Yahoo!7
Russian strikes again expose US disarray
AFP
October 1, 2015, 6:25 am
Video Russia begin air strikes in Syria
New York (AFP) - Russia's dramatic entry Wednesday into the Syrian war put the United States on the back foot once again and left Washington struggling to regain the military and diplomatic initiative.
As US Secretary of State John Kerry was in New York trying to coordinate with his Kremlin opposite number Sergei Lavrov, a Russian officer contacted the US embassy in Baghdad.
His message was simple: Russian jets are about to launch air strikes in Syria, please stay out of their way.
Kerry quickly protested to Lavrov that this was not in the spirit of Moscow's promise to agree a "de-confliction" mechanism to ensure Russian flights do not interfere with US-led operations.
But the strikes were already underway, potentially altering the balance of power in Syria back in favor of Bashar al-Assad's regime, and Washington was looking at a fait accompli.
Lavrov's next move was to promise to bring a motion before the UN Security Council to coordinate "all forces standing up against Islamic State and other terrorist structures."
This would be a plain victory for Assad, who invited the Russians to join his battle to cling on to power, and a defeat for the United States, which has demanded he step down.
The attacks came despite President Barack Obama sitting down with Russia's Vladimir Putin on Monday at the United Nations for 90 minutes of what both camps called "business-like" talks.
One week ago, Kerry -- despite being in frequent contact with Lavrov -- told reporters that Russia's deployment of war planes was consistent with their only defending their own base.
And just hours before the strikes began he appeared on CNN to say that Russia's involvement could be an "opportunity" to persuade them to apply pressure on Assad to moderate his behavior.
After the strikes Kerry addressed the UN Security Council, but even here his message was mixed.
He said the United States would welcome the Russian action if it reflected a "genuine commitment" towards destroying the IS group and not the moderate opposition rebels threatening Assad.
Even as he spoke, a US defense official in Washington briefed journalists that: "We have not seen any strikes against ISIL, what we have seen is strikes against Syrian opposition."
Defense Secretary Ash Carter was cautious, saying: "It does appear they were in areas where there were probably not ISIL forces."
- Perils of inaction -
The US administration's domestic critics, such as hawkish Senator John McCain, leapt on the apparent confusion.
"This administration has confused our friends, encouraged our enemies, mistaken an excess of caution for prudence and replaced the risks of action with the perils of inaction," he said.
"Into the wreckage, into the wreckage of this administration's Middle East policy has now stepped Vladimir Putin."
Frustration is also mounting among Washington's allies in the Middle East, who support moves to defeat the Islamic State group, but also want to see Assad kicked out of office.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeiri, speaking to journalists in New York on Tuesday, was cautious not to criticize the United States alone, bemoaning a "lack of robust action by all of us."
But he was clear on why the Russians had found an opening to insert themselves into the conflict.
"We've called for direct military intervention from day one. We've called for a no-fly zone. We've called for a no-drive zone. We've called for robust arming of the Syrian opposition," he said.
"That's what I mean by 'not enough happened.' That's why four years later we're in the situation we're in," he said.
Speaking privately, diplomats from US-led coalition countries say the Russian "escalation" effectively precludes stronger overt military pressure on Assad, for fear of a clash.
Meanwhile, the Arab allies dismiss Moscow's argument that working with Assad is the best way to defeat the Islamic State.
"They're calling for a coalition to fight Daesh, with Iran and Russia and Bashar al-Assad? Without him there would be no Daesh. He created Daesh," Jubeir scoffed, using the Arabic acronym for IS.
AFP
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
WORLD_ SYRIA_ U.S. rebukes first Russian airstrike in Syria
USA TODAY
U.S. rebukes first Russian airstrike in Syria
Jim Michaels and Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY
6:25 p.m. EDT September 30, 2015
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Russia on Wednesday launched its first airstrike in Syria following its military buildup in the embattled country, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States and raising tensions further in the region.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called Russian policy in Syria "ill-advised" and said it was "doomed to fail."
The airstrike came only days after President Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the United Nations General Assembly to discuss Russia's military buildup in Syria.
The United States and Russia share a common goal of repelling the Islamic State from Syria, but they differ over the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russia has been a principal backer of his regime during the country's four-year civil war while the United States has called for the Syrian leader to be removed because of documented abuses against Syrian civilians.
The administration's concern is that in combating the Islamic State, a potent threat to Assad, Russia would strengthen the Syrian leader's hold on power and prolong the war.
Russia's escalated involvement in Syria is tantamount to "pouring gasoline on the fire," Carter said, since it is Assad who has drawn the Islamic State and other radicals into Syria's raging civil war. He said it is critical for Russia to push for new leadership in Syria at the same time it is targeting the Islamic State.
The Pentagon called into question Russian claims that its military strategy is to target the Islamic State militants, suggesting the real aim is to prop up Assad. Carter pointed out that the Russian airstrike, which the Pentagon had said was near Homs, is not in an area known as an Islamic State stronghold.
Any attacks on moderate forces opposing Assad would be a blow to the United States, which is backing those rebels, but it was not clear how the Pentagon would respond to attacks on U.S.-supported opponents of Assad.
