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THE STAGE HAS been set for the contest to select the next UK Prime Minister, as both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss prepare to start campaigning among the Tory membership.
Following a fractious campaign in recent days, which saw significant infighting between the candidates for the Tory leadership, the final two contenders emerged this afternoon after Penny Mordaunt was eliminated in the final round of MP voting.
A long summer of campaigning lies ahead, with the final victor not set to be crowned until 5 September.
As the race to replace Boris Johnson is set to intensify, who exactly are the two remaining candidates?
Sunak, who topped the poll among MPs with 137 backers, is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer who quit just over two weeks ago, triggering the slow collapse of Boris Johnson.
He had only made the rise to the position two years earlier after the resignation of Sajid Javid. Coincidentally, Javid was reinstated as Health Secretary in 2021 and subsequently resigned again, announcing his resignation just nine minutes before Sunak did on 5 July.
The 42-year-old, who was born in Southampton in 1980 is the child of two Indian parents who worked in a pharmacy and as a local doctor respectively.
He started out as a businessman, working in Goldman Sachs and as a hedge fund manager before moving into politics in his 30s, first being elected in 2014 and shortly after supported the Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
He made inroads with Boris Johnson after supporting him to become the next Tory leader after the resignation of Theresa May.
After this, he began to move upwards into Cabinet after Johnson was elected.
As Chancellor (Finance Minister), Sunak played a high profile role in the UK’s response to the pandemic and was responsible for the furlough scheme and “Eat Out to Help Out” plan.
At one stage he was the most popular politician in the UK, mainly due to his massive spending on Covid-19 measures.
However, this sheen was somewhat worn off earlier this year after he and Johnson were both fined during the Partygate scandal, leaving him somewhat damaged compared to other potential leadership contenders.
His political capital was also damaged by questions over his family’s finances, after it was revealed that his wife held “non-domiciled status”, which reduced her tax payments.
The status means that Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty – who is the daughter of a billionaire – is considered to have her permanent home outside the UK.
Sunak has also received attention for how he portrays himself online and in the media, with some of his supporters dubbing him “Dishy Rishi” for his self-promoting tweets during his time in Number 11.
One of the key features of the upcoming race is likely to be Brexit, particularly around the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol Bill currently making its way through Westminster.
While Sunak had voiced his concerns around the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill around the Cabinet table, he has remained quiet on the issue during the campaign.
However, a source within the Sunak camp told the Financial Times last week that he would support it as Prime Minister.
“Rishi would let the bill go through, but there would be a different tone,” said the ally, while Sunak’s spokesperson refused to comment.
Sunak’s domestic agenda struck a different chord compared to the other leadership contenders as he refused to back calls for widespread tax cuts amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Truss, who came second in the MP ballot with 113 votes, is the current UK Foreign Secretary and beat Penny Mordaunt to the run-off by just eight votes
She opted not to resign during Johnson’s leadership crisis and remains in place in his caretaker Government.
The 46-year-old was born in Oxford in 1975 to a family she refers to as “left wing” and she participated in anti Margaret Thatcher marches when she was four years old.
However, her early flirtation with left-wing politics did not last and she admitted to an early fascination with Thatcher, even going as far to play her in as a seven-year-old in a mock election at her primary school.
She recalled that she received no votes.
Truss originally joined the Liberal Democrats as a student and had some anti-monarchist views for a time.
However, this changed when she joined the Conservatives in 1996 and began to stand for elections, unsuccessfully at first while working for Shell and Cable & Wireless.
She first was elected to the House of Commons in 2010 and rose to a junior ministerial position under David Cameron in 2012, before becoming the Environment Secretary in 2014.
In the Brexit referendum, Truss campaigned for Remain but switched her tune and has since become a fervent Brexiteer, garnering support from the right of the Tory party, including the influential European Research Group (ERG).
She was promoted to the role of Foreign Secretary in 2021 during a Cabinet reshuffle, following the botched handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal by her predecessor Dominic Raab.
She also took over as lead negotiator with the EU after the exit of David Frost, taking a very hardline approach, including introducing the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill which would override significant amounts of the Protocol.
