The show of force on 13 September, day three of the “active phase” of VOSTOK 2018 which included live-fire exercises, was more a carefully orchestrated military demonstration than a real military exercise. © News X

The strategic context

Russia’s chief foreign and defence policy aims are; to reassert a leading role for itself on the world scene; to disrupt the current European security architecture to force negotiation of a new one; and to rebuild a security perimeter against perceived external threats (primarily the United States and its NATO Allies). To these ends, Russia has launched a strategic destabilisation campaign against the post-Cold War liberal order, which President Putin views as counter to Russia’s long-term interests. Military exercises and operations are part of that campaign. This multidimensional campaign is the proper context within which to consider Russia’s strategic exercises and illuminates their instrumentality for achieving its foreign, security and defence policy aims – and the related implications for the security of NATO Allies.

Russia’s first use of military force to revise the Euro-Atlantic security environment came in August 2008 in its short war against Georgia. The conflict exposed significant capability shortfalls in the Russian Armed Forces and sparked the military overhaul that continues to this day. This overhaul reflects Moscow’s evolving strategic worldview in line with the Russian perception that conflict can break out with little or no warning in multiple strategic directions. It is underpinned by the Russian leadership’s interpretation of the ‘Colour Revolutions’ of the 1990s and early 2000s as, from Moscow’s perspective, a non-kinetic form of destabilisation operation waged by Western powers.

Russia’s short war against Georgia in August 2008 exposed significant capability shortfalls in the Russian Armed Forces and sparked the military overhaul that continues to this day. © Georgia Today

The comprehensive military reform and modernisation efforts launched after the war with Georgia, including the exercise programme, have transformed the Russian Armed Forces into an effective tool in Russia’s destabilisation campaign against the West, with major implications for Euro-Atlantic security. The capabilities developed enabled Russia’s aggressive actions against Ukraine in 2014 and its rapid intervention in Syria in 2015. Russia’s revived military power is a central element of the destabilisation campaign that it has been conducting in the Euro-Atlantic area for the last ten years. At their 2018 Summit in Brussels, Allied leaders declared that Russia’s aggressive actions, including the threat and use of force to attain political goals, challenge the Alliance and are undermining Euro-Atlantic security and the rules-based international order.

Exercising for strategic operations

The scheduled strategic exercises (ZAPAD, VOSTOK, TSENTR, KAVKAZ) are the capstone event of the Russian Armed Forces’ annual training cycle. During the several weeks of their actual duration, the exercises fulfil the General Staff’s presidentially mandated task to organise and test the transition of the Russian Federation from peace to war. After completing the transition, they test national preparedness for large-scale, high-intensity warfare against a technologically advanced peer adversary.

Any assessment of Russian strategic exercises should also take into account the large-scale snap (no-notice) exercises² that President Putin reinstituted in 2013 of which four to six are conducted annually at various levels – including military district, fleet, or service or branch – and encompassing units from across most of the Armed Forces in the course of a year.

The scheduled and snap strategic exercises are conducted under the direction of the Minister of Defence and the operational control of the General Staff through the National Centre for the Direction of Defence. Command and control is a key aspect, testing the effectiveness and readiness of command echelons from the national level down to the brigade level. On this basis, the General Staff has the ability to conduct a strategic command post exercise that depicts national mobilisation and conflict escalation up to and including general war, regardless of the apparent scale and duration of the field training segment of the annual strategic exercise.

Russia’s programme of annual strategic exercises rotates the lead role among four of Russia’s five military districts, while retaining a force- and nation-wide character. © NATO

This overall context makes clear that Russia’s strategic exercises are oriented to multidirectional, theatre-level conflict and their capability- and capacity-building effects are strategic. It is useful to think of this exercise programme as a kind of military ‘circuit training’ – exercising different muscle groups on a rotating basis to strengthen the entire organism for the main event. Likewise, the command and control element are like the training of the mind that winning athletes undertake. Similarly, the capabilities built during the strategic exercises are generically applicable to potential future large-scale conflicts. With this as the model for the strategic exercises, even one as distant from NATO’s borders as VOSTOK 2018 has, by design, implications for Allied security.

The show of force and the actual exercise

VOSTOK 2018 was, in effect, two events. The first – and militarily more significant – took place at multiple locations from early July until September. The second was a scripted show of force, on 13 September, at the Tsugol training range in the Trans-Baykal Region.

In line with standard Russian practice, the show of force was designed to send ambiguous and contradictory messages: images of growing military strength on the one hand and rhetoric of non-aggression and transparency on the other. For this event, Russia’s senior military leaders drew the desired level of foreign attention to VOSTOK 2018 by stating publicly that approximately 300,000 troops – as well as 1,000 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, 80 ships, and 36,000 tanks, armoured and other vehicles – would participate in an exercise unprecedented in scale since the Soviet-era ZAPAD 1981.

This show of force on day three of the “active phase” of VOSTOK 2018 included live-fire exercises carried out under the observation of President Putin and the Chinese Minister of Defence. The participating Russian, Chinese and Mongolian forces conducted a massive parade of military vehicles to close the day’s events. Despite the hype, the 13 September activities were more a carefully orchestrated military demonstration than a real military exercise. It was staged for media cameras as a backdrop befitting President Putin’s strongman image and his message of military strength to domestic and foreign observers. Nevertheless, one should not overlook the training value – from a logistics and combat service support perspective – of the movement of substantial forces and equipment to the Tsugol range and their sustainment in the field.³

The militarily more significant part of the VOSTOK exercise comprised two phases. The first, from July to early September, entailed weeks of logistics activities to move troops, equipment and supplies to their assembly and exercise areas. The second, “active phase”, from 11 to 17 September, encompassed the exercise activity and live-fire events at the Tsugol range and other land and maritime ranges in the Eastern Military District, and at other locations across Russia.

