Nikita Khrushchev - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (15 April 1894 – 11 September 1971) was a Soviet statesman who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964.Khrushchev ...
Battles/wars: World War II
Political party: Communist Party of the Soviet ...
Years of service: 1941–45
Nationality: Soviet
Banged his shoe on the podium at the United Nations in Anger at the U.S. and put nuclear missiles in Cuba and a year later Kennedy was assassinated and the Communist party quickly removed Khrushchev from power in Russia.
So, it is Surrealistic at best the dialog between Russia Putin and Trump and everyone else. It's like Putin and Trump are both on drugs during a fight. Almost anything can and will happen now to the world!
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria/trump-weighs-syria-options-russia-envoy-says-he-cannot-exclude-war-idUSKBN1HJ0ZS
Begin quote from: Trump weighs Syria options, Russia envoy says he 'cannot exclude' warDirectory of sites
WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and his national security aides on Thursday discussed U.S. options on Syria, where he has threatened missile strikes in response to a suspected poison gas attack, as a Russian envoy voiced fears of wider conflict between Washington and Moscow.
Worries about a confrontation between Russia, Syria’s big ally, and the West have been running high since Trump said on Wednesday that missiles “will be coming” in response to the attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7, and lambasted Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Trump tempered those remarks on Thursday and even as he consulted allies such and Britain and France, who could join in any U.S.-led strikes on Syria, there were signs of efforts to prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control.
“Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!” Trump wrote on Twitter, raising the prospect that an attack might not be as imminent as he seemed to suggest the day before.
Trump met his national security team on the situation in Syria later in the day and “no final decision has been made,” the White House said in a statement.
“We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies,” it said.
That did not necessarily signal, however, that Trump was cooling to the idea of military action, especially given the high stakes in Syria. U.S. officials noted that Washington was still assessing intelligence and coordinating allies.
For graphic on overview of chemical warfare click: here
Trump spoke to British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday and the two leaders talked about the “need for a joint response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons,” the White House said.
May’s office said they agreed on the need to deter Assad’s government from further such attacks.
Trump was also due to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said France had proof the Syrian government carried out the attack near Damascus, which aid groups have said killed dozens of people, and will decide whether to strike back when all the necessary information has been gathered.
“We have proof that last week ... chemical weapons were used, at least with chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad,” Macron said, without offering details of any evidence.
Two U.S. officials familiar with an investigation of samples from Douma and the symptoms of victims said initial indications that a mix of weaponized chlorine gas and sarin were used in the attack appeared to be correct. But U.S. intelligence agencies have not completed their assessment or reached a final conclusion, the officials said.
Russia, Syria and its other main backer, Iran, have said reports of the Douma attack were fabricated by rebels and rescue workers and have accused the United States of seeking to use it as a pretext to attack the Syrian government.
Russia said it deployed military police in Douma on Thursday after the town was taken over by government forces.
“They are the guarantors of law and order in the town,” RIA news agency quoted Russia’s defense ministry as saying.
There were signs of a global effort to head off a direct confrontation between Russia and the West. The Kremlin said a crisis communications link with the United States, created to avoid an accidental clash over Syria, was in use.
FEARS OF WAR
Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations, said he “cannot exclude” war between the United States and Russia and urged Washington and its allies to refrain from military action against Syria.
“The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war,” he told reporters. “We hope there will be no point of no return,” the envoy said.
A team of experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, was traveling to Syria and will start its investigations on Saturday, the Netherlands-based agency said.
It was not clear whether Trump and U.S. allies would wait for the results of the investigation before deciding on a strike.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress he believed there was a chemical attack in Syria, but added a short while later that the United States had not made any decision to launch military action. He also suggested he was examining ways to prevent any strikes from triggering a broader conflict.
