not only preserve its operational and financial autonomy but also to benefit from the resources of other groups, including weapons and manpower. At present, Siraj Haqqani, one of the Haqqani sons, also serves as the deputy head of the Taliban movement.

More importantly, the Haqqani leaders have concomitantly pursued power and wealth through both their perverse ideology and ruthlessness. Their profit-driven motivation has increasingly transformed the group into a mafia-like criminal enterprise, which relies deeply on its complex fundraising network and the unfettered operating space provided by Pakistan.

During the Taliban regime, the senior Haqqani used his authority as the Taliban¡¯s border and tribal affairs minister to solidify his control over the border region. As a result, the group managed to carve out a lucrative business enterprise through a diverse set of financial activities, including extortion, kidnapping for ransom, drug trafficking, protection rackets for illicit smuggling rings, foreign donations and money laundering schemes via front companies.

Since then, the group has regularly collected taxes from landowners, trucking businesses, and construction companies, and its leaders reportedly maintain ownership stakes in a diverse number of companies. In order for any business to operate in the group¡¯s territory, it must benefit the Haqqani leaders.

The diversity of the Haqqani Network¡¯s business operations and their loyal client-patron relationship with the ISI make the group distinct from the mainstream Taliban. The Haqqanis represent the ¡°good¡± Taliban in Pakistan¡ªso much so that Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in September 2011 that the group functions as a ¡°veritable arm of Pakistan's intelligence.¡±

Today, the Haqqani leaders own properties in Pakistani cities, enjoy safe houses, and are treated in local hospitals. The group runs several madrassas, or schools, inside Pakistan and openly collect donations in mosques and disseminate publicity materials. The Haqqani leaders travel freely to-and-from Pakistan to fundraise in the Persian Gulf, and the group¡¯s arms and supplies regularly pass unimpeded through Afghanistan border checkpoints. The Miram Shah Shura, or the Haqqani leadership council, reportedly includes ISI officers who advise the group on planning operations. The weapons acquisition and delivery to the group also reportedly takes place under ISI¡¯s watch, and ISI officers are even said to participate in the group¡¯s social events. The Haqqanis have not conducted a single attack against Pakistan since the group¡¯s emergence in the 1970s.

In the past decade, the United States has engaged the Haqqanis through repeated drone strikes and designated the group as a foreign-terrorist organization in 2012. Washington, DC has also placed a $10 million bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani and has repeatedly asked Pakistan to go after Haqqani sanctuaries. However, despite warnings by the United States, Pakistan remains unwilling to take any action against the group. This¡ªcoupled with Taliban¡¯s recent territorial gains in Afghanistan¡ªhas animated the Afghan insurgency that has killed nearly 3,500 Afghan civilians in 2016 alone. These measures have done little to change Pakistan¡¯s behavior to abandon its lethal support to the group and has prompted questions from American policymakers about whether that behavior constitutes state sponsor of terrorism.

In the end, without proven support from Pakistan¡¯s intelligence, the Haqqanis are unlikely to survive, mostly because they cannot sustain the increasing number of losses inflicted by the U.S. drone strikes. Unfortunately, Pakistan¡¯s principal role in backing the group¡¯s activities has effectively made previous U.S. efforts futile. As the Trump administration concludes its Afghanistan strategy review, it should also seriously ponder using its leverage points¡ªsuch as targeted financial sanctions and travel restrictions on intelligence officials with ties to terrorist groups¡ªto create new pressure points that raise the cost and pain level for Pakistan.

Washington should also target the financial networks and banks that are being used as a laundering scheme by the ISI to sustain its support for terrorist groups, place stricter conditions on both future U.S. military aid and military sales to Pakistan, and boost its current drone campaign against the Haqqani Network. Until that happens, the situation in Afghanistan is likely to get worse.

Javid Ahmad is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council and at West Point¡¯s Modern War Institute. The views expressed in this article are his own. Follow him on Twitter @ahmadjavid.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN19F0D4

World News | Sat Jun 24, 2017 | 1:17pm EDT

Iraqi forces free hundreds of civilians in Mosul Old City battles as death toll mounts

Video

By Marius Bosch | MOSUL, Iraq

Iraqi forces opened exit routes for hundreds of civilians to flee the Old City of Mosul on Saturday as they battled to retake the quarter from Islamic State militants mounting a last stand in what was the de facto capital of their self-declared caliphate.

U.S.-trained urban warfare units were channeling their onslaught along two perpendicular streets that converge in the heart of the Old City, aiming to isolate the jihadist insurgents in four pockets.

The week-old battle in the Old City is turning into the deadliest of the eight-month U.S.-backed campaign to take back the northern city, which fell to the militants in June 2014.

A Reuters correspondent saw a young girl with facial injuries walking dazed and shocked across the frontline out of heavily-populated district with a group of neighbors. All her family was killed when their house collapsed, they said.

The United Nations voiced alarm on Saturday at the rising death toll among civilians in the fighting, saying as many as 12 were killed and hundreds injured on Friday.

“Fighting is very intense in the Old City and civilians are at extreme, almost unimaginable risk. There are reports that thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of people are being held as human shields (by Islamic State)," Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said in a statement. "Hundreds of civilians, including children, are being shot."

Iraqi authorities are hoping to declare victory in the northern Iraqi city in the Muslim Eid holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, during the next few days.

Helicopter gunships were assisting the ground thrust, firing at insurgent emplacements in the Old City, a Reuters correspondent reported from a location near the frontlines.

The government advance was carving out escape corridors for civilians marooned behind Islamic State lines.

There was a steady trickle of fleeing families on Saturday, some with injured and malnourished children. "My baby only had bread and water for the past eight days," one mother said.

Gallery

At least 100 civilians reached the safety of a government-held area west of the Old City in one 20-minute period, tired, scared and hungry. Soldiers gave them food and water.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are believed to be children, remain trapped in the crumbling old houses of the Old City, with little food, water or medical treatment.

The urban-warfare forces were leading the campaign to clear the Sunni Islamist militants from the maze of Old City alleyways, moving on foot house-to-house in locations too cramped for the use of armored combat vehicles.

French journalist Veronique Robert has died in Paris after being wounded in an explosion in Mosul earlier this week, her employer France Televisions said on Saturday.

The mine explosion killed Iraqi journalist Bakhtiyar Haddad and French journalist Stephane Villeneuve while another freelance reporter suffered minor injuries.

Aid organizations and Iraqi authorities say Islamic State was trying to prevent civilians from leaving so as to use them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

A U.S.-led international coalition is providing ground and air support in the eight-month-old campaign to seize Mosul, the largest city the militants came to control in a shock offensive in Iraq and neighboring Syria three years ago.

U.S.-supported Iraqi government offensives have wrested back several important urban centers in the country's west and north from Islamic State over the past 18 months.

HISTORIC MOSQUE BLOWN UP BY MILITANTS
Military analysts said Baghdad's campaign to recover Mosul gathered pace after Islamic State blew up the 850-year-old al-Nuri mosque with its famous leaning minaret on Wednesday.

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The mosque's destruction, while condemned by Iraqi and U.N. authorities as another cultural crime by the jihadists, gave troops more freedom to press their onslaught as they no longer had to worry about damaging the ancient site.

It was from the mosque that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced himself to the world for the first time as the "caliph", or ruler of all Muslims, on July 4, 2014. Mosul's population at the time was more than 2 million.

Baghdadi fled into the desert expanse extending across Iraq and Syria in the early phase of the Mosul offensive, leaving the fighting there to local IS commanders, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. Recent Russian reports that he was killed have not been confirmed by the coalition or Iraqi authorities.

The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the campaign dragged on as IS reinforced positions in inner-city neighborhoods of the city's western half, carried out suicide car and motorbike bomb attacks, laid booby traps and kept up barrages of sniper and mortar fire.

By this weekend, the area still under IS control was less than 2 square km (0.77 sq miles) in extent, skirting the western bank of the Tigris River that bisects Mosul.

Islamic State retaliated for government advances on Friday evening with a triple bombing in a neighborhood in eastern Mosul, which Baghdad's forces recaptured in January.

The attack was carried out by three people who detonated explosive belts, killing five, including three policemen, and wounding 19, according to a military statement on Saturday.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of Islamic State's "caliphate" as a quasi-state structure, but IS would still hold sizeable, mainly rural and small-town tracts of both Iraq and Syria.

In eastern Syria, Islamic State's so-called capital, Raqqa, is now nearly encircled by a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles


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[Housecarl]

Interesting considering the authors....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.wsj.com/articles/getting-an-edge-in-the-long-afghan-struggle-1498170753

Opinion Commentary Commentary (U.S.)