Plans by Truss and the UK Government to override the Protocol were widely condemned by the Irish Government and the EU, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin criticising that they didn’t “fully get” the Good Friday Agreement.
She has also become more prominent in recent months due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, heading to Moscow in the weeks prior to the invasion for talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
While on the trip she was spotted wearing a Russian-style hat, which bore a resemblance to the outfit donned by Thatcher 30 years before when she visited Moscow.
While these outfit matches might be mere coincidences, Truss has no doubt tried to emulate Thatcher in other ways, particularly in her plans to slash taxes if chosen to be the next Prime Minister.
Only time will tell if we see the Chancellor who brought down Johnson or Thatcher’s heir apparent selected as the UK’s next Prime Minister.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
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Time to clean up the mess created by the west. As for this crowd. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights run out of a bedroom in Coventry by one man is hardly on the ground .
Thats right, this us where western news agencies get their exclusive intel from – sourceless crap.
The West was not the root cause of the crisis in Syria. There was an uprising and Assad chose to respond with brutality and repression. Now you can argue that the West and its allies have exploited the civil war for their own interests, a view I happen to agree with, but to trivialise Assad’s crimes is hideously disrespectful to the victims of his tyranny.
Russia, contrary to what some claim are not prioritising the welfare of the Syrians, but their own national interests. Their military base in Tartus is their only one outside the old Soviet zone and if Assad was defeated it would strategically weaken them. Russia have allegedly hit a medical facility in Syria injuring staff, the hospital has been previously targeted by Assad with barrel bombs.
Also he recently admitted to having not been back to Syria in the last 15 Years littleone
Monty would that be the uprising that coincidentally started in 2011 the same year Syria , Iraq, Iran signed a deal for a pipeline . The Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline (called the Friendship Pipeline by the governments involved and the Islamic gas pipeline by some Western sources[2]) is a proposed natural gas pipeline running from the Iranian South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field field towards Europe via Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to supply European customers as well as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.[1]
Newsweek , Seriously? – Could you get a more unbiased report?
US bombed a hospital, so now Newsweek are claiming that Russia bombed 3 ?
Syria will swallow Russia’s conventional army and ask for seconds
How so? Putin is fighting terrorists on behalf of the Syrian government and is working to wipe out all the vermin in Syria with the Syrian army.
Blathnaid, are you supporting the Daesh terrorists?
Syrian Observatory run by a guy who left syria in 2000 and lives in uk and runs this from his house
Putin has miscalculated, banking on a shell of an army that will be ruined when it marches on the FSA and the jihadists, the Russians will then be the ones who need to supply the ground troops as canon fodder for the Syria meat grinder, this has -Afghanistan 1980′s written all over it for Russia
The Syrian army is on the ground and will be backed up with Iranian, Iraqi, Hezbollah and a spattering of Russian elite Spetsnaz troops so I doubt very much they will lose. If the terrorists supported by the west couldn’t take out Assad the last few years only a fool would think they could do so now.
Blaithnaid, err… Nyet.
Yeah I wish news outlets would stop quoting this bloke. He never backs it up with evidence.
Except Blathnaid it’s not the 1980′s…… Modern weaponry significantly reduces the risks for professional militaries and superior fire power does the rest. Once the political will is there these rebels are finished. Sure they might score a hit here and there but in the grand scheme of things their resistance is futile. Putin is going to mop the floor in Syria and he will be smoking cigars with Assad on the sunny Syrian coast admiring his Fleet in no time. The west have lost in Syria and know it, Unless they want to take on putin of course but that’s not gonna happen.
Additionally Russia won’t be bringing in journalists to show how good a job they are doing. They will just send in some hard ass men and get the job done by whatever means. There will be no gender quotas or Trannies in the Russian army, Just BadAsses. That’s why they are going to win.