Russia’s massive drills were two things at once: a military drill where troops tested their combat preparedness; and a diplomatic exercise highlighting relations with China, aimed at the West. © Chatham House

In preparation for VOSTOK, 16 special exercises of various support functions units were conducted in July and August.  Also, snap exercises of the Northern Fleet were held in mid-August and of the Central and Eastern Military Districts at the end of August. Mobilisation of reserve forces was also exercised, with 21 units in ten subject territories of the Russian Federation⁴ mobilised and several thousand citizens recalled from the reserves. Units of the territorial guard of the Central and Southern Military Districts were formed up and transported to the Eastern Military District for exercises. Minister of Defence Shoygu said after the conclusion of VOSTOK that industrial mobilisation was also exercised.

The Ministry of Defence described the “active phase” of VOSTOK 2018 as taking place at five combined arms ranges in the Eastern Military District (Tsugol, Bamburovo, Radygino, Uspensky, Bikinsky) and four air force and air defence ranges (Litovko, Novoselskoye, Telemba, Bukhta Anna) and in the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan. However, the Ministry also announced VOSTOK exercise activity at other locations, such as the Kapustin Yar missile range, during the event. According to the Ministry, this phase would include operations by two opposing sides, with the Central Military District and Northern Fleet forces playing the adversary role against Eastern Military District and Pacific Fleet Forces. If true, this would have marked another significant evolution in the complexity and training value of the strategic exercises.

A number of dual-capable (conventional/nuclear) weapons systems participated in the exercises, conducting simulated or live-fire launches. This included TU-95MS (BEAR H) strategic bomber cruise missile launches over the Barents, East Siberian, Chukchi and North Arctic Seas and at the Telemba range; ISKANDER (SS-26 STONE) launches at the Kapustin Yar missile range; and MOSKIT (SS-N-22 SUNBURN) cruise missile launches by Pacific Fleet Forces against naval groupings of the notional adversary. Russian Ministry of Defence reporting did not specify whether these systems exercised their nuclear role, for example, whether the MOSKIT launch simulated the assigned navy mission “to inflict not less than critical damage on the enemy fleet by use of non-strategic nuclear weapons”. Aerospace forces exercised layered air and missile defence regionally and at exercise ranges.

How big was VOSTOK 2018?

The Russian military leadership consistently messaged that VOSTOK 2018 would be the largest Russian military exercise in decades. Western media picked up this refrain. However, informed observers soon expressed scepticism and a debate ensued over the size of the impending exercise and what comprised the much-flouted 300,000 figure. This kept media attention focused on VOSTOK in the weeks leading up to the active phase, which was undoubtedly the Russian leadership’s intention.

Minister of Defence Shoygu described the basis for the 300,000 figure after the conclusion of the exercise. In a post-exercise interview on 17 September with the Russian Defence Ministry’s newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, Minister of Defence Shoygu described all the preparatory exercises and activities leading up to and including the active phase, stating that “in all this complex of events, more than 300,000 servicemen were involved. This was, actually, the Armed Forces, two military districts (Central and Eastern), two fleets (Pacific and North), aviation, army aviation and our fellow allies – the armed forces of China and Mongolia.”

In other words, the 300,000 troop figure was an approximate total of all personnel involved in every phase of preparation and execution of the VOSTOK 2018 from early July through to 17 September. The 300,000 figure may be plausible for this timeframe but leaves open the question of the number of participating combat troops. One historical study of the ratio of support to combat troops in modern war suggests, out of a total of 300,000 troops, a possible range of 75,000-100,000 combat troops might have participated at the various ranges during the active phase of VOSTOK 2018. However, this is a very rough estimate.

The lack of definitive numbers of troop levels at the various phases of VOSTOK 2018 illustrates the inevitable uncertainty created by Russia’s approach to its large-scale exercises, and to related transparency and confidence-building measures. It also fits the pattern of, on the one hand, systematic Russian under-reporting of troop figures for exercises west of the Urals, where treaty-based reporting and observation requirements apply (thereby avoiding formal observations); and, on the other hand, accurate or even over-reporting for exercises east of the Urals, where no reporting or observation requirements apply.

Russian military leaders asserted – with reference to the ad hoc measures they substitute for effective confidence- and security-building measures – that VOSTOK 2018 was the most transparently conducted exercise on record, which included briefings in the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and invitations to hundreds of journalists and 89 foreign military attachés to observe at the Tsugol range. Despite this, the question of the exercise’s actual size remains unanswered. In light of this pattern, NATO needs to consider the possibility that Russia’s strategic exercises include the testing of large-scale maskirovka⁶ to obscure force movements, and the related operational implications.

Russian-Chinese military cooperation

VOSTOK 2018 also demonstrated a significant incremental step in Russian-Chinese military cooperation with both political and military implications. At the political level, Chinese media reported that the joint drills were intended to “consolidate and develop the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership”. For Russia’s part, Chinese participation was another visible demonstration that Russia is not isolated diplomatically or militarily regardless of tensions with the West. Despite strategic interests that may fundamentally diverge in the medium to long term, Russia and China, for now, want to present a common front to their perceived potential adversary, the United States, and VOSTOK provided an opportunity to do so.

