Showing posts with label MORE WAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MORE WAR. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Friday, January 12, 2024
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR IN 2024
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR IN 2024 01.11.2024
Today's Show: FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR IN 2024
Chris discusses what may be the five most important issues in this new year 2024. What direction will the world take on issues such as immigration, the rise of Islam in the West, new warnings of Covid-19, the presidential election, and the possibility of World War III? We hear compelling arguments from a variety of sources, along with warnings about the days ahead. Finally, we consider the analysis of a South African minister and his observations about the United States, and how the whole world is watching our nation.
Saturday, October 07, 2023
Thursday, June 01, 2023
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Saturday, February 18, 2023
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Thursday, December 13, 2018
NATO to send Kiev signals equipment after latest Ukraine-Russia spat
December 13, 2018
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko poses with NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of a meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium December 13, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO will supply Ukraine's military with secure communication equipment this month, its head Jens Stoltenberg told President Petro Poroshenko at a meeting on Thursday called to discuss an escalation of Kiev's conflict with Moscow.
Stoltenberg praised Ukraine's "calm and restraint" after Russia seized of three its naval vessels and their crew off Crimea last month.
Part of a 40 million euros ($46 million) pledge by the Western military alliance to strengthen Ukraine's armed forces, Stoltenberg said the secure communications equipment would be delivered by the end of the year.
The NATO chief reiterated support for the former Soviet nations' aspirations to join the alliance - a plan which Moscow vehemently opposes.
Russia is resisting international calls to release the ships and men seized in the Kerch Strait, which controls access to the Sea of Azov near the Crimea region that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
"Ukraine invites allies to come up with comprehensive, tough measures to respond to Russia's actions," Poroshenko told reporters at a joint briefing.
EU leaders will discuss Ukraine and Russia over a summit dinner later in the day.
The bloc's leaders are expected to offer Ukraine help for regions affected by Russia's actions in the Azov Sea but stop short of imposing further sanctions on Russia, something sought by more hawkish governments.
(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Monday, April 09, 2018
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Monday, March 05, 2018
Russia Has a 2,000 Strong 'Delta Force' That Is Ready for War
Dave Majumdar
February 28, 2018
Nonetheless, the 2000-man strong KSSO—which perhaps bears more than a passing resemblance to Delta’s parent command JSOC—is still a work in progress and Russia continues to build up its capabilities. The unit is part of a much larger community of special designation forces in Russia, known as Spetsnaz, and special operations outfits that belong to intelligence agencies like the FSB. According Kofman, Spetsnaz units exist among Russia's land forces, naval infantry, and airborne brigades, with a community that is likely 9,000-10,500 men strong.
Incorporating lessons from Western special operations forces (SOF), the Kremlin had established its own equivalent of the U.S. Army’s elite 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta—better known as Delta Force. This new force is called Special Operations Command, known by its Russian acronym as KSSO.
The Russian General Staff first announced the creation of this command in March 2013. Though it is relatively young, the new force have been quick learners and has accumulated a fairly significant amount of combat experience during its short existence. Indeed, while the KSSO is likely not as lavishly funded as Delta or the U.S. Navy’s elite DEVGRU (better known as SEAL Team Six), the Russian unit has performed well.
Like Britain’s elite Special Air Service regiment—which Col. Charlie Beckwith based the Delta Force on when he created the unit—KSSO does not have many of the expensive hardware and support infrastructure that its American counterpart does. “Undoubtedly they do not have the money for specialized helicopters or air lift,” said Mike Kofman at the Center for Naval Analyses during a interview with The National Interest—referring to the American Joint Special Operations Command’s (JSOC) fleet of highly modified MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters that participated in the 2011 raid that eliminated Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. “But somehow SOF has been getting the job done long before many of those gadgets came along.”
KSSO has seen some remarkable successes—the most visible of those was Moscow’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. “The KSSO's first combat deployment was the rather memorable annexation of Crimea, particularly the initial seizure of the Crimean parliament,” Kofman told The Cipher Brief. “This operation spawned the moniker ‘polite people’ by which Russian special forces have come to be referenced in popular culture.”
The elite unit has also fought during Russia’s intervention in Syria. “In September 2015, the KSSO moved on to Syria, where it has taken on an increasingly visible role in support of Russian combat operations,” Kofman told The Cipher Brief. “There, the KSSO has been involved in missions ranging from recovering the flight recorder of Russia's downed Su-24M navigator back in November 2015, to reconnoitering targets for cruise missile strikes, disruption behind enemy lines through ambushes, high value targeted killing, and retaliation strikes against select groups of fighters. Four KSSO operators are known to have been killed, including two specializing in coordinating strikes with the air force, which gives some indication of their tasks. One the whole, it seems KSSO played a crucial role in the battle for Palmyra in Spring 2016 and was quite active in supporting the Syrian push for Aleppo last Fall.”
Nonetheless, the 2000-man strong KSSO—which perhaps bears more than a passing resemblance to Delta’s parent command JSOC—is still a work in progress and Russia continues to build up its capabilities. The unit is part of a much larger community of special designation forces in Russia, known as Spetsnaz, and special operations outfits that belong to intelligence agencies like the FSB. According Kofman, Spetsnaz units exist among Russia's land forces, naval infantry, and airborne brigades, with a community that is likely 9,000-10,500 men strong.
“The KSSO is a relatively new addition to the Russian toolkit. The command's core philosophy is training a cohesive team rather than individual fighters,” Kofman told The Cipher Brief. “There are five skills in which individual detachments specialize, but all train to establish basic competency, these include: parachuting, mountaineering, diving, urban warfare, and protection of senior military officials in combat zones. Another focus for Russia's special forces is sniper training, here they invested heavily in both personnel and kit. This force also has its own aviation command assigned to it, organic combat support functions, and is expected to act independently of the rest of the military. Today, these include rotary wing aviation based in Torzhok and an air lift element on standby in Tver.”
KSSO—along with the rest of Russia’s special operations forces—will only grow more capable as they gain experience and integrate additional capabilities. Undoubtedly, the Russian special operators could be some of the most formidable adversaries that might one-day challenge American forces.
Dave Majumdar is the defense editor for The National Interest. You can follow him on Twitter: @davemajumdar.
Image: Reuters.
This first appeared in 2016.
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