Why the hell do so many people here support a tyrannous dictator…and see his best pal and supporter Putin as some kind of hero? Were all those protestors seeking democratic change in 2011 terrorist? Reading some of the comments here you’d thing that anyone who opposed Assad’s violent killing of protestors was a terrorist. Many people here (supporters of Assad and Putin) seem to think that the people should have stayed under Assad indefinitely and accepted any controls he decided to met out on the them. Hate America and the west and Nato and whoever else all you want but it’s absolutely f***ing crazy to see Assad and Russia as some kind of harbingers of peace!
Lol Russian & terrorists Hezbollah are allied officially! this is hilarious, I can’t believe Russians can try to claim this as a positive thing
@ littleone….please explain the significance of the pipeline? (Serious question)
Bingo, Assad could not have survived this long without the support of the majority of the Syrian people. Why should Assad allow an illegal militia to operate in his country whilst calling themselves the opposition, name one country in the world who would allow such a scenario on their soil?
Ukraine
Yes Blaaaned, I agree the Right Sector are indeed an illegal militia and should be wiped out for their inhumane criminal, murderous, destructive actions.
lol he he that’s so funny. Russia is taking decisive action so I guess their team is going to win. Right or wrong this war is gonna end while the west scratched their Nads. Was Stalin wrong to fight the nazis.? Russia have strength and they are showing it. Putin is hugely popular in Russia. Now the west sat back and tip toed around taking action as they were too worried about the PC lobby and getting reelected. Putin D ou sent give a Fu€k that’s why he will win. Hats off to him, History is written by the victors.
Donbass People’s Militia, the Luhansk People’s Militia and autonomous armed groups actually
That’s for you flower. he he lol. War it’s so exciting.
A prosperous pipeline in the Middle-East is anathema to US Foreign Policy,especially when it benefits Iran and Syria,for previous form,see the failed CIA coup against Chavez in Venezuela after he booted out US oil companies and attempted to make Venezuelan oil belong to Venezuelan people,the 6th largest source of oil in the world. To go further back,see The School of the Americas in Georgia where US puppet dictators were trained before CIA-led coups in Central & South America in the 70′s and 80′s,Pinochet among their number in Chile. Spheres of influence did not cease after WW2.
Ukraine & Syria are all part of the same gambit for Putin, I believe the same little green men will shortly be operating in idlib & Homs & hama as have been operating in Eastern Ukraine over the last few years
I do remember at the start of the war the puppet Obama declaring that Assad using chemical weapons was a red line issue, Then He did and Obama scratched whatever is between his legs (certainly not balls) and on we lumbered. I don’t care who brings Syria under control ut in the abscence of anyone else I welcome Putin’s intervention.
They will be battle hardened so too, bad news for the terrorists.
Yes, yes, Putin wins again.
But they will be fighting for exactly what they fought against in Ukraine, the government, I believe this is a miscalculation and the contradictory nature of the goal is amusing considering where they will be coming from, I think they will be skinned alive in Syria
The Americans have blood on their hands ceretainly,- everywhere from Chile to Guatamala , much of it in South America previously,-now in the Middle East.
America is a proxy warmonger for Israel.
Jews have controlled American policy for decades.
wrong again, Assad is here to stay now that’s for sure. Putin is gonna run AMOK
Kool Tiger, If someone in my family was shot along with many others while peacefully protesting, I’d fire the first shot against the government, and I wouldn’t stop till they were overthrown. While tyranny breeds resistance it also (and for a long time in the case of Syria) breeds keeping your mouth shut and towing the regimes line. Sometimes people just back who they think will win. The point is really that the country has been a dictatorship for 70 odd years and when the people put their heads up, any hope of reform or real democracy was squashed – quickly and violently. I’m not saying that there aren’t looper groups in Syria – I’m sure there are and indeed Assad may have been better than some of these. But when you only have one party (specifically upheld in the constitution) and they remain in power for thirty years – things are going to get messy at some point. There are though (I believe) moderate groups fighting who some people would call terrorists.
