Interestingly in more than one post our friend @duggers_dad made statements to the effect that the Israeli attacks on Iran had minimal impact and inferred that it could only be a matter of time before Iran would retaliate and seriously damage Israel. Seems that Iran's dream of a Shiite empire stretching from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea is pretty much gone as has Russia's influence in the Middle East.
She should reconsider. Given what she likely knows about Russian operations in Syria, I think she is more likely to have a tragic accident prior to any debrief with MI6.
She could also end up like Alexei Navalny did back in 2020 or Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 all three of whom miraculously survived. Navalny 'poisoned': What are Novichok agents and what do they do? Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal - Wikipedia Putin’s poisons: 2018 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal Before Navalny, a long history of Russian poisonings
remember the stories about the Iranian brownouts above and how they were shutting down industrial facilitates due to power shortages. the shortages were driven by illegal bitcoin mining surge in demand when bitcoin went way up in price due to djt election and connection to bitcoin bros. madras in Tehran turning free iranian electricity into pure cash that the US gubmnt will buy from them and they can use to fund terrorist activities around the world. for what. being able to freely move any sort of capital around the world without anyone being able to do anything about it? who does that benefit besides crooks and money launderers and the people peddling the snake oil? Illegal crypto mining suspected of causing rolling blackouts in major city: 'They [spread out] to avoid being detected' While Iran is having energy problems, with fuel reserves low and supplies being sold off, an increase in blackouts came around the same time the value of cryptocurrency soared following Donald Trump's presidential victory. Cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive activity because of the power needed to run specialized computer systems and keep them cool. In low-income areas in Iran, electricity is provided for free, including for mosques and schools. It's suspected that miners are taking advantage of this subsidized power to run cryptocurrency mining hubs. In August, Mostafa Rajabi, the CEO of Iran's government-owned power company, said: "Unfortunately, some opportunistic and exploitative individuals use subsidized electricity, public networks and other resources for cryptocurrency mining without authorization."
Navanly managed to survive the nerve gas, not so lucky when Putin decided to take care of him once and for all during his time as a guest of Vlad at a Russian state facility in Kharp, Russia.
Israel emasculated Iran. They did exactly what they wanted to, where they wanted to, and when they wanted to do it. And made Iran watch them do it. And Iran could do nothing about it. They undressed them and defiled them in the public square. It was/is the cherry on top of the western domination over soviet tech. Ukraine has been the hot fudge sunday but Iran is the cherry. They have nothing, and they know it. Rest assured, Xi will not risk being undressed like that. Not sure you know until you go but Iran following Ukraine will give him pause at the tech differential. random tangental thoughts about what i think i'm witnessing. note that a large PE company just announced a partnership to challenge major defense contractors. They know that a flood of international money is going to want some of that western tech. That is the profitable enterprise and industry they will have perfected that could rebuild Ukraine, sad to say... Private equity's presence grows in US, EU defense sectors save for 2023 blip | S&P Global Market Intelligence Private equity gobbling up defense firms at a frightening pace: Experts | Responsible Statecraft Private equity firms are rapidly acquiring a greater share of the U.S. defense sector, raising concerns about transparency as global demand for American weapons hits record highs, according to new research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In 2021 alone, private equity funds invested $15 billion in nearly 140 defense-related deals. Firms have acquired some of the world’s largest defense contractors, including Amentum, which claims that it is the second leading provider of services to the U.S. government. (Just last month, Amentum won a $4.7 billion contract with the Air Force.) Since private funds are not required to share information about their portfolio companies, contractors often “disappear into a black box” after an acquisition, according to SIPRI researchers Lorenzo Scarazzato and Madison Lipson. “We’re not able to publish data regarding those companies,” Scarazzato said, noting that the “rising trend” of private equity takeovers could make it difficult for SIPRI to maintain its widely-cited list of the world’s largest defense firms. “In a way, our database becomes crippled by the trend.” And, experts argue, the problems don’t stop there. The risky approach favored by private equity firms increases the chance that contractors could default on their loans, as happened to Constellis Holdings — the successor to Erik Prince’s Blackwater — in 2020. Private equity acquisitions are also a key driver of defense industry consolidation, which could lead to increased costs for taxpayers, according to a recent Pentagon report.
