Russia Arms Syria With S-300 Missiles To Defend Against NATO Attack

Warns it will not tolerate western powers crossing a “red line”


Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com - Thursday, November 24, 2011

We now know what those six Russian warships that reportedly entered Syrian territorial waters last week were carrying. Aside from representing a show of strength to discourage NATO powers from launching a military attack, on board were Russian technical experts ready to help Damascus set up a sophisticated missile defense system sold to them by Moscow.

“Russian warships that have reached waters off Syria in recent days were carrying, among other things, Russian technical advisors who will help the Syrians set up an array of S-300 missiles Damascus has received in recent weeks, a report in the London-based Arabic language Al Quds-Al Arabi said Thursday. Citing sources in Syria and Russia, the paper said that Moscow sees a Western attack on Syria as a “red line” that it will not tolerate,” reports Arutz Sheva.

The S-300 missiles, which according to the report will be used to “deflect a possible attack by NATO or the U.S. and EU,” are long range surface-to-air missiles developed by Russia in 1979 for the purpose of protecting large industrial and military bases from enemy attack aircraft and cruise missiles.

The system is widely regarded as one of the most powerful anti-aircraft arrays in modern warfare, having the ability to track up to 100 targets and engage 12 at any one time. Russia recently tried to sell the same system to Iran but the transaction was halted after pressure from the U.S. and Israel.

Arming Syria with such a proficient means of aerial defense would obviously not bode well for any prospective “no fly zone” being planned by western powers. Reports have been circulating this week that fighter jets from Turkey and other Arab states would soon enter Syrian airspace under “humanitarian” pretenses with logistical aid from the United States.

“Along with the missiles, the report says that Russia has installed advanced radar systems in all key Syrian military and industrial installations. The radar system also covers areas north and south of Syria, where it will be able to detect movement of troops or aircraft towards the Syrian border. The radar targets include much of Israel, as well as the Incirlik military base in Turkey, which is used by NATO,” states the report.

French foreign minister Alain Juppé yesterday assured Syrian opposition forces that NATO powers are planning to launch a military intervention by imposing “humanitarian corridors or humanitarian zones” in the name of protecting civilians from the alleged abuses of the al-Assad regime.

The prospect of air strikes being launched under a “humanitarian” banner are seen as increasingly likely given the fact that the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush has been moved to the Syrian coast in recent days having left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz.

Tensions also escalated yesterday after the U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens to leave Syria “immediately,” while Turkey’s foreign ministry told its citizens to avoid traveling through the country on their return home from Saudi Arabia.

As we have previously noted, attacking Syria could merely be an entrée for an assault on Iran because Tehran has promised to defend its ally.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

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Related:

Public Relations Campaign for Military Intervention in Syria Begins

The Game Is About Done

From Market Ticker, 2011-11-23 
by Karl Denninger 

It's pretty-much over at this point....
This morning Germany had a failed Bund auction.  That's not particularly noteworthy; it happens from time to time.
But what's noteworthy is what happened to bond yields everywhere through Europe in response: They blew out.
The Greek and Italian "problem" is no longer about Greece and Italy.  It has been creeping into Spain and more-recently France, but this morning jumped into Germany and everywhere else "all at once."
Capital has said "no more" to the lies in Europe.  While this does not mean an instant implosion it does mean one important thing: The willingness of capital holders to continue to permit deficit spending is coming to an end, and with it the false "GDP" that this lie has "supported" will also come to an end.
Our lawmakers, for their part, continue to sing a happy song about how we'll get it done -- but not today, since the supercommittee was an abject failure.  Covering up the failure was the fact that there were departments that had 10, 20 even 30% increases in the funding found in the appropriateions bills that were passed in the House even while the "committee" was trying to find a way to "cut" spending.
Folks, this political game of lie, lie and lie some more cannot go on forever.  Eventually the waiter appears with the check and you either pay it, wash dishes, or get arrested for theft.  In the political world that "arrest" comes in the form of capital holders saying that they no longer believe you will ever pay and borrowing costs go up -- way up.
The Fed cannot "print" out of this and neither can the ECB.  If either try that they will engender an all-on revolt, never mind that as purchasing power falls the fixed costs of staying alive go up relative to incomes and the war is lost anyway.
Reality must eventually be faced.  That day is here for Europe and it will soon be here in the US.  We have permitted the lies and stealing -- both indirectly and now, as we've seen, it appears directly through MF Global -- to go on for too long.
To those Seniors (and soon-to-be-Seniors) and others who say "but we were promised!" and "I vote damnit - you better give me what you said I'd get" respond: The till is empty and your check is going to bounce.
Occupy Wall Street?  Well sure, but while you're at it, why aren't the Seniors encircling the Capitol and refusing to leave?  Why isn't the underlying truth being discussed and why aren't the jackals that led to this happening being forced from office and run out of town on a rail?
I'll tell you why: Because everyone thinks that they can manage to somehow "get theirs" while "someone else" will take the hit.
I'm sorry to tell ou that it isn't going to work out like that.
There's no point in continuing to play this game.  MF Global showed us -- you're right, you hedge or you place your bet, you still lose your money!  How many farmers, airlines, industrial producers and other legitimate entities using the market for risk management got screwed by that little game and why is it that Corzine is not in handcuffs?  FINRA?  What's that -- it appears Corzine didn't have a valid (and required) securities license.  Self-regulation not only failed so has any resemblance of actual law enforcement.

The same game was run over in Europe with sovereign CDS.  You hedge, you bet right, the ISDA declares that you were "voluntarily" exchanging your bonds and the hedges you bought were worthless.  Your "exchange" was as voluntary as is handing over your wallet when there's a gun up your nose, but that doesn't matter -- the word "is" can be redefined any time the people in charge want, and they want.
Your money, that is.
It will not be long ladies and gentlemen, when the bulk of the folks running the algorithms deduce that they're exposed to the same risks - they have to post margin too, you know, and if it can be stolen then their capital isn't safe either.  These deposits aren't supposed to be "at risk" when there's no position actively open -- that's a performance bond against possible failure to pay, but is supposed to be exactly as safe as a bank deposit in a checking account under FDIC limits.
Well, it wasn't.  The CDS you bought on Greece wasn't.  And it will only take another event like this or two before people conclude that everything is unsound as the jackals running the game will redefine the meaning of words to suit themselves and, failing that will simply steal the money.
30+ years of lawless behavior has now devolved down to blatant, in-your-face theft.  They don't even bother trying to hide it any more, and Eric "Place" Holder is too busy supervising the running of guns into Mexico so the drug cartels can shoot both Mexican and American citizens.
What am I, or anyone else, supposed to do in this sort of "market" environment?  Invest in.... what?  Land titles are worthless as they've been corrupted by robosigning, margin deposits have been stolen, Madoff's clients had confirmations of trades that never happend and proved to worthless pieces of paper instead of valuable securities and while Madoff went to prisonnobody else has and the money is still gone!
Without enforcement of the law -- swift and certain -- there is no deterrent against this behavior.
There has been no enforcement and there is no indication that this will change.
It will take just one -- or maybe two -- more events like MF Global and Greek CDS "determinations" before the entire market -- all of it -- goes "no bid" as participants simply stuff their hands in their pockets and say "screw this."
It's coming folks, and I guarantee you this: Whatever your "nightmare" scenario is for such an event, it's not bearish enough.

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