An article which suggests not everyone who supports the regime actually supports the regime.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/syrias-alawites-the-people-behind-assad-1435166941
Bingo, same could be said for the tyrants in the Gulf states but I don’t see anyone criticising them. Assad may be a tyrant but at least he keeps all minorities safe and is secular unlike some others in his neighborhood, look at Libya after removing Ghadaffi and would you prefer Assad in charge in Syria of ISIS or whatever so called moderates the USA may have in mind. If the Syrian people want rid of Assad that’s up to them not Washington and Co.
Be careful what you wish for
The whole thing is as clear as mud, and most probably deliberately so. Absolute chaos in the Middle East. And beyond. Only thing that makes sense to me is that some people stand to make a lot of moolah out of all the warfare, meanwhile they destroy our planet.
Let’s be honest, “Western” intervention in “Muslim” lands isn’t a new thing, and is based largely around the black gold. Kuwait became a “country” after WWII because the Allies decided so.
The real crux is not economic for some though, it is religious. It is the status of Jerusalem.
Money and religion dividing people.
Bill it would have been competition to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The pipeline would be a competitor to the Nabucco pipeline from Azerbaijan to Europe.[1] It is also an alternative to the Qatar-Turkey pipeline which had been proposed by Qatar to run from Qatar to Europe via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
Kool Tiger, Yes the same could be said for any of the tyrants in the Gulf states or elsewhere, and while I would criticise them, ultimately it’s not me criticising in this case – it’s the Syrian people – or at least large numbers of the Syrian people. And it’s not up to me to suggest they should stay under a tyrant because it would be better for them. We have democracy in this country and while that hasn’t worked well for us for two terms!!….just imagine if we couldn’t get rid of them…and imagine how much worse Assad is. Assad may be secular(ish) but ultimately the people haven’t had a democratic vote in 70 years and large numbers of people who hated him before, now hate him for shooting and dropping bombs on their family members. He’s going to have to go at some stage. When the protests started in 2011 Assad should have announced an open and free election but he didn’t because he’s a despot. The best thing that could happen now is a ceasefire between the rebels and Assad, but that’s going to be more difficult with outside groups involved. ISIS can be dealt with easier if there is some stability in Syria…but they’re gaining ground and I think their numbers will keep growing. I think really any assault on ISIS should include assaults on Boko Haram and the Taliban simultaneously.
Bingo, Assad is going nowhere until the majority of Syrians decide his time is up, lets leave it to them unless you think they should have no say in who leads them.
@littleone. This pipeline,if it goes ahead, will be built and operated by Gazprom furthering the stranglehold that Russia has on us Europeans who’ll be made to pay through the nose for the gas.
Kool, Yes…because we all know that dictatorships are big on open, free and opposed elections! I wish all those dead Syrians (hundreds of thousands of them) had the option to decide his time was up in 2011 – but they didn’t! No, they protested and he started killing them.
It’s a waste of time posting media links They all have agendas. Both sides. It’s impossible to know who to believe
Lol! Brilliant!
Well be better re activate the LNG terminal on the shannon so.
Good question @Bingo. Why do so many people comment here in support Russia’s direct intervention? My guess is that it just might just be the most direct way to end Syria’s awful civil war?
Up till now the US and it’s allies confused support for various factions there has only served to prolong that countries agony. A war that as the media always like remind us has cost the lives of 220,000 people so far.
you are deluded and totally ignorant of what’s happening in Syria Monty, in fact you post is so out of step its like a cut and paste from 2012 you need to catch up my friend and realise this a new form of war fought by Proxies, of which the west have many.
While I find a lot to dislike about Putin,this is what you call gettin’ shit done. The Yanks call it reckless,but I think that’s what blowing up hospitals you have the coordinates for is.
Mentioning Hospital.
Did Obama Bomb Doctors Without Borders for Opposing TPP?
“Had the President of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders not warned us of the “imminent threat to global health” posed by the TPP, would these 22 doctors and patients have lost their lives early Saturday?
http://theantimedia.org/doctors-without-borders-bombing-tpp/
First time one Nobel Peace Prize winner has ever bombed another.Maybe it’s time to take Obamas back.Putin can be a real shyte at the best of times but he’s more than right in getting stuck in in Syria.
and by peace he shall destroy many..
