Devs March 13 >E Ghouta; SAA resumed ops against Faylaq Al-Rahman, capture several buildings in Jisreen after seizing farms surrounding the town >Lavrov; Consequnces to follow if the US strikes Syria again >Turkish army announces complete encirclement of city center of Afrin >Rebels in E Ghouta fired several mortar shells into Damascus, killing 4 civs and injuring 6 >Turkish military enters Al-Ghaab Plain to setup new observation points in NW Hama near SAA frontlines >S Damas; ISIS continues offensive against HTS/FSA, reportedly capture 25% of the Al-Qadam District >Jaysh Al-Islam allows first batch of civilians to leave Douma in E Ghouta >Russian General Staff head discusses Syria, E Ghouta with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman >EU may offer Turkey further $3.7bn for Syrian refugees >Yemen; Houthis push back large KSA offensive from Al-Azhor area of Saudi Arabia, near Yemen border >Head of US Central Command signals support for Iran nuclear deal
>would you talk to actual animals Their case seems hopeless as mutt are literally bread for their beliefs. They are deprived of their identity made a perfect specimen for new age of political thinking. I actually don't think there is a way to help those beings. Horrifying as that is American right wing community on Sup Forums, can't even imagine rest of redditors...
Best case scenario is that you can bait out with actual discussion some intelligent Mutt and have a honest arguments with him, but that is a rarity.
>Rex Tillerson Out as Trump’s Secretary of State, Replaced by Mike Pompeo
President Trump on Tuesday ousted his secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, extending a shake-up of his administration, 14 months into his tumultuous presidency, and potentially transforming the nation’s economic and foreign policy.
Mr. Trump announced he would replace Mr. Tillerson with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director and former Tea Party congressman, who forged a close relationship with the president and is viewed as being more in sync with Mr. Trump’s America First credo.
Mr. Tillerson learned he had been fired on Tuesday morning when a top aide showed him a tweet from Mr. Trump announcing the change, according to a senior State Department official. But he had gotten an oblique warning of what was coming the previous Friday from the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, who called to tell him to cut short a trip to Africa and advised him “you may get a tweet.”
It was an abrupt end — after months of speculation — to a rocky tenure for a former oil executive who never meshed with the president who hired him. Mr. Tillerson clashed repeatedly with the White House staff and broke publicly with Mr. Trump on issues ranging from the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar to the American response to Russia’s cyber aggression.
“We were not really thinking the same,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House, explaining his decision to replace Mr. Tillerson.
>New US strike on Syrian govt would have serious consequences – Lavrov Another US strike on Syrian government forces could have serious consequences, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted as saying in Moscow on Tuesday. He was commenting at a news conference on statements from the US warning of possible new strikes against Syrian forces. “It is one thing to irresponsibly use a microphone in the UN Security Council and another thing when [both Russian and American] military have channels of communication, and these channels show very clearly what could be done and what cannot be done,” Lavrov said. The US coalition knows this very well, the Russian diplomat added. Lavrov also said on Tuesday that establishing more de-escalation zones in Syria was not a priority for now, and it was important to prevent violations of ceasefire agreements in Eastern Ghouta. sana.sy/en/?p=130335
Tyler Rogers
for christs sake, why doesn't the IAEA have a no niggers paragraph? Even if you give them the most retard proof reactor mankind could build they'll manage to fuck it up
Eli Cooper
and they'll nuke their neighbor for looking at them wrong
>Before the anticipated changeover to a majority-elected African National Congress-led government in the 1990s, the South African government dismantled all of its nuclear weapons, the first state in the world which voluntarily gave up all nuclear arms it had developed itself.
they'll probably buy the fuel from one of the major powers and not build the infrastructure for refinement themself, so no chance of them going nuclear any time soon
Hudson Diaz
>Head of US Central Command signals support for Iran nuclear deal how does one interpret a thing like this? why would the head of centcom have a say?
Andrew Ross
Lads Im going to London but i need a rest. May I put it here for 5 minutes?
>Last night, an air force of the Allies led by the US destroyed a military convoy of Iranian militias operating in the eastern region of Syria alongside the regime's army.
>Spokesman forces "Martyr Ahmed al-Abed," said the fighter aircraft of the Allied perform several air strikes yesterday on a convoy belonging to Iranian militias in the region Alalianih - العليانية Syrian desert district on the eastern outskirts of Homs, resulting in the complete destruction of the convoy. He said that the air strike followed the movement of Syrian army forces along with the militias fighting alongside it in the base of Al-Ta'fn and 55 and suspicious military shifts near the large oil field of Koniku in Deir al-Zour.