Getting an Edge in the Long Afghan Struggle

Trump’s early approach holds promise if backed with a sustained, and sustainable, commitment.

By David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon
June 22, 2017 6:32 p.m. ET

129 COMMENTS

Can the U.S. succeed in Afghanistan? Not without a sustained, and sustainable, commitment. President Trump’s decision to give Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to add several thousand more U.S. troops to the 8,400 currently deployed is encouraging—but only if it is a first step in a comprehensive approach.

Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, should also receive greater leeway in the use of U.S. and NATO air power. And officials should remain open to the possibility of reconciliation with some insurgents, probably just those that break off from the central Taliban.

An intensified military effort could arrest the gradual loss of territory held by the government in recent years—now estimated by U.S. Central Command at only 60% of the country—and to regain battlefield momentum. Congress should enable all this by appropriating the $5 billion or so a year above current levels that such a strategy will require.

America’s leaders should not lose sight of why the U.S. went to, and has stayed in, Afghanistan: It is in our national interest to ensure that country is not once again a sanctuary for transnational extremists, as it was when the 9/11 attacks were planned there. We have been accomplishing that mission since the intervention began in October 2001. Although al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is diminished, it could rebound if given the opportunity. Islamic State could expand its newfound Afghan foothold as well.

The augmented troop levels Mr. Trump has authorized would be only 12% to 15% of the peak U.S. force levels, in 2010-11. The country can sustain that level of commitment. While all casualties are tragic, our losses in Afghanistan would likely remain far fewer than the losses from another major terrorist attack in the U.S.

Today the U.S. and its coalition partners lack the capacity to train and assist Afghan forces adequately in the field. As recently as 2015, the allied forces did not even have a full-time advisory presence for the main Afghan army corps in Helmand province. Largely as a result, the Taliban gained control of much of the province. Nor did the coalition have adequate advisers to help the smaller Afghan formations near Kunduz before that city fell to the Taliban in 2015. It was later liberated only at high cost, especially to Afghan forces and civilians. Restrictions on coalition air power reduced America’s ability to help Afghan partners.

Adding some 3,000 to 5,000 U.S. and allied troops could provide the capacity for several dozen deployable mentoring teams. That is far from enough to assist each Afghan brigade or battalion. But it could support the units that are engaged in the toughest fights and are most intensively involved in rebuilding their capabilities. Supporting those teams logistically and with air power, and providing quick-reaction forces in several parts of the country to help them if they get in trouble, would drive additional requirements for coalition troops into the low thousands.

On the civilian side, President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah need to continue their efforts against corruption, which have shown gradual, modest results to date. With U.S. help, they need to reform the electoral commissions that will oversee parliamentary and presidential elections over the next two years.

Then there is Pakistan, where the U.S. needs a tougher approach. Washington reduced aid to Islamabad by more than half over the past five years. More can be cut. President Trump and Congress could also designate Pakistani individuals and organizations supporting the Taliban and impose sanctions on them. The U.S. could show less restraint in striking Taliban targets within Pakistan.

There are carrots available too: trade concessions, increased aid, more assistance to the Pakistani army’s fight against internal extremists, dialogue with New Delhi to mitigate Pakistan’s worries about India’s role in Afghanistan. But these must come on the condition that Islamabad put greater pressure on the Taliban (whose headquarters is in the Quetta area) and on the Haqqani insurgent network (in North Waziristan). None of this will work unless Pakistani leaders recognize that allowing these groups’ leaders sanctuary on their soil is foolish and dangerous. Given the way extremist groups collaborate in Central and South Asia, that approach will inevitably continue to backfire. After all, the greatest existential threat Pakistan faces is internal extremism, not India.

President Trump’s early approach holds promise. In Afghanistan today, the military needs to revisit the phase of the mission it largely skipped in the years after the surge of 2010-12 or so, when it downsized too quickly and too far. This approach will not achieve “victory” in Afghanistan, after which all troops can be withdrawn. That is an impossible goal in the near-term. But it will be sustainable and it can improve the prospects of shoring up our eastern flank in the broader battle against Islamist extremism—a fight that likely is to be a generational struggle.

Mr. Petraeus, a retired Army general, commanded coalition forces in Iraq (2007-08) and in Afghanistan (2010-11) and later served as director of the CIA (2011-12). Mr. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Appeared in the June 23, 2017, print edition.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...12026319da7_story.html?utm_term=.e754f7b94cfb

Israel hits Syrian military targets after errant fire reaches its side of the Golan Heights

By William Booth June 24 at 4:57 PM
JERUSALEM — The Israeli air force struck three Syrian army targets in the Golan Heights on Saturday, after errant fire from the Syrian side landed in Israeli-controlled territory.

Israel’s military spokesman said that 10 projectiles fired from Syria landed in open areas on the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights. Israel’s government said the fire was a result of fighting in Syria and not intentionally aimed at Israeli soldiers or civilians.

In response, an Israeli aircraft hit two Syrian army tanks and a heavy-machine-gun position on the Syrian side of the buffer zone that separates the two countries, the spokesman said.

The Israel Defense Forces released aerial video of the airstrikes. The spokesman did not say whether the errant fire from Syria consisted of mortar rounds, artillery shells or bullets.

Syrian media reported that at least two people were killed as a result of the Israeli strikes on the outskirts of the Syrian farming town of Quneitra, which is visible from the Israeli side and has been a scene of frequent clashes in the six-year conflict between anti-government forces and the Syrian army.

[Israeli forces kill 4 Islamic State allies in Golan Heights firefight]

Syria’s state news agency, quoting a Syrian army communique, alleged that the Israeli strikes coincided with an attack by militants in the area and suggested that Israel was aiding the Islamist forces, according to Reuters news agency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli retaliatory strike “made our policy clear: We are not willing to accept any spillover or leakage of fire from any front. We will respond with force to any fire on our territory.”

On Saturday, Israel lodged a complaint about the errant fire to the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, a peacekeeping mission operated by international troops that monitors the 1974 buffer zone between Israel and Syria.

Read more:

50 years after the Six-Day War, Israel’s pre-1967 borders are still a hot topic. Here’s why.

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

William Booth is The Post’s Jerusalem bureau chief. He was previously bureau chief in Mexico, Los Angeles and Miami. Follow @boothwilliam

 

[Housecarl]

UK: Britain First anti-Islam demo sparks chaos in Birmingham
Started by mzkitty‎, Today 02:10 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...st-anti-Islam-demo-sparks-chaos-in-Birmingham

UK Parliment Endures Ongoing Cyber Attack, E-Mail Shutdown, May Be Compromised
Started by Red Baron‎, Today 08:46 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ber-Attack-E-Mail-Shutdown-May-Be-Compromised

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/24/europe/uk-parliament-cyberattack/index.html

UK Parliament hit by cyberattack

By Simon Cullen and Eric Levenson, CNN
Updated 1:31 PM ET, Sat June 24, 2017

Story highlights
- Remote access to email has been shut down for now, an official said
- This comes just weeks after a global ransomware attack hit UK hospitals

(CNN)The UK Parliament's computer system has been hit by a cyberattack, a spokesperson for the Houses of Parliament said in a statement.

"We have discovered unauthorised attempts to access accounts of parliamentary networks users and are investigating this ongoing incident, working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre," the spokesperson said Saturday.

"Parliament has robust measures in place to protect all of our accounts and systems, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect and secure our network."

As a precaution, Parliament temporarily restricted remote access to its network, the spokesperson said. Indeed, some members of Parliament said on social media that they were having trouble accessing their emails remotely.

Angela Rayner MP ✔ @AngelaRayner
If you try and contact me by my parliamentary e-mail address then l will not be able to respond currently, this is due to a cyber attack
8:10 AM - 24 Jun 2017
146 146 Retweets 158 158 likes

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) "is aware of incident and working around the clock with the UK Parliamentary digital security team to understand what has happened and advise on the necessary mitigating actions," a spokesman said.

Parliament has shut down remote access to email, describing it as a "deliberate decision as part of their mitigation measures," the NCSC spokesman said.

The attack comes just more than a month after a massive ransomware attack crippled 200,000 computers across 150 countries. The UK's National Health Service was among the victims and was forced to cancel surgeries and divert ambulances.

 

[Housecarl]

Qatar given 13 pt list of demands by GCC and 10 days to comply
Started by*Lilbitsnana‎,*06-22-2017*11:58 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-list-of-demands-by-GCC-and-10-days-to-comply


For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gulf-qatar-turkey-idUSKBN19G06H

World News | Sun Jun 25, 2017 | 3:56am EDT

Turkey's Erdogan says Arab demands on Qatar unlawful

By Mehmet Caliskan | ISTANBUL

President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday dismissed calls for Turkey to close a military base in Qatar and said a wider list of demands issued by four Arab states was an unlawful intervention against the Gulf emirate's sovereignty.

