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A WEEK IS a long time in politics, as the saying goes. So too is a day, just ask Denis Naughten.
The embattled Communications Minister resigned on Thursday after the Taoiseach asked him to reflect on his position the night before.
Pressure had been mounting on Naughten following revelations about a dinner he had with the head of the only remaining group bidding for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) contract – details of which were first reported by The Times.
Naughten admitted to attending a dinner with David McCourt – head of the Granahan McCourt consortium – in New York in July. During the week it emerged the minister had also facilitated a lunch in Leinster House for McCourt’s daughter in April.
Members of Fine Gael have defended junior minister Pat Breen for also meeting McCourt, saying he has no role in the NBP. You can read more about the series of events here.
Announcing his resignation, Naughten told the Dáil he had offered to pass over the NBP process to Breen or another minister, but Leo Varadkar refused.
“The Taoiseach does not have confidence in me,” Naughten said, before leaving the Dáil chamber and his ministry.
Crunching the numbers
So, what does this mean for Fine Gael? The party has been leading a minority government since the 2016 general election, with the backing of Fianna Fáil and the support of a number of independent TDs including Naughten.
The slight majority enjoyed by Fine Gael has become even more wafer-thin in recent weeks – Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick left the party earlier this month.
So while the government may not fall just yet, passing legislation has become more complicated. With Fitzpatrick now an independent, Fine Gael has 49 TDs in the Dáil - just four more than Fianna Fáil’s 45.
There are 157 TDs voting in the Dáil, excluding Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Fianna Fail). If Fianna Fáil abstains from voting in confidence and budgetary matters, as set out in its Confidence and Supply agreement with Fine Gael, that leaves 113 votes remaining – meaning the government needs at least 57 votes to pass legislation.
It has the support of four Independent Alliance TDs, each of whom are either ministers or ministers of state, and independent minister Katherine Zappone.
Former minister Sean Canney quit the Independent Alliance earlier this year but pledged to continue to support the government on budgetary matters and in confidence votes. Independent TDs Michael Lowry and Noel Grealish also generally support the government but that’s not set in stone.
Naughten and Fitzpatrick both said they would deal with the issue of supporting the government on a case-by-case basis.
When asked about Dáil arithmetic yesterday, Varadkar told reporters: “Obviously it is a fact that we’ve lost one or two TDs, TDs who were supporting the government and now are not or at least aren’t all the time.
Notwithstanding that, if you look at the votes that have happened in the last couple of weeks (a no confidence motion in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy and the Budget vote), we won all of them with a secure majority.
He said the “next test will be on Tuesday”, when the Dáil is due to vote on whether or not to ratify the ministerial appointments the Taoiseach makes on foot of Naughten’s resignation.
Election time?
There has been plenty of speculation about a general election taking place this winter – well before Naughten stepped down.
Indeed, Tuesday’s Budget was deemed an ‘election Budget’ by many – but Varadkar downplayed this in an interview with TheJournal.ie just hours before Naughten resigned.
Brexit is one of the main reasons many people think calling an election in the coming months would be foolish.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin yesterday wrote to Varadkar asking that such a scenario be avoided until at least after a deal has been reached between Britain and the EU, given the current uncertainty about the situation and how it could affect Ireland.
“The Irish people would, I am sure you agree, be rightly concerned at any risk that a general election campaign would have on [Brexit] talks at such a crucial period and an uncertain post-election situation.
“An election during this critical time would create dangerous instability during a period when the Brexit deal would be derailed by the constantly changing situation in Westminster,” Martin wrote.
Opinion polls
Opinion polls are another factor likely to impact when the government will decide to go to the people – unless, of course, events overtake them.
Fine Gael has regularly topped recent opinion polls, meaning the party may favour having an election sooner rather than later in a bid to capitalise on this and strengthen its mandate.
However, the results of a poll released yesterday indicate that Fianna Fáil is closing the gap in support between the two largest parties.
1,000 adults were interviewed over the phone between 3 and 10 October for a Red C poll carried out on behalf of Paddy Power. The findings show that Fine Gael retains the highest level of support at 32%, down one point from last month.