>At the same time, well-informed sources reported that the United States had rushed military reinforcements to the al-Shadadi base at the edge of the Hasqah district in eastern Syria, and at the same time sent additional reinforcements to the al-Tanduf base near the border crossing with Iraq in the southeast of the country.
lel, /ptg/ literally did not want this dude at Trump's cabinet at all during the transition. >mfw they'll support it now and play it off as 56d chinese crackers while playing underwater ping pong
to be honest it is quite funny because Bolton has been out of the game for a while and a lot of things have changed in such a short time in the ME, his ideas will be even more of a disaster for america
>Top Russian and US generals speak amid threats over Syria
America's top military officer, Gen. Joseph Dunford, spoke with his Russian counterpart Gen. Valery Gerasimov, on Tuesday, the same day Gerasimov threatened to target US forces in Syria should they retaliate against the regime's use of chemical weapons.
The call was first revealed by the Russian Ministry of Defense. "The conversation focused on issues of mutual concern, to include the situation in Syria. In accordance with past practice, both have agreed to keep the details of their conversation private," Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN. Ryder said the two men had last spoken on Jan. 20. edition.cnn.com/2018/03/13/politics/russian-us-generals-speak-dunford-syria/index.html
Liam Murphy
>Under pressure, France toughens talk on Turkish Syria operation
France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that Turkey’s operation against Kurdish militants in the Afrin region was not justified, the strongest language yet from Paris regarding its NATO ally’s intervention in Syria.
The French government has faced growing criticism at home over its response to developments in northern Syria where Turkey launched its operation “Olive Branch” nearly two months ago to sweep Syrian Kurdish YPG militants from the border.
“While concerns over border security are legitimate... at the same time ... It must be said that it absolutely does not justify the deep incursion of Turkish troops in the Afrin zone,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers in parliament.
“The situation is critical and serious,” he said, adding that Paris feared the Turkish operation was also weakening the action against Islamic State militants.
France, like the United States, has extended arms and training to a YPG-led militia in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, and also has dozens of special forces based in the region. That has infuriated Turkey, which considers the YPG an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
>Sabbagh: Allegations of using chemical weapons in Syria always coincides with Army victories over terrorism
Syrian Arab Republic warned that the terrorist organizations will resort to the use of poisonous chemical weapons against Syrian civilians to fabricate accusations against the Syrian government and give pretexts to the US and other states that support terrorists to launch a new aggression on Syria territories.
“Syria has confidential information that states which sponsor those terrorist organizations will exploit the convening of the executive Council of The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical (OPCW) to do that action,” Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh said in a statement before the 87th session of the Executive Council of OPCW.
The Syrian Ambassador to the UN in Vienna added that campaigns of lies and fabrications about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government always coincides with its political and military achievements, in a US bid to stop the collapse of the terrorists.
Sabbagh affirmed that Syria has been committed to inform the OPCW, in a continuous and daily from, of information about operations of transforming and smuggling poisonous, chemical materials and barrels of chlorine to the terrorist organizations in Syria through Turkey.
He reiterated that Syria condemns any use of chemical weapon by any one, in any place and under any circumstance, adding that Syria considers such use as a violation of all international laws and conventions
Our leftist opposition has been attacking Turkey over it constantly shame they'll do nothing of the sort if they win election
Eli Powell
>Civilians in Eastern Ghouta tell stories about terrorists’ crimes
One of the civilians told SANA’s correspondent, “The terrorist organizations that have taken over Ghouta’s towns for years, have been clearly working for the benefit of foreign parties. They, the terrorists, compelled civilians by force of arms to stay inside Ghouta to use them as human shields and to give the world a false impression that they have popular and mass support.”
Stories may differ but all of them share one fact that Ghouta residents suffered a lot. They were under the control of terrorists who prevented them from leaving and looted their food, humanitarian aid, and medicine and sold them to the vulnerable people in high prices.
A woman evacuated from Douma talked about her own experience, she said that all the humanitarian aids provided by the government and the Red Crescent to the civilians trapped in Ghouta used to be seized by the terrorist groups.
“We knew in advance that they will not distribute them and we will pay a high price for these materials so that our children would not starve,” she went to say.
CONT
Robert Russell
60-year old man said that the terrorists also traded with their medicines and their medical materials sent by humanitarian organizations needed by civilians who were suffering mainly from chronic diseases.
Speaking from his personal experience, he said, “I wished to die because of the pain. I did not have money to get the medicine.”