There's no evidence Putin took out Navalny when he was incarcerated. If I'm remembering correctly Navalny died shortly after he was visited by his wife and lawyer. They brought him medication. There's no evidence Navalny was poisoned by Putin. If he was poisoned the substance to my knowledge was never identified. From Moon of Alabama: "If Navalny was poisoned - which is not established - the next question must be how Navalny came into contact with a cholinesterase inhibitor. Was the contact caused by himself or by someone else? Was it intentionally or unintentionally? Navalny's spokeswomen has insisted that the only substance Navalny ingested that morning was a tea from an airport bar. A CCTV video from the airport shows that the tea was brought from the bar by a person that then sits down with Navalny. They presumably traveled together. How would the airport barkeeper, if he supposedly poisoned Navalny, knew for whom the tea was? As 'western' media continue with their "Putin poisoned Navalny" nonsense it is important to again point out that other people have more reason to harm Navalny than the Kremlin does: During the last years Navalny has made some enemies by uncovering corruption cases. His latest one was about the local governor of Tomsk. It was also the reason why he had flown there. Should Navaly become the victim of a crime the suspects should be sought there." https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/08/the-back-and-forth-about-navalnys-poisoning-.html
There's no evidence the Skripals were poisoned. We do know the MSM is lying about the case. From the blog Moon of Alabama: "It is most likely that Sergei Skripal was trying to go back to Russia. Skripal may well have been a source for the debunked Steele dossier and was probably willing to talk about it. But whatever his plans were the British government found it necessary to prevent him from executing them. It created an elaborate false story and fed it to the global media. The mainstream media swallowed it up without even the slightest sign of critical thinking. The Blogmire, John Helmer and I have all extensively written about the case. We know that the British government and the mainstream media are lying about it and we have all developed our own theories of what really happened and about the whys and hows. John Helmer's book is a collection of his blog posts on the case with a new indroduction and additional chapters. This already makes it a valuable reference for anyone who wants to recap the story as it developed. Helmer also adds two important and new factual points. He had requested information from various British authorities about the pending legal procedures around the cases. He finds that there is no evidence of any official legal investigation or court case that could bring light into the issue. This is astonishing as the British procedures seem to demand a further inquest. There is also no evidence for the existence of the announced arrest warrant against the two Russian citizens which the British government has accused of being involved in the case." https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/03/where-are-the-skripals.html
Let's take a moment to grieve for the woman who stood by her brutal dictator husband ... as long as standing by him was safe and comfortable. Assad's critically ill wife barred from Britain for cancer treatment
Moon of Alabama? As John McEnroe would say "You cannot be serious". Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, also known as the Salisbury Poisonings, was a botched assassination attempt to poison Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies in the city of Salisbury, England on 4 March 2018.[5][6] Sergei and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned by means of a Novichok nerve agent.[7] Both spent several weeks in hospital in a critical condition, before being discharged. A police officer, Nick Bailey, was also taken into intensive care after attending the incident, and was later discharged.[8][9][10][a]While the above link is from Wikipedia virtually every statement is sourced and includes footnotes containing links to the original sources.
What I meant was there's no evidence Russia or anyone else.deliberately tried to poison the Skripals. They were fine when they dined at a seafood restaurant. They collapsed 40 minutes after they finished their meal. The seafood risotto dish they ate is a well known cause of neurotoxin poisonings. The seafood neurotoxin fits with the Skripal's symptoms much better than if they had come in contact with a military grade nerve agent. Sergei Skripal's nie ce has stated that seafood poisoning could have caused the Skripals to become ill. The Best Explanation For The Skripal Drama Is Still ... Food Poisoning Doctors at the Salisbury District Hospital announced today that Sergej Skripal's health is rapidly improving. He and his daughter Yulia will likely be well again. It is unlikely that any targeted poisoning with a real 'military grade' nerve agent would have allowed for such an outcome. This brings us back to food poisoning as a possible cause of the Skripals' ordeal. A friend of this blog, Tore, sent us his considerations which we publish below. He suggest that shellfish poisoning, which is caused by a neurotoxin known as Saxitoxin or STX, is the real culprit of the Skripal incident. He explains how this would fit to the observable behavior of the British government and other participants in the drama. In my view his theory has significant merit. On Wednesday the niece of Sergej Skripal, Viktoria Skripal, received a phone call from Yulia Skripal. She was interviewed by a Russian TV station and suggested that food poisoning might have been the real cause of the calamities her relatives were in: https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/...-for-the-skripal-drama-is-food-poisoning.html
These last few years have been hard on Lee Harvey. He got all worked up with delusions of grandeur for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that fizzled out. Now Syria has fallen. It's hard when you invest all of your hopes and dreams on a despotic, bloodthirsty dictator, and he can't get the job done.