Fianna Fáil increased its support by five points, up to 27%. Sinn Féin is unchanged on 14%, while Labour dropped one point to 5%. Independents are down one point to 12%, while the Independent Alliance are also down one point to 3%.
Solidarity/People Before Profit are unchanged at 2%. The Social Democrats are down one point to 1% and the Green Party is up one point to 3%. Others are unchanged on 1%. The margin of error is 3%.
Many politicians may want to avoid an election for now – particularly if the outcome would do little to affect the makeup of the Dáil. They will, of course, say that opinion polls are just that, and the only poll that matters is on election day – whenever that may be.
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Here we go. More “fake news” about Syria for Irish consumption.
There are NO journalists on the ground in east Aleppo. All media misinformation seems to come from SOHR which is some guy in his bedroom in Coventry, and the “white helmets” *cough* ISIL. Nothing but lies. Has everyone forgotten all the youtube videos of jihadists in Syria cutting people’s heads off , using child soldiers and treating Yahzidi women as sex slaves? From media accounts, you’d think it was a bunch of harmless pacificists that the Syrian army were fighting. You can no longer believe any stories you read about Syria in mainstream media.
If there are NO journalists in East Aleppo and this is all fake news where are you getting your info?
Jane RT and plenty of other camera crew are on the ground in Aleppo with the advancing SAA. There are no western media on the ground they rely on some lad in his flat in Coventry so it’s hard to take seriously anything they say!
But you can rely on RT which is owned by the Russian state? Explain that logic.
@PaulJ: Yes sorry, I meant western media.
I think it’s instructive to listen to canadian journalist and activist Eva Bartlett who is one of a few to actually have been on the ground in Aleppo, Homs and elsewhere.
start around 14:00 mins in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebE3GJfGhfA
Do you rely on the BBC which is funded by the U.K. State? What about RTÉ which is funded by the Irish state? Can you believe what you are told on the 9′o’clock news? Most media outlets deliver the news with their own slant, I have to say that I would trust RT more than any of the other networks! Propaganda is not confined only to Russia or non western states, it is literally pumped out 24/7 from every “news” source including the journal.
Jason RTE is owned by the Irish state, BBC the British state, AFP funded by French etc. What’s your point? At least RT are ON THE GROUND unlike the western media who pull stories from their arses and take the word of any unverified crap from Jihadi supporting twitter accounts. Only for RT capturing the images of the tens of thousands celebrating on the streets people would think the Jihadis had the support of the city. The 15k that are being evacuated, including the terrorists, tells a very different story and shows they had miniscule support. I bet we won’t see any reports in western media of the stockpiles of food and medicine that the terrorists kept from the civilians.
The mind boggles that people actually think they’re receiving neutral unbiased news from RT.
Like any conflict there is propaganda emanating from all sides and the truth lies somewhere in between.
@Jason Culligan: Give me RT over RTE any day.
@Avina Laaf: Make Syria great again. Bomb them all !
@Hedge hog: Eva Bartlett was asked how she can quantify Assads support in Syria. She replied that in the 2014 elections he won 88% of the vote. There is not a single country in the world where the leader of the country will ever be that popular. It does not happen. She actually said that with a straight face too. To make that statement worse Assad won the 2007 election with 97% of the vote and he won in 2000 with 99%. I mean COME ON do you actually think this guy is THAT popular and there she sits in that chair with a straight face with the country destroyed; over half of them having fled or in camps and the others dodging bombs and bullets and even then they’re thinking ….Nahhhh actually this guy is doing a great job. Have you seen that woman’s twitter page? I might give her credit if she came across even remotely like an independent objective Journalist but it’s all dressed up like she lives and works out of Assads spare bedroom. Isn’t it AMAZING how in this world of truth and lies and propaganda that everything The West says is a lie and everything Assad and Russia say is the Gods honest truth? Because that’s the kind of “reality” she is peddling.
In fairness Simon, Assad’s support may well have been that high in 2014, mainly because the election was only conducted in areas held by his supporters. Areas held by his opponents were excluded from the election, there being the small matter of a war going on.
This article is absolute contrived bullshit. Have a quick look at this one minute video to see the response of Aleppo residents to the incoming syrian army. It shows a far different reality to the one portrayed in this article.