Civilians who have been evacuated through the safe corridors were transferred to makeshift shelters equipped by the necessary food and medical requirements. They moved from horror to safety. Another civilian described his feeling when he left Ghouta and crossed the corridor, “I felt a live,” calling on people in Ghouta to do their best to flee.
The truth will eventually reveal itself and another page of the story of the atrocities committed by the terrorist organization was opened up by testimonies of the survival from Ghouta, while the West was raising humanitarian slogans to protect the terrorist organizations poisoned in Ghouta.
>A child injured, huge destruction caused in fresh Turkish aggression on Afrin
A child was injured on Tuesday in a fresh Turkish forces’ bombardment on Afrin that caused a huge destruction to the properties too.
SANA reporter in Aleppo said that a child had a critical injury in the Turkish regime shelling with different kinds of weapons on al-Ashrafieh neighborhood in Afrin city center.
Fierce clashes erupted between the Turkish forces and their mercenaries from one side and popular committees defending Afrin area in the villages Ma’abtlie and Jindaris areas.
The continued Turkish regime aggression on Afrin, since 53 days, has caused a total number of 222 martyrs and hundreds of injuries, the majority of them are children and women.
>Two gas wells put into service with capacity of half million cubic meters per day
Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced that two gas wells in Damascus Countryside and Homs have been put into production with a capacity of 500,000 cubic meters per day.
The gas well of Qara /3/ will produce about 400,000 cubic meters per a day and its depth reaches to 3572 meters. While the production capacity of Sadad /9/ is about 100,000 cubic meters with a depth of 3670 meters.
The opening of the two wells came as a part of the Ministry’s plans to provide the national needs of crude oil, natural gas and oil productions, especially the fuel needed for the work of power plants.
he did fine, but there is always room for improvement. Take the chemical weapons in syria thing for example, it would be quite easy to completly disassemble their narrative, but a state leader simply doesn't have enough time to sink into it. Same goes for assad, on that front by the way.
It's suprises me time and time again, not just with russia and syria, pretty much all countries do the same. The statements are incomplete, factually wrong, weak or often not attacking at the right spot. Either pretty much everyone has a lot to improve on in terms of information warfare, or, what seems more likely to me, they don't want to give complete answers and arguments.
David Nelson
>the same day Gerasimov threatened to target US forces in Syria should they retaliate against the regime's use of chemical weapons.
wew
Jackson Brooks
>When Pompeo replaces Tillerson at the State Department he faces challenges from North Korea, Syria and Iran
>The easiest will be North Korea. The odds are microscopic that direct talks between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will lead to an agreement for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
The proposed Trump-Kim meeting proves once again the enormous value that the possession of nuclear weapons and the rapid development of intercontinental ballistic missiles confers upon North Korea.
>Pompeo will be less inclined to accept compromises that do not clearly resolve the defects of the nuclear deal with Iran. A prime defect Pompeo is likely to want to remove is the sunset clauses that leave the Iran free to develop a massive nuclear infrastructure in just 13 years.
Pompeo is also likely to also oppose the commercial illogic of the Iran nuclear agreement, which enriches the Islamic clerics who rule the nation for their nuclear restraint and then allows them to use billions of dollars to underwrite their aggressive regional ambitions.
>In Syria, Pompeo will confront a U.S. policy that so far makes little sense. President Trump still appears determined to reduce the American military footprint, which will inevitably empower Iran and Russia in the Middle East.
If the United States isn’t withdrawing from Syria in 12 months, a date sometimes thrown out by senior officials, then the State Department will need to engage in a full-court press with Turkey, the Europeans, and Russia to work-out an agreement to ensure that, at minimum, the Tehran-Moscow axis is held in check in the Middle East.
Id just wager that politicians on average tend to not be good with constructing arguments in a debate. Putin aside, he's good, one of the best at this sort of thing as far as polititians go, but i suppose if he took the time, and got someone to teach him how to construct arguments on the go and such, he would be tear apart anybody in a debate.
Cooper Ortiz
Gn
Liam Butler
politicians are all sophist scum no difference than any of them - i have experince dealing with them personally, after their "fierce debates" and rivalry they all go to coffee later and laugh at us retards
only solution is turning to faith and rejecting modernist bullshit
Honestly Death to America now This is going to far
Thomas Bennett
i only reffered to construction of actual arguments themselves, not what goes on after and before the debate >only solution is turning to faith and rejecting modernist bullshit did that already
Michael Johnson
it's the jews
Wyatt Cooper
>Breaking: Syrian Air Force bombs FSA HQ in East Ghouta, many commanders killed
BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:25 A.M.) – At approximately midnight (Damascus Time), the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) carried out a strategic attack that targeted the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) headquarters in the East Ghouta region of Damascus.
