Top U.S. General Ignored Obama, Led Secret Plot to Protect Assad and Bring Russia Into Syrian War

ATP - President Obama’s top military commander secretly orchestrated intelligence sharing with military leaders in Germany, Israel and Russia to thwart the president’s policy to remove Bashar Assad from power in Syria and lay the groundwork for Russia’s military entrance into the Syrian civil war, because he believed Obama’s anti-ISIS strategies were hopelessly misguided.

That is just one of the astounding takeaways from a 6,800-word expose by venerated investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh, that was just published in the London Review of Books. Hersh, whose sources include top senior aides to the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which commands all U.S. military forces, also described in great detail how Turkey’s president Recep Erdoğan has deceived the White House by siding and arming ISIS and other extremist Islamic militias in Syria, in a gambit for Turkey to emerge as a regional power akin to the Ottoman Empire.

ISIS Leader Al-Baghdadi Escaped to Sirte in Libya, Home of Gaddafi

ATP - The leader of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL_ISIS ) Takfiri terrorist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has moved from aTurkey to Libya to escape the hunt operation of the Baghdad Intelligence Sharing Center after he was traced down and allegedly targeted a number of times in Iraq and the Syria, sources said on Tuesday.

Sources in Libya said al-Baghdadi has arrived in Sirte, the hometown of the slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which is under the control of the ISIS Takfiri group.

The ISIL Leader is running a secret life as his life is at stake more than anyone in the world now. Al-Baghdad's terrorist group is under massive airstrike by the Syrian, Russian and Iraqi Air Forces all throughout the Western Iraq and Eastern Syria.

Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Isis but hopes they ‘will never be needed’

Vladimir Putin has said he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed after Russia launched cruise missiles from its submarine at Isis targets in Syria.

During a meeting in the Kremlin, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the President that Kalibr cruise missiles had been fired by the Rostov-on-Don submarine from the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.

In addition to conventional warheads, President Putin said the new cruise missiles could also be equipped with nuclear warheads, before adding he hoped they would “never be needed”.

Russia goes ballistic in Syria; Turkey issues a warning

Russia does not appear to be forgiving of the downing of its plane after Turkey cited airspace. The country has been aiming at Turkey at its economic and military ends drawing warning from the country to avoid further conflicts. 

Russia warned previously it will retailiate against Turkey following the downing of its warplane. Consequently, it has been doing so for the past days that it has prompted concerns across the globe including possibly risking NATO's military intervention. According to McClatchy, a United Nations official said that the Russian seemingly have "gone ballistic" in their efforts to end Turkey's influence across Northern Syria.

Russia Presents Evidence Of Turkey-ISIS Oil Trade

ATP - The charges and counter-charges have been fast and furious since last week, when the Turkish air force shot down a Russian fighter jet near Turkey’s border with Syria. But now it’s getting personal.

The Russian Defense Ministry is accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his family and his country’s leadership of being tied up in illegal trade in oil with the so-called Islamic State (IS), and that Turkey is the group’s chief customer.

“Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region,” Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told a Moscow news conference Wednesday. He said thousands of trucks ship “large quantities” of the oil into Turkey.

Russia’s actions against Syrian Turkmens unacceptable, says Erdogan

Russia’s actions against Syrian Turkmens are unacceptable, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the meeting with his US counterpart Barack Obama, TRT Haber TV channel reported Dec.1.

The presidents met during the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris Dec.1.

Erdogan said that there are no militants of the IS terrorist group (ISIL or ISIS) on the Syrian territories bombed by Russian air forces.

Turkish Air Force jets shot down the Russian SU-24 bomber after it entered Turkish airspace Nov. 24. Both pilots managed to eject and the plane crashed on Syrian territory.

Relations between Russia and Turkey have deteriorated after the incident.

Earlier, spokesperson for Russian president Dmitry Peskov told Turkish media that the restoration of the relations between the two countries is out of the question.

U.S. Air Force comments on Russian S-400s in Syria

U.S. and coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State group will continue despite Russia’s decision to send advanced S-400 surface-to-air missiles to Syria, said the commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command on Wednesday in an interview with the Air Force Times.
Read more on UNIAN:http://www.unian.info/world/1194571-us-air-force-comments-on-russian-s-400s-in-syria.html?

ATP -“Yes, it does complicate things a little bit, and we’ll put some thought to it, but we still have a job to do here, and we’re going to continue to do that job – to defeat Daesh [the Islamic State group],” Lt. Gen. Charles Brown Jr. told the Air Force Times on Wednesday.

Brown said that the U.S.-led coalition and Russia have a memorandum of understanding that spells out how aircraft from both sides should interact.

“We have pretty good connectivity with the Russians,” Brown said.

Ukraine closes its airspace to Russia in latest escalation

ATP - Ukraine’s prime minister says his government has decided to close the country’s airspace to all Russian planes.

Kiev banned all Russian airlines from flying into Ukraine last month, but Russian planes have been allowed to fly over its territory.