In Russia they jail people who oppose Putin or they send agents to poison them. Dissent is not tolerated. Are we seriously getting so detached from reality around here that we think the Irish state has as much of a corrupting hand in RTÉ as Putin has in RT?
Which is precisely why Ban Ki Moon criticised the Syrian government for holding elections in the middle of a civil war. Mind you, the part where the governmwnt claimed they had a turnout of almost 3/4 is almost certainly a massive fib.
The BBC and RTÉ are funded by a licence fee – they still (mostly) make independent editorial decisions, and will still produce material which is critical of their state or government. RT does not. RT is the result of direct influence from the Kremlin. Remind us of the last time RT published anything which criticised Putin?
@Harry Whitehead:
Precisely – the fact that absolutely nothing which is critical of the Kremlin in any way is ever seen on RT should serve as a bit of a clue, but some people still lap it up unquestioningly anyway.
Vanessa Beeley, journalist: I’ve just returned from three days in East Aleppo, and I would like to 100 percent correct the lies that are being disseminated by the media, think tanks, governments across the West. Particularly your guest who has just uttered complete lies. I’ve spent basically three days in all the various liberated areas of East Aleppo… Many of the testimonies that we received from the civilians that this gentleman has just accused Russia and Syria of bombing, actually told us that they had been incarcerated for the last four years by the various US-backed terrorist militant groups such as Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki whom we know beheaded the 12-year old Palestinian child. We were told stories about civilians who were trying to leave this imprisonment when the Russian and Syrian governments opened the humanitarian corridors. I interviewed one lady, I have her on film, where she tells me that one woman, who had been kept in a condition of starvation and malnutrition by these militant factions – who were stockpiling any humanitarian aid that came in and either selling it at extortionate prices. When this lady went on her knees to beg for food, she was shot in the mouth by the militant factions that have been imprisoning these civilians for the last four and a half years. Your [American] media and propaganda have supported that incarceration, torture, abuse and absolute horror that these civilians had had to go through.
RT: The spokesperson of the US State Department said he hasn’t seen the videos of people celebrating on Aleppo’s streets. He’s in a senior position; he must know what he’s talking about, doesn’t he? Brent Budowsky: We can witness day by day dead babies by dead babies. You can watch the CNN, the BBC, any other television station. The point is – the killing, the bombings of civilians must stop. The dead children and babies is a moral outrage against humanity. Vanessa Beeley: Can I ask one question? Where are these sources being able to transmit this information from? Because in East Aleppo there is no 3G, there is no wi-fi, there is no electricity. So I’d like to know how these sources are able to get this information via Skype connection to organizations – I’ll use that term loosely – like CNN, BBC, Channel 4. I would very much like to know how they achieve it and how there’re able to do that in East Aleppo. Unlike the corporate mainstream media, I have been in East Aleppo for the last three days, therefore, I’m giving you eyewitness testimony unlike your mainstream media that has not been there and relies upon spurious activists – like the White Helmets, who are funded by every single nation that has a vested and declared interest in regime change in Syria. That is your reliable source. Or perhaps the ‘Aleppo Media Center’ – French Foreign Office funded… Daniel McAdams, executive director at Ron Paul Institute: This is a good example of what is wrong with the mainstream media. You have a mainstream media source like this Brent Budowsky who goes on television telling us: “You’ve got to believe the US government.” This is the same media that lie through its teeth about Iraq; that lied through its teeth about Benghazi, about the slaughters that were not happening there. There are no foreign media sources in East Aleppo right now. They are not on the ground. They are all using information that they are getting through rebel sources. That is the truth. So, Budowsky, what you are doing right now is you are putting out fake news. And you know it because there are no sources on the ground. You’re saying, ‘Just believe the US government.’ You’re supposed to be in the media! You’re supposed to be doing independent work… Go back to 2005 in a document from the US Embassy in Damascus was sent back to Washington outlining exactly how to destabilize and overthrow the Syria government, which is exactly the roadmap they took. Who was really responsible for the carnage in Syria? It is the interventionists in the West and their enablers in the mainstream media that push a regime change policy that destroys countries like Iraq, like Syria, like Libya, like Afghanistan, and so on. They are the real perpetrators of this crime.