Photo: Syrian President Bashar Assad greets religious figures after the morning prayer of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha at the Al-Adel mosque in Damascus on Sept. 24, 2015. (Photo: SANA via AFP/Getty Images)
The United States was given one hour's notice before the Russian strike took place, the Pentagon said. The Russian notice was provided in Baghdad, where the Russians have set up a coordination unit with Iraq’s government. A high-ranking Russian officer there notified a U.S. military official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Russia's airstrike was carried out with multiple aircraft. It remained unclear whether the Russians planned to conduct regular airstrikes.
Carter said the U.S.-led coalition planned to continue its daily airstrikes on Islamic State targets regardless of Russian actions.
The Pentagon has said it plans to hold regular meetings with Russian military officials to avoid inadvertent clashes between Russian and coalition military activities in Syria.
“The purpose of these de-confliction discussions will be to ensure that ongoing coalition air operations are not interrupted by any future Russian military activity, to ensure the safety of coalition air crews and to avoid misjudgment and miscalculation,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday.
News of the Russian airstrike came after Russia's parliament granted Putin permission to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.
Speaking at a government meeting Wednesday, Putin said the only way to fight terrorists there is to act pre-emptively, Reuters reported.
He said Russia's military involvement would be temporary, and it is still possible and necessary to “unite international efforts to take on Islamist militants in Syria,” the news agency reported.
Sergey Ivanov, the Kremlin's chief of staff, told journalists Russia will only use its air force in Syria, the news agency TASS reported. He said Assad had asked Russia to provide military assistance.
Ivanov said that the number of Russians joining the extremist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is growing. "The operation’s military goal is exclusively air support of the Syrian armed forces in their fight against ISIL," he said, according to TASS. "We are not pursuing any foreign political goals or ambitions, of which we have been regularly accused. The point is just to defend Russia’s national interests."
In Paris on Wednesday, prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime. The probe focuses on atrocities allegedly committed between 2011 and 2013 and is based on photos of mutilated corpses, the Paris prosecutor’s statement said.
President François Hollande announced Sunday that France launched its first airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria, destroying one of the group’s training camps in a bombing raid.
________
USA TODAY
French warplanes "totally destroyed" Islamic State camp in Syria.
Onyanga-Omara reported from London.
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
U.S. rebukes first Russian airstrike in Syria
Jim Michaels and Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY
6:25 p.m. EDT September 30, 2015
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Russia on Wednesday launched its first airstrike in Syria following its military buildup in the embattled country, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States and raising tensions further in the region.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called Russian policy in Syria "ill-advised" and said it was "doomed to fail."
The airstrike came only days after President Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the United Nations General Assembly to discuss Russia's military buildup in Syria.
The United States and Russia share a common goal of repelling the Islamic State from Syria, but they differ over the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russia has been a principal backer of his regime during the country's four-year civil war while the United States has called for the Syrian leader to be removed because of documented abuses against Syrian civilians.
The administration's concern is that in combating the Islamic State, a potent threat to Assad, Russia would strengthen the Syrian leader's hold on power and prolong the war.
Russia's escalated involvement in Syria is tantamount to "pouring gasoline on the fire," Carter said, since it is Assad who has drawn the Islamic State and other radicals into Syria's raging civil war. He said it is critical for Russia to push for new leadership in Syria at the same time it is targeting the Islamic State.
The Pentagon called into question Russian claims that its military strategy is to target the Islamic State militants, suggesting the real aim is to prop up Assad. Carter pointed out that the Russian airstrike, which the Pentagon had said was near Homs, is not in an area known as an Islamic State stronghold.
Any attacks on moderate forces opposing Assad would be a blow to the United States, which is backing those rebels, but it was not clear how the Pentagon would respond to attacks on U.S.-supported opponents of Assad.
Photo: Syrian President Bashar Assad greets religious figures after the morning prayer of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha at the Al-Adel mosque in Damascus on Sept. 24, 2015. (Photo: SANA via AFP/Getty Images)
The United States was given one hour's notice before the Russian strike took place, the Pentagon said. The Russian notice was provided in Baghdad, where the Russians have set up a coordination unit with Iraq’s government. A high-ranking Russian officer there notified a U.S. military official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Russia's airstrike was carried out with multiple aircraft. It remained unclear whether the Russians planned to conduct regular airstrikes.
Carter said the U.S.-led coalition planned to continue its daily airstrikes on Islamic State targets regardless of Russian actions.
The Pentagon has said it plans to hold regular meetings with Russian military officials to avoid inadvertent clashes between Russian and coalition military activities in Syria.
“The purpose of these de-confliction discussions will be to ensure that ongoing coalition air operations are not interrupted by any future Russian military activity, to ensure the safety of coalition air crews and to avoid misjudgment and miscalculation,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday.
News of the Russian airstrike came after Russia's parliament granted Putin permission to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.
Speaking at a government meeting Wednesday, Putin said the only way to fight terrorists there is to act pre-emptively, Reuters reported.
He said Russia's military involvement would be temporary, and it is still possible and necessary to “unite international efforts to take on Islamist militants in Syria,” the news agency reported.