China sent approximately 3,000 troops, 900 tanks and military vehicles, and 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to participate in VOSTOK 2018. © YouTube CCTV Video News Agency

The military significance of the Chinese participation is not to be discounted either. China sent approximately 3,000 troops, 900 tanks and military vehicles, and 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from its 78^th Army Corps to the Chita region via road, rail and air. This provided the first opportunity for People’s Liberation Army (PLA) units to participate in large-scale foreign drills after the 2016 reforms of PLA command structures. The staff, command and control, and logistical requirements for such a first-time effort, even at the brigade and squadron level, would have been considerable and would tangibly build capabilities for further military cooperation.

The Chinese participation in VOSTOK 2018 itself built upon experience gained in eight joint naval exercises conducted since 2012⁷. As a point of comparison, NATO-Russia military cooperation by operational units never approached this scale or regularity, despite expressed aspirations toward the ability for joint decisions and joint action expressed in the framework of NATO-Russia cooperation since the signing of the Founding Act in 1997. In contrast, Russia and China are building multidimensional military and military-industrial cooperation.

Politico-military relevance to NATO

For all these reasons, the VOSTOK exercise is relevant to the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic space, despite its geographic distance from NATO territory. Like all of Russia’s scheduled and snap strategic exercises, it is just one component of Russia’s ‘circuit training’ for large-scale war.

The capabilities developed and practiced during VOSTOK and the other exercises can be brought to bear on NATO’s flank as easily as they can be projected in any other strategic direction. Russia’s are by far the largest military exercises in Europe and are unique for their aims, size and frequency – as well as their lack of transparency. It is part of the ‘new normal’ for 70,000 to 150,000 troops to participate in Russia’s snap or planned strategic exercises. As Joseph Stalin is said to have observed, quantity has its own quality. What we see in the case of modern Russia is the ability to concentrate large forces relatively quickly anywhere on its periphery, under a nuclear shadow and with robust anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities aimed at preventing an adversary from occupying or traversing an area of land, sea or air.

The exercises create a twin challenge to predictability and stability on NATO’s eastern flank: the operational capabilities that exercises like VOSTOK build in Russia’s forces and, after the events of 2008 in Georgia and 2014 in Ukraine, the reasonable doubt as to the nature and intent of any major force movements.

“Little green men” stand guard in front of the Sebastopol naval base after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

VOSTOK and the other large-scale exercises also demonstrate and build the Russian Armed Forces’ capacity for sustained operations. Nearly five years on from the initiation of hostilities against Ukraine and three years after the start of operations in Syria, Russian military forces continue to operate in both theatres, while also continuing or initiating operations (such as air and maritime patrols) in other regions. Meanwhile, Russia is carrying on with its military modernisation, maintaining its programme of large-scale exercises, keeping military forces in a number of former Soviet republics –whether by bilateral agreement, without the countries’ consent, or illegal occupation – and expanding its presence well beyond its periphery. These developments suggest the need to reassess doubts about Russia’s ability to sustain military operations, including large-scale ones.

VOSTOK as a milestone and the road ahead

The completion of VOSTOK 2018 marked ten years of Russia’s annual strategic exercises. The year 2018 also marks five years since the reinitiation of large-scale snap exercises in the Russia military. This exercise programme has significantly improved the Russian Armed Forces’ warfighting and power-projection capabilities. These, in turn, support and enable Russia’s strategic destabilisation campaign against the West, with military force always casting a shadow of intimidation over Russia’s sub-kinetic aggression. This strategic context highlights NATO Allies’ motivations in committing both to meaningful dialogue with Russia and to strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence posture.

At the 2018 NATO Summit in Brussels, Allied leaders stated that the Alliance continues to adapt in order to ensure that its deterrence and defence posture remains credible, coherent, resilient and adaptable to a changing security environment. This includes an effective response to changes in the posture and doctrine of potential adversaries, and their significant investments to modernise and expand capabilities. The Allies noted that it is of strategic importance to heighten readiness and improve reinforcement as well as to ensure the Alliance’s political and military responsiveness, including through more regular exercises. The implications of Russia’s strategic exercises, in their full context, demonstrate the criticality of continued progress on these and all other aspects of NATO’s ongoing adaptation.

² No notice means the participating forces and command echelons below the General Staff are unaware of the timing of the exercise. These large-scale exercises take place on an unscheduled basis in various of the Military Districts/Joint Strategic Commands, fleets, services and branches. As a side-effect, Russia also gives no advance notification of the exercises to the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe under Vienna Document requirements.

³ Logistics is the transfer of military personnel and materiel, Combat Service Support sustains personnel and material in the field and includes such functions as maintenance, transportation, supply, medical support, field services such as feeding and clothing, human resources, and religious support. See, for example, US Army Field Manual FM 3-0.

⁴ Subjects of the Russian Federation federal state include republics, territories, regions, cities of federal significance and autonomous regions.

⁵ An estimated 75,000-100,000 combat troops participated at the various ranges during the active phase of the exercise and 297,000 total troops (combat and support) during the preparatory and active phase from late June to 16 September 2018. However, this estimation is based on a study of US Army tooth-to-tail ratios from the First World War through to the second Iraq War and could vary widely from the actual numbers due to possible differences between US and Soviet/Russian approaches to logistics and combat support.

⁶ Military deception intended to deceive the adversary as to the composition, location, actions, and intentions of Russian forces.

