Very enlightening article from WSJThe US was never going to abide by this ceasefire- Their agenda is set. And as has been mentioned here previously, they will happily drag this out until the election of the next government.February 8/16- Aleppo: Syrian Actions- NATO Reactions
To summarize- The NATO global army and it’s minions will supply more weapons. To keep the opposition viable as a fighting force. To prevent Syria from retaking it’s territory. At all costs. Until a new president is in place. And it will be the evil & ruthless Hillary Clinton.
Surprise, surprise- or NOT! That is exactly the plan ...WSJ ; I've omitted just a couple of paragraphs- This is an excellent information packed article.
"President Barack Obama’s top military and intelligence advisers don’t believe Russia will abide by a just-announced cease-fire in Syria and want the administration to ready plans to increase pressure on Moscow by expanding covert support to rebels fighting the Russian-backed Assad regime"
Which tells us all very clearly the US has no intention of abiding by the ceasefire- no matter their claims about Russia- the US will not abide.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan have voiced increasingly hawkish views towards Moscow in recent White House meetings, jointly calling for new measures to “inflict real pain on the Russians," a senior administration official said.
Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria, launched last year, has infuriated the CIA in particular because the strikes have directly targeted CIA-backed rebels, U.S. officials say, weakening more moderate forces opposed to the regime.
Officials say it remains unclear whether stepped-up support for CIA-backed rebels in Syria would make much of a difference at this stage, given how much ground they have already lost in the Russian-backed assault. Mr. Obama has also been reluctant to allow either the U.S. or its regional partners to supply the rebels with advanced ground-to-air anti-aircraft weapons so opposition fighters can fend off Russian air power, the sort of system which could be a game changer.
Addressing this talk of Saudi Arabia supplying these weapons to the rebels without US consent. The Saudis themselves have said they would not do so unless the US ok's the transfer of these weapons to the CIA backed fighters- This has been mentioned here. All this talk of the Saudi's invading. Turkey invading. It's just obfuscation. Neither nation will invade or send arms that are not approved by the US. Because the US is running this show!
"Officials said Mr. Carter and Gen. Dunford have yet to make formal recommendations to Mr. Obama about so-called “Plan B” options should the ceasefire collapse, though discussions are under way at the White House. Officials said Mr. Carter could support several options to increase pressure on Moscow, not just an expansion of the CIA’s arming program"
A senior administration official said of the White House’s review of options: “We’ve always said we’ll judge Russia by its actions, not its words. And that remains the case even more so following the announcement on Monday of a path toward a cessation of hostilities.”
The official added: “We would be derelict were we not to plan for various contingencies, especially given the tragic history of this conflict... To be clear: our actions are not aimed at Russia. Our focus, however, does not change the fact that Russia, by increasingly involving itself in a vicious conflict on the side of a brutal dictator, will become enmeshed in a quagmire. Should it not change course, Russia’s fate will be self-inflicted.”
Shades of Afghanistan? The US will attempt to create the quagmire conditions.Additional options:
Other options under discussion in the White House meetings include providing intelligence support to moderate rebels to help them better defend themselves against Russian air attacks and possibly help them conduct more effective offensive operations. Any decision to help the rebels directly go after Russian soldiers or destroy Russian airplanes could mark a dramatic escalation in the conflict.
A less divisive option with wide support among Mr. Obama’s advisers would impose new economic sanctions against Russia. But senior administration officials said they doubt European powers would go along with such an effort at this time given the importance they place on trade ties with Moscow.This month’s drawn-out State Department-led negotiations with Moscow over a cease-fire agreement in Syria exposed a growing rift within the Obama administration over how tough to be with Russia.
Mr. Carter has voiced public support for the negotiations launched by Secretary of State John Kerry. But while the talks were under way last week, Messrs. Carter and Brennan, and Gen. Dunford, warned the White House the continued negotiations risked undermining Washington’s standing with key partners in the region who are part of parallel U.S.-led coalitions—one in support of anti-Assad rebels, the other supporting the fight against Islamic State.
At one point last week, the Pentagon came close to withdrawing its representatives from the Geneva cease-fire talks after the Russians claimed military cooperation between the U.S. and Russia was part of the closed-door discussions, according to senior administration officials.
Mr. Carter was upset about the Russian claims because he had explicitly ruled out putting military-to-military cooperation on the table during the cease-fire discussions, the officials said.
