Russian Troops are on their way to Syria....U.S. now involved in a Civil War...

And yes, this is a civil war, at least now. Russia will be there, the US will be there, and civilians in the middle will die en masse.

This is useless. Disarm the lot, and demand peace.

The former USSR went there, now we refer to them as Russia. They lived it, they know it and we are about to suffer the same fate unless we abandon our 'crusades' in the Middle East.

Bank on it...

Russia was not the first to try and tame Afghanistan.

I think the United States saw an opportunity to control the Opium trade.. while at the same time trying to control a few oil wells. And install some new oil pipelines for Exxon/ Mobil.

It could never work out. Russia and China will not stand idol.

The best thing Mr. Obama could do is to bring all our troops home and embark on a massive public works rebuilding in the United States.

If this doesn't happen, and we insist on pushing these wars of agression... the United State will LOSE.

And we all suffer.

and requested aid from it after shelling from Syrian forces. It's my understanding that the Netherlands, the U.S. and Germany are each sending 2 Patriot missiles and troops. I wish they weren't, but I don't see how NATO, under its charter, refuses such a request.

used to shoot down possible scud missiles. They will not engage unless the asset is tracked as the target. Been there done that.

comes to "them" and successful geometrically squared Empire Masters when it comes to digging into our beleaguered taxpayer's pockets.

But Chickenshits when it comes to whose kids get the privilege of "serving" to protect that global status. SOS.

How long will it be before our young folks are using their crack military skills to protect schools in Syria? And yes, it is relevant.

and as I understand the NATO charter, NATO is obligated under these circumstances. I'd certainly rather that wasn't so, but its not quite the picture you're painting.

NATO is not a humanitarian entity. It is overtly another international tool for the US to do whatever it pleases. We all know there are political nuances/international cover here that are not nuances in other countries.

Sorry, this was just the wrong week to expand the military reach.

That was the last I heard.

Sensationalist thread, IMO.

All over the place, mostly hyperbolic nonsense.

Russian military presence in Syria poses challenge to US-led intervention

Russian military advisers are manning some of Syria's more sophisticated air defences – something that would complicate any future US-led intervention, the Guardian has learned.

The advisers have been deployed with new surface-to-air systems and upgrades of old systems, which Moscow has supplied to the Assad regime since the Syrian revolution broke out 21 months ago.

The depth and complexity of Syria's anti-aircraft defences mean that any direct western campaign, in support of a no-fly zone or in the form of punitive air strikes against the leadership, would be costly, protracted and risky. The possibility of Russian military casualties in such a campaign could have unpredictable geopolitical consequences.

The upgrades were supplied by Moscow, which sees them as a bulwark against western-imposed regime change and protection of a longstanding investment in Syria. The country includes Russia's biggest electronic eavesdropping post outside its territory, in Latakia, and its toehold on the Mediterranean, a small naval base at Tartus.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/23/syria-crisis-russian-military-presence

information like this.

Now, every time I see something like this I have to check it out because 99% of the time it's over-reaction perpetrated by some over-the-top DUer. The good thing is that I can still be ahead of the curve by reading DU.

the bad thing is that where DU used to be right 99% of the time, now it's WRONG 99% of the time.