⁷ Beginning in 2012 in the Yellow Sea and followed by: 2013, Sea of Japan; 2014, East China Sea; 2015, Black Sea/Mediterranean and August, Sea of Japan; 2016, South China Sea; 2017, Baltic Sea and September, Sea of Japan/Sea of Okhotsk.

Dave Johnson is a staff officer in the NATO International Staff Defence Policy and Planning Division.

This article is a summary of a forthcoming paper to be issued by the NATO Defense College.

What is published in NATO Review does not necessarily represent the official position or policy of member governments, or of NATO.

We will continue to take very strong action against Iran s attempts to entrench itself in Syria. In neither of these sectors do we intend to lessen our efforts; we will intensify them, and I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the U.S., Netanyahu said Thursday in a statement to the media.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump launched a full and accelerated pullout of the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, a move that could leave a vacuum that Iran will be eager to fill. Trump on Wednesday confirmed the reports of a pullout in a tweet. We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency, he said.

Remaining in Syria are Russian and Iranian advisers as well as troops belonging to Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist militia allied with Iran. Iran, Hezbollah and Russia are aligned with the Assad regime. Turkey, which also has exercised influence in Syria, has backed the rebels.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria mostly in secret during the seven-year civil war to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold near its border and to keep weapons from traveling through the territory to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel is concerned that the U.S. exit from Syria could reduce its diplomatic leverage with Russia, the Syrian government s main supporter, according to Reuters.

9. OBAMA’S CHRISTMAS GENOCIDE

From Iraq to Gaza, from Egypt to Syria, fewer Christians in the Middle East.

December 20, 2018

Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

This Christmas, there will be fewer Christians celebrating in their homes in the Middle East than ever before.

Before Obama, Nineveh Plains hosted 90,000 Christians. Today, it’s under 40,000.

Nineveh is one of the first cities mentioned in the Bible. The Nineveh Plains are the heartland of Syriac Christianity. But now the plains are barren with ruined churches and deserted homes in formerly Christian towns and cities. And that same story repeats itself across Iraq where 81% of Christians have disappeared.

In Mosul alone, over 100,000 Christians were displaced as Jihadists marked their doors with an “N” for Nazarene. From cities to small towns, the end of the year bears witness to a Christian genocide.

In 2008, there were an estimated 700,000 Christians in Iraq, today estimates hover between 250,000 and 300,000. While ISIS is most directly associated with terror against Christians, most Jihadist groups, including those backed by Obama, intimidated, robbed and tortured them.

In January 2014, Obama dismissed ISIS as a “jayvee” team. That summer, the team took Qaraqosh and its surrounding villages, including Bartella. The Christians were given a choice between converting, paying Jizya, the traditional Dhimmi tax that Muslims impose on non-Muslims under Islamic law, and “death by the sword.”

The Shiite government finally took back Bartella, but now its Christians have found themselves under the thumb of the Shabak, a Shiite cult, whose soldiers that are part of the Shiite Jihadist Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) backed by Iran. The Christians of the Nineveh Plains that had been displaced by Sunni Jihadists backed by Turkey and Qatar are now being displaced by a Shiite Jihadist cult backed by Iran.

While the Obama administration backed the Pro-Iranian government in Baghdad and its Shiite militias, it discouraged the Americans who had volunteered to come and help protect Assyrian Christians. Congressional efforts to protect Christians were likewise stymied by the Obama administration and by State Department personnel in the region who refused to act on Congressional mandates.

The situation in the Nineveh Plains highlights the larger dilemma for the Christians in the region. As a middle class minority, instability turns Christians into immediate Jihadist targets. When Shiite and Sunni Muslims fight, they both rob the Christians. And when the fighting dies down, the Muslims go back to some version of the status quo, while the Christians lose what little they were trying to protect.

Christians in neighboring Syria have been similarly dwindling.

Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo had stated that Syria’s Christian population had fallen to 500,000. That number was down from 1.2 million before the war.

In Aleppo, the largest Christian community in the country had fallen from 150,000 to 35,000 last year.

In Tel Tal, 900 Christians remain in 30 villages where there were once 10,000. One of the villages has only two residents, a mother and son.

In Syria, as in Iraq, Christians have been caught between Sunni Jihadists and Shiite militias, exploited and robbed by both. In Iraq, Obama backed the Shiite government and in Syria, he supported the Sunni Jihadists. But either way, the Christians were caught in the middle in the instability he had unleashed.

Across the region, the beneficiaries of the Arab Spring were Islamists, Shiites or Sunnis, and the losers were Christians. Islamists are now more entrenched than ever from North Africa to Iraq. Jihadist militias on both sides have won or lost, collecting land, wealth and power, or losing it, but Christians have always lost. Under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or Iran’s puppet regime in Iraq, in cities and towns, the chaos and violence that was unleashed has worsened their position and thinned out their numbers.

The Arab Spring brought church bombings and terror to Egypt’s Coptic Christians. The Obama administration had done everything possible to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood regime. And its emissary had even warned Egyptian Christians against protesting their own oppression.

Popular protests eventually brought down the Muslim Brotherhood regime, but not before turning Coptic Christians into the scapegoats for Muslim terrorism. Egyptian Christians had stood up for their rights, despite the violence of the Muslim Brotherhood and Obama’s intimidation. And they paid the price in a wave of political terrorism by Islamists and disdain for their plight by the mainstream media.

An estimated 200,000 Christians fled Egypt in the face of the rising tide of Islamist violence. That’s nearly 5% of the population. When hundreds of thousands of Muslims flee a country, it’s dubbed a genocide.