“I don’t want to talk about a specific attack that is not yet in the offing ... This would be pre-decisional,” Mattis told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
Moscow is estimated to have dozens of aircraft at its Hmeymim air base in Syria including fighters and bombers, as well as 10 to 15 warships and support vessels in the Mediterranean.
The Syrian government and Russian forces in Syria possess truck-mounted surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapons systems.
Nervous world stock markets showed signs of recovery after Trump’s signal that military strikes might not be imminent.
Britain’s May won backing from her senior ministers to take unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria.
May had recalled the ministers from their Easter holiday for the meeting to discuss Britain’s response to what she has cast as a barbaric attack that cannot go unchallenged.
Russian ships had left the Tartus naval base in Syria, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian lawmaker as saying. Vladimir Shamanov, who chairs the defense committee of the lower house, said the vessels had departed the base for their own safety, which was “normal practice” when there were threats of attack.
Any U.S. strike would probably involve the Navy, given the risk to aircraft from Russian and Syrian air defenses. A U.S. guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean. Last year, the United States carried out strikes from two Navy destroyers against a Syrian air base after another deadly toxic gas attack on a rebel-controlled area.
Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Additional reporting by Angus McDowall in Beirut, William James, Guy Faulconbridge and David Milliken in London, Andrew Osborn, Maria Kiselyova and Jack Stubbs in Moscow, John Irish in Paris, Graham Fahy in Dublin and John Walcott, Phil Stewart, Matt Spetalnick and Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing by Alistair Bell and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has said it will target U.S. missiles and the ships or planes that fire them if an attack on Syria threatens the lives of its own military personnel based there. [nL8N1RO176][nL8N1QV5LM]
Here’s what we know about Russian military capabilities in Syria:
MISSILES
‘TRIUMPH’ S-400 SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES
An advanced truck-mounted system that Russia is known to have deployed to protect its Hmeymim air base in Syria’s Latakia Province and its Tartus naval facility on the coast. Its mobile nature means it can easily and quickly be deployed elsewhere. Designed to shoot down military aircraft, missiles and drones, its radar can detect targets up to 600 kms (375 miles) away. Each truck carries four missiles of varying range. Can track multiple targets simultaneously. Taken seriously by NATO, the S-400s have not been combat tested however. Capable of intercepting U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles, there are question marks over whether Moscow has enough interceptor missiles deployed to Syria to handle a large swarm of missiles. In such a situation it might be able to shoot down some, but not all incoming missiles. Russia also has an older version of the same missiles - S-300s - deployed in Syria.
BASTION COASTAL MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM
The Bastion system, thought to be deployed at or near Russia’s Tartus naval facility, is an advanced mobile anti-ship and surface-to-surface defence system armed with two missiles. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said the system can hit sea targets at a distance of 350 km (219 miles) and land targets at a distance of 450 km (281 miles). Russia used the system to launch a coordinate strike against rebels in Syria in 2016. The Syrian army is also thought to have bought the Bastion system from Russia.
PANTSIR-S1
A truck-mounted short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapons system possessed by both Russian and Syrian government forces in Syria. Known to be deployed by Russia at or near its Hmeymim air base and at its Tartus naval facility. Has been fired in Syria a number of times to take out drones and missiles. Can shoot down cruise missiles.
WARSHIPS
Russia has between 10 and 15 warships and support vessels deployed in the Mediterranean. They include the Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen frigates, which are armed with cruise missiles, as well as submarines. According to a senior Russian politician and satellite imagery, most of the ships have left Russia’s Tartus naval facility “for their own safety.” Russian daily Kommersant said they were taking part in a long live fire war game close to the Syrian coast intended as a show of force. It said Russia had also deployed Il-38N submarine hunter aircraft.
MILITARY AIRCRAFT
Russia is estimated to have dozens of war planes and helicopters at its Hmeymim air base in Syria’s Latakia Province including fighters, bombers and multi-role aircraft. It is also reported to use another Syrian base for its helicopter gunships. Moscow is able to mobilize powerful long-range strategic bombers from Russia itself to carry out bombing runs and has also fired cruise missiles in the past from ships in the Caspian Sea.