In his strongest statement of support for Qatar in the nearly three-week-old crisis centered on the Gulf state, Erdogan said the call to withdraw Turkish forces was disrespectful and that Doha - which described the demands as unreasonable - was taking the right approach.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain imposed a boycott on June 5 on Qatar and issued 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television, curbing relations with Iran, shutting the Turkish base and paying reparations.

Doha said it was reviewing the list, but said it was not reasonable or actionable.

"We approve and appreciate the attitude of Qatar against the list of 13 demands," Erdogan, speaking outside a mosque in Istanbul, said. "...This approach of 13 demands is against international law because you cannot attack or intervene in the sovereignty of a country."

The demands are apparently aimed at dismantling Qatar's interventionist foreign policy which has incensed conservative Arab peers over its alleged support for Islamists they regard as threats to their dynastic rule.

Both Qatar and Turkey, whose ruling AK Party has its roots in Islamist politics, backed a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt before it was overthrown in 2013. The Arab states have demanded Qatar cut any links to the Brotherhood and other groups they deem to be terrorist, ideological or sectarian.

Bahrain's state news agency on Sunday confirmed the demands set out by un-named Gulf officials on Friday, including that Qatar close the Turkish base, end military cooperation with Ankara inside Qatar and stop supporting militant groups.

"The demands aim to achieve regional countries' stability, stand firmly against foreign interference and stop support for terrorist organizations," it said.

"NO PULLOUT"
Turkey, the most powerful regional country to stand by Qatar, has sent 100 cargo planes with supplies since its neighbors cut air and sea links. It has also rushed through legislation to send more troops to its base in Doha.

Two contingents of Turkish troops with columns of armored vehicles have arrived since the crisis erupted on June 5, and Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Friday that further reinforcements would be beneficial.

"The strengthening of the Turkish base would be a positive step in terms of the Gulf's security," he said. "Re-evaluating the base agreement with Qatar is not on our agenda."

Hurriyet newspaper said last week a joint exercise by Turkish and Qatari forces was expected following the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday which started on Sunday, and the number of Turkish soldiers sent to the Gulf state could eventually reach 1,000. An air force contingent was also envisaged, it said.

Also In World News
Syria's more confident Assad gives Eid prayers in Hama
Oil tanker explosion kills more than 123 in Pakistan

Erdogan said Turkey had also offered to establish a military base in Saudi Arabia, but never received a clear answer.

"If Saudi Arabia wants us to have base there, a step toward this also can be taken," he told reporters. "I made this offer to the king himself and they said they will consider this."

"They did not come back to us since that day and even though they still didn't come back to us on this, asking Turkey to pull back its troops (from Qatar) is disrespectful against Turkey".

Speaking outside the Istanbul mosque after prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, Erdogan said he would continue his planned program despite feeling briefly unwell.

"I had a little condition about my blood pressure, related to my diabetes," he said.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed el Sherif in Cairo; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jane Merriman)

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-japan-constitution-abe-idUKKBN19G01H

Top News | Sun Jun 25, 2017 | 3:24am BST

Japan's Abe to push for constitution reform before year end - media

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to accelerate plans to amend Japan's pacifist constitution, saying he expects to submit a proposed revision to lawmakers before the end of the year, media reported on Sunday.

Abe said in a speech in Kobe city on Saturday he planned to submit a proposal for the first ever amendment of Japan's post-World War Two constitution during an extraordinary session of parliament that will be convened later this year, Japan's main daily newspapers reported.

Abe has proposed amending the constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 by 2020 to officially recognise Japan's Self-Defense Forces as its military.

Such a change could draw fire from China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past military aggression persist. They would likely see the change as a step toward the re-emergence of Japan as a military power. [nL3N1IY42H]

Abe had been expected to wait until next year before seeking legislators' approval of the change. He would need to win the support of two-thirds of members of both houses of parliament and a majority of votes in a referendum.

Supporters of Japan's post-war pacifism view Article 9 as the foundation of its democracy. Many conservatives see it as a humiliation imposed by the United States after Japan's defeat in 1945.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/06/24/weekly_recon_24_june_111660.html

Weekly Recon 24 June

By Blake Baiers
June 24, 2017

Good Saturday morning and welcome to Weekly Recon. On this day in 1948, one of the most dramatic standoffs of the Cold War begins as the Soviet Union blocks all road and rail traffic to and from West Berlin.*The blockade turned out to be a terrible diplomatic move by the Soviets, while the United States emerged from the confrontation with renewed purpose and confidence. The United States response came just two days after the Soviets began their blockade. A massive airlift of supplies into West Berlin was undertaken in what was to become one of the greatest logistical efforts in history. The successful American airlift merely served to accentuate the technological superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets officially ended the blockade.*

The F-22 Isn’t Coming Back – Many have lamented the early end to the production of the F-22A Raptor. The plane’s community of committed fans was let down this week when the Air Force finally released its report on the feasibility of reactivating the F-22’s production. The report revealed that it would be far too expensive, estimating that merely reactivating the production line, shut down since 2011, would cost up to $10 billion. It would cost and additional $40 billion to double the current fleet, at a per unit price of up to $216 million ($79 million more than the last F-22 to roll off the line), not to mention the amount of maintenance and continual upgrades. Already the most expensive plane in the Air Force’s arsenal to operate.

Aside from the expense, the F-22, designed in the 1980s, are technologically outdated.* The Raptor’s avionics are capable of only 1/25 the computing power of the original iPhone. As Dave Majumdar has pointed out at The National Interest:

“The Raptor’s avionics were dated even before the jet was declared operational in December 2005. While the Raptor is the most advanced operational warplane in the Air Force’s inventory, its computer architecture dates back to the*early*1990s…The jet’s avionics would have to be completely revamped for a production restart, not just because they’re obsolete, but also because the jet’s antique processors and other components haven’t been made in decades.”*

To be fair, the F-22 is the most formidable fifth-generation fighter in service, and arguably the best air-superiority fighter in existence. F-22 devotees often point to former Defense Secretary Robert Gate’s decision to terminate production at just 187 planes, citing the plane was not “relevant to post-Cold War conflicts such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Revisiting the F-22 simply doesn’t make sense, both regarding cost and aging technology.* *Last week’s NDAA defense markups show that the Pentagon and Congress are looking to the next generation of aircraft. The loss of the F-22 will, as many hope, lead to a technologically superior 6th generation fighter fleet.

Secretary Shulkin’s Plan for Veterans Affairs – RealClearDefense’s David Craig attended a Christian Science Monitor hosted breakfast this week where Veteran’s Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was the guest of honor and keynote speaker. Shulkin laid out his 13-step plan to reinvigorate the department, and bring it out of what he described as “critical condition.” Shulkin was brought in from the private sector by the Obama administration in 2015 to run and reform the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health, where he took the reins of the VA’s medical operations of the VA after the department had been engulfed in controversy surrounding excessive waiting times, which have been linked to the death of many veterans.

Now, as the Department’s chief, Shulkin has laid out his plan to ensure the VA is providing the best care available to our veterans when they need it. His greatest priority is reducing the high rate of veteran suicides. To offer better care, Shulkin is emphasizing innovative in thinking as his path forward for VA reform. This is best exemplified by his “Choice 2.0” initiative, which “will allow veterans that either live over 40 miles from a VA facility or that have waited over 30 days for an appointment to seek care outside the VA System at fixed Medicare cost.” Speaking at the CSM even this week, Shulkin emphasized five priorities that demand his immediate attention. You can read more about those priorities in David’s coverage of the event here.

South China Sea Tensions Simmering to a Boil – North Korean provocations have dominated headlines in the Asia-Pacific region while confrontations in the South China Sea are on the rise. Tensions between China and Vietnam came to a boil once more this week when Beijing canceled a literal fence-mending ceremony, denoting the healing of Sino-Vietnamese relations following the 1979 border war, and following the military-to-military dialogue in Hanoi. The Chinese delegation soured as the talks turned into disputes over the South China Sea and Vietnam’s strategic engagement with the U.S. and Japan.

Contributing to rising tensions is the U.S. Navy’s new approach to the South China Sea, continuing Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) in the region, but under the radar. In an interview with the Financial Times, Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, noted that the decision to not report FONOPs is indicative of the United State’s new “softer” regional posture. He continued, however, that, “[t]he number of days spent by US ships in the South China Sea was on track to exceed 900 in 2017 — higher than the long-term average of 600-700 days…” The U.S. and Japan recently conducted drills in the South China Sea, which included Japan’s largest naval ship, the helicopter carrier Izumo.