But when hundreds of thousands of Christians escape religious violence, the world turns a blind eye.

The same media that turned Al Jazeera Islamists propagandists in Egypt into martyrs has shown very little interest in the plight and the suffering of Egypt’s Coptic Christians.

Even though Egyptian Christians predated the Muslim colonists and invaders, Islamic terrorists taunt them as “crusaders” and vow to purify the Islamic colonized region by driving them out.

In the Northern Sinai, a branch of ISIS that has reportedly been allied with Hamas, has made Christians into its target. Hundreds of Christian families were forced to flee El-Arish after attacks killed 7 Christians and targeted a church. Islamic terrorists distributed lists of Christians who had been marked for death.

It’s been estimated that the Christian population of the Northern Sinai has fallen to less than 1,000.

Obama illegally invaded Libya to overthrow its government, bringing terror and death to Christians. The regime change operation was conducted to support a takeover of the country by the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies. And the suffering of Christians in Libya under Islamist rule was covered up by a relentlessly pro-Islamic administration that had no interest in the suffering of its victims.

When Jews had been targeted in an Islamic terrorist attack in France before the Sabbath, Obama had referred to it as terrorists having “randomly” decided to “shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris”. When Coptic Christians were murdered in Libya, the State Department referred to them only as “Egyptian citizens”.

The beheadings of Coptic Christians were meant to send a message to the estimated 50,000 Coptic Christians living in Libya. As were the attacks on churches in Benghazi and other Libyan towns and cities. And it wasn’t just ISIS that was responsible. The new Islamist authorities in Libya arrested, tortured and even killed Coptic Christians, accusing them of missionary activity because of their possession of bibles.

Obama’s Islamist regime change in Libya was so effective that a population of 100,000 Christians dwindled to only a few thousand.

In Egypt, Syria, Libya and Iraq, Christians paid the highest price for Obama’s Arab Spring. Much as they always have for the various efforts to “democratize” Arab countries. Democracy in Muslim countries and areas invariably leads to the rise of Islamists and the persecution of Christians.

While the Christian population in Israel increased nearly fivefold since the Jewish State’s restoration, Muslim rule in the West Bank and Gaza led to sharp drops in Christian populations and violence against Christians. Efforts to bring democracy to these parts of Israel occupied by Islamic terrorist militias led to a Hamas takeover in Gaza, and the bombing of Christian institutions by Islamic terrorists.

Senior Hamas figures have been linked to the abduction and forced conversion of Gaza Christians.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the number of Christians in Gaza had dropped to 1,000. Attempts to blame Israel’s campaign against Hamas for the decline have been unconvincing because Gaza’s Muslim population continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In Gaza, as in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, under Islamist rule and terror, Christian populations decline while Muslim populations grow.

The Obama administration had embraced Hamas more than any previous administration, maintaining alleged secret channels to the Islamic terror group, and condemning Israeli efforts to take it on. The decline of Gaza’s Christians is ultimately another ugly consequence of Obama’s pro-Islamist policies.

From Iraq to Gaza, and from Egypt to Syria, Christmas in the Middle East will be celebrated by fewer Christians, under conditions of greater poverty, insecurity and terror. While Obama conducts his speaking tours, grinning and waving to delighted crowds, Christian refugees in the Middle East huddle in churches, in tents and in wrecked homes. But there is one thing that gives them a measure of hope.

Under Obama, Muslim refugees admitted to the United States outnumbered Christians for the first time. Obama’s policies not only led to Christian genocide, but he closed the door on the victims, admitting the perpetrators of the region’s Islamist genocide, but not its Christian victims. Now that has changed.

Christian refugees now outnumber Muslim refugees 3 to 1.

Middle Eastern Christians endured eight years of persecution and terror under Obama. But now a new era is here. Christian persecution in the region is far from over. But for the first time, there is hope.

10. 

Η Τουρκία απάντησε σε αναφορές για τη μεταφορά της C-400 των ΗΠΑ για “μελέτη“.

21 Δεκεμβρίου 2018

Φωτογραφία: Valery Sharifulin / TASS 

Κείμενο: Natalya Anufrieva

Η Άγκυρα δεν πρότεινε στην Ουάσινγκτον να εξετάσει το σύστημα αεροπορικής άμυνας S-400 της Ρωσίας, δήλωσε πηγή στο τουρκικό υπουργείο Εξωτερικών.

[Είδατε που μας διαβάζουν όλοι; (Όπως πχ οι Ρώσοι – Τούρκοι – Η.Π.Α.)! Θυμάστε που γράφαμε, μόλις… “προχθές”, για το γεγονός ότι οι Τούρκοι είχαν προμηθευτεί S-300… “Σωσίας”, όπως τους είχαμε εμείς ονομάσει, για μελέτη του υπόψη Συστήματος, απ’ αυτούς, για τον λόγο ότι αυτό είχε καταλήξει, έστω και από σπόντα, στους Έλληνες! ΦΙΛΟΙ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΟΙ! ΕΔΩ ΕΣΤΙΑΣΤΕΙΤΕ, ΣΕ ΕΜΑΣ, ΟΙ ΟΠΟΙΟΙ ΕΙΜΑΣΤΕ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΟΙ ΣΑΣ ΣΥΜΜΑΧΟΙ, ΣΥΜΜΑΧΟΙ ΧΩΡΙΣ ΑΣΤΕΡΙΣΚΟΥΣ]!..

