Funny Stuff

H/T iOTW

Terrible, Simply Awful

From Sky News:

At least 31 people have been killed in an attack on the main airport in Istanbul, a senior Turkish official has told the Associated Press.

Initial indications suggest Islamic State was behind the attack, the official said.

Figures suggested up to 50 people had been killed - however that has now been downgraded.

Initial reports suggest that three men opened fire on the crowd, then detonated themselves when police tried to stop them. Indications are that ISIS was behind the attack.

We'll Be Lucky To Live Through It

That's what actor Fred Thompson said when he portrayed Admiral Painter on "The Hunt for Red October." In this thriller, international events were spiraling out of control and a military confrontation between the USA and Russia seemed imminent.

The conflict in Syria has the potential to do the same thing. Obama's pussy footing diplomacy has worsened the situation and Russia is calling the shots now. Putin has not hesitated to put Russian boots on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, Georgia, the Crimea and in Syria.

It's not the boots so much that is of concern, it's the tanks and combat aircraft that are raising the possibility of a NATO-Rooskie showdown.

First, LL's comments about the fighting around Aleppo near the Syrian-Turkish border.

The Turks and Saudis appear desperate to try to keep Aleppo under opposition control. Aleppo’s capitulation would virtually end the organized opposition in western Syria. ISIL and militant groups affiliated with al-Qaida. At the recent pace of the offensive by the Syrian government and allied forces, the Turks, NATO and the Saudis appear to have missed the opportunity to rescue the Syrian opposition forces in western Syria.

While all this was going on, Syrian and allied forces continued their offensive to encircle Aleppo. Several news services reported that Aleppo is effectively cut off from any high volume line of communication to Turkey. A million people are trapped in Aleppo, according to one credible report.

The Kurds are fighting the ISIL terrorists in Northern Syria. No way the Turks are going to let the Kurds get a foothold in Syria without a fuss. And Putin is still stewing over the loss of a Russian SU-24 fighter that was downed by Turkish F-16s. It could be very possible that Putin is putting together a scenario wherein Turkey's goose is cooked and the US is asked to come to the aid of a NATO member. Now the question is; is Putin banking on a limp wristed American response? Might could be...

After years of weakness and vacillation, the Obama administration may find itself backed into a corner by aggressive Russian action. Particularly if coupled with intemperate Turkish reactions, that could create a nightmare of historic proportions around Aleppo. Although the White House has foresworn any military intervention in Syria’s fratricide, it’s worth noting that Mr. Obama led NATO to war in Libya exactly five years ago to prevent possible slaughter in Benghazi, a far smaller humanitarian threat than the terrifying sword of Russian artillery and airpower that’s hanging over Aleppo right now.

For their part, the Russians are upping the ante with regime media publishing claims by the Defense Ministry that air attacks on Aleppo yesterday that killed civilians, including the bombing of a hospital, were actually perpetrated by U.S. Air Force A-10s, a war crime that they say the Pentagon has tried to pin on Moscow. In fact, American intelligence knows this was the work of the Russian Air Force: “We have intercepts of the Russian pilots talking during the attack,” a Pentagon official explained. “As usual, the Russians are lying.” Yet this sort of dishonest Kremlin propaganda, what spies term disinformation, is exactly what the Obama administration has refused to counter...

Between the Bitch of Benghazi and Obama, America is facing an Islamic nightmare that has been mishandled from the get go. That wasn't just a phone call at 3:00 AM that Clinton was referring to years ago, it turned out to be a D-9 bulldozer taking out the front door. And this administration is still hiding under the bed.

By letting Mr. Putin get away with whatever he likes in Syria, Mr. Obama has created a deeply dangerous situation in the region. By abandoning his infamous Syria “redline” in September 2013, the White House in effect outsourced American policy there to Mr. Putin, as I warned at the time, and which the Obama administration, powerless to influence terrible events in Syria, is slowly realizing.

“Are we heading for our ‘Sarajevo moment’?” a senior NATO official bluntly asked. “It’s clear that there has to be some actual ‘redline’ for Mr. Obama, something that the United States cannot tolerate Russia doing—but where is it? If I don’t know, I’m sure the Kremlin doesn’t either.”

That is NATO’s top concern right now: After years of weakness and vacillation, the Obama administration may find itself backed into a corner by aggressive Russian action. Particularly if coupled with intemperate Turkish reactions, that could create a nightmare of historic proportions around Aleppo.

US Deploys F-15s To Turkey

Obama has put on his big boy pants and is upping the ante in Syria. We'll see if Putin calls him.

The Pentagon is sending F-15Cs—supposedly to fight the ISIS war. But the jets only have air-to-air weapons, and ISIS has no planes. Which means the real adversary is Russia.

