Russian Media: There Are No Troubles Reported For Russian Ships Transiting The Bosphorus

Sputnik: Smooth Sailing: No Troubles Reported for Russian Ships in the Bosphorus

Russian Navy ships currently aren't experiencing any problems passing through the Bosphorus Strait or the Dardanelles, a diplomatic source from the Russian military told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

At the moment, Russian naval vessels are experiencing no problems passing through the Bosphorus Strait or the Dardanelles, RIA Novosti quoted a military-diplomatic source as saying on Tuesday.

The source added that the Russian Navy transport ship Yauza's recent encounter with a Turkish submarine in the Dardanelles wasn't anything out of the usual in the heavily-used waterway, which connects the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean. The ship was reported to be heading towards the Black Sea.

WNU Editor: This Sputnik report contradicts earlier reports .... Turkey reportedly closes Bosphorus for Russian warships (Pravda). As for today, there are reports of delays .... Russian Ships Waiting for Hours to Cross Bosphorus (Charter 97).

Is The U.S. Risking War With Russia?

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (C) attends a conference at the main operation centre of the Russian armed forces, with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (L) and armed forces Chief-of-Staff Valery Gerasimov (R) in Moscow, June 6, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Michael Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

Patrick Buchanan, American Conservative: Why Risk War With Russia?

Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian warplane was a provocative and portentous act.

That Sukhoi Su-24, which the Turks say intruded into their air space, crashed and burned — in Syria. One of the Russian pilots was executed while parachuting to safety. A Russian rescue helicopter was destroyed by rebels using a U.S. TOW missile. A Russian marine was killed.

“A stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists,” said Vladimir Putin of the first downing of a Russian warplane by a NATO nation in half a century. Putin has a point, as the Russians are bombing rebels in northwest Syria, some of which are linked to al-Qaeda.

As it is impossible to believe Turkish F-16 pilots would fire missiles at a Russian plane without authorization from President Tayyip Recep Erdogan, we must ask: Why did the Turkish autocrat do it?

Why is he risking a clash with Russia?

WNU Editor: Patrick Buchanan raises some valid question such as .... what has been the role of the U.S. in the rising tensions between Russia and Turkey, what specific actions will the U.S. employ in Syria as these tensions escalate, and what are the arrangements/understandings with our allies in the region. And in regards to Ukraine .... is the U.S. sensitive to the deep divisions in that country, and will supporting one side in Kiev (over the Russian Ukrainians in the east) serve U.S. interests in the long term.

U.S. Supplied Military Equipment To Ukraine Is Falling Apart

An aging U.S. Humvee with worn out tires near Ukrainian front lines. on Nov. 6. (Thomas Gibbons-Neff/The Washington Post)

Washington Post: On Ukraine’s front lines, U.S.-supplied equipment is falling apart

The United States has delivered more than $260 million in non-lethal military equipment to help the government of Ukraine in its fight against a Russian-backed insurgency, but some of the U.S.-supplied gear meant to protect and transport Ukrainian military forces is little more than junk.

On the outskirts of the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, for example, one Ukrainian special forces unit is using U.S.-supplied Humvees dating from the late 1980s and early 1990s, based on serial numbers on the vehicles.

Three of the Humvees had plastic doors and windows — barely any protection at all. The tires on one of the trucks blew apart after driving only a few hundred kilometers, the result of sitting in a warehouse too long, said one mechanic.

Another infantry unit of approximately 120 men received from the Pentagon a single bulletproof vest — a type that U.S. troops stopped using in combat during the mid-2000s.

WNU Editor: U.S. military aid to Ukraine has always been a joke .... something that I have pointed more than once in this blog. From sending second-hand crap from Afghanistan .... U.S. Preparing To Transfer It's Afghan Military Gear To Ukraine Over The Objections Of The Kabul Government, to taking forever in delivering the simple basics like tires .... U.S. Aid To Ukraine Is Moving At A 'Snails Pace'. And then there is the problem and long history and culture of corruption in the Ukraine military .... Corruption Destroyed The Ukraine Military .... a problem that even the best U.S. weapons cannot correct.
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America's Arab Allies Are Abandoning The U.S. War Effort Against The Islamic State

Washington Times: Obama’s anti-Islamic State coalition crumbles as Arab allies abandon effort

The major Arab powers once deemed essential to the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have largely pulled back from the U.S.-led military campaign, undercutting the Obama administration’s claims about the depth and reach of the coalition it has built with allies in the region.

The Obama administration consistently touts the “65-nation coalition” it has assembled to fight the group also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh — but critics say that fewer than a dozen nations today are contributing anything significant to the campaign.

WNU Editor: I am not surprised that America's allies are abandoning the U.S. .... I am just surprised that it took them this long to do so.

The Latest White House Strategy To Combat The Islamic State

French Cuisine To Die For

Washington Post: When in Paris… President Obama has a ‘working dinner’ at three-star eatery

As working dinners go, President Obama’s meal Monday night in Paris with French President Francois Hollande, Secretary of State John Kerry and others wasn’t too shabby.