The reality: "Syria has been disintegrated and pillaged in the name of ‘liberating’ Syrians from the threat of ISIS, which they – Washington – had installed in the first place." The 'king-makers' pull the rug from Syria, yet again… A 'Greek tragedy' begins
Erdogan moving into king maker roll. Not a fan. will they make them NATO bases? Turkey's offer to rebuild the Syria military is an opening to displace Russian and Iranian power Turkey offered to help rebuild the Syrian military shattered by the fall of the long-ruling Assad regime and Israeli airstrikes, potentially filling a void left by Russia's diminishing forces. Limited Turkish arms are inroads to bolstering the victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Islamist movement in Syria, but Turkey will likely need financial support to pay for more extensive military rebuilding that could allow it to become the dominant foreign power in Syria, regional experts said. "Turkey will likely try to fill Russia's role, including in relation to Israel," said Aron Lund, a fellow with Century International and a Middle East analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Agency. "A Turkish contingent in the Golan Heights, or even just a military liaison of some sort, could back up UN missions and serve as a buffer and facilitator between Israeli and Syrian leaders." "It's exactly the kind of role Turkey would want. It would institutionalize Ankara's role not just in Syria, but in Arab-Israeli peacemaking."
Discouraging read Syrian National Army - Erdogan proxy Syrian Defense force - kurds backed by U S that beat Isis that Erd wants to eliminate. The whole unification thing has a major problem with Erd playing kingmaker. Djt will cut these guys off at the knees soon enough. They will not go silently and it doesn't sound like sdf is welcome at the unification party. Lot of isis fighters in their prisons...lot of senior military invested with those guys..kurds and druze take half of country??? Syria civil war's new frontlines emerge post-Assad Fears are mounting of a new fight along the lines of control between the insurgent coalition and the United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led faction that wields effective control over nearly a third of the nation in the north and east. Among the opposition ranks is the Syrian National Army, backed by U.S. NATO ally Turkey, which views the SDF as an offshoot of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). ...... Tensions are now looming particularly heavy over the northern city of Kobani, which was once a symbol of the Islamic State militant group's (ISIS) defeat at the hands of the U.S.-SDF partnership. Riad Darar, adviser to the presidency of the SDF's political wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, told Newsweek that the SDF stronghold along the Syria-Turkey border will soon "become a turning point" in another crucial battle. "I believe there will be violent fighting, the end of which we do not know," Darar said. "We hope the Americans will continue to stand in the face of the attacks and prevent them because this does not serve stability in the region and opens a door that may not be closed in the matter of a political solution in Syria."
Assad might want to get a taste tester. I imagine Putin has already spent/appropriated Assad's fortune, Assad just doesn't know it yet Has Assad Been Poisoned in Russia? What We Know A Russian Telegram channel has claimed that Bashar al Assad may have been poisoned, sparking online speculation about the fate of the Syrian dictator after he fled to Moscow following his downfall. The claim was made by General SVR, which says it is run by former and current members of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, although it does not offer any evidence of these ties.
Some more details on Israel's military intervention in Syria on Sept. 8th. Syria was building an Iranian missile factory deep inside a mountain inside western Syria, 125 miles north of Israel. It was almost ready to start up in September, when Israel took it out. They loaded 100 commandos on four helicopters that flew below radar over the Mediterranean. As they were flying to the target, the external defenses were attacked by bombers, missile ships and drones. The factory itself was 200-400' underground within the mountain. The troops had to take out 30 Syrian soldiers and guards before they could enter the mountain, gather intelligence, and blow the place up as they left. Iran hid a missile factory deep beneath a mountain in Syria. IDF commandos executed a daring raid to destroy it