China is also stepping up its military posture in the South China Sea, recently deploying its newest submarine hunting aircraft on Hainan Island. This follows Beijing’s February call for all submarines traversing the South China Sea to do so on the surface.

Even as negotiations progress toward the increasingly enigmatic China Sea code of conduct, tensions are on the rise and threaten the fragile security arrangement in Southeast Asia.
*
SEND RCD YOUR INPUT:*Please send your tips, suggestions, and feedback to editors@realcleardefense.com. Make sure to follow us on Twitter at*@RCDefenseand follow Blake Baiers*@BlakeBaiers

 

[Shacknasty Shagrat]

'
The F-22 Isn’t Coming Back – Many have lamented the early end to the production of the F-22A Raptor. The plane’s community of committed fans was let down this week when the Air Force finally released its report on the feasibility of reactivating the F-22’s production. The report revealed that it would be far too expensive, estimating that merely reactivating the production line, shut down since 2011, would cost up to $10 billion. It would cost and additional $40 billion to double the current fleet, at a per unit price of up to $216 million ($79 million more than the last F-22 to roll off the line), not to mention the amount of maintenance and continual upgrades. Already the most expensive plane in the Air Force’s arsenal to operate.'

From the same source.
SS


Five Signs the F-35 Fighter Is a Smashing Success

By Loren Thompson
June 20, 2017

This week's performance by the F-35 fighter at the Paris Air Show is a turning point for the world's most advanced multi-role fighter, demonstrating that even when fully loaded with combat gear, it can out-perform the tactical aircraft of every other country. Although prime contractor Lockheed Martin has always professed confidence F-35 would prove itself, a dwindling collection of critics continues to attack the plane citing outdated or simply erroneous arguments...
http://www.realcleardefense.com/art...-35_fighter_is_a_smashing_success_111621.html

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Syria News‏ @Syrianews_daily 6m6 minutes ago

RUSSIAN S-300 IN #SYRIA HAS SHOT DOWN AMERICAN EQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK DRONE

Reports are coming in From Russian and... http://fb.me/8qf04Daj2

https://www.facebook.com/Syrianewsdaily/posts/655625261300545

Syria News added 2 new photos.
10 mins ·

RUSSIAN S-300 IN #SYRIA HAS SHOT DOWN AMERICAN EQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK DRONE

Reports are coming in From Russian and Polish News that Russian military has shot down a US drone off the coast of Syria. In a second report Russian news claims as many as 6 drones have been shot down between Idlib and Latkia close to the Russian Base in Syria. It is believed that the drone shot down over the Mediterranean Sea was a Global Hawk valued at 222 Million dollars. Global Hawk is an important asset for U.S Air Force to pinpoint targets & only 4 of them exist in the world. One of them which has been shot down operating near Syria. Without this it is almost impossible for America to carry out airstrikes against Syrian Arab Army in the near future precisely.

 

[Housecarl]

Mexican Cartel Spying on U.S. Cops in Plot to Identify, Murder Informants in Arizona
Started by*Millwright‎,*Today*06:19 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...Plot-to-Identify-Murder-Informants-in-Arizona

--

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/06/24/graphic-74-killed-weeks-long-cartel-war-near-texas-border/

GRAPHIC: 74 Killed in Weeks-Long Cartel War near Texas Border

by Cartel Chronicles
24 Jun 2017
477 Comments

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — The raging cartel war for control of this city resulted in at least 74 officially-counted murders. Many more victims have been incinerated just south of the Texas border.

In early May, Breitbart Texas began reporting on rival factions of the Gulf Cartel fighting for control of this border city. The continuing conflicts resulted in convoys of cartel gunmen roaming the streets looking for their rivals.

Overnight, cartel gunmen dumped a bloodied corpse with a posterboard where one cartel factions threatened their rivals. Bodies with warnings had not been seen previously in Reynosa. However, they are commonplace in Ciudad Victoria*and in the border state of Nuevo Leon where Breitbart Texas has been reporting Los Zetas and other cartels are also carrying out massacres.

The violence spiked in early May, shortly after Mexican authorities killed former Gulf Cartel boss Juan Manuel “Toro” Loiza Salinas in late April. His death led to a power vacuum where his former allies are trying to fight off the another faction that appears to be favored by other cartel leaders.*The ongoing fighting has led to a spike in highway robberies, armed robberies, kidnappings, and extortions as cartel commanders continue to look for ways to fund their ongoing war.*

The raging violence by the Gulf Cartel immediately south of the Texas border led to the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) issuing an alert to agents that they represent regarding the cartel war just south of the border, Breitbart Texas reported. The NBPC warned federal agents about the constant gun battles and the possibility of spillover violence or stray rounds fired in Mexico landing in Texas.


Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used.*Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles*are published in both English and in their original*Spanish. This article was written by “A.C. Del Angel” from Reynosa, Tamaulipas.*

 

[Housecarl]

Hummm.....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://time.com/4826856/russia-trump-north-korea-china-war/

Why It’s No Longer Possible for Any Country to Win a War

Yuval Noah Harari
Jun 23, 2017

Ideas
Harari is the internationally best-selling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow; he lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The last few decades have been the most peaceful era in human history. For the first time ever, fewer people die today from human violence than from traffic accidents, obesity or even suicide. Whereas in early agricultural societies human violence caused up to 15% of all human deaths, and in the twentieth century it caused 5%, today it is responsible for only about 1%. Yet the international climate is rapidly deteriorating; warmongering is back in vogue, and military expenditure is ballooning. Both laypeople and experts fear that just as in 1914 the murder of an Austrian archduke sparked the First World War, in 2017 some incident in the Syrian Desert or an unwise move in the Korean Peninsula might ignite a global conflict.
Yet there are several key differences between 2017 and 1914. Back then, war had great appeal to elites across the world because they had concrete examples for how successful wars contribute to economic success and political power. Now, successful wars seem to be an endangered species.

From the days of Assyria and Rome, great empires were usually built through war, and elites in 1914 had plenty of recent examples for the huge profits a successful war can bring. In 1846–48 the United States invaded Mexico, and for the price of 13,000 dead American soldiers, it got California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and Oklahoma. It was the bargain of the millennium. Similarly, imperial Japan cherished its victories over China and Russia; Germany glorified its triumph over France; and almost every great power had a string of splendid little colonial wars to its name. When France, Britain or Italy contemplated putting boots on the ground in Vietnam, Nigeria or Libya, their main fear was that somebody else might get there first.


Play Video
In 2017, global elites don’t know what a successful war even looks like. They may have read about them in history books and seen fanciful recreations in Hollywood blockbusters, but they have good reason to suspect that this type of war has gone extinct. Though some third-world dictators and non-state actors still manage to flourish through war, it seems that major powers no longer know how to do so.

Related
Syria
'Hell on Earth': A New Documentary on Syria Traces the Rise of ISIS

The greatest victory in living memory — of the United States over the Soviet Union — was achieved without any major military confrontation. The U.S. then got a fleeting taste of old-fashioned military glory in the First Gulf War — which only tempted it to waste trillions on humiliating military fiascos in Iraq and Afghanistan. China, the rising power of the early twenty-first century, has assiduously avoided all armed conflicts since its Vietnamese debacle of 1979, and it owes its ascent strictly to economic factors. In this, it has emulated not the Japanese and German empires of the pre-1914 era, but rather the nonviolent Japanese and German economic miracles of the post-1945 era.

Even in the Middle East, regional powers don’t know how to wage successful wars. Iran gained nothing from the long bloodbath of the Iran-Iraq War and subsequently avoided all direct military confrontations. It became regional hegemon by default, as its two main enemies — the U.S. and Iraq — got embroiled in a war that destroyed both Iraq and the American appetite for Middle Eastern quagmires.

Much the same can be said of Israel, which waged its last successful war fifty years ago. Since 1967, Israel has prospered despite its many wars, not thanks to them. Its conquered territories are a heavy economic burden and a crippling political liability. Like Iran, Israel has recently improved its geopolitical position not by waging successful wars, but by avoiding getting sucked into the wars that devastated Iraq, Syria and Libya.

The only recent successful war waged by a major power has been the Russian conquest of the Crimea. However, it was made possible by an extraordinary set of circumstances: The Ukrainian army showed no resistance; other powers refrained from intervening; and the Crimean population either supported the invaders or peacefully accepted the conquest as a fait accompli. These circumstances will be hard to reproduce. If the precondition for a successful war is the absence of any enemies willing to resist, it limits the available opportunities.