According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Air Force bombed the Faylaq Al-Rahman HQ located inside the ‘Ayn Tarma suburb in eastern Damascus.
As a result of this attack, tens of militants from Faylaq Al-Rahman were killed or wounded, including high ranking commanders of the FSA group.
Among the dead and wounded were Abu Mohammad Seif (military commander of Faylaq Al-Rahman) and Abu Mohammad Jobar (deputy commander of Faylaq Al-Rahman’s Brigade 120).
This latest bombing by the Syrian Air Force comes just hours after the Russian Aerospace Forces resumed their bombing campaign over militant-held areas of the East Ghouta.
they take it as a win. they say he was a must-hire to oblige someone and that now Trump is getting his guy in. I can't tell if that's right or wrong, might as well be the opposite since Pompeo was head of the CIA.
Carter Richardson
it's not just arguments. If we limit it to the CWs in syria stuff as an example, there is simply a lack of information about the incidents and investigations on his (and assads part), or they simply don't want to talk about it. All he said was it wasn't the syrian government, we want a full scale investigation and then deflecting to the arguable war crimes commited by the coalition in raqqa and mosul (not that anyone minds, those isis shitters had it coming).
That is simply a weak statement. If he was informed he could point out the lack of critical evidence, the disambiguity of the analysis date of the probes taken even by the OPCW in east ghouta in 2013. How the JIM twisted the data so hard taht the russians saw no choice but to cancel it. How independent investigations into khan sheiqhoun were impossible, both due to it being an active front and a lack of diplomatical will. How it is to late now since all evidence that wasn't secured within hours is long gone and useless. There is a near endless list of things that make it almost certainly impossible to pin the blame on any party without reasonable doubt, yet no one ever discusses that. And i can't blame them, they don't have the time to read into it. But having some minion do the work for them and prepare a few better arguments would seem like a good idea to me. Apparently it isn't, because i can't see why it isn't done otherwise.
Zachary Powell
/ptg/ sees everything as a win. Not sure what to think of Pompeo but I'm really not surprised all of /ptg/'s hivemind supports him wholeheartedly now
that's nice put and you are right. I have't seen yet the putin interview but those are free strike points he could have used
Jeremiah Foster
the new head of the CIA can't travel to Europe btw as she's wanted for torture-related activities at a CIA prison in Thailand. No empire here, no sir.
Jeremiah Morales
/ptg/ is is functionally a cult. the dear leader can do no wrong.
Adam Walker
Perhaps his argument was more geared towards normies or other clueless idiots
Going in detail about refuting a CW case (youll lose the idiot's attention here quickly as it will get too technical, and altogether denial of CW use might be too hard to swallow for people who dont know jack shit aside from headlines) might be less effective overall than pointing to the Raqqa & Mosul (a thing people might not know about and which easily refutes the "only Assad makes civilian casualties durr" narrative)
Jason Rogers
wew basically he'd unironically go to war with Iran, attack Assad, probably attack Kim if negotiations aren't going the US' way he's probably the biggest neocon besides Mccain
Nicholas Sanders
true, one one hand. On the other hand it's a 1.3ß hour interview where every part that makes russia look somewhat decent will be cut out anyways. It appears to me that the audience that sees the interesting parts isn't the one that's being targeted in that regard.
Besides that, what i said holds true to even other parts of information warfare, up to the UN. Granted, we are used to speeches that go on for 15 minutes without providing an inkling of substance, but should it really be like that? Is that the most effective way. I'm just pulling things out of my ass but to me it would appear that the most effective strategy in todays information warfare wouldn't be to limit yourself to producing propaganda snippets that will make you look good in your own news but to provide compelling arguments actually supporting your position and hoping that the internet will do what journalists fail to and spread them to every corner of the world.
Kayden Nelson
>expected trumps administration to be better in terms of foreign policiy than a hawkish clinton >might turn out to be worse
>Army General admits US does not track weapons used to bomb Yemeni civilians
US Army General Joseph Votel admitted that the US does not monitor how the weapons it supplies to Saudi Arabia are used in Yemen. Over 10,000 Yemeni civilians have died in the conflict since 2015. During a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) asked Votel, head of the US Central Command, whether Centcom tracks the purpose of the Saudi missions it refuels in Yemen.
“We do not,” Votel said.
Warren drew attention to the recent spate of civilian casualties in Yemen as a result of Saudi airstrikes against the region. She asked whether Centcom is able to ascertain whether US fuel or munitions were used as part of Saudi strikes that killed civilians.