No cartons of takeout — instead, the gang fueled up after a long day of climate talks at L’Ambroisie, the three-Michelin-starred temple of gastronomie in the Marais neighborhood.

Per the Michelin Guide, the ornately be-chandelier-ed dining room is known for “incomparable classicism and an immortal feast for the senses.”

WNU editor: This is one of the reasons why I live in Montreal .... French food .... if done properly .... is excellent. As to this dinner .... if it was someone like President George Bush instead of President Obama showing up at such a place .... the media attention and commentary will be entirely different. But come to think of it .... if someone like Donald Trump would show up .... it would be expected. Hmmm .... perception .... it is always about perception.

The U.S. Retreats From The South China Sea

The destroyer Lassen, left, and the Singapore navy frigates Supreme, center, and Intrepid trail the U.S. littoral combat ship Fort Worth through the South China Sea in July during Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training Singapore 2015. China Daily Mail

Breaking Defense: US ‘Steadily Retreating’ In South China Sea Dispute

When the Jedi Council assembled in Star Wars Episode I “The Phantom Menace,” they discussed a prophecy that they would soon be joined by one who would “bring balance to the Force.” Little did they expect that the One would achieve this balance by collapsing the old order.

Reality now seems to be mirroring fiction, as the Administration steadily obscures what it means by the “rebalance” to Asia in the six weeks leading to the next episode of the “Star Wars” franchise. American B-52s and the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battlegroup both operated in the South China Sea recently, providing ample opportunity to conduct operations within 12 nautical miles of China’s artificial islands, and clearly sending the message to Beijing and the world of the seriousness with which the United States takes freedom of the seas.

WNU Editor: President Obama has no interest in having a confrontation with China right now over the South China Sea. Right now his focus is on his legacy .... the South China Sea .... that will be the next President's problem.

Is The U.S. Navy's Newest Zumwalt-Class Destroyer Seaworthy?

The Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer DDG 1000 is floated out of dry dock at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard. The ship, the first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers, will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces and operate as part of joint and combined expeditionary forces. | U.S. NAVY / GENERAL DYNAMICS

WNU editor: This is disturbing .... New Navy Destroyer's Seaworthiness Questioned (AP). And while I am sure that the sea trials that the US Navy will put this destroyer through will be successful .... all that I can say is that at billions of dollars per destroyer .... it better work.

This is What The Pentagon And Its Supporters Want This Christmas

CNN: The military's holiday shopping list for more firepower

(CNN)Moms and dads across America aren't the only ones with a shopping list for the holiday season.

Several lawmakers and presidential candidates have their own list of military programs they're looking for the U.S. to acquire to bolster America's military prowess.

Despite the fact that the U.S. military already spends more than any other country's armed forces, these politicians and candidates say it needs to be bigger and more advanced. And they are looking forward to several of these systems being included in the budget that needs to be inked by December 11.

But additional firepower doesn't come cheap, as most of these big-ticket programs cost billions of dollars and many of the programs already in the works have been hampered by increased costs and schedule delays.

With the holiday shopping season kicking into high gear, CNN has compiled a catalog of the some of the big-ticket items on the list, including ballistic submarines, high-tech fighter jets, additional aircraft carriers and more Navy ships.

WNU Editor: Proposals for spending money on these weapon systems are always being made .... but what is lacking is the strategy, priorities, and the purpose of acquiring these weapon systems in the first place.

How U.S. - Russian Tensions Can Go Nuclear (And Fast)

Russian military officials gaze into an intercontinental ballistic missile silo at an undisclosed location.
Photo AP (Image taken from MSNBC)

Bruce Blair, Politico: Could U.S.-Russia Tensions Go Nuclear?

Believe it or not, hair-trigger launch alerts are still with us—and perhaps even more dangerous than during the Cold War.

The Russian warplane recently shot down inside Turkey’s border with Syria fits a pattern of brinkmanship and inadvertence that is raising tensions and distrust between Russia and U.S.-led NATO. Low-level military encounters between Moscow and Washington are fanning escalatory sparks not witnessed since the Cold War. And there exists a small but steadily growing risk that this escalation could morph by design or inadvertence into a nuclear threat.

The backdrop for these concerns is that both the United States and Russia maintain their nuclear command posts and many hundreds of strategic nuclear warheads on hair-trigger alert. This is a long-standing practice, or habit, driven by the inertia of the Cold War. The two sides adopted the accident-prone tactic known as launch-on-warning in order to ensure that their strategic forces could be fired before incoming warheads arrived. President Barack Obama’s recent nuclear employment guidance reiterated the need to preserve this option. Our nuclear command system and forces practice it several times a week. So do the Russians.

WNU editor: I grew up living in the shadow of this nuclear nightmare .... the idea that we are returning to those days fills me with dread.