Indeed, when Russia sought to reproduce its Crimean success in other parts of the Ukraine, it encountered substantially stiffer opposition, and the war in eastern Ukraine bogged down into an unproductive stalemate. Conquering decrepit Soviet-era factories in Luhansk and Donetsk hardly pays for the war, and it certainly does not offset the costs of international sanctions.

The conquest of Crimea notwithstanding, it seems that in the twenty-first century the most successful strategy is to keep your peace and let others do the fighting for you. Why has it become so difficult for major powers to wage successful wars?

One reason is the change in the nature of the economy. In the past, if you defeated your enemy on the battlefield, you could easily cash in by looting enemy cities, selling enemy civilians in the slave markets and occupying valuable wheat fields and gold mines. Yet in the twenty-first century, only puny profits could be made that way. Today, the main economic assets consist of technical and institutional knowledge — and you cannot conquer knowledge through war. An organization such as ISIS may flourish by looting cities and oil wells in the Middle East — in 2014, ISIS seized more than $500 million from Iraqi banks and in 2015 made an additional $500 million from selling oil. But China and the U.S. are unlikely to start a war for a paltry billion. As for spending trillions of dollars on a war against the U.S., how could China repay these expenses and balance all the war damages and lost trade opportunities? Would the victorious People’s Liberation Army loot the riches of Silicon Valley? True, corporations such as Apple, Facebook and Google are worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but you cannot seize these fortunes by force. There are no silicon mines in Silicon Valley.

A successful war could theoretically still bring huge profits by enabling the victor to rearrange the global trade system in its favor, as the U.S. did after its victory over Hitler. However, present-day military technology would make it extremely difficult to repeat this feat. By definition, profits large enough to make a global war worthwhile for the victor will also make it worthwhile for the loser to resort to weapons of mass destruction. The atom bomb has turned “victory” in a World War into collective suicide. It is no coincidence that since Hiroshima superpowers never fought one another directly, and engaged only in what (for them) were low-stake conflicts in which none was tempted to use nuclear weapons to avert defeat. Indeed, even attacking a second-rate nuclear power such as Iran or North Korea is an extremely unattractive proposition.

Cyber warfare makes things even worse for would-be imperialists. As recently as the days of George W. Bush, the U.S. could wreak havoc in far-off Fallujah while the Iraqis had no means of retaliating against San Francisco. But if the U.S. now attacks a country possessing even moderate cyber warfare capabilities, malware and logic bombs could stop air traffic in Dallas, cause trains to collide in Philadelphia and bring down the electric grid in Michigan.

In the great age of conquerors, warfare was a low-damage, high-profit affair. At the battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror gained the whole of England in a single day for the cost of a few thousand dead. Nuclear weapons and cyber warfare, by contrast, are high-damage, low-profit technologies. You could use such tools to destroy entire countries, but not to build profitable empires.

Hence in a world filling up with saber-rattling and bad vibes, perhaps our best guarantee of peace is that major powers aren’t familiar with any recent example of a successful war. While Genghis Khan or Julius Caesar would invade a foreign country at the drop of a hat, present-day strongmen talk loud but are very careful about actually launching wars. Of course, if somebody does find a formula to wage successful wars under twenty-first-century conditions, the gates of hell might open with a rush. This is what makes the Russian success in the Crimea a particularly frightening omen. Let’s hope it remains an isolated example. Though, even if it is impossible to wage successful wars in the twenty-first century, that does not give us an absolute guarantee for peace. We should never underestimate human stupidity.

Ideas
TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.

*

 

[Be Well]

Guess I'll have to pay more attention to this thread.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Nathan J Hunt Retweeted
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski‏Verified account @JSaryuszWolski 1h1 hour ago

"Norway-Russia relations to deteriorate following U.S. Marines' base extension: Russian embassy"
- Reuters

 

[Lilbitsnana]

posted for fair use and discussion
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/en/...ria-saudi-hamas-qatar-confrontation-gaza.html

Iran draws line in the sand in Syrian desert

Taking sides in eastern Syria
Summary
⎙ Print
Iran stakes claim in eastern Syria; Saudi move against Hamas; Qatar risks confrontation in the Gaza Strip.
Author Week in Review Posted June 25, 2017

Ali Hashem writes, “The war for the Syrian Desert is in fact a war for the heart of the Middle East. The Iranian-led coalition in Syria is racing against the US-backed forces there, as both seek to defeat the Islamic State (IS), the group that has shaped the face of the region for the last four years. It is a war in the desert to draw a line in the sand, some might say, or a war to draw a line across borders and connect four capitals: Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut. Hence the battle is between two different regional and international agendas, with each side viewing the other as the real threat after the defeat of IS in Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa.”

He continues, “The Tehran-Beirut route is a symbolic connection, one that announces that the Iran-led resistance axis is intact, as it was before the eruption of the Syrian revolution in 2011 and IS’ capture of Mosul in June 2014. That said, from the Iranian point of view, the regional stage is now different.” The advance of Syrian forces has been “concomitant with progress toward the same border by the PMU [Popular Mobilization Units] in Iraq, led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who announced on June 10 that his forces had reached the frontier and ‘liberated 4,200 square kilometers [1,622 square miles] and 142 villages.’ Of note, however, his forces have no intention of entering Syrian territory.”

A US airstrike on Syrian positions in al-Tanf on June 6 is a sign that the United States and Iran are taking sides on opposite sides of this latest fault line in the region. Arash Karami reports that Iran on June 18 for the first time launched missiles against IS positions in eastern Syria. “The timing of the strikes,” Karami writes, “has led some to believe the message was also intended for the new US administration, which is adopting a policy of regime change for Tehran and is reportedly seeking to confront Iran militarily in Syria.”

Hashem explains that the notion of a “road link” or “land bridge” from Tehran to Beirut “might, however, be an overstatement or a bit of hyperventilating analysis, given that in the past Israeli fighter jets have on several occasions hit alleged arm supplies near and around Damascus. A longer route, mainly through a no man's land in remote areas of Iraq, is likely to be vulnerable to hits by the Israeli or US air forces, not to mention possible attacks by insurgents, including IS.”

The battle for eastern Syria introduces further complexity, and uncertainty, about the role of Iraq, which faces pressure from both Tehran and Washington. While the battle against IS on the Iraqi side of the Syrian desert border is being led by the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is walking a tightrope between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Omar Sattar writes.

Abadi visited Riyadh on June 19 and Tehran on June 20, and he may be seeking to defuse tensions between the two countries, without upsetting either.

Arash Karami reports that Abadi and Iranian leaders discussed a shared concern about plans for a referendum on independence by the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is hard to envision Iraq staying neutral, let alone antagonizing Iran, given the stakes in Syria.

The US alliance with the Syrian Democratic Forces, made up primarily of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), is also at a “critical juncture,” according to Fehim Tastekin.

“In an unusual move, Kurdish officials have made statements supportive of Riyadh regarding its tension with Qatar,” Tastekin reports. But these comments may reflect a broader unease about what comes next, given the many interests, actors and high stakes in play. He continues, “A senior YPG commander who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said the YPG is ready to go to anyplace in Syria to fight IS, but they will not agree to any alliance beyond that. He said the Kurds see Iran as a problem but will not become part of a battle against it. They have no plans to move to al-Tanf, he said.”

Hamas, Gaza on edge over Gulf crisis

Adnan Abu Amer writes this week that the demand by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that Qatar sever ties with Hamas carries risks for the Gaza Strip, and could push Hamas further into the Iranian camp.

“Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Al-Monitor that the knife could cut both ways. Arab division and tension in the region could tempt Israel to take advantage of the situation and move against the Palestinians, or, as Qassem put it, ‘commit crimes’ against them in Gaza,” Abu Amer reports. “’Hamas hopes this Arab crisis will [soon] come to an end, because it mainly serves Israel, and the movement stresses that any Israeli escalation against Gaza would be met with all the resources it can get to defend the Palestinian people,’ Qassem said. ‘The ongoing blockade on Gaza would lead Palestinians to confront their true oppressor, the Israeli occupation. Hamas is greatly offended by the hostility and pressure by the Palestinian Authority, Israel and some regional parties.’”

Abu Amer, reporting from Gaza, observes that “an increasing number of Israeli surveillance drones have recently been flying over Gaza at low altitudes, and daily episodes of violence are taking place between Palestinian demonstrators approaching Gaza’s eastern border and Israeli soldiers on the other side. One Palestinian was shot and killed June 6 when Israeli soldiers fired on the protesters.”