>No British outlet will work in Russia if London shuts down RT - Foreign Ministry
Not a single British media outlet will be working in Russia if London decides to shut down RT broadcasting in the UK, Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said. “I can tell you right now that not a single British media outlet will be working in our country if they shut RT down,” Zakharova told Rossiya 1 channel.
Nathaniel Reed
otoh, ambiguity benefits the West too. there's likely satellite video of the incident somewhere.
but if we reveal all the evidence we have it would reveal sources/methods too (that we want to keep secret), and also make a more decisive case for war when the country is actually interested in buying time (appeasement)
>Abu Mohammad Seif Poor nigga, as far as I know he was ex-SAA captain or colonel on Turkish payroll
Logan James
>‘Breaking point in relations with US’ – Turkish FM
Turkey is “at breaking point in relations with the US,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. The two major NATO partners have recently been at loggerheads over various issues. “People in Turkey have a very negative attitude towards the US because it doesn’t keep its word [and] constantly lies,” Cavusoglu stated addressing the students at Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Tuesday.
The relations between our countries are “at breaking point,” he said, reminding that back in February both states had established working groups to normalize bilateral ties.
Cavusoglu was apparently referring to teams set up earlier over the escalation in Manbij, where Turkey is currently conducting a military operation against the US-backed Kurds.
Cavusoglu has repeatedly stated that strained relations between the allies are heading towards a critical juncture. The two sides “will either fix these relations or they will break [down] completely,” he said back in February. Ankara felt provoked by US military support for the Kurdish forces in Syria, including the YPG. Turkey considers the YPG an arm of the PKK movement, dubbed a terrorist organization by Ankara. Washington, however, promised to cease armed support for the Kurds earlier this year. rt.com/news/421131-turkey-us-breaking-point/
Aaron King
what does that even mean?
Bentley Phillips
good hopefully I see a bright flash then
Elijah Watson
nah, no one has capabilities like that. Even with a fleet of RQ-4s you couldn't have a country the size of syria under constant surveillance to reliably record something like this. Besides that at least in the case of east ghuta it would most likely be impossible to determine if it was a CW munition or hit a stock of rebel CWs like the russians claimed from aerial footage.
Jack Harris
>No one can deliver any 24-hour ultimatums to Russia — Foreign Ministry spokeswoman "Bearing in mind what the president [of Russia Vladimir Putin] said [in his State-of-the-Nation Address], no one can appear in his or her country’s parliament to say ‘I give Russia 24 hours,’" Zakharova told the 60 Minutes program of the Rossiya-1 television channel.
According to Zakharova, Theresa May apparently has no actual facts concerning the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
"No one knows anything, including Theresa May, who has no actual fact in her hands," Zakharova said. More: tass.com/politics/993859
John Wright
>Bolton has spoken in favor of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK),[139] "an armed Islamic group with Marxist leanings"[140] which has long been on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.[141] According to the State Department, the MEK "[f]ollow[s] a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam."[141] In the 1970s, MEK members, who "had been trained by the Soviet Union in guerilla warfare and supported Khomeini ... assassinated U.S. military officers then working in Iran. MEK members actively took part in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, according to a U.S. government report."[142] >According to conservative activist Kenneth Timmerman, executive director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran: "Iranian-Americans openly refer to MEK leader Massoud Rajavi as the "Pol Pot" of Iran, because they believe he would conduct wholesale massacres of his political opponents." He's basically a Reagan/Dubya era neocon throwback
Nicholas Cruz
to stay awake or not to stay awake this is the questions for me. Dammit why are we GMT+2
>Trump agrees Russia must provide unambiguous answers about Skripal incident
US President Donald Trump agreed in a conversation with British Prime Minister Theresa May that Moscow must provide unambiguous answers about the incident with former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, the British prime minister’s office said in a statement.
"The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump earlier this afternoon to update him on the ongoing investigation into the Salisbury incident," the statement reads.
"The Prime Minister set out the conclusion reached by the UK Government that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack against Sergei and Yulia Skripal," May’s office said.
"President Trump said the US was with the UK all the way, agreeing that the Russian Government must provide unambiguous answers as to how this nerve agent came to be used," the statement added. More: tass.com/world/993894
Tyler Nelson
Russian embassy will just fax a kara boga picture don't bother staying up for it
Ayden Ward
We spess marheens nao.
Michael Edwards
I'm going to be sick.
Death to America as quickly as possible.
Easton Collins
>get arrested >OK YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO PROVE YOU DIDNT DO THIS WE DONT HAVE TO PROVE YOU DID IT THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS MISTER
