....but Trump would never, ever escalate the conflict in Sria, right?

A U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet on Sunday in the southern Raqqa countryside with Washington saying the jet had dropped bombs near U.S. backed forces and Damascus saying the plane was downed while flying a mission against Islamic State militants.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syr ... mg00000009

best regards
Thomas

Next step. Another Su-22 down. What do you expect, in the end, Assad-regime will meet the American-backed forces. No solution has been reached, no end-game, and as far as I know, no negotiations what will happen when ISIS is defeated. No strategic plan. So my prediction is that will escalate within a matter of months, or the Kurds are once again screwed like they were left behind in 1991.

I hope Americans won't be stupid enough to actually get rid of Assad and repeat the very same mistakes that George W Bush did in Iraq. But I'm not too hopeful of that, for a long time it has been a country run by a mixture of corrupt elite who benefit from war, and plain dumbasses.

I don't really know what the rules of engagement are for U.S. fighter jets operating in the area but I seriously doubt the chain of command to get this shot approved went all the way up to the President...

So he's colluding with Putin, until it doesn't fit the narrative, then you just forget about it? That's how the left works these days?

This action is based on a doctrine established after the Vietnam War. If you want someone to fight for you you better give them all the support you promised.

So for now, the US need the SDF to take Raqqa. To do that, the SDF needs to have the Syrian Army off their back. After ISIS is removed from Syria, we will have to see if the US will still stand behind the SDF. I suspect that the lessons learned from Viet Nam will hold and the US airforce will be in Syria for a long time. Think post WWII Germany.

The Syrian Regime is playing a cat and mouse game. They cooperate with the SDF where they think beneficital and they push the envelope against the SDF where they can to see how firm the US will stand.

Personally, I think the line or demarcation is already established with the Euphrates river as the border, any territory controlled by the SDF south of the river is probably bargaining chip.

bt

Following the shooting down the Russian statement opens a whole nest of problems.

"Any aircraft, including planes and drones belonging to the international coalition operating west of the River Euphrates, will be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets,"

More fingers on the triggers, more chances of a mistake.

now they've shot down a Iranian drone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... s-against/

and Russia will target any coalition aircraft. Australia grounds all aircraft.

Looks like things are getting worse

mad99 wrote:

now they've shot down a Iranian drone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... s-against/

and Russia will target any coalition aircraft. Australia grounds all aircraft.

Looks like things are getting worse

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

Dutchy wrote:

mad99 wrote:

now they've shot down a Iranian drone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... s-against/

and Russia will target any coalition aircraft. Australia grounds all aircraft.

Looks like things are getting worse

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

Well.. A tiny war against Russia is good distraction and a nice story to tell for Trump.

Best regards
Thomas

Dutchy wrote:

mad99 wrote:

now they've shot down a Iranian drone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... s-against/

and Russia will target any coalition aircraft. Australia grounds all aircraft.

Looks like things are getting worse

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, Russia did not do much of anything.

dfwjim1 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

mad99 wrote:

now they've shot down a Iranian drone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... s-against/

and Russia will target any coalition aircraft. Australia grounds all aircraft.

Looks like things are getting worse

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, Russia did not do much of anything.

In reality, the Russians and the Syrians can't do anything about it; if they even threaten or point a weapon at any US or coalition aircraft, there's enough American assets in the Middle East and Mediterranean to squish whatever the Syrians and the Russians can put out in the region very quickly. So the Russians will talk a fierce game but in reality, they have their backs against the wall, with the Americans holding a knife at the Russian's throat.

ThePointblank wrote:

dfwjim1 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, Russia did not do much of anything.

In reality, the Russians and the Syrians can't do anything about it; if they even threaten or point a weapon at any US or coalition aircraft, there's enough American assets in the Middle East and Mediterranean to squish whatever the Syrians and the Russians can put out in the region very quickly. So the Russians will talk a fierce game but in reality, they have their backs against the wall, with the Americans holding a knife at the Russian's throat.

They could shoot down a coalition aircraft, what would the US do then? Escalate to an all out war. I agree that that is very unlikely at this point, especially Russia and Iran helping the Assad regime to that wage a real war against the Western Coalition. But if the Assad regime is cornered then they would attack the American Coalition, they have nothing to loose.

dfwjim1 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, Russia did not do much of anything.

they handled it correctly. Turkey formally apologised

So do we now have an American invasion of Syria? America is fighting Syria for land so that sounds like an invasion.

I have no doubt that this is as well thought out as Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc... 59 'cruse' missiles one day (with the death of 10 people) a shoot down today..whats the plan?

Maybe America is going back to Asad out and Islamic head choppers in?

dfwjim1 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

mad99 wrote:

now they've shot down a Iranian drone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... s-against/

and Russia will target any coalition aircraft. Australia grounds all aircraft.

Looks like things are getting worse

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, Russia did not do much of anything.

Russia economically screwed Turkey after that shootdown. Look what happened to their tourism industry. And their agricultural industry took a nice hit too when we banned anything they grew. And as far as I know Turkish citizens are still required visas to enter the Russian Federation where thousands of Turks live and work.

So I'd say quite a lot was done even if it doesn't mean shooting an F-16 down in response.

Oh, and as far as I know Turkey hasn't violated Syrian airspace since then and they apologized for shooting the Sukhoi down. So to sum it up, Russia actually did a lot to hit Turkey where it hurts. Went a little too far really because the media here in Russia got people really wound up and a couple months later when Turkey apologized it was too late to say "We're gonna be friends now.". The Russian government had no way to reverse all the sanctions against Turkey the next day and it took half a year to resume charter flights and over a year to slowly lift sanctions against Turkish agricultural products.