Abu Amer concludes, “Hamas has largely remained silent about the Gulf crisis, perhaps not wanting to provoke Arab states' hostility. The movement's leadership may well recognize that with the political, financial and military shadows cast by the Gulf crisis, it should forgo any military confrontation with Israel for the time being. Hamas alone, however, does not control the situation in the Gaza Strip. Israel, Egypt and the PA also have a say, and they have not hidden their hostility toward Hamas. This raises the possibility of their potentially seizing the opportunity to eliminate it once and for all.”

This column, commenting on Abu Amer’s reporting earlier this month, noted that the “US-Saudi-Islamic summit forced a rethink by the Hamas political leadership” in favor of support for Iran’s resistance axis.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

posted for fair use and discussion (there is a video clip at link)
http://www.news.com.au/world/europe...y/news-story/25108f508fd511205cac25f6d6371e70


Arctic outpost becomes hotbed of Russian military activity


June 26, 20176:05pm

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Russia launches further missile strikes at IS targets

Victoria Crawnews.com.au@Victoria_Craw


A TINY stretch of Arctic water has become a hotbed of military activity amid fears it could become the next flashpoint in a global conflict between the US and Russia.

Locals on the tiny Norwegian island of Vardo have seen an increase in military action through the upgrade of a critical radar system, Globus III, due to be completed by 2020.
The windswept outpost is just 30 kilometres from Russia’s Kola Peninsula, from where a fleet of nuclear armed submarines operates, in a bid to strengthen Russian presence in the Arctic region.

Norwegian author Bard Wormdal, who wrote The Satellite War, about the close and secretive military and intelligence alliance between Norway and the US, said there has been significant uptick in activity recently from both sides.

“This is connected to the tension [between] east west but it is also connected to the modernisation of Russian submarines. They do a lot of modernisation of this equipment,” he told news.com.au.

The Yekaterinburg is a Delta-IV-class nuclear-powered submarine that normally carries 16 nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, based in the Kalo Peninsula region. In 2010 one was engulfed by fire, but there was no radiation leak, officials said at the time. Picture: AP Photo/Roustem Adagamov)Source:AP



Vardo

 

[Lilbitsnana]

The Intel Crab Retweeted
marqs‏ @MarQs__ 2h2 hours ago

BREAKING: Macron says #France will not recognise #Crimea annexation



The Intel Crab Retweeted
Doloroso‏ @Pyrmha108 12h12 hours ago

Turkey to send 500 Kyrgyz mercenaries to North Aleppo to fight SDF
.
#EuphratesShield #Al_Bab #Jarablus #TalRifaat #Afrin #Efrin #Jarabulus



The Intel Crab‏ @IntelCrab 16h16 hours ago

The Intel Crab Retweeted Tetyana S.

#Russia has called 1,700 soldiers from #Crimea to service.

The Intel Crab added,

Tetyana S. @TetySt
Russia illegally calls up to military service more than 1,7 thousand Crimeans.
http://112.international/society/ru...ice-more-than-17-thousand-crimeans-18211.html …

 

[Possible Impact]

Conflict News‏ @Conflicts 15m
BREAKING: US Sen. Corker says
he will withhold OK for arms sales to GCC countries
until Qatar dispute is resolved - @AaronMehta

 

[Possible Impact]

Syria News‏ @Syrianews_daily 6m6 minutes ago

RUSSIAN S-300 IN #SYRIA HAS SHOT DOWN AMERICAN EQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK DRONE

Reports are coming in From Russian and... http://fb.me/8qf04Daj2

https://www.facebook.com/Syrianewsdaily/posts/655625261300545

Syria News added 2 new photos.
10 mins ·

RUSSIAN S-300 IN #SYRIA HAS SHOT DOWN AMERICAN EQ-4 GLOBAL HAWK DRONE

Reports are coming in From Russian and Polish News that Russian military has shot down a US drone off the coast of Syria. In a second report Russian news claims as many as 6 drones have been shot down between Idlib and Latkia close to the Russian Base in Syria. It is believed that the drone shot down over the Mediterranean Sea was a Global Hawk valued at 222 Million dollars. Global Hawk is an important asset for U.S Air Force to pinpoint targets & only 4 of them exist in the world. One of them which has been shot down operating near Syria. Without this it is almost impossible for America to carry out airstrikes against Syrian Arab Army in the near future precisely.

Cavalry has arrived.
They sent manned platforms instead,
to keep them from being shot down by Russia,
who won't want to cause that major of an escalation. (yet?)


CivMilAir ✈ ?‏ @CivMilAir 20h
Patrolling off the Syria coast US Navy P-8A Poseidon 168852

CivMilAir ✈ ?‏ @CivMilAir 8h
Patrolling over the Eastern Med Syria
US Air Force - Rivet Joint RC135V 64-14841 LINDY90

 

[Possible Impact]

and more showing up...

CivMilAir ✈ ?‏ @CivMilAir 49 seconds ago
Launched from a carrier in the Med, south of Cyprus
US Navy C-2A Greyhound 162158

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1693291-navy-accelerates-design-new-columbia-class

Navy Increases Design Support for its New Fleet of Nuclear-Armed "Columbia-Class" Submarines

Scout Warrior
Yesterday at 7:31 PM

Video

The new Ohio Replacement Program nuclear-armed submarines will serve into the 2080s; They Are Designed to Prevent a Catastrophic 1st Strike Massive Nuclear Attack on the US

The Navy is accelerating and increasing design support for the development and construction of its new Columbia-Class nuclear armed ballistic missile submarines -- to ensure progress toward the goal of engineering the most lethal, high-tech and advanced ballistic missile submarines the world has ever seen.

Designed to serve well into the 2080s and beyond, Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat developers are hoping to leverage years of science and technology development to best position the new submarine to enter service by 2031.
*
The increased support was announced by the Department of Defense as a $203 million modification to an existing deal between the Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat to begin manufacture of 17 new tactical missile tubes able to fire nuclear-armed Trident II D5 missiles.*

A prior 95-million modification to a Naval Sea Systems Command deal with Electric Boat, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, is a key part of the Navy's broader deterrence strategy to ensure a second-strike nuclear ability from beneath the ocean around the world in the event of a catastrophic first-strike on the continental US.*

The effort, which has been preceded by "tube and hull" forging work underway for several years, is part of a collaborative US-UK Common Missile Compartment program.

The US and UK are together immersed in a common missile compartment effort.* In fact, the US and UK have been buying parts together for the common missile compartment and working on a $770 million contract with General Dynamics’ Electric Boat. This recent contract*modification includes foreign military sales to the United Kingdom.**Work will be performed in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and is expected to be completed by December 2023.*United Kingdom foreign military sales funding in the amount of $22,957,933 will be obligated at the time of award, a Pentagon statement said.*

The US plans to build 12 new Columbia-Class Submarines, each with 16 missile tubes, and the UK plans to build four nuclear-armed ballistic submarines, each with 12 missile tubes.*

Earlier this year, ship specifications for the new Columbia-Class submarines were completed and the program is now in detailed design phase and initial production contract, service officials said.

In acquisition terms, development of the new submarines have passed what's termed "Milestone B," clearing the way beyond early development toward ultimate production. Production decisions are known as "Milestone C."

"The program was approved to proceed to Milestone B*Jan. 4, authorizing it to enter into the engineering and manufacturing development phase and permitting the transition from preliminary design to detail design," *William Couch, spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command, told Scout Warrior earlier this year.*

Ultimately, the Navy hopes to build and operate as many as 12 new nuclear-armed submarines, to be in service by the early 2040s and serve well into the 2080s.*

The Navy has begun early construction and prototyping on a new class of nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines designed to help ensure global peace by deploying massive destructive power under the sea.

Columbia-Class submarines are scheduled to begin construction by 2021.*Requirements work, technical specifications and early prototyping have already been underway at General Dynamics Electric Boat.

Designed to be 560-feet– long and house 16 Trident II D5 missiles fired from 44-foot-long missile tubes, ORP will be engineered as a stealthy, high-tech nuclear deterrent able to quietly patrol the global undersea domain.*

The new submarines are being designed for 42 years of service life.

Construction on the first submarine in this new class is slated to be finished up by 2028, with initial combat patrols beginning in 2031, service officials said.*

Strategic Nuclear Deterrence

Detailed design for the first Columbia-Class submarine is happening now. The new submarines are being engineered to quietly patrol the undersea domain and function as a crucial strategic deterrent, assuring a second strike or retaliatory nuclear capability in the event of nuclear attack.

The Navy is only building 12 Columbia-Class submarines to*replace*14 existing*Ohio-class*nuclear-armed boats because the new submarines are being built with an improved*nuclear core reactor that*will better sustain the submarines, Navy officials have said.