The decision to shut the airspace was announced by Arseny Yatsenyuk at a televised government session on Wednesday. It comes as tensions simmer between Russia and Ukraine following Russia’s annexation of Crimea last year and a separatist war in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 8,000 people and left parts of the industrial heartland in ruins.

The Russian gas monopoly Gazprom announced earlier on Wednesday that it was cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine because the country had not paid in advance for supplies.

Russian, Syrian special forces rescue Russian pilot - Syrian media

ATP - BEIRUT Russian and Syrian special forces rescued one of the pilots of a Russian warplane shot down by Turkey near the Turkish-Syrian border, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday.

The state news agency SANA said the pilot, whose Su-24 jet came down in Syrian territory on Tuesday, had been retrieved from an area where rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad were present.

Syrian special forces "last night carried out a joint operation with Russian special forces, penetrating four to five kilometres into areas where terrorists are located, and were able to save one of the pilots of the Russian plane", SANA reported, adding that he had been returned to a military base.

Russia will continue air strikes in Syria near Turkish border - Kremlin

Russia will continue air strikes against Islamic State targets located in Syria near the Turkish border, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"We would like for the terrorists and militants to keep further away from the Turkish border, but unfortunately they tend to be situated on the Syrian territory close to the Turkish border," Peskov told journalists on a conference call.

"(Russia's) operations will continue without doubt." (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Maria Kiselyova

Has World War III begun?

 ATP - The official spokesman of the Islamic State in Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) announced the group’s rebranding as “Islamic State,” declaring itself a Caliphate and renaming its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Caliph Ibrahim.
He wrote: “The time has come for those generations that were drowning in oceans of disgrace, being nursed on the milk of humiliation, and being ruled by the vilest of all people, after their long slumber in the darkness of neglect – the time has come for them to rise. The time has come for the ummah [i.e. the nation] of Muhammad (peace be upon him) to wake up from its sleep, remove the garments of dishonor, and shake off the dust of humiliation and disgrace, for the era of lamenting and moaning has gone, and the dawn of honor has emerged anew. The sun of jihad has risen. The glad tidings of good are shining. Triumph looms on the horizon. The signs of victory have appeared.

Russia Deploys Maritime Air Defense After Jet Shot Down Over Syria

Moscow will deploy a warship off the Syrian coast near Latakia to strengthen the defense of its air base there, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces announced on Tuesday after Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian strike aircraft.

ATP - Russian fighter jets will now accompany all of Moscow's missions against Islamic State targets in Syria, the General Staff said. Prior to Tuesday's attack, Russian bombers were conducting their missions without air cover.

Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber aircraft that Turkey said had violated its airspace. Both pilots ejected, and one was fatally shot while parachuting to the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed.

Why Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in Syria, according to an expert

The downing of a Russian military plane by Turkish forces has introduced another layer of complication to the Syrian crisis and raised fears over possible escalation and the potential for a direct conflict between the US and Russia.

To get the Turkish perspective on this incident, I spoke with Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, about why the Turkish military would take such dramatic action and what this could mean for the future of Turkish-Russian relations and Turkey's policy toward Syria. What follows is a transcript of my conversation with Cook, lightly edited for length and clarity.

Pope Francis: Christmas a ‘Charade’ This Year Because ‘Whole World Is at War’

The Pope told churchgoers that "the whole world is at war"

ATP - Pope Francis told churchgoers that Christmas this year is going to be a“charade” because “the whole world is at war.”

The pontiff put this holiday season in perspective during mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria last week. His speech comes after a rash of notable violent incidents, including the now infamous terrorist attacks in Paris, as “we are close to Christmas. There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war.

Black box confirms explosion on Russian plane.

CVR
cockpit voice recorder

T.A.T - Data from the CVR that was retrieved from the crash site in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has revealed that there was an explosion on board the flight, reported French weekly Le Point, quoting an unnamed expert.

“It was not a technical issue, but an outside action,” said the expert, suggesting the cause of the crash, which killed all 224 people on board, could be an explosion.

French investigators are part of an international team that includes Russian, German and Irish experts on the ground in Egypt.

Airlines To Avoid flying over site of Russian plane crash in Egypt.

T.A.T - Several large Middle Eastern and European airlines have said they will avoid the area of Egyptian airspace where a Russian plane came down on Saturday.

The biggest Gulf airline, Emirates, and its subsidiary flydubai, as well as Air Arabia, said they were rerouting flights around the peninsula where the Russian Metrojet flight crashed soon after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

Russian Plane
Crash Site. 

Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have also decided to stop flying over the peninsula while the risks are assessed after an Islamic militant group claimed to have shot the plane down – a claim that Moscow has so far dismissed.

An easyJet spokesman said its planes were already not flying over the north and central Sinai conflict zone. “As has been the case for some time before yesterday’s incident, easyJet like other UK airlines does not fly over northern and central Sinai, the area of the incident.”