Showing posts with label Syria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syria. Show all posts

Friday, October 17, 2025

Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 7. The snatching victory edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

I don't speak Russian, and I have no idea what's being said, but I'm sure that the Russian soldiers being shown in the photos are dead.  Russian casualties are massive.

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Voltaire

Here's something to consider about the war between Russia and Ukraine as the juvenile demented Putin fanboy King Donny, who declared himself a war hero yesterday, attempts to bring the war to an end.

Ukraine may very well be winning this war.

Russian casualties are massive.  According to one report, the Russians sustained 20,000 combat deaths last month, and have sustained 1,000,000 casualties so far in the war.  Russia is only still able to be in the war at this point as it's not a democracy.  A democratic regime could not sustain this rate of attrition.  The U.S. Army became combat ineffective in Vietnam after 50,000 deaths. . . for the entire war.

Which is not to say that the Russian Army has been terribly effective.  It hasn't.  Putin isn't holding back in the war, he can't ramp it up any more than this.  He's even brought in foreign mercenaries in the form of North Korean troops, who also proved to be ineffective.



The Czar was a decent man.  Vladimir Putin is not.  He was a member of the KGB.  He is also a student of Russian history and seeks to revive what the USSR lost, which itself sought to restore what had fallen apart in the Russian Revolution, a Russian Empire.  

He needs Ukraine for that.

The collapse of the Imperial Russian Army was somewhat sudden.  As late as 1917 it was able to launch a massive summer offensive that gained ground. Then it stopped. Then it collapsed.

At this rate, the end is coming for Putin.  The Russian Army continues to gain a little ground, but just a little.  If it stops, and is pushed back a bit, the end of Putin's rule may come pretty quickly.

Putin likely knows that, which is why he flew to Alaska, knowing that he could depend on his loyal little lap dog to piss all over the floor in joy when he saw him, and do his bidding.

What should occur now is this.

The secondary tariff bill directed on countries that receive Russian oil should pass Congress.

US arms supplies, and European ones (which have actually amounted to more than American ones) should resume.

Contacts should be made within the Russian military and government who can facilitate the change in regime, many of whom are likely afraid right now of being pushed out of five story window.

Personally, I'd go further than this, although I know its unlikely to happen right now.  I feel NATO forces should be deployed to those Ukrainian provinces which have not seen Russian incursions on a "do not enter" basis.  I'd also encourage the raising of Western units that would be equipped in a Western fashion, made up of men who are veterans of Western armies, along the lines of the American Volunteer Group and Spanish Blue Division (and yes, I know that this is an unfortunate example) of World War Two.  I'm pretty sure that substantial numbers of good Western troops could join the fight in that manner, but I also know that this won't occur.

At any rate, Trump ought to just go back to the golf course and leave the serious world alone.  The serious world ought to back Ukraine, which may very well be winning the war.

August 21, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War


Major Russian refinery  hit last night.

August 22, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

The UN had declared that a famine is occuring in Gaza.

Russo Ukrainian War

The Russians hit a US owned factory in Ukraine last night.

The Ukrainians hit a fuel train in Crimea.

US v. ISIL

U.S. forces killed an  ISIS ‘key financier’ in Syrian  raid on Aug. 19.

August 25, 2025

Middle East

Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital yesterday.

August 29, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine took out 4.7% of Russia's refining capacity last night.

August 30, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

Israel declared an area within Gaza a "combat zone".

September 3, 2025

United States v. Drug Cartels

The US sank a drug transporting ship belonging to the Tren de Aragua through an illegal use of the U.S. military.

September 8, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Over the weekend the Russians launched largest drone attack of the war.

Guess Putin doesn't really care much about Donald "Col. Kilgore" Trump's two week deadlines.

Middle East War

A Houthi drone hit an Israeli airport.

Hmmm. . . . doesn't seem like that war ended either.

September 10, 2025

Middle East War

Israel hit Hamas' political headquarters in Qatar in an airstrike.

Qatar hosts a significant US military mission.

Russo Ukrainian War

Poland shot down Russian drones that entered Polish airspace en route to Ukraine.

September 14, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump called on all NATO countries to boycott Russian oil and to impose tariffs on Russia and China.

Trump's thought on this, as with so much else, are based on his business experience.  A country willing to sustain the loss rates that Russia is, isn't going to be cowed by the