The U.S. Air Force is deploying to Turkey up to a dozen jet fighters specializing in air-to-air combat—apparently to help protect other U.S. and allied jets from Russia’s own warplanes flying over Syria.

Officially, the deployment of F-15C Eagle twin-engine fighters to Incirlik, Turkey—which the Pentagon announced late last week—is meant to “ensure the safety” of America’s NATO allies, Laura Seal, a Defense Department spokesperson, told The Daily Beast.

That could mean that the single-seat F-15s and the eight air-to-air missiles they routinely carry will help the Turkish air force patrol Turkey’s border with Syria, intercepting Syrian planes and helicopters that periodically stray into Turkish territory.

But more likely, the F-15s will be escorting attack planes and bombers as they strike ISIS militants in close proximity to Syrian regime forces and the Russian warplanes that, since early October, have bombed ISIS and U.S.-backed rebels fighting the Syrian troops.

Story here.

Su-27

Russia has deployed Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" jets to Syria. Both the F-15 and the Su-27 are highly maneuverable, air superiority aircraft with similar capabilities and armament. The F-15 has had a much greater exposure to aerial combat than the SU-27 which has seen very limited engagement in Angola, Eritrea and Chechnya. The F-15 shot down over 30 Russian aircraft (mostly Migs) during the Gulf War. Of course American pilots did not face Russian pilots in those encounters.

F-15

This could get real interesting. The first F-15s were first deployed in 1972; there have been four upgrades. The F-15E is the latest variant (1988); F-15C's are being sent to Turkey. The Su-27 is a mid-80's Russian product.

Druze In The News

I have heard of the Druze. To be honest, I never gave much thought about them until now. The Druze are a minor ingredient in the seething stew-pot that is the Near East. Apparently a bunch of them ambushed an Israeli ambulance carrying several wounded men and beat one of them to death.

Earlier this week, on the Golan Heights, an enraged mob assaulted an ambulance and attacked two wounded men inside with rocks, clubs, and chains, killing one and seriously wounding another.

The ambulance was Israeli. The wounded men were Arab fighters from Syria. The assailants were also Arabs, though they were Druze rather than Muslims.

Rocks, clubs and chains. Sounds like a Baltimore prayer meeting.

But who in the wide, wide world of pain (I'll take primitive assault weapons for $400, Alex)  are the Druze? Wikipedia says this:

The Druze revere the father-in-law of Moses, Jethro, whom some Muslims identify with Shuʻayb. According to the biblical narrative, Jethro joined and assisted the Israelites in the desert during the Exodus, accepted monotheism, but ultimately rejoined his own people. The tomb of Jethro near Tiberias is the most important religious site for the Druze community.[

That doesn't tell us much.

The Druze ... are an esoteric monotheistic religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. The religion incorporates elements of Ismailism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and other philosophies. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid "People of Unitarianism or Monotheism" or al-Muwaḥḥidūn "Unitarians, Monotheists." Sheikh Amin Tarif was the preeminent religious leader of the community until his death in 1993.

That .....  really doesn't help much either. No matter, whatever they believe, the Druze are very active in the Israeli military and in politics. One of them served as the acting President of Israel in 2007 and the Druze play major roles in the IDF.

As there are about 130,000 Druze scattered throughout Israel, the Golan Heights, Lebanon and Jordan, they find themselves on different sides of the current conflict.

A Druze gotta do what a Druze gotta do.

They make political alliances with whomever is in power, this is how they survive. The Syrian Druze allied themselves with the Assad regime, the Jordan Druze with the King and the Israeli Druze with the Israeli government. So the Druze find themselves at odds even with their own brethren. This happens when you are are a very small minority in a region that is not well known for tolerating people with different beliefs ... except in Israel. The Druze have done very well in Abraham's Keep.

But why did Israeli Druze attack an Israeli ambulance?

So when an Israeli ambulance drove down the street carrying wounded fighters from the Free Syrian Army, some of the local Druze fingered those people as enemies. They are a potential threat to the continued existence of their Druze brethren on the other side of the border since a victory by the Free Syrian Army would lead to the downfall of Assad and the possible enthronement of Al Qaeda or ISIS, whom the Druze couldn’t curry favor with even if they wanted to without abandoning their religion and converted to Islam at gunpoint.

So some of them decided to attack the ambulance and take a perceived enemy or two off the board even as the Israelis were trying to save them.

In the politico-religious mess that is boiling in that region, I guess it makes as much sense as anything else. Unfortunately this happened in Israel.

Grow, Steal or Rent A Pair

Several stories by Ulsterman seem to indicate that pressure is increasing for Obama to grow a pair. Have no idea about the veracity of these stories but it makes for interesting theater. I wanna see this asshole really blow a gasket.