SYRIAN AIR DEFENCES
Syria is known to have a mixture of Russian-made anti-aircraft systems, including the Pantsir S-1 and the Buk M2 surface-to-air missile system designed to shoot down cruise missiles, aircraft and drones.
PRECEDENT
The United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria’s Shayrat air base in April last year, which the Pentagon says was involved in a chemical weapons attack. The Russian Defence Ministry mocked the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes at the time, saying only 23 missiles had found their targets. It was unclear where another 36 had landed, it said, promising Syrian air defences would now be beefed up. Warned in advance by Washington about the attack, Russia made sure its own personnel/military assets were well out of harm’s way. Russia did not try to shoot down any of the missiles.
WHAT DOES RUSSIA WANT ANY WESTERN STRIKE TO AVOID?
Valery Gerasimov, head of Russia’s General Staff, warned in March against any U.S. strike on the government quarter in Damascus where he said Russian military advisers, Russian military police and Russian ceasefire monitors were based. Russian military sources told the Kommersant daily this week that a U.S. strike on Russia’s air base or naval facility in Syria would have catastrophic consequences.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Ben Hodges, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former head of U.S. Army in Europe
Hodges said he expected that the Russian military would have put in place multi-layered defences to protect its aircraft and other assets in Syria, and clearly had the technical capability to repel a U.S. attack.
“What the Russians have always done very well, from the Second World War to now, is to protect themselves with air defence. The key to good air defence is that it’s layered. There’s not one system that shoots down everything. Having a layered approach or system that is integrated and that connects all the different radars that are out there to a command and control network that’s out there, that’s the trick.”
Unnamed Western military official
The official said Russia often touted its ability to shoot down Tomahawk missiles in its marketing of the S-400 air defence system, and had likely tested that capability before deploying the system.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said Russia had sharply increased its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean and could use ship-borne radar systems to locate and track any missiles fired at Syria, relaying the information to air defence systems such as the S-400.
“The S-400 was clearly designed to be able to defeat a Tomahawk,” said the official, adding that U.S. forces would likely fire several missiles at a time.
Reporting by Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Editing by Richard Balmforth
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress on Thursday he believes there was a chemical attack in Syria, adding that the United States wants inspectors on the ground soon since the job of collecting evidence becomes more difficult as time passed.
Mattis, addressing a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, declined to discuss U.S. military planning on Syria.
But he acknowledged two main concerns as Washington mulls potential action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces: protecting civilians and avoiding triggering a military escalation that gets “out of control.”
Fears of confrontation between Russia and the West have been running high since U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that missiles “will be coming” after the suspected chemical weapons assault in the town of Douma on April 7, and lambasted Moscow for standing by Assad.
Mattis, in some of his strongest comments on Syria to date, said he had been convinced of a chemical attack in Syria.
“I believe there was a chemical attack and we are looking for the actual evidence,” Mattis told lawmakers, adding he wanted inspectors in Syria “probably within the week.”
“As each day goes by — as you know, it is a non-persistent gas — so it becomes more and more difficult to confirm it.”
At the United Nations, Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari told reporters that two teams of investigators from the global chemical weapons watchdog are due to arrive in Syria on Thursday and Friday to look into the Douma incident.
Mattis also accused Russia of being complicit in Syria’s retention of chemical weapons, despite a 2013 deal requiring Syria to abandon them that Moscow helped broker.
He noted that Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, sought to address Syria’s use of chemical weapons by striking that deal — which averted U.S. military action against Syria.
In doing so, Obama was “enlisting the Russians, who now, it shows, were complicit in Syria retaining those weapons – Assad retaining them.”
“And the only reason Assad is still in power is because of the Russians’ regrettable vetoes in the U.N., and the Russian and the Iranian military,” he said.
Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Alistair Bell
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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