@Harry Whitehead: Why no Condemnation by the West on the US Regime Change throughout the Middle East ,it is outrageous the US Agenda.Syria,Egypt,Libya Iraq not forgetting Ukraine .This Displacement of Country by Country to Europe will eventually Destroy Sovereign Countries .Time this Monster European “Onion” Disbanded FAST.
@Hedge hog:
Forget Tom Clonan he is a full on propagandist hack. He is a multicult and mass-immigration advocate, thus he pushes the refugee narrative and that refugees are legitimate because they are fleeing the “evil tyrant” Assad, even when they come from Africa or Southwest Asia, apparently its all Syria.
Listen to a real Journalist Eva Bartlett she was there several times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VNQGsiP8M
@Avina Laaf: I tend to believe the side that wasn’t party to the lie of the WMD’s in Iraq. Whilst all news is taking one side or the other, the rhetoric from Russia and Syria has not changed at all, whereas the US rhetoric is a never ending change of narrative, it goes from one issue to the next and is constantly ambiguous and endlessly contradicts itself. That’s what happens when you tell lies, you need a good memory to be a good liar and they have all sorts of media spewing different lie that they can’t keep up with it themselves.
Russia line is clear, Syria as a state and its ELECTED government cannot be pushed aside, change needs to happen internally and democratically, Putin himself has said this, he is not a supporter of the Assad Regime as a whole and said the regime should have made changes already but any changes that need to be made can be done democratically and with the use of the UN mediators, not this through externally fund terrorism and certainly not Libya Style.
@Glenn McKeon:
I agree, change needs to happen internally and democratically, without outside interference from Russia, Iran, the US, Saudi or anyone else. The problem is that democracy has been denied to the Syrian people since the 1970′s. Multi-party elections have been banned since the early 1970′s, ie. the only choice the Syrian people were offered in elections was “which Ba’ath Party candidate do you want?” Needless to say this left millions of voters completely disenfranchised and cannot be called democracy, particularly when any dissent is violently suppressed.
The Syrian/Russian narrative has certainly shown many inconsistencies – most recently that the people of Eastern Aleppo were being held hostage by foreign mercenaries and were liberated by Assad/Russia. How does this square with the fact that many of the newly ‘liberated’ Syrian families were then being transported to rebel-held territory in Idlib?? You liberate them only to then deliver them straight back to their ‘kidnappers’??
I thought it is the Irish defence forces not armed forces. Also the article makes it sound like the Isis withdrawal is because of Americas operation. Get a grip America sponsored ISIS. The only reason they are withdrawing is because of Russian pressure.
100k in 2.5sq km, ah come on……. Msm saying 300k upto 500k where under jihadist control at the start…….. Ah come on its obvious who is at the fake news, very little pics of the thousands who celebrated on the streets of Aleppo …. Have the so called modern journalists no shame……!!!!!
As long as the MSM news outlet gets the news out first, it makes no difference if it’s the truth or not.. https://youtu.be/KrE1ZvldiFE
Really? Is that how they were able to retake Palmyra? “Tactics, comrade, tactics!” repeated Squealer.
Congratulations to the Syrian army for taking back Aleppo from the Jihadist head hackers, who were backed by the Obama admin via Saudi,Qatar and Kuwait and the mainstream (fake news) media.
@Nazerene:
Anyone else find it strange how there are no pictures or videos of the ‘moderate’ rebels who only want to live in a secular democracy being uploaded?
A Syrian solution is all foreign forces unless invited by the Syrians should leave immediately. The west should stop arming the rebels. Pressure should be put on the Saudis over their funding and arming of Isis. Then let the Syrians take back their country.
The Assad regime cannot claim sovereign control over Syria at this point. There’s a defacto independent nation in the north while ISIS remain a powerful force in the south-east.
Assad is a “devil”, for not allowing ISIS to destroy his country?
Is Clonan being paid by the CIA?
He is a pro American idiot
@Ronan Gallagher: Being pro American is ok but when you take it to a level where being pro anything is evil then there is something wrong. The problem with the U.S. is not its people but those in power like government and lobbyists?