Impressive stuff from Putin. Davei Rossiya Davei!
Meanwhile Oxfam reveals 21mln Yemenis in need as Saudi bombs the s**te out of the place using UK and US weapons. But no news in Ireland on that!
The Huthi tribe in Yemen who are Shia and are backed by Iran have recently ousted the ruling fella who was pals with the Sunnis. The Saudis have been razing Yemen and slaughtering all around them using “Western weapons”, and we hear nothing. There is a major war about to kick off between Sunni backed by America and the West (Don’t forget Saddam was Sunni, but he’s small potatoes now) and the Shia backed by Iran and their friends Russia and quite possibly China. They all have a vested interest in seeing the U.S. getting a bloody nose. All the while the innocents get butchered, the tens of thousands flee their lands. The world is a mess.
Russia’s actions in engaging by invitation and request of the Syrians is legal at least – the direct opposite of US actions which are without any legal sanction or UN resolution.
I had to laugh at that NATO warmonger Erdogan screaming about violation of his airspace by Russia when he constantly illegally violates Syria’s airspace and regular basis, he also does the same to Greece who is a NATO partner.
The missiles are being fired from the Caspian sea, and are not invading Turkish airspace from what is being reported.
Sgt, I know but Erdogan was all over the news yesterday bleating about Russian incursion into Turkish airspace when he and the US&co have been violating Syrian airspace and illegally bombing it’s territory for years now.
Putin blasting ISIS and the other terrorists from the Caspian sea is class act.
Came through Iran, Iraq and into Syria – They were waved through both air spaces legally
They obviously don’t have my Garmin GPS installed! If they did then they could have invaded Turkish airspace along with that of half of Western Europe before pulling over and asking for directions and then taking the Iraq/Iran route! 1500km though? Kind of thing that would impress us if the U.S. had done it!
Erdogan better watch out. Half of oil/gas mecca sakhalin has turkish workers on visas. That bastion of democracy turkey?
It’s obvious that many people here would back the devil if the US, UK OR Israel was involved Russia will probably flatten whole tows and villages (Grosney style) and no of our lefties will utter word, there will certainly not be any protests or anti war marches that’s for sure!
Erdogan and Turkey throwing there weight about the playground, its all backfired now, he thought he had Assad on the ropes put could not finish him, now Assad is back on his feet with a big boy looking out for him, Erdogan has gone running to NATO again. His days are numbered in Turkey, he will be gone before Assad
Well done Vlad, keep up the good work.
Oh and, Happy Birthday Mr President.
GAME OVER
The west just lost the middle east, hopefully this is the beginning of the of the senseless bloodshed
Russia from the air, Iran from the ground. Assad has his mates. What about the Kurds, who’ll look out for them? Not the Russians and not the Iranians.
And not the Americans or there mates the Turks either, nobody ever looked out for the Kurds. The hypocrisy is stinking.
*their mates, like the Saudis, who practice Sharia law, which America, Land Of The Free, is so vehemently opposed to, as it’s “anti-american”. People need to be distracted. Back in the day, the Romans had the Colosseum and nowadays when have soccer and x factor.
Just get her done at this stage, whoever wins the civil war, there’s going to be constant infighting anyway
This is the best news I’ve heard in quite a while. Finally, something is being done. Without disrespecting the victims of Assad, he is without a doubt the lesser of the two evils in this horrible conflict. One only has to look at Iraq and Libya as proof of this.
The Americans and their western allies purposely chose the wrong side in this and it came back to haunt them and Europe as a whole.
Of course the Russians don’t have the best interests of the Syrian people at heart but the World Police of the United States government has NEVER had the best interests at heart of anyone except themselves.
If this Russian involvement helps wipe out the monster that is IS and Al Qaeda etc, then this is a good thing. The Ottoman Empire wiped out the Wahabbists in Iraq before, so it’s time again.
By the way, some of the language used in this article is detestable…E.g. Al Qaeda rebels?? Not so long ago they were Islamist insurgents of the most terrible kind.