Η “πηγή” δήλωσε ότι κατά τη διάρκεια των συνομιλιών, η Τουρκία και οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες αποφάσισαν ότι το S-400 θα χρησιμοποιηθεί ανεξάρτητα από το ΝΑΤΟ, αναφέρει η  RIA Novosti.

Επομένως, η αγορά από την Άγκυρα ρωσικών συστημάτων πυραυλικής αεροπορικής άμυνας, δεν θα είναι σε θέση να βλάψει τα αμερικανικά μαχητικά F-35, ούτε θα αποκαλύψει ευαίσθητες πληροφορίες που σχετίζονται με αυτά.

“Για το σκοπό αυτό, έχουν ληφθεί μέτρα και οι τεχνικοί μας μπορούν να διεξάγουν διμερείς διαπραγματεύσεις”, πρόσθεσε η πηγή.

Με τη σειρά του, ένας Τούρκος πολιτικός αναλυτής, καθηγητής στο Πανεπιστήμιο Kahramanmaras, ο Toğrul Ismail, δήλωσε ότι το ρωσικό σύστημα αεροπορικής άμυνας S-400 θα λειτουργεί ανεξάρτητα από τα συστήματα του ΝΑΤΟ και για τους σκοπούς της Άγκυρας!

Σημείωσε ακόμα ότι, από αυτήν την άποψη, οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες ανησυχούν περισσότερο “εάν η τουρκική πλευρά μπορεί να εγγυηθεί τη μη μεταφορά πληροφοριών  στη Ρωσία για τα F-35, όπως και για άλλα συστήματα όπλων”.

Ο καθηγητής πρόσθεσε ότι η εκπαίδευση των Τούρκων ειδικών για την επεξεργασία του πυραυλικού συστήματος αεροπορικής άμυνας “S-400” θα διεξαχθεί στη Ρωσία και ότι το ρωσικό προσωπικό θα προσληφθεί για την περίοδο εγγύησης της λειτουργίας αυτών των συστημάτων.

Νωρίτερα αναφέρθηκε ότι η Άγκυρα είχε  προσφερθεί στην Ουάσιγκτον να διερευνήσει το σύστημα αεράμυνας S-400, το οποίο αγοράζει από τη Ρωσία.

Πριν από αυτό, οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες  απείλησαν να επιβάλουν κυρώσεις  κατά της Τουρκίας λόγω της παράδοσης του ρωσικού S-400. Η Άγκυρα κάλεσε την αγορά αυτών των συστημάτων ως  “επιλυμένη επιχείρηση“ .

Ταυτόχρονα, το Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών  έδωσε άδεια  για την πιθανή πώληση συστημάτων αεροπορικού αμυντικού εξοπλισμού “Patriot“ στην Τουρκία. Η συμφωνία εκτιμήθηκε σε 3,5 δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια.

11. Μετά από την… ζεστή ακόμα παραίτηση του Α/ΥΠΑΜ Κου Ματτίς, (με την αναφορά ότι δεν είχε ενημερωθεί για την απόφαση απόσυρσης των αμερικανικών δυνάμεων από την Συρία, από τον Τραμπ), όπως άκουσα, επιβάλλεται η απόλυτη παρακολούθηση των αμερικανικών ενεργειών στην Μ. Ανατολή, όπως βεβαίως και στην δική μας -πιο κοντινή γεωγραφικά- περιοχή! Είναι σίγουρο ότι κάτι θα έχει στο μυαλό του ο Πρόεδρος ΤΡΑΜΠ, αλλά και ο Κος… Μπόλτον. Καταλάβατε!.. Σε κάθε περίπτωση οι όποιες “κινήσεις” των Η.Π.Α. και γενικότερα της Δύσης, θα πρέπει να είναι ΑΡΙΣΤΑ ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΕΝΕΣ, διότι η ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ έχει αποδείξει ότι το όποιο τακτικό ή στρατηγικό (στην περίπτωσή μας) παγκόσμιο πλεονέκτημα κυριαρχίας, μπορεί πολύ εύκολα να απωλεσθεί!..

[Πάντως ο Πρόεδρος ΤΡΑΜΠ είχε πει “ΚΑΘΑΡΑ” ότι θα ήταν ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΟ-ΚΕΝΤΡΙΚΟΣ! (Ένας σύγχρονος… Ουϊλσων, ας το πούμε έτσι)! Εκτιμούμε πάντως, κρίνοντάς τον, από την απολύτως συμβατή με τις προεκλογικές του υποσχέσεις πολιτική σημερινή του στάση απέναντι στον λαό του, προς τον οποίο φαίνεται απολύτως ειλικρινής, υλοποιώντας όλες τις προς αυτόν υποσχέσεις του, ότι δεν είναι πολιτικά ανήθικος, όσο και αν πολιτική και ηθική είναι έννοιες απολύτως αντίπαλες, και δεν θα εγκαταλείψει ούτε το ανέκαθεν μόνο του, στην περιοχή του, Ισραήλ, (μια περίπου αντίστοιχη της Ελλάδος περίπτωση… μοναξιάς), αλλά ούτε, κυρίως, τους Κούρδους, στο έλεος των Μογγόλων και πάντα “εις… υγείαν” ενός ίσως ατελέσφορου πιθανού σχεδίου των Η.Π.Α., για περαιτέρω περίσφιγξη του Πούτιν, και απολύτου αποκτήσεως του “πάνω χεριού” στο κρίσιμο ενεργειακό διεθνή ανταγωνισμό]!..