What Russia did to Turkey is just another bad example of that the State of Russia determines what ordinary Russians is aloud to do or do or not to do! , as in this case, where to not celebrate the holiday and not because they were worried about their safety but because of political reasons.

SAS A340 wrote:

What Russia did to Turkey is just another bad example of that the State of Russia determines what ordinary Russians is aloud to do or do or not to do! , as in this case, where to not celebrate the holiday and not because they were worried about their safety but because of political reasons.

Well in hindsight yes, but at the time Russians wanted an immediate retalitory reaction to Turkey's actions. Not doing anything wasn't an option, shooting some Turks wasn't an option either although many here wanted to see exactly that.

So the action taken was the least damaging in the long term. And this isn't even taking into account the fact that the Russian Aerospace Forces carpet bombed the hell out of the Syrian territory those Turkomans inhabited the day after the surviving pilot was extracted. Killing quite a lot of those dimwits that decided to go shooting at pilots that evacuated the shot down aircraft. And quite a few of them were Turkish citizens. I also think our guys took out a Turkish convoy in the process...

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/27 ... ussia-Iran

US says it knows Syria is planning a chemical attack.

mad99 wrote:

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/27/526629/US-Sean-Spicer-Syria-gas-attack-Nikki-Haley-Russia-Iran

US says it knows Syria is planning a chemical attack.

Yeah right, why would Assad possibly use chemical weapons when he very well knows the benefits of it are very small compared to the harm it does to his government's reputation? With Russian support he doesn't need to use such weapons either.

So far I haven't seen any proof of the previous attack being committed by his forces, western countries were quick to blame him but never provided any actual proof. Perhaps in reality it's the US and its allies which are planning another false flag to wage war against Assad.

pvjin wrote:

mad99 wrote:

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/27/526629/US-Sean-Spicer-Syria-gas-attack-Nikki-Haley-Russia-Iran

US says it knows Syria is planning a chemical attack.

Yeah right, why would Assad possibly use chemical weapons when he very well knows the benefits of it are very small compared to the harm it does to his government's reputation? With Russian support he doesn't need to use such weapons either..

Because he and Trump have the same boss and Trump needs a little brush fire to distract the public. Having the US President and much of his party under his thump is a once in history opportunity and he won´t let a special council take that away from him.

best regards
Thomas

pvjin wrote:

mad99 wrote:

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/27/526629/US-Sean-Spicer-Syria-gas-attack-Nikki-Haley-Russia-Iran

US says it knows Syria is planning a chemical attack.

Yeah right, why would Assad possibly use chemical weapons when he very well knows the benefits of it are very small compared to the harm it does to his government's reputation? With Russian support he doesn't need to use such weapons either.

So far I haven't seen any proof of the previous attack being committed by his forces, western countries were quick to blame him but never provided any actual proof. Perhaps in reality it's the US and its allies which are planning another false flag to wage war against Assad.

they don't need proof just an opportunity.
If an attack happens that's the green light and they've been warned (see above link)

http://www.reuters.com/video/2017/06/29 ... =371986588

looks like i was wrong. The threat averted the attack

these guys know so much!!!

ThePointblank wrote:

dfwjim1 wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

Of course, what kind of reaction do you think they were going to have?

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, Russia did not do much of anything.

In reality, the Russians and the Syrians can't do anything about it; if they even threaten or point a weapon at any US or coalition aircraft, there's enough American assets in the Middle East and Mediterranean to squish whatever the Syrians and the Russians can put out in the region very quickly. So the Russians will talk a fierce game but in reality, they have their backs against the wall, with the Americans holding a knife at the Russian's throat.

Yes, and then the Russians invade the Baltics. Welcome WW3.

Americans holding a knife at the Russian's throat.

We had that in the sixties: what was later known as "Cuba Crisis" began with deployment of Jupiter missiles to eastern Italy and Turkey
able to reach Moscow.
Check Mate move is Soviets erecting launchers on Cuba. a direct threat to the US East Coast metropoles.

I think that everyone is completely overlooking what is really going on here. Just take a look back at history to figure it out, remember history is always your best tool in predicting the future. The US isn't in Syria because of Syria, we are there because of Russia. Russia was stupid enough to fall for the same thing that we did to them in Afganistan! Russia is very limited when it comes to resources, they do not have near the military power of the United States and if we continue to tie their resources up in Syria we do not have to worry about them elsewhere. This Syria mess has become a big point of pride for Russia and they cannot just pull out so with each passing day they tie up more and more resources in a fight that they cannot win and in a fight that the US can keep going for years and years to come with minimal effect on the US military. The US has only one true target in Syria and that's ISIS which we can fight freely while we tie down Russia with everything else going on in Syria. As long as the US continues to support the opposition Russia will have to stay and support the Assad regime with resources and money that they don't have to spare. The US couldn't ask for a better outcome.

ual747den wrote:

Russia will have to stay and support the Assad regime with resources and money that they don't have to spare. The US couldn't ask for a better outcome.

Russia´s national debt is ~20% of GDPs, yours is over 100%. The US already has those resources because you buy them with money you don´t have. Best you will get is that they do the same.

best regards
Thomas

ual747den wrote:

I think that everyone is completely overlooking what is really going on here.

You may not have noticed.

But the US ( together with some peaceful friends like SA and Israel )
has been laying waste to the complete region for quite a while now.

Russia has been active in the region only in recent times.

so you need to reconsider who is there for what reason or other.