Open Sources 19AUG16

On By ncscoutIn Intelligence

PLA Chinese Army Snipers 5.jpg

China steps up military aid to Syria

The visit may be intended as a diplomatic poke in the eye for the United States amid mounting tensions over Chinese territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, Ms Meidan said.

This is important on a number of levels. The PLA has been shipping arms and supplies to Syria for a long while now, but this ‘greater military cooperation’ has more to do with exploring the Russian and PLA coordination. It remains to be seen how that’s going to work and what weapons will be put in place. It’s not a stretch to guess that a lot of new equipment will be fielded, such as an update to this story from a year ago, so it’ll be a good idea to keep a periodic eye here.

Good thing they don’t have any TS/SCI emails from our former SECSTATE. Good thing she wasn’t running arms to found what’s known as ISIS today either. Because that would be, well, stupid.

17 thoughts on “Open Sources 19AUG16”

      1. Why care….well, let’s see.

        Macro level stuff is important, and at the macro level a big game is being played. Much bigger than the ‘doomsday prepper’ crowd understands.

        It’s important to pay attention to what’s being done, such as, the OTHER two global powers merging capabilities.

        So yeah, that’s why I care. Have a problem with that?

  2. mtnforge

    As it was noted by a certain Nobel laureate, elections have consequences. So do proxies. Of the unintended variety. “What does it matter” was the question right?

    I’d speculate when a long series of successive potentates of a former constitutional republic have been the military expeditionary lap dogs of a wahabbist oil kingdom and it’s interests, there’s a lot of consequences of both varieties. And in that weakened state of that former republic there are other powers that will naturally fill the inevitable power vacuum.

    Not that I rue or advocate that former republic become untangled in foreign affairs and meddling in intrigue for the monetary and political advantage go it’s elites, but that that former republic has sowed the winds.

  4. Pingback: No Worries. This Happens All Of The Time. | Western Rifle Shooters Association

  5. Centurion_Cornelius

    Tango Mike, ncscout!

    So–now we have the PLA, along with the Rooskies in Syria AND Iran now has let Vlad’s fly boys use an in-country Iranian airbase. If Iran’s in this mix, betcha dollars to donuts the NORKS are on the fringes of this Meet ‘n Greet. Birds-of-a-feather thing, ya know.

    Hey! What in the world could ever go wrong with this boiling kettle of witches brew? Maybe they’re all in a get together to improve the PLA’s DongFeng-41 ICBM. It gives FUSA a lovely 30 minute warning before instant nuclear incineration of the continental US.

    Oh, wait–mebbe they’re patting Vlad on the back for refining the Yu-74 ultra maneuverable hyper-sonic ballistic glide weapon coming in at 7,000 mph (near Mach 10) along with up to 24 nukes each. Phew! at least the Yu-74 gives us 60 whole minutes to say our prayers before annihilation.

    Hey! Not to worry. The Kenyan’s out golfing and Hillary will solve everything by starting a tussle with Russia and.or China.

    Question: Will MEN be allowed into the WOMEN’S restrooms or fallout shelters when those bombs start bursting in air?

    P.S. Back in the 1950s, we little tykes held drills and hid under our wooden desks to “survive” nuke attacks. Even as a child, I’d whisper over to my schoolmate: under his desk: “Bend over and kiss your arse “Goodbye” if this is the real deal.” Poppa told me that– being he was in the WWII and Korean festivities. Got me detentions for that. Poppa just laughed….

    1. To add/elaborate just a bit, I think this is mostly an interoperabilty exercise on one hand and a munitions run on another in order to keep Russia in the fight. They’ve had a significant issue with maintaining their readiness status, and I think the PLA’s logistics capability are going to play a big part in keeping them fielded.

      2. Both China and Russia have a large interest in preventing further expansion of Wahabbi Islamist activity. Clearly, at least in this theater, there is a fellowship of interests. It will be especially interesting to see whether, or perhaps how, China gets involved in the ongoing Islamist takeover in Turkey. One would think that there is also a confluence of interest there favoring the secular forces, but they are such disarray at present I have no feel for how this will play out. Then there is Siberia…….Interesting times, to be sure.