The Pentagon believes Russia made the claims to try to drive a wedge between the U.S. and its coalition partners, and to try to make it look like Washington would support Moscow’s military campaign in Syria and accept Mr. Assad.
While Russia was engaged in the cease fire talks, U.S. officials say its war planes stepped up the pace of their attacks on positions held by moderate rebels. The CIA saw the expanded strikes as an effort by Moscow to crush the agency’s partners on the ground, and some intelligence officials questioned whether moderate forces would be able to bounce back even if more covert aid was provided.
“The Russians, you have to admit, are very skilled at the way they work it in a way that does provide the perception that they’re working hard on trying to find a solution. Meanwhile they’re bombing very aggressively all the things that they have in the past,” a senior administration official said.
Russian officials say they are fighting terrorists.
Mr. Kerry, who spearheaded the cease-fire talks, believes the agreement the U.S. and Russia announced on Monday has “a viable chance of succeeding,” according to a senior administration official close to the secretary.
The success of the ceasefire, like the existence of moderate rebels, just smoke and mirrors
In contrast, Mr. Carter told senior officials as recently as Monday that the ceasefire won't hold. “He thinks it’s a ruse," a senior administration official said.Messrs. Carter and Brennan, and Gen. Dunford raised many of their concerns about Mr. Kerry’s talks with Moscow in a series of private White House sessions last week involving Mr. Kerry, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, according to senior administration officials.
The senior administration official close to Mr. Kerry said the secretary was cognizant of the challenge of ensuring Russian compliance with the deal. The official added that the ceasefire agreement was partially intended in Mr. Kerry’s view to “pin the Russians down” and to test whether Moscow can be trusted. If Russia doesn’t abide by the deal, then “Plan B thinking needs to occur,” the official said.Mr. Kerry has been a longtime supporter of the CIA program in Syria and has repeatedly run into opposition from the Pentagon when he advocated for greater military involvement in the conflict, such as the creation of a “safe” zone in northern Syria to protect the moderate opposition from aerial attack. But it is unclear if Mr. Kerry is prepared to join the Pentagon and CIA chiefs in supporting an expansion of the CIA program at this time.
So the CIA and Pentagon, working together- quibbling over differences but not over the aims or goals of the plot.
Senior administration officials involved in the discussions said it also is unclear whether Mr. Obama would support an increase in covert assistance to the CIA-backed rebels at this time.
Several senior White House national security officials, including Ms. Rice and Mr. McDonough, have privately voiced skepticism in the past about the CIA effort. White House critics of the program warned that open-ended support for the rebels could pull the U.S. deeper into the conflict over time, with little chance of success as long as Moscow is prepared to double down in support of Mr. Assad, according to former administration officials.
Current and former officials said Mr. Obama was persuaded in 2013 to green-light the covert program in Syria in part because doing so gave the CIA influence over the actions of regional partners, including Saudi and Turkish intelligence, preventing them, for example, from introducing advanced anti-aircraft weapons known as Manpads on the battlefield. Washington warned the weapons could fall into terrorists’ hands and be turned against commercial aircraft.
As mentioned in previous posts the intermingling of intelligence agencies across nation state borders- CIA "influencing" Turkish and Saudi intelligence agencies.....
If the U.S. doesn’t take action to prevent moderate rebel forces from being wiped out by the Russian-backed offensive, then the Saudis or some other group could decide to break ranks with Washington and send large numbers of Manpads into northern Syria to shoot down Russian bombers, U.S. intelligence agencies have warned policy makers, increasing the chances of a wider conflict.
If , ranks are broken, it will only be to give the US plausible deniability. The CIA, as admitted, has much influence over the intelligence apparatus of both Turkey and Saudi Arabia. In my opinion, the US wants either or both of these nations to enmesh themselves into this quagmire. For the very same reason they wish to create a quagmire for Russia. To weaken all 3 nations, simultaneously.Background:
- Putin: Syria Truce is Real Chance to End Bloodshed- The breaking up of Syria?
- Bashar al Assad Calls for Parliamentary Syrian Elections in April/2016
- Joint Statement of the United States & the Russian Federation:Cessation of Hostilities in Syria
- Russian/US Ceasefire Plan to Begin Saturday. Feb.27/16- John Kerry Statement