Sergey Ivanov, the Kremlin's chief of staff, told journalists Russia will only use its air force in Syria, the news agency TASS reported. He said Assad had asked Russia to provide military assistance.
Ivanov said that the number of Russians joining the extremist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is growing. "The operation’s military goal is exclusively air support of the Syrian armed forces in their fight against ISIL," he said, according to TASS. "We are not pursuing any foreign political goals or ambitions, of which we have been regularly accused. The point is just to defend Russia’s national interests."
In Paris on Wednesday, prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime. The probe focuses on atrocities allegedly committed between 2011 and 2013 and is based on photos of mutilated corpses, the Paris prosecutor’s statement said.
President François Hollande announced Sunday that France launched its first airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria, destroying one of the group’s training camps in a bombing raid.
________
USA TODAY
French warplanes "totally destroyed" Islamic State camp in Syria.
Onyanga-Omara reported from London.
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Chinese HACKERS_ U.S. pulls spies from China after hack
CNN MONEY
U.S. pulls spies from China after hack
By Evan Perez @CNNTech CNNMoney (Washington)
September 30, 2015: 9:50 AM ET
The United States is pulling spies from China as a result of a cyberattack that compromised the personal data of 21.5 million government workers, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
The U.S. suspects that Chinese hackers were behind the breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the fingerprints of 5.6 million government employees.
Because the stolen data includes records on State Department employees, the hackers could, by process of elimination, identify embassy personnel who are actually intelligence agents.
Employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency assigned to China are at risk of being exposed, U.S. intelligence officials determined in recent months. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the CIA has pulled a number of officers from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
The hack is expected to have a major impact on U.S. national security, in part because the stolen data includes information from U.S. government forms used for security clearances, known as SF86 questionnaires.
The forms contain sensitive private information on current, former and even prospective government employees, as well as their family members and associates, U.S. officials said.
The concern now is that Chinese intelligence could use the OPM data to help determine the identities of future U.S. intelligence employees that may try to enter China. Beijing is known to scrutinize visa applications of people with U.S. ties, based on travel patterns and other data. Even before the hack, technology advancements in biometrics made it difficult for the CIA to infiltrate operatives pretending to be someone else into China and other countries.
The CIA is now pushing to improve its technological spying capabilities to fill the void.
In Washington on Tuesday, Republican senators pushed Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to explain why the Obama administration hasn't responded more firmly to the hack.
Clapper acknowledged that one reason the U.S. hasn't responded is because the U.S. engages in the same type of espionage. "We're not bad at it," he said.
Beijing has long denied it is involved in hacking, and often claims to be a victim of similar attacks. Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated that position on Wednesday.
"The Chinese government firmly opposes any forms of hacking," he said, noting the U.S. and China agreed just days ago not to conduct cybertheft of trade secrets and intellectual property against one another for commercial gain.
* Related: Hackers stole 5.6 million government fingerprints - more than estimated
* Related: U.S. Intel officials warn hacking is getting worse
* Related: Researchers identify Chinese military hacker
CNNMoney (Washington) September 30, 2015: 9:50 AM ET
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
U.S. pulls spies from China after hack
By Evan Perez @CNNTech CNNMoney (Washington)
September 30, 2015: 9:50 AM ET
The United States is pulling spies from China as a result of a cyberattack that compromised the personal data of 21.5 million government workers, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
The U.S. suspects that Chinese hackers were behind the breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the fingerprints of 5.6 million government employees.
Because the stolen data includes records on State Department employees, the hackers could, by process of elimination, identify embassy personnel who are actually intelligence agents.
Employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency assigned to China are at risk of being exposed, U.S. intelligence officials determined in recent months. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the CIA has pulled a number of officers from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
The hack is expected to have a major impact on U.S. national security, in part because the stolen data includes information from U.S. government forms used for security clearances, known as SF86 questionnaires.
The forms contain sensitive private information on current, former and even prospective government employees, as well as their family members and associates, U.S. officials said.
The concern now is that Chinese intelligence could use the OPM data to help determine the identities of future U.S. intelligence employees that may try to enter China. Beijing is known to scrutinize visa applications of people with U.S. ties, based on travel patterns and other data. Even before the hack, technology advancements in biometrics made it difficult for the CIA to infiltrate operatives pretending to be someone else into China and other countries.
The CIA is now pushing to improve its technological spying capabilities to fill the void.
In Washington on Tuesday, Republican senators pushed Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to explain why the Obama administration hasn't responded more firmly to the hack.
Clapper acknowledged that one reason the U.S. hasn't responded is because the U.S. engages in the same type of espionage. "We're not bad at it," he said.
Beijing has long denied it is involved in hacking, and often claims to be a victim of similar attacks. Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated that position on Wednesday.
"The Chinese government firmly opposes any forms of hacking," he said, noting the U.S. and China agreed just days ago not to conduct cybertheft of trade secrets and intellectual property against one another for commercial gain.
* Related: Hackers stole 5.6 million government fingerprints - more than estimated
* Related: U.S. Intel officials warn hacking is getting worse
* Related: Researchers identify Chinese military hacker
CNNMoney (Washington) September 30, 2015: 9:50 AM ET
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
