Russian officials announced a three minute “interaction” between US and Russian planes inside Syria, with air crews practicing for scenarios in which the two nations’ warplanes are in close encounters in Syrian airspace, dubbing it a brief “joint exercise.”
Pentagon officials confirmed the interaction, and basically the entirety of the Russian story, but in an apparent effort to continue to be disagreeable about the matter, they insisted that the 3-minute-long test did not officially count as a “military exercise” by US standards.
Since Russia began its own air war against ISIS in Syria last month, they’ve sought deals with the US to limit the risk of the two nations’ planes running afoul of one another. The US has mostly spurned those offers, allowing only very limited interaction while mocking Russia’s military as “unprofessional.”
The interaction still shows that there is at least some effort to prevent the two nations getting into direct conflict over Syria, though there appears to still be substantial acrimony on the matter, particularly among US officials resentful of Russia joining the war.
The US strategy seems to be to get Putin bogged down in Syria. Getting into a fight with him would run counter to that strategy. The almost pathetic way that the Russians are trying to portray this as a "joint exercise" reveals just how desperate Putin's position in Syria is.
We're the experts at getting "bogged down" in that area of the world, so I doubt the Russians will surpass us in that endeavor.
Strange how all this desperation and bogging has escaped everybody else. Luckily you are a reliable stalwart reminding us of the bogging daily.
Since Syria is primarily a desert, perhaps you should consider an alternative to "bog". I keep visualizing a group of drunken Irishmen up to their necks in peat. How about "quicksand"? Not ideal but at least it has sand in it.
04.11.2015 EU and NATO Set to Destabilize Russia by Anti-Putin Propaganda-Operation
EU, US and NATO are preparing a media offensive against Russia inside Russia. The alliance aim to operate propaganda against the Russian government. This will also reduce the likelihood that independent media will thrive in Russia.
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/11/04/…
There is a rummer that Russian plane was brought down by the US/Israel.
The Russian plane crash has been blamed on ISIS fighters shooting it down, but now evidence has emerged, via Israeli state media, that an operation named “Blue Skies” or “Blue Flag” was taking place at the exact location and at the exact time as the crash.
As reported by The Times Of Israel, in their headline, Blue Skies: Israeli, American, Greek, and Polish air personnel square off against a fictional enemy state in two-week drill.
If that's the case, then US/Israel deliberately brought the plane down to send a message and when it was exposed, then US/Israel, like in 9/11, can deny the fact or just say 'It was a mistake', but in fact are sending a message that LEAVE OUR TERRORISTS, IS, alone.