End Of The Day Roundup: Russia, Middle East, Speaker Impasse, The West According To Dugin
We start with Russia. No, not Putin’s “cardiac arrest.” A Russian tweeter highlighted a matter you may have heard about recently—the downing by the Russians of multiple instances of what remains of the Ukrainian air force. For reasons given below, this is said to concern the US, as it masses air power in the eastern Mediterranean:
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin: The Pentagon has become sharply concerned about the suddenly increased effectiveness of the Russian Aerospace Forces. In two weeks, the Russians staged a real massacre in the Ukrainian sky. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost at least 10 of their aircraft (according to other sources, 14). Moreover, all of them were shot down far from the front line and outside the radius of Russian air defense systems, as well as outside the standard radius of Russian fighter missiles. Those pilots who were able to eject reported that until the moment their planes were hit, they did not receive warning information about the attack from the appropriate warning systems.
The Americans believe that the Russian Aerospace Forces have acquired new missiles capable of not only hitting targets at a great distance, but also, after launch, independently pursuing a target without illuminating it from the aircraft’s radar, using a radio signature to guide it (the target). Now Americans carefully check this information and consider it critically important. Since, if it is confirmed, it means that the Russians have acquired a weapon that will neutralize all the advertised advantages of their new main fighter, the F-35. https://t.me/vicktop55/17872
I have no way of confirming any of this, of course. Nevertheless, there have been other events since the beginning of the Special Military Operation that do suggest that Russia has been withholding some of its most advanced weapon systems from combat. Presumably, this has been to avoid providing advance knowledge of such systems to the US, in the event of face to face combat. It’s something to factor into the escalating Great Power tensions in the Middle East.
I picked this item up from CTH. The question, as with the Houthi missiles that were shot down by the US destroyer, is: Were these truly serious attacks, or more in the nature of probing, testing, attacks?
(VIA NBC) -Two dozen American military personnel were wounded last week in a series of drone attacks at American bases in Iraq and Syria, U.S. Central Command told NBC News on Tuesday.
The Pentagon confirmed the attacks last week, but the number of U.S. casualties has not been previously disclosed.
Twenty American personnel sustained minor injuries on Oct. 18 when at least two one-way attack drones targeted al-Tanf military base in southern Syria, CENTCOM said.
One of the drones was shot down. All of the wounded personnel were returned to duty, CENTCOM said, and there was no damage to any military installations.
On that same day, another four American personnel suffered minor injuries during two separate drone attacks against U.S. and coalition forces stationed at al-Asad base in western Iraq, CENTCOM said. (read more)
One presumes there is more of this to come.
But good news on Capitol Hill. Tom Emmer, RINO-MN, was forced to withdraw his bid for Speaker. The impasse continues—so far, to the benefit of the nation.
Lastly, I came across this from Russian political philosopher Aleksandr Dugin. Give it a read and some thought. To me, it makes sense. From my point of view, what Dugin is describing stems from the radical secularization of Europe—played out over several centures but now beyond dispute—that followed from the Protestant Reformation. We see across “the West” an increasingly virulent and open hostility to all things Christian.
DUGIN: "The West is not the people. The West is a system of global hegemony over humanity on behalf of an illegitimate international oligarchy. The West is the insidious primary enemy of the populace — especially of Europe and America. The West is the antithesis of Europe. Europe has history, culture, roots, and traditions. The West has destroyed all these in both Europe and the US. The globalists have hijacked America. It does not belong to its people anymore. Therefore we are not fighting against the people of the West but instead for the cause of the people, for the liberation of the people from the grip of the totalitarian liberal system.”
“Therefore we are not fighting against the people of the West but instead for the cause of the people, for the liberation of the people from the grip of the totalitarian liberal system.” I have felt this way since the beginning of the Ukraine/Russia conflict. I was disgusted to hear Lindsey Graham say that sending money to Ukraine was the “best money we ever spent”. Russians and Ukrainians are dying and the Middle East is on the brink of WW 3. According to Graham, this is a good thing b/c the demand for weapons will increase thus allowing us to rebuild our industrial base. Anyone celebrating the atrocities of war should be on the frontlines with their sons and grandsons.
“The Pentagon has become sharply concerned about the SUDDENLY increased effectiveness of the Russian Aerospace Forces . . . . acquired NEW missiles”
Fools. Maybe they really have believed their own bullshit about Russian weakness, ineptitude, yadda yadda.