Ulsterman #1

White House staff are reportedly livid following a series of publicly aired disagreements between President Obama and top military officials.

Things became so bad this afternoon, a senior White House adviser is said to have yelled out during a phone conference with a group of Senate Democrats, “You remind those assh*les who they take orders from!”

Two days earlier it was the top military officer in the nation, Army General Martin Dempsey, who informed Congress ground troops were to be a viable option in the war against ISIS. For days Barack Obama had stated publicly ground troops were not an option.

Ulsterman #2

This outburst reportedly took place in the afternoon of last week just prior to the president’s departure to Camp David. It was an informal briefing on the expanded bombing campaigns to take place in both Syria and Iraq. Halfway through the already very brief briefing, President Obama stood up clearly agitated, and walked out of the room…

[...]Within seconds, Barack Obama returned again to the just concluded briefing, pointing at the still seated Pentagon staff and indicating how “inappropriate” it was to “try and paint all of Islam with the same brush.” The president repeated similar remarks, his mood going from agitation to outrage. His voice carried to several other West Wing offices.

Ulsterman #3

Something happened between that first meeting, and the one referenced in the earlier update that took place at the White House. Word from some on the Hill is a high ranking member of the Senate with an established history of personal animosity toward the president, threatened to “expose them all after November” if the White House continued dragging its feet on the ISIL situation. This threat reached the White House inner circle, which is likely exactly what the Senator intended it to do. A week later we had the White House briefing between the president and Pentagon staff taking place.

Obama Is Channeling Clinton

From the WashPost:

While U.S. airstrikes and drops of supplies may prevent the terrorist forces from massacring the Yazidi sect or toppling the pro-Western regime in Kurdistan, Mr. Obama lacks a plausible plan for addressing the larger threat posed by the Islamic State. In recent weeks, senior U.S. officials have described the danger in hair-curling terms: The Islamic State forces, which have captured large numbers of U.S.-supplied heavy weapons, threaten not only the Iraqi and Kurdish governments, but also Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. With hundreds of Western recruits, they have the ambition and capability to launch attacks against targets in Europe and the United States.

Well, I guess the Obama administration will worry about that when it happens. Or not.

For now, let's bomb an aspirin factory or two and let it go.

Urkel Bombs Erbil

AN F-18 drops guided munitions

We're back in the game?

The United States dropped laser-guided bombs on ISIS artillery in Iraq on Friday, the Pentagon said — the beginning of airstrikes threatened a day earlier by President Barack Obama.

The bombs, 500 pounds each, were dropped by two Navy F-18 fighter jets near Erbil, the strategically important city that serves as the Kurdish capital, and where the United States has a consulate. ISIS was using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the Pentagon said.

 ISIL artillery is being used to kill and conquer Iraqi territory ...
Oh, nevermind, it's our artillery, it just does that automatically.

The strikes marked a return to U.S. military engagement in Iraq, three years after Obama removed U.S. forces.

Obama, in a speech Thursday night from the White House, said that he was authorizing airstrikes to protect American interests in Iraq and drops of food and water for tens of thousands of refugees trapped by ISIS on a mountain in Iraq.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday: “As the president made clear, the United States military will continue to take direct action against ISIL when they threaten our personnel and facilities.” ISIS and ISIL are acronyms to describe the same Islamic militant group.

Story here and here.

Just a thought - how did the ISIS manage to roll up the Iraqi army after years of US training?

Iraqi soldiers who fled ISIS advance accuse officers of treason
Iraqi soldiers deny abandoning their posts following ISIS advance

Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraqi troops who fled the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters into Mosul have denied that they abandoned their posts, saying that they had received orders to flee from up the chain of command.

Another thought - firing an accurate artillery barrage is not like firing a rifle. It takes training and logistics. Where did these savages learn to fire sophisticated modern artillery?  (This link is interesting)

[...]there's been an influx of skilled Saddam-era military leaders and soldiers into ISIS' ranks. "When you look at some of the reports about the leadership under [ISIS commander Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi," Rosenblatt said, "those second-in-command guys have very strong ties to Saddam's army." Acquiring lots of weapons, money, and experience over the course of the Syrian war allowed them to translate that new training into real military effectiveness.

Just one more thought - What can slow the advance of ISIS forces? ISIS is now messing with the Kurds and the US may finally be rousing from its sleep.

[...]an unexpected military intervention by a third party. The semi-autonomous Kurdish area in northwest Iraq is adjacent to ISIS' stronghold. Their powerful military, which has already had small clashes with ISIS-aligned forces, could challenge ISIS. And who knows what effect a large-scale American air campaign against ISIS would have on the balance of power.