As a result, the Columbia-Class submarines will be able to serve a greater number of deployments than the ships they are*replacing*and not need a mid-life refueling in order to complete 42 years of service.

With the life of ship reactor core, there is not a need for mid-life refueling, Navy developers explained.

By engineering a "life-of-ship" reactor core, the service is able to build 12 SSBNs able to have the same at sea presence as the current fleet of 14 ballistic missile submarines. The plan is intended to save the program 40 billion savings in acquisition and life-cycle cost, Navy developers said.*

Electric Boat and the Navy are already progressing on early prototype work connecting missile tubes to portions of the hull, officials said.* Called integrated tube and hull forging, the effort is designed to weld parts of the boat together and assess the ability to manufacture key parts of the submarine before final integration.

In 2012, General Dynamics Electric Boat was awarded a five-year research and development deal for the*Ohio*Replacement*submarines with a value up to $1.85 billion.* The contract contains specific incentives for lowering cost and increasing manufacturing efficiency, Navy and Electric Boat officials said.*

Next-Generation Technology

Columbia-Class submarines are being designed with a series of next-generation technologies, many of them from the Virginia-Class attack submarine.* Leveraging existing systems from current attack submarines allows the Columbia-Class program to integrate the most current technologies and systems while, at the same time, saving the developmental costs of beginning a new effort, officials said.*

The Columbia-Class*will utilize Virginia-class’s fly-by-wire joystick control system and large-aperture bow array sonar. The automated control fly-by-wire navigation system is also a technology that is on the Virginia-Class attack submarines. A computer built-into the ship's control system uses algorithms to maintain course and depth by sending a signal to the rudder and the stern.*

Sonar technology work by sending out an acoustic ping and then analyzing the return signal in order to discern shape, location or dimensions of an undersea threat.*

Navy experts explained that the large aperture bow array is water backed with no dome and very small hydrophones able to last for the life of the ship; the new submarines do not have an air-backed array, preventing the need to replace transducers every 10-years. *

The submarines combat systems from Virginia-class attack submarines, consisting of electronic surveillance measures, periscopes, radios and computer systems, are also being integrated into the new submarines.*

The shafts of the new submarines are being built to last up to 10 or 12 years in order to synchronize with the ships maintenance schedule. Existing shafts only last six to eight years, developers said.*

The Columbia-Class will also use Virginia-class’s next-generation communications system, antennas and mast. For instance, what used to be a periscope is now a camera mast connected to fiber-optic cable, enabling crew members in the submarine to see images without needing to stand beneath the periscope.* This allows designers to move command and control areas to larger parts of the ship and still have access to images from the camera mast, Electric Boat and Navy officials said.

The Columbia-Class submarine are also engineering a new electric motor for the submarine which will turn the shaft and the rotor for the propulsion system. The new motor will make propulsion more efficient and potentially bring tactical advantages as well.

In total, the Navy hopes to buy 12 of the new submarines to serve into 2085 and beyond.*

Production for the lead ship in a planned fleet of 12*Ohio*Replacement*submarines is expected to cost $12.4 billion — $4.8 billion in non-recurring engineering or development costs and $7.6 billion in ship construction, Navy officials have said.*


The Navy hopes to build*Ohio*Replacement*submarine numbers two through 12 for $4.9 billion each in 2010 dollars.

Kris Osborn*can be reached at*Krisosborn.ko@gmail.com
To Ask Military Expert KRIS OSBORN Questions,*VISIT THE WARRIOR FORUMS.

 

[Housecarl]

Hummm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-missile-defense-imperative-1498425131

Opinion Review & Outlook (U.S.)

The Missile Defense Imperative

As nuclear threats grow, the U.S. needs more advanced protection.

June 25, 2017 5:12 p.m. ET
277 COMMENTS

Liberal opposition to missile defense has persisted since the 1980s, but the politics may be changing with technological progress and the rising threat from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons. Congress has an opportunity this summer to notch a rare bipartisan deal that enhances U.S. security.

Kim has already overseen more nuclear and missile tests than his father and grandfather combined, and the Defense Intelligence Agency warns that “if left on its current trajectory” Pyongyang will develop a capacity to hit Japan, Alaska, Hawaii or even the U.S. West Coast. The Trump Administration is pleading with China to stop the North, but Chinese leaders never seem to act and they’re even trying to block regional missile defenses in South Korea.

Meanwhile, the U.S. last month successfully tracked and shot down a mock intercontinental ballistic missile, akin to a bullet hitting a bullet. The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)—first fielded in 2004 but untested since 2014—has a success rate of nine in 17 intercept trials. But even the failures show the GMD is increasingly effective.

Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan wants to build on this progress with an amendment that would fund a more integrated system, add new interceptors and sensors and increase research. The legislation has united conservatives such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and liberal Democrats such as Gary Peters and Brian Schatz, no small feat in the Trump era.

Systems like the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense at sea and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) on the ground can shoot down regional threats within earth’s atmosphere. Only the GMD can hit long-range threats targeting all 50 states, bringing the missiles down in space. All of these systems have separate radars, which have to be coordinated to get a complete picture of a target. The bill aims to create a better integrated system that provides what Mr. Sullivan calls “an unblinking eye.”

This would include advanced space-based sensors. An improved system in space could provide a persistent picture—from launch to interception. If the systems can communicate more efficiently, military brass can make better choices faster.

By the end of 2017 there will be 40 ground-based interceptors at Alaska’s Fort Greely and four at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, where the May test was conducted. The bill provides for 28 more interceptors for Fort Greely. Extra interceptors mean more tests and more available to take out threats. This is crucial as the North builds mobile launchers and tries to develop multiple warheads on a single missile.

Some Senators suspect that the Sullivan amendment is little more than home-state pork, but all states would benefit from preventing an attack and the fact of geography is that the trajectory of intercontinental missiles usually requires them to fly over Alaska. The Pentagon is studying whether to place another interceptor site in the Midwest or East Coast.

Opponents say missile defenses are too expensive given that interception might fail, so better to trust arms control and the deterrence of mutual-assured destruction. But arms talks with North Korea have been a fool’s errand since negotiator Robert Gallucci and Bill Clinton bought its promises in 1994.

Even a 50% chance of interception might increase deterrence by making the success of an enemy first strike more doubtful. North Koreans or other rogues also may not be rational actors who fear their own annihilation. U.S. leaders have a moral obligation to do more than let Kim Jong Un hold American cities hostage, and without defenses a pre-emptive military strike might be the only alternative.

The price for the space-based system is classified but no doubt expensive, and it’s difficult to score technologies still under development. But Congress ought to be able to find money to save Seattle from annihilation while arming U.S. troops against conventional threats. If it can’t, voters should at least be able to see who voted against their protection.

The Senate will take up the National Defense Authorization Act in the coming weeks. Mr. Sullivan’s missile-defense amendment would be a down payment on a safer America in an ever more dangerous world.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...are-surging-worldwide-u-s-defense-study-finds

Missile Threats Surging Worldwide, U.S. Defense Study Finds

Tony Capaccio and Larry Liebert
June 25, 2017 9:01 PM PDT June 26, 2017 7:32 AM PDT

- ‘Dramatic improvements in accuracy’ cited in report on trends
- The missiles can carry nuclear or conventional warheads

Video - North Korea Isn't Backing Down

Technology for ballistic and cruise missiles is advancing in countries from North Korea and Iran to Russia and China, increasing potential threats to the U.S. even if they don’t carry nuclear warheads, according to a new Pentagon report.

“Many countries view ballistic and cruise missile systems as cost-effective weapons and symbols of national power,” defense intelligence agencies said in the report obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its release. “Many ballistic and cruise missiles are armed with weapons of mass destruction. However, numerous types of ballistic and cruise missiles have achieved dramatic improvements in accuracy that allow them to be used effectively with conventional warheads.”

The report comes as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks a way to stop North Korea’s drive to develop a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. While citing the ballistic missile programs being pursued by Kim Jong Un’s regime in Pyongyang and by Iran, the study describes a broader proliferation of missiles, advanced technology and launch options.

“Ballistic missiles can be deployed in silos, on submarines, surface ships, road- and rail-mobile launchers and aircraft,” the report said. “Mobile missiles can provide greater pre-launch survivability. The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in ballistic missile capabilities to include accuracy, post-boost maneuverability, and combat effectiveness.”

Read More About the Options for Dealing With North Korea

Among the new technologies are hypersonic glide vehicles being developed by Russia and China.