@Eamon Mac Gowan:
Clonan thinks he is something special for being in the Army. Big deal, civilians deal with more sh%T and without backup or support or a gun everyday, you don’t see them wearing medals advertising the trials and tribulations they went through.
So yes Clonan suffers from power-trip, his little army ego wants to ride on the coattrails of those he sees as the big boys, the most powerful, the U.S. So he apes their take on matters. What a small little man.
“THE RESISTANCE IN Aleppo is in its death throes. Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army will now finalise its street by street, house by house liquidation of enemy combatants and remaining civilians” Really has that happened already in the other parts of Aleppo recently freed/imprisoned? So by your implication Assad’s forces have killed best part of 100,000? in Aleppo in the last month? My god the ignorance of the conflict is quite breathtaking.
What a crock of the brown stuff this “news” is. Won’t be long before we hear that ISIS are the good guys, defending the civilians still there.
It’s an absolute clusterf**k and unfortunately there is no easy solution.
John003 how do u know what the Syrian army is doing were u getting your reports from the lad from Coventry or this fella Tom who must have great eyesore from his office in Dublin go to YouTube and watch the independent reporter who has been there 4 times she’ll put you straight
Getting my reports from CNN just like Tom However they seem very biased on the Saudi Sunni side of the civil war
there is one western journalist in Aleppo. Vanessa beeley, you wont see any of her reports on main stream media. we are been fed total bollocks by our media. shame on them. you find her reports on you tube, the journal is a propaganda paper,
I am glad that more people are seeing the bullshit coming from western news for the bullshit that it is.
Anyone see the clap doing Feb of interviews with so called people from Syria turns out they are reporters
It’s a great time to make a note of the worst political liars across Europe and in the US
as they line up to lie about what is going on in Aleppo.
Also, since the media have clearly decided to ignore it
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MOSUL
Tom Clonan … Irish army captain … big deal I’m captain of my darts team and I have more insight, clarity into this war and definitely not swayed by western/Jahadi mis information as Tommy obviously is. Unable to think for himself he regurgitates bbc ccn fox Washington London bull shit
Whilst anybody capable of thinking for themselves regurgitates Russian and Syrian state media is that it?
It may come as a surprise but bullshit flows in both directions.
BULLSHIT!
Better the devil you know.
@Alan: Like Obama, it seems?
Simon you’re just being a troll.
In the link I posted, Eva Bartlett was addressing a full UN press conference.
They don’t let any old conspiracy theorist do that.
They definitely wouldn’t let you address it!! :-)
She’s clearly a respected journalist with direct experience on the ground
in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria.
Thanks for the opportunity to repost the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebE3GJfGhfA
Eva speaks around 14:00
Whilst there is undoubtedly some truth in what she says, anyone who can’t see the bias is incredibly gullible.
Without wanting to trivialise it, asking someone who is embedded with Assad’s forces and his supporters what they think of those fighting against him is a bit like asking someone who is embedded with the Manchester United Supporters Club what they think of Liverpool fans.
@Avina Laaf: The only gullible person here is you.
Yeah whatever Mark – Kremlin state media never lies…
*facepalm*
@Avina Laaf: The BBC lies and the U.S. Media gets paid by the U.S. government to be pro U.S. in their stories and to print, portray and act in a way that is pro U.S. in order to get their grants from the Federal government.
http://www.wallis.rochester.edu/wallisseminarseries/GehlbachSoninRochester2.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/09/24/the-new-propaganda-how-the-american-government-is-trying-to-control-what-you-think/?utm_term=.5020c67c8a9c
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission
Then CNN were leaking questions to Hillary and most of the US media was bias towards her, promoting her as the US media has never seen before. That only proves how bias US media, it is McCartyism all over again?