12. Μέχρι και ο Κ/Πρόεδρος Αναστασιάδης “πήρε στην πλάκα”, όπως είδαμε στην Μπερσεεβά, (20-12-2018), στην Ι-Ε-Κ- κή 3μερή συνάντηση, τον Κο Τσίπρα!.. Η απόλυτη κατάντια και ξεφτίλα της ελληνικής εξωτερικής πολιτικής μαζί, ακτινοβολούσες στο πρόσωπο του… Αλέξη μας!..

13. Έξω πλέον ο Κος ΡΙΧΑΡΔΟΣ… ΜΥΛΩΝΑΣ! Τί σας… γράφαμε; Αξίζει να ξαναδιαβάσετε τα όσα σας γράψαμε για τον χρυσό και την… Τουρκία, αλλά και το “πότε” και “πώς” έκανε φτερά ο ελληνικός χρυσός, από την Πατρίδα μας!

14.

Οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες θα κλείσουν τη στρατιωτική βάση “Al-Tanf“ στη Συρία

21 Δεκεμβρίου 2018 10:00

Κείμενο: Αλίνα Ναζαρόβα

Ο αμερικανικός στρατός, στο πλαίσιο της απόσυρσης στρατευμάτων από τη Συρία που ανακοίνωσε ο Αμερικανός πρόεδρος Ντόναλντ Τράμπ, εγκαταλείπει τη βάση των Ειδικών Δυνάμεων “Αλ-Τανφ“, ανέφεραν εκπρόσωποι της ένοπλης συριακής αντιπολίτευσης.

Σύμφωνα με τον διοικητή του Ομίλου Magavir al-Taur, ο συνταγματάρχης Muhannad al-Tahl, βοήθησε να γίνει απογραφή του εξοπλισμού που ο στρατός των ΗΠΑ παίρνει από τη βάση.

Ένας ανώνυμος αξιωματούχος των ΗΠΑ επιβεβαίωσε στο BuzzFeed ότι οι ΗΠΑ θα εγκαταλείψουν τη βάση στο “Al-Tanf”, στο πλαίσιο της απόσυρσης στρατευμάτων από τη Συρία.

Η στρατιωτική βάση στο “Al-Tanfah” δημιουργήθηκε από τον διεθνή συνασπισμό, υπό την ηγεσία των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών, στην επαρχία Homs, για την καταπολέμηση του Ισλαμικού Κράτους *.

Ο “Λευκός Οίκος” ανακοίνωσε επίσημα   την έναρξη της απόσυρσης αμερικανικών στρατευμάτων από τη Συρία, στις 19-12-2018. Η διαδικασία θα διαρκέσει από 60 έως 100 ημέρες.

15. Μεγίστη ΥΒΡΙΣ(!) τα όσα είπε ο Ρώσος Πρόεδρος Κος Β. ΠΟΥΤΙΝ, στην ετήσια συνέντευξη που δίνει κάθε χρόνο τέτοια εποχή στην Μόσχα, για το “Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο” και τον “Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη” μας, με αφορμή την απόφαση απόδοσης από το Πατριαρχείο “Καθεστώτος Αυτοκεφαλίας” στην Ουκρανική εκκλησία, ανεξαρτησίας της από την Μόσχα και απολύτου συνδέσεώς της με “το πρώτο, μεταξύ ίσων” Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο, Κων-πόλεως!

Θα επανέλθουμε σχετικά με το θέμα αυτό! Προς το παρόν συμβουλεύουμε, ναι όπως το διαβάζετε, συμβουλεύουμε τον Ρ/Πρόεδρο να κάτσει να διαβάσει Ιστορία, να ξανα-ακούσει ακριβώς τί είπε και να θυμηθεί ότι η συνολική κουλτούρα, όπως και η εξωτερική πολιτική, τουλάχιστον των Ρώσων, του λαού του οποίου ηγείται δηλαδή, πλάστηκε μέσα στους αιώνες, (μετά από τον εκ-Χριστιανισμό των “Ρως”), απ’ το Βυζάντιο, του οποίου το υπόψη Πατριαρχείο υπήρξε σε πολύ μεγάλο βαθμό ΦΑΡΟΣ και ΛΙΚΝΟ, όπως και αργότερα, (μετά από την άλωση της Πόλης), η όποια επεκτατική πολιτική ή “πολιτική κυριαρχίας” της Ρωσίας, στο διεθνές περιβάλλον, (μέχρι και την έλευση του Κομμουνισμού), από τους προηγούμενους εκείνου άλλου… Τσάρους(!), διαμορφώνετο απ’ το… τουρκικό* (sic) Πατριαρχείο!

– Θεωρούμε ότι η στάση αυτή του Κου Πούτιν είναι ένα από τα πλέον ΜΕΙΖΟΝΑ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΙΚΑ του ΛΑΘΗ, συνολικά της θητείας του, ως… Τσάρου, συγγνώμη ως Προέδρου ήθελα να πω, της σημερινής “Ρωσικής Ομοσπονδίας“!.. Η γνωστή του προσωπική αυτοπεποίθηση, αλλά και η γνωστή επίσης πίστη του στην αποτελεσματικότητα και ισχύ των ρωσικών όπλων, τον οδήγησαν αυτήν την φορά σε ένα λάθος, που μάλλον θα το βρει μπροστά της η χώρα του!..