Gamechanger and not before time, move aside US/NATO and watch how its done. This is a bad news day for your savage head chopping foot soldiers on the ground in Syria.
It has to get worse before it gets better
Whatever about who caused what, the Russians will eradicate daesh, without care for u.s, nato or anyones opinions. Despite whatever his motives are, this is the action the majority want, no question. I , or anyone, shouldn’t need to have these barbarians in the back of my mind when I travel anywhere. Shouldn’t take them long, and Russia will garner grudging respect.
The Bear takes no crap
It is the honerable Valdimir Putin’s Birthday today.
spread this link on your facebook page.
Are we down with the BNP now boss?
I would love to see the looks on the faces of the Gulf tyrants when they became aware cruise missiles were blasting their beloved Daesh terrorists. I bet they and the pentagon are crying tears of rage right now trying to figure out how this could happen. Hehehhhee
Thank you Mr.Putin for doing the work of spineless European and American powers. When the public see how fast IS crumble they will realise that the west has been holding back.
putin is doing wat should have been done long time ago balls of steel steped up to the job wipe them filth of the planet
David Camerwrong will be crying down the phone to his boss in Washington
Yes, I’d say his nose is all out of joint.
And his face is fatter and redder than ever.
mammysdinners _ Tel Aviv first then Washington.
Jason?
I’m sure Jason and Mick and all the other NATO goons will be along shortly to tell us how evil Putin is for blowing to bits the good terrorists.
Bombing medical facilities is hardly going to weaken terrorists.
Putin is not playing games anymore and he is now firmly on the stage and is going nowhere.
Have to agree with Donald Trump US should withdraw all support for the various factions in Syria and leave it to
Russia to destroy ISIL.
One of the reasons Russian bombing is more effective it that they take out living quarters of ISIL and kill them all
US airstrikes just blow up their Toyota pickups to avoid civilian deaths.
go putin :)
I’m just here to give a thumbs down to Jason’s comments
I doubt Jason will be gracing us with his rhetoric this evening, he doesn’t like it when his heroes get annihilated by strongman like Putin. We all saw Jason defend the indefensible during Porkoshenko assault on his own people and he has tried to do the same on Syria but now he is very quiet that Putin has shown the west to be the supporter, financiers and weapon supplier to Daesh while they pretend to wage war on them.
The Chechnyan president wants to send in his troops, they could wipe the floor with ISIL without any air support at a ratio of 1:10, it’s finally game over for the Neocons sick little game in Syria……JASON, MICK where are you clowns gone?
It’s not game over until infantry goes in. US media are reporting a Russian battalion forming up, but I can’t see a single battalion doing a whole lot. Interesting though.
@Joe Corleone. In that case it looks bad for the Russians as there is 800+ from Russia,mostly Chechans, fighting with the rebels.
David Quinn/Irish Indo/July 3-2015
You can nearly bet your house on it pronnsius.
At least somebody is taking meaningful action against Islamic State and, in effect, tackling what is creating the migration chaos threatening Europe! Putin is stepping in where Barack Obama and David Cameron have failed to lead.
The cruise missiles being fired from the Caspian Sea are going through one of the busiest air corridors in the world.Hope no Airbus A380 gets taken down.
Not at 100m altitude.
We must not dismiss the possibility of another false flag.
MH17 crashed 66+66 days after MH370 dissappeared off the Radar..
Yes and take the year 1966 – turn the 9 upside down and you get a 6 which added to the others gives you 666 – the number of the Devil. Although some say the Devil is dead, more say he rose again and joined the British army. Now the main part and driving force behind Britain is England who, yes you’ve guessed it, won the football World cup in 1966. Coincidence? I think not.
TheMiller _ 1966 > 1+9+6+6 = 22
The Number “22″ represents the Master Builder.
No Pronnsias it this case it represents 1 instance of 666, which is usually Legion.
Johnny Ronan?