“HGVS are maneuverable vehicles that travel at hypersonic (greater than Mach 5) speed and spend most of their flight at much lower altitudes than a typical ballistic missile,” according to the report. “The combination of high speed, maneuverability, and relatively low altitude makes them challenging targets for missile defense systems.”

Other findings in the report by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center and the Defense Intelligence Ballistic Missile Analysis Committee:

- “Tehran’s desire to have a strategic counter to the United States could drive it to field an ICBM. Progress in Iran’s space program could shorten a pathway to an ICBM because space launch vehicles (SLV) use inherently similar technologies.”

Iran has modified its medium-range Shahab 3 ballistic missile, which is based on a North Korean model, to extend its range and effectiveness. The longest-range variant reportedly is able to reach targets at a distance of about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles.) The U.S. agencies assess that Iran currently has fewer than 50 Shahab 3s.

- “China continues to have the most active and diverse ballistic missile development program in the world. It is developing and testing offensive missiles, forming additional missile units, qualitatively upgrading missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses.”

China is expected to increase the number of warheads on its ICBMs capable of threatening the United States to substantially more than 100 by 2022 from the “relatively small number of nuclear armed, liquid-propellant” CSS-3 and CSS-4 ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. today.

- Russia, which surpassed the U.S. in 2014 in deployed nuclear warheads, “is expected to retain the largest force of strategic ballistic missiles outside the United States.”

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Mystery...they obviously saw and heard it, but whose ship? Same for the two ships that came to their aid?


Hamza Mohamed‏Verified account @Hamza_Africa 3h3 hours ago

BREAKING: Reports of a foreign ship catching fire in the mountainous coastal town of Bargal, in Somalia's Puntland region.


Harun Maruf‏Verified account @HarunMaruf 3h3 hours ago

BREAKING: A navy vessel is sinking off the coast of Alula, Puntland; villagers told @voasomali they believe it caught fire. #Somalia


Hamza Mohamed‏Verified account @Hamza_Africa 2h2 hours ago
Replying to @Hamza_Africa

Local officials in Aluula town in Puntland region say they heard a loud explosion. Fishermen in the area saying it is a military ship.


Harun Maruf‏Verified account @HarunMaruf 2h2 hours ago
Replying to @HarunMaruf @voasomali

An explosion has been reported on a navy vessel offshore Alula and Mur'anyo coastal towns of NE Somalia; villagers say vessel is sinking.


Harun Maruf‏Verified account @HarunMaruf 2h2 hours ago
Replying to @HarunMaruf @voasomali

Unconfirmed reports say the sinking navy vessel is one of the EU anti-piracy ships. Villagers saw 2 other vessels reach area to rescue crew.


Rıκ Dεʟнααƨ‏ @RikDelhaas 1h1 hour ago

#EUNAVFOR website states #Italy and #France vessels are deployed at the moment off #Somalia. http://eunavfor.eu/deployed-units/surface-vessels/ … @HarunMaruf


Harun Maruf Retweeted
Rıκ Dεʟнααƨ‏ @RikDelhaas 52m52 minutes ago

Rıκ Dεʟнααƨ Retweeted EUNAVFOR

@EUnavfor denies incident one of their ships off coast #Somalia @HarunMaruf

Rıκ Dεʟнααƨ added,

EUNAVFORVerified account @EUNAVFOR
.@EUNAVFOR aware of reports about possible fire aboard an EU warship off coast of Somalia. We can confirm no incident & all our crews safe.

 

[Housecarl]

Fox News reporting that US Intel reported by White House to have found indicators that Assad regime is preparing another chemical weapons attack and is warning Assad that there will be repercussions if they go through with such an attack.

 

[Shacknasty Shagrat]

Fox News reporting that US Intel reported by White House to have found indicators that Assad regime is preparing another chemical weapons attack and is warning Assad that there will be repercussions if they go through with such an attack.

The Intel Crab‏ @IntelCrab 47m47 minutes ago

Breaking: The #US has detected activity which may allude to an imminent chemical weapon attack in #Syria. @POTUS warns of heavy price.
5 replies 33 retweets 18 likes
https://twitter.com/intelcrab?lang=en

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Strategic Sentinel‏ @StratSentinel 4h4 hours ago

Strategic Sentinel Retweeted Liveuamap

1 Killed, 2 Wounded in Kiev, Ukraine after car explodes. Driver was reportedly in the Military. Police regarding it as a terrorist attack.


Ali Özkök‏ @A_Ozkok 4h4 hours ago

The moment, when a bomb kills the head of special operations in Military Intelligence of #Ukraine in #Kiev.
video clip: https://twitter.com/A_Ozkok/status/879611260123394048


The Intel Crab Retweeted
Maxim A. Suchkov‏ @Max_A_Suchkov 3h3 hours ago

BREAKING:In #Kiev Maksim Shapoval, head of Intelligence Reserve of #Ukraine's Defense Ministry killed in a car blast.


Conflict News‏ @Conflicts 1h1 hour ago

UKRAINE: Senior Ukrainian intelligence officer killed in car bombing in Kiev this morning.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Liveuamap MiddleEast‏ @lummideast 2h2 hours ago

Kremlin slams US 'threats' against Syria's Assad https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2017/27-june-kremlin-slams-us-threats-against-syrias-assad-- … via @AFP

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Conflict News‏ @Conflicts 1m1 minute ago

UPDATE: Pentagon says US has seen chemical weapons activity at Syrian air base used in past chemical attack - AP

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Strategic Sentinel Retweeted
Steve Herman‏Verified account @W7VOA 10m10 minutes ago

Steve Herman Retweeted Steve Herman

#Cyberattack #Petya spreading rapidly throughout Europe.

Steve Herman added,

Steve HermanVerified account @W7VOA
#Ukraine hit by a sweeping #cyberattack.

Strat 2 Intel Retweeted
Larry Van Horn‏ @MilcomMP 1h1 hour ago

Larry Van Horn Retweeted CivMilAir
✈

��

VRC-40 C-2A operating w/USS George HW Bush (CVN-77). They just came through the Suez into eastern Med. Show of force to Syria/Assad/Russians

Larry Van Horn added,
CivMilAir
✈
�� @CivMilAir
Replying to @CivMilAir
Climbing out from RAF Akrotiri - operating from a carrier in the Med.

���� US Navy…

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Leith Abou Fadel‏Verified account @leithfadel 14m14 minutes ago

Leith Abou Fadel Retweeted CivMilAir
✈

?

US warplanes flying incredibly close to the Syrian coast today....on the same day Assad visits the Russian airbase on the coast

Leith Abou Fadel added,
CivMilAir

✈
? @CivMilAir
? Eyes over the Eastern Med #Syria
?? US Air Force RC135V Rivet Joint
?? US Air Force RC135U Combat Sent
?? US Navy P-8A Poseidon

Leith Abou Fadel‏Verified account @leithfadel 17m17 minutes ago

Leith Abou Fadel Retweeted Moon of Alabama

Great find by @MoonofA - something is brewing

Leith Abou Fadel added,

Moon of Alabama @MoonofA
Something is up?
Or are these games "to frighten" the Russian air defense? https://twitter.com/CivMilAir/status/879615312311848960 …

Leith Abou Fadel‏Verified account @leithfadel 19m19 minutes ago

Something of note: A U.S. naval vessel is close to the Syrian territorial waters where they launched the last tomahawk missiles


Leith Abou Fadel‏Verified account @leithfadel 26m26 minutes ago

Prediction: US launches tomahawk missiles at Shay'rat Airbase because of 'suspected' chemical weapons.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Steve Herman‏Verified account @W7VOA 3m3 minutes ago

Steve Herman Retweeted Steve Herman

#Ukraine, #Russia, #UK and #India reported as countries most affected by #Petya #cyberattack.

Steve Herman added,

Steve HermanVerified account @W7VOA
#Cyberattack #Petya spreading rapidly throughout Europe. https://twitter.com/w7voa/status/879694617901494272 …

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Guy Elster‏Verified account @guyelster 48s49 seconds ago
Replying to @guyelster

#BREAKING Global cyber attack reported in many firms in UK, Ukraine, Russia. Norway and more

 

[Lilbitsnana]

News_Executive‏ @News_Executive 3m3 minutes ago

BREAKING: Due to the renewed cyber attacks in Europe,Chornobyl nuclear power plant has switched to manual radiation monitoring.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

This doesn't make sense since they seem to be hardhit too.


Steve Herman‏Verified account @W7VOA 2m2 minutes ago

#Ukraine Interior Ministry says it sees #Russia links in #Petya #cyberattack.

 

[almost ready]

Uh oh. It's spreading.

Countries with companies affected now include UK, Norway and other countries. Now being called "Global"
. Will return with links.