      3. On that note, they’ve both played both sides of the Sunni/Shia schism whenever it benefited them. Russia’s backing of the Iranian Revolutionary Council and advising of Hezballah has a long and deep history. At least in Hezballah’s case, it hasn’t always been a chummy friendship, but currently they have aligned goals. Wahhabism is a fundamentalist sect of Sunni Islam, of which ISIS is a manifestation and runs deep in Chechnya as well.

        Now where all this intersects is Assad. The Alawites are more secular than anything and old hand Baathists. Which means, for those of a Western attention span, they’re Marxists of the old Pan-Arabian Alliance, of which Saddam Hussein was as well.

        There’s a much, much bigger game going on than ‘the news’ is telling you, and it’s anything but new. On top of that, we’ve been making all the wrong moves for the past good while now, that is, unless one thinks the Marx playbook is a good idea.

      4. Daniel

        If they indeed need the munitions supply help, how can the Russians be expected to roll into Ukraine and/or the Baltics any time now? Is it a matter of airlift capability into Syria? I always assumed the Russians could pack and move crates ‘o hate as well as anyone.

        Daniel

  6. I have come to deeply appreciate everything on 4th gen and small unit infantry, also in it’s relation to counter insurgency, in particular by large nation states. There is nothing like it in many regards. To express as example how serious I perceive it, if I had to choose between all of the components of present and future preparations this is the one subject I would embrace above all others.
    Came across this:

    https://readfomag.com/2016/08/a-how-to-guide-to-counterinsurgency-by-a-former-insurgent/

    http://globalriskinsights.com/2016/06/guide-for-counterinsurgency

    This below strikes me as an absolute must read, it is a gold mine of insights, I learn more every time I read it, reaches far beyond just the technical aspects of an insurgency fighting a major nation state, it is superbly composed in my humble opinion:

    THE LIMITS OF SOVIET AIRPOWER: THE BEAR VERSUS THE MUJAHIDEEN IN AFGHANISTAN, 1979-1989
    http://www.allworldwars.com/The-Bear-vs-Mujahideen-in-Afghanistan-by-Edward-Westermann.html

    All World Wars has a reference library chock block full of 1st rate essays on a myriad of subjects.
    http://www.allworldwars.com/subjects.htm

    All these so far have I find contain very important study:

    http://www.allworldwars.com/Terrain-Factors-in-the-Russian-Campaign.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/Peculiarities-of-Russian-Warfare-by-Erhard-Raus.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/Small-Unit-Actions-During-German-Campaign-in-Russia.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/Principles-and-Experiences-of-Position-Warfare-by-Walter-Hartmann.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/German%20Field%20Fortifications%20on%20the%20Eastern%20Front.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/videos/German%20Snipers/German-Sniper-Training-1944.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/German-Radio-Intelligence-by-Albert-Praun.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/German-Traffic-Analysis-of-the-Russian-Communications.html

    http://www.allworldwars.com/CIA-Psychological-Operations-In-Guerrilla-Warfare.html

    1. Centurion_Cornelius

      Dang, mtnforge! Good stuff here. As if I don’t need more reading! THANKS!

      I’m studying THE PATTON PAPERS by Martin Blumenson–great compilation of Patton’s Daily Diary (invaluable), letters to/from GSP, Jr., as well as cables from FDR, Marshall and Ike.

      KNOWLEDGE=POWER

      1. If you gain something from it CC that is all the thanks that matter.
        But appreciate you for your thanks regardless.
        There sure was some interesting dynamics between GSP and the other allied command chiefs. They wanted to put O’l George in a glass case with a break open in case of emergency sign hung on it. I think they all used each other to advantage and knew it.
        George sure struck me as a warrior regardless of the politics where the others where not so much of ones, though they did what was required.
        Seems like a surely different class of upper commissioned rank than today. But the realities of war are very different than peace.

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