Bu-but Eva Bartlett is supposed to be that agent of truth flying in the face of the worlds media!?https://pulsemedia.org/2016/12/15/russia-today-and-the-post-truth-virus/
So a conspiracy theorist with a blog who briefly visited Syria as a guest of the regime is declaring that everything you know about Syria is wrong. That you have been misled by everyone in the “MSM” from the New York Times to Der Spiegel, from the Guardian to the Telegraph, from CNN to Channel 4, from ABC to BBC, from CBS to CBC; that human rights organisations like Physicians for Human Rights, Medicins Sans Frontiers, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch; that international agencies like the UN and ICRC—they are all part of a vast conspiracy to malign Bashar al Assad. And the truth is only revealed on “alternative” media like the Kremlin’s own Russia Today! (watched by 70 million people a week according to its own claims)
In normal times something like this would provoke derision and dismay—or at least the person would be asked to provide verifiable facts instead of anecdotes (virtually everything she said is verifiably false).
Embarrassing, right? The Journal’s moderation policy is a joke – state-sponsored trolls have been allowed to turn any geopolitical discussion into one massive echo-chamber where all you can hear is cranks screeching through their megaphones.
Eva Bartlett – a Useful Idiot for all seasons
@Simon:
Interesting that she’s associated with the so-called “US Peace Council” which itself is closely tied to the communist party in the US and to Russia itself.
@Avina Laaf: Hay, even the U.N. has said that all the rebels in Syria are Terrorists and no one in the media will say that?
Another WMD scare they did with Iraq, this time with Syria?
@Alois Irlmaier:
“Even the U.N. has said that all the rebels in Syria are Terrorists”
I’m pretty sure that comes under the category of Fake News. Of course you could always prove me wrong by linking to where the UN said it. I’ll wait.
@Avina Laaf: Nope… It was RT who stated this but there are many others who have shown this to be a point as well.
https://southfront.org/moderate-syrian-opposition-terrorists-world/
@Alois Irlmaier:
OK, so the claim that the UN said that “all the rebels in Syria are Terrorists” is completely fake – glad we cleared that one up.
@Avina Laaf: You just wrote that because you want it to be true.
@Alois Irlmaier:
Errrr…..
You claimed the UN said it, and when I asked for proof you said it was actually RT that said it, not the UN. I’ll still take any proof that the UN said that if you can provide some….
@Avina Laaf: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-terrorist-idUSKCN0VQ25E
“Major powers trying to forge a Syrian peace plan have made almost no progress on overcoming one of the main obstacles to ending the war: deciding who is a terrorist – and therefore a legitimate target – and who is not.
Everyone involved in the diplomatic process agrees with the United Nations’ designation that Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, a group linked to al-Qaeda, are terrorists and therefore barred from the negotiating table. “
@Avina Laaf: Will that do for now?
@ Alois
Nobody is disputing that al Nusra and IS are terrorists, but they are just two (albeit powerful ones) of literally dozens of factions, many of whom are fighting each other. The attempt to paint them all as the same entity (despite the fact that they’ve often been killing each other) is just Syrian and Russian propaganda.
There are no ‘good guys’ in this conflict and there is brutality on all sides, but some factions (eg. al Nusra & IS) are most definitely worse than others.
@Avina Laaf: Some of the sub groups seem to exist to provide weapons and training given to them by the U.S. to pass it on to Isis? Makes you wonder what the West wants to do to Syria for the Saudis or Israel?
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/eu-offers-cash-to-assad-regime-for-syria-peace-deal-w8shn8rjx
The Syrian army solution is to room clear every building with RPG rounds, says it all about doing everything to eradicate everyone else so long as they win. However the conflict ends, the victors will be rewarded a mass grave of a country. Absolute mess.
Comparing Israel actions to what is happening in Aleppo shows his extreme bias against Israel They do not act like the Syrian army
Yeah they’re worse
Paul these are the words of some lad in Ireland who has no clue what is going on in Syria. That he actually used a 100k figure for this left in a 3km2 area when the real figure is 15k shows anything he writes should be taken with a pinch of salt. In fact the discredited immediately by using such fantasy figures, I wonder who he is getting his info from to make all his claims it this piece, probably from some “activists” twitter account, who are known for their lies and outlandish claims with no proof whatsoever!
So a nation which employs precision strikes as a rule is worse than a nation which flattens entire districts with improvised explosives? Explain that logic to us.
