[…] – The Obama administration got talked into arming and financing the extremist Islamic State group by the deep state and Israel as a way of overthrowing Syria’s secular government, an ally of Iran. The US-equipped Iraqi Army sent to fight IS ran for their lives. When Islamic State threatened Baghdad, the US Air Force intervened and crushed it. Rogue elements of Islamic State ran amok, creating all sorts of atrocities. Some IS units still receive covert Israeli cross-border support.

The US found it expedient to pay Kurdish militias, known as YPG, to fight remnants of the rag-tag IS, an armed mob whose danger was wildly exaggerated by western media. IS was a perfect excuse to keep US military forces in the Mideast. Turkey helped arm IS.

– Turkey’s Kurdish minority is 15-20% of its 80 million people. The dangerous Marxist PKK movement has been calling for an independent Kurdish state since the 1980’s. I covered the war in Turkey’s southern Anatolia between the PKK and the Turkish Army, a bloody affair of bombings and massacres that left over 40,000 dead. Turks go ballistic at the very mention of an independent Kurdish state, calling Kurds ‘mountain Turks’ and Marxist `terrorists.’ Läs artikel

För en ovan kan Blekinge skärgård uppfattas som liten och lätt att passera, men skenet bedrar. För större fartyg finns det nämligen bara några få leder in till örlogsstaden Karlskrona, där viktig infrastruktur återfinns, eller till den viktiga hamnen i Karlshamn. Den som kontrollerar lederna, är den som avgör vem som får passera in till dessa hamnar.

De enda förband i Sverige som kan lösa den uppgiften i skärgårdsterräng, är andra amfibiebataljonen tillsammans med 17:e bevakningsbåtkompaniet. Tillsammans med flottan, som utövar kontroll längre ut, kommer en motståndare få det svårt att ta sig in till det område marinen kontrollerar. Genom att kombinera amfibieförband med enheter från flottan och flygvapnet stängs, under övning Swenex, Blekinge skärgård för motståndaren. Läs pressmeddelande

Japan has decided to dispatch its own self-defence troops to the Strait of Hormuz area instead of joining the US-coalition to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, the Asahi newspaper reported.

The decision is in line with a previous Japanese media report that Japan would not join its most important ally in the security mission due to its close economic ties with Iran, a major oil producer. Läs artikel

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that he will discuss the situation in northeast Syria with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in their upcoming meeting on October 22.

“There will be a meeting with Putin in Sochi on Tuesday. Our aim is to identify an acceptable solution. We want the areas under the control of the Syrian government to be cleared of militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] and the Self Defense Forces [YPG],” told a news conference in Istanbul on October 18, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

The Turkish President went on to state that he has no objections against placing the “safe-zone” under the Damascus government’s control. Läs artikel

President al-Assad stressed that the current and future work should focus on stopping the offensive and the withdrawal of all Turkish, US  and other illegal forces from all Syrian territories since they are occupation forces in accordance with the international law and conventions and the Syrian people have the right to resist them by all available means.

The Russian delegation affirmed Russia’s firm support for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Russian side also emphasized Russia’s  rejection of any step or action that violates this sovereignty and further complicates the situation and affects efforts to end the war in Syria, which depends first of all on eliminating the remaining terrorist hotbeds  in Syria and regaining control over all Syrian territories including all border areas. Läs artikel

[…] Utvecklingen i Mellersta Östern visar den stora faran med att Sverige skulle bli medlem i Nato. På vilket sätt skulle Sverige bli tryggare, om Turkiets krig mot Syrien leder till en konflikt mellan Ryssland och Nato?

Tvärtom skulle Sverige bli en legitim motståndare mot vårt grannland Ryssland. Dessutom vara förpliktigad att skicka svenska soldater för att försvara Erdogans Turkiet. Nato-länderna USA och Turkiet riskerar storkrig och skapar nya flyktingtragedier. De är också ansvariga för att IS-terroristerna vinner ny mark och åter kan hota folk och länder. Så även i Europa. Världen behöver mer av klok diplomati.

Och för svensk säkerhet och fred är det just nu viktigast av allt att Sverige, precis som Finland, förhåller sig alliansfritt. Läs ledaren

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday his forces will counter Turkey’s invasion by “all legitimate means”, in his first remarks since deploying troops near the border to support Ankara’s Kurdish rivals.

We “will respond to it and confront it, in all its forms, anywhere in Syria, using all legitimate means at our disposal,” Assad told Iraqi national security adviser Faleh al-Fayad on the ninth day of Turkey’s assault against Kurdish forces.

Since Turkey’s invasion of northeast Syria started on October 9, dozens of civilians have been killed and 300,000 have been displaced, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Damascus on Sunday clinched a deal with Kurdish forces that saw Syrian army troops deploying in parts of the Kurdish-run northeast, including the key areas of Manbij and Kobane. The deployment is the most significant by the army since it began a large-scale pullout from the region in 2012. Läs artikel

Svar från försvarsminister Peter Hultqvist på skriftlig fråga från Hans Wallmark (M):

Den 20 september 2019 anslöt sig Sverige till försvarssamarbetet European Intervention Initiative (EI2). Det rör sig om ett mellanstatligt samarbete mellan försvarsmakter och försvarsdepartement i tolv länder. Samarbetet syftar till att utveckla en gemensam strategisk kultur mellan de deltagande länderna och därmed stärka den europeiska förmågan att agera militärt i händelser av en kris eller konflikt. Grunden för samarbetet inom EI2 är samverkan kring ländernas riskbedömningar, hotbildsanalyser, erfarenhetsutbyte samt scenarieutveckling. Det rör sig om ett icke-bindande samarbete och förutsätter inte att någon stående styrka skapas. Läs svaret

The United Nations Security Council voiced concern on Wednesday over the risks of a deterioration in the humanitarian situation in northeast Syria and the escape of Islamic State fighters, but made no reference to a Turkish assault on U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militia that began a week ago. […]

The council said nothing on northeast Syria after it met last Thursday. Council statements are agreed by consensus and Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said at the time the council “should take into account other aspects of the Syrian crisis not just the Turkish operation.”

After Wednesday’s meeting the United States, China and the council’s five European members – Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Belgium – all separately called on Turkey to halt its attack, but the Security Council statement did not.

“China calls for the immediate end of military actions by Turkey,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters. “The Security Council discussions, in one way or another, are still going on so let’s work toward the right solution.” […]

“The Turkish side tells us that they will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” Nebenzia told reporters. “We understand the Turkish national security concerns but we believe that the operation that they’re conducting should be proportionate to the aims that they declare.” Läs artikel