* Η αναφορά του σε… τουρκικό Πατριαρχείο πρέπει να προέρχεται από πιθανό επηρεασμό του, λόγω των στενών σχέσεων που έχει αναπτύξει η χώρα του τα 2, 3 τελευταία χρόνια με τους Τούρκους! Αχαχαχαχαχαχαχα! Σίγουρα όμως εδράζεται στην ανασφάλεια που εκτιμούμε πως αρχίζει να νοιώθει, λόγω της “δυτικής… ανάσας”, που αρχίζει να γίνεται όλο και πιο ζεστή, απ’ όλες τις πλευρές της αχανούς χώρας του!..

16. Cyber αντίδραση Κίνας… Απορρίπτει κατηγορίες ΗΠΑ για κυβερνοκλοπή

21/12/2018

Η Κίνα εξέφρασε σήμερα την έντονη αντίδρασή της στις κατηγορίες των ΗΠΑ για το θέμα της κυβερνοασφάλειας, καλώντας την αμερικανική πλευρά να αποσύρει τις “υποτιθέμενες κατηγορίες» σε βάρος Κινέζων πολιτών. Τα σχόλια αυτά έγιναν από την εκπρόσωπο του υπουργείου Εξωτερικών Χούα Τσουνγίν, απαντώντας στις κατηγορίες των ΗΠΑ σε βάρος δύο Κινέζων πολιτών χθες ότι υποτίθεται διέπραξαν «κυβερνοκλοπή».

Η Χούα δήλωσε ότι η κατηγορία από την αμερικανική πλευρά στο θέμα της κυβερνοασφάλειας είναι κατασκευασμένη «εκ του μηδενός», που παραβιάζει σοβαρά τα βασικά πρότυπα που διέπουν τις διεθνείς σχέσεις και υπονομεύουν σοβαρά τη διμερή συνεργασία. Η Χούα δήλωσε ότι η Κίνα αντιτίθεται σθεναρά σε αυτούς τους ισχυρισμούς και έχει προχωρήσει σε επίσημη διαμαρτυρία προς τις ΗΠΑ.

Στο θέμα της κυβερνοασφάλειας, η Χούα δήλωσε ότι η στάση της κινεζικής κυβέρνησης ήταν ανέκαθεν συνεπής και σαφής. Η Κίνα τάσσεται σθεναρά υπέρ της κυβερνοασφάλειας και αντιτίθεται σφόδρα και λαμβάνει αυστηρά μέτρα κατά οποιασδήποτε μορφής κατασκοπείας στον κυβερνοχώρο.

«Η κινεζική κυβέρνηση δεν συμμετείχε ποτέ και με κανένα τρόπο, ούτε στήριξε τη συμπεριφορά κάποιου που κλέβει εμπορικά μυστικά», δήλωσε η ίδια. Πρόσθεσε πως είναι κοινό μυστικό εδώ και καιρό ότι οι αμερικανικές αρχές έχουν διαπράξει μεγάλης κλίμακας και οργανωμένη κυβερνο-κατασκοπία και παρακολουθούν ξένες κυβερνήσεις, επιχειρήσεις και πρόσωπα.

«Το να εξαπολύονται αβάσιμες κατηγορίες σε βάρος της Κίνας υπό το πρόσχημα της κυβερνοκλοπής δεν είναι τίποτα περισσότερο από μια ενέργεια μετατόπισης ευθύνης που δημιουργεί αυταπάτες», δήλωσε. «Καλούμε τις ΗΠΑ να διορθώσουν άμεσα τα λάθη τους, να σταματήσουν να συκοφαντούν την Κίνα στο θέμα της κυβερνοασφάλειας και να αποσύρουν τις υποτιθέμενες κατηγορίες σε βάρος Κινέζων πολιτών», δήλωσε η Χούα, προσθέτοντας ότι η Κίνα θα λάβει τα απαραίτητα μέτρα για να προστατεύσει αποφασιστικά την κυβερνοασφάλεια και τα συμφέροντά της.

Απαντώντας στις κατηγορίες του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου εναντίον της Κίνας για το θέμα της κυβερνοασφάλειας, η Χούα χαρακτήρισε τα σχόλια αυτά «αβάσιμα» και δήλωσε ότι έχουν «απώτερα κίνητρα».

«Τους καλούμε να σεβαστούν τα γεγονότα και να σταματήσουν την εσκεμμένη συκοφάντηση της Κίνας, προκειμένου να αποφύγουν να πλήξουν τις διμερείς τους σχέσεις με την Κίνα και τη συνεργασία σε σημαντικούς τομείς», πρόσθεσε.

ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

 17. Τελευταίας στιγμής!

ΡΤΕ μην εκτίθεσαι με αυτά που λες! Πάσχεις, ειδικά τελευταία, από ασυνήθη ακριτομύθεια! “Καμμιά Ιστορία δεν γράφει η χώρα σου τώρα στην εξωτερική της πολιτική“, όπως αλαζονικά και υπερφίαλα μόλις προ ολίγου δήλωσες, επηρεασμένος προφανώς από την απόσυρση των Η.Π.Α., από την Β. Συρία, (περίμενε να δεις την μορφή της αποχώρησης, περίμενε να δεις -και δούμε- την όποια συνέχεια του… έργου), γεγονός που σε παρομοιάζει σαν την γάτα, που ενώπιόν της παρουσιάζεται ανυπεράσπιστο ένα ποντίκι, όπως δηλαδή βλέπεις εσύ τώρα πια τους Κούρδους της Συρίας!..

Πρόσεξε Ταγίπ! Η χώρα σου παραμένει να ευρίσκεται, με ό,τι αυτό σημαίνει, σε κατάσταση “ξεψυχούντος θηρίου“!.. 

-/-