Great precision when hitting saa in deir el zoir alright, but no precision at all available to hit Isis going to palmayra …!!!! Have a coffee Jason, might wake you up
Explain that Jason, no strikes on IS in Palmyra but they somehow managed to kill dozens of SAA soldiers with their precision strikes?
@John B mc G: Yeah, I wonder how the US satellites and drones all missed a huge column of ISIS trucks carrying 4000 terrorists plus heavy weapons driving across open desert heading for Palmyra.
John B, you need the coffee son. Jason was talking about the Israeli airforce.
UK, US are the biggest weapons suppliers to Saudi Arabia who apparently took down the twin towers, who apparently are arming ISIS, Who are now arming all nurse, al qaeda terrorist in order for Regime change the same terrorists that are apparently responsible for 911 The truth is coming out now Jason you look very silly
@ Hedge hog, the massive dust cloud from up to 4000 isis vehicles was also missed, not once but Twice, Maybe it’s Third time lucky JASON CULLIGAN
@Paulo mclawlor: And yet the head hackers use Russian made weapons….
@TheWalkingBread: the NYT says US, china and russian weapons
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/world/isis-ammunition-is-shown-to-have-origins-in-us-and-china.html?_r=0
The real question to ask is WHO PAID FOR THEM
@Paul Cunningham: So who is creating these stories as there are NO journalists in the middle or edges of this conflict as they are too scared of being captured by Isis and being beheaded?
In 50 years time will people say it was better to let IS create their Islamic caliphate? Reason it would have attracted all the “Fundamentalists” from Europe and America. All I know is Western interference has created havoc in nearly all countries it has happened.
@declanhanley: The world has taken sides in a 1400 year old sectarian battle between the Shias and the Sunnis, one the Sunni and Wahhabism is the U.S. U.K. and Western world, while on the Shia front is China and Russia.
In 50 years time the Syrian muslims now will become lone wolves in attacking those countries who killed their families, remember Syria is mainly a Shia country. So that will mean the West and Israel will be a target for attacks. Can you image if they got their hands on a nuke and used it in Mecca, New York and in Paris as anything is possible?
Wars and battles only create conflict, anger, bitterness and a need for revenge, that is how the Islamic sectarianism has been going on so long, even now in Yemen, it is the same bitterness?
All the west has done is to make a sectarian conflict global… As well as given fuel to it in the area / Middle East?
Can any of these Putinists give me some examples where you know the Russians or Assad have been lying and display it all for everybody to see. I won’t insult your intelligence by assuming you actually think they are telling the truth about absolutely everything.
@Simon: A downvote is not an example , try again.
@Simon: Oh just go away with your stupid nonsense and get a real job
@Simon: Open your eyes and see the facts and stop making it based on your pro U.S. belief in the U.S. Obama is nearly as bad as Assad with his drone attacks in several countries now with them…
Syria is a problem based on sectarianism within Islam, tat was said to have been kicked off due to glob warming where country folks entered the towns? This caused a clash between the 1400 year old Shia Sunni sectarianism and has led to threats from groups that have global potential for terrorism like Isis, Al Nurse and Al Qaeda, which with Saudi Arabian help caused 911.
So why the hell is the U.S under Obama giving weapons to these as have the Saudis, French, U.K., Turkey…
Assad is evil but it is a choice between domestic evil versus global evil. The U.N. has stated that all the REBELS are terrorists, even the White Helmets killed those in their area as the Syrian Civil Defence, took their equipment and they carry guns with them to shoot anyone who is Shia or in the Syrian army. They always are able to show themselves helping children, is there no one else to rescue and you can bing search all their fake videos they make online.
I have never ever seen as much bull before from western media, Is it because Syria has newly founded oil wells or is it because they help Lebanon or is it because with Russia’s help, it is making Russia seem more powerful on the international stage or is it because the Saudis have the U.S. and U.K. by the balls???
Assad can never go back now so it should be up to the people there after those evil gits are defeated for good.
Also fake news is coming from the area because no real journalist is there because they probably be beheaded, so the information, pictures etc are coming to the main media from groups like Isis.
This is the age of fake news?
Again western anti Russian propaganda these groups rebels are terrorists trying to oust a legiate government Assad
have your say