From what I have read in recent days Russia is bombing any opponents of the Assad regime. If anything, more FSA positions have been targeted than ISIS targets going on news reports. Russia says it is going to target ISIS but I cannot believe anything Russia says. We are talking about the same Russia that annexed European territory not too long ago. The same Russia that vetoed UN efforts in 2011 and 2012 to take action in Syria and protect civilian life. The same Russian veto which could have prevented the destruction of the country before it got to the disaster that it is today. The same Russian veto that could of stabilised the country and prevented ISIS getting its foothold in Syria. The same Russian veto which could have prevented 6 million Syrian civilians being displaced which in turn has lead to our current refugee crisis with people washing up on beaches or ending up gone and forgotten in watery graves. The same Russian veto which could have prevented the use of chemicals weapons and barrel bombs being dropped on Syrian civilians and the deaths of well over 300,000 Syrians, civilian and army. The same Russia who said we have no personnel in Eastern Ukraine and we are not providing weapons that are being used to kill Ukrainian soldiers defending their own territory. The same Russia who is a member of the United Nations, who’s main objective is to prevent conflicts, promote peace, avoid WW3 and to uphold the basic human rights of people worldwide. The same Russia that did nothing for the Syrian people, who it claims to be an ally of, for 4 years is now going to kill more Syrian civilians all because it wants to protect it’s gas pipeline interests and its strategic navy base in Syria. My guess is that the FSA will be defeated and Assad will have his dictatorship back, ISIS will live on though, probably retreating to the east of the country whereby they will regroup to fight Syria another day or possibly make a deal with Assad/Putin. This is not good day. This is going to destabilze things further.
Russia is next to being broke. Saudi Arabia has an endless supply of money.
Russian crack troops will be backed up as time wears on by regular units that are 35% Muslim. These Sunni Muslim Russian troops may shoot their Russian officers and defect to the Syrian Sunni rebels just as is done to NATO by Muslim soldiers.
Putin should watch his back and front and flanks as these things never turn out quite as expected.
Russia blames S Arabia and gulf States for oversupply of oil which is ruining Russian economy This millitary action might put pressure to reduce oil supply.
# ..Qatar has the gas that could cut Russia’s Gazprom stranglehold on Europe.Gas and oil is all Russia has-their economy is bloxxed.
Russia could be a big loser if this gambit fails. Conversely Europe could be the winner.
It doesn’t take much, some pushing and shoving in the lunch queue, for male refugees to get into a punch-up. Reports from their makeshift dormitories in Germany talk of a near-riot sparked by an Afghan threatening a Syrian girl. Gangs use wooden staves to enforce discipline in the crowded sports halls and barrack rooms; Christian asylum-seekers feel intimidated by the Muslims who clear out their quarters for space to pray.
Could this be a foretaste of the European future? That hundreds of thousands, some of them brutalised by their flight from war and poverty, end up there in a never-ending Lord of the Flies battle for recognition? Penned in by their limbo status, let down by EU institutions unable to cope with the huge numbers, many of these migrants will be angry rather than grateful.
Barry, civil war is about to break out in Germany with the German people demanding the migrants be sent back to where they came from, watch the below news night report for a feel of how the Germans have had enough. Today it’s being reported that German exports have slumped at the fastest rate since 2009 which will lead to more angst against migrants if Germans suffer from a weak economy.
Watch Germans outrage at Merkel and Co, go to 30:02 on below video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06gq8wf/newsnight-07102015
Some shower of Hypocites on the journal … thats all I have to say to those who espoused the west in Syria. In case you’ve missed it, the Russians have decided to move on from Georgia and the Ukraine. As well as conducting airstrikes in Syria they’ve also decided that a bunch of cruise missiles would indicate exactly how seriously they should be taken. Unsurprisingly there is none of the hand wringing that characterises and follows Western military action!
Yes the same Saudis that made up most of the people who did 911… The U.S. and England are more scared of taking action that offends the Saudis that attacking Isil like Russia has… It is better to attack Assad than to attack Isil but Isil is a threat to the world and Assad is not. People are leaving Syria because of Isil and not because of Assad??? Assad can be dealt with later, Isil can’t…
https://www.rt.com/news/317831-saudi-clerics-jihad-syria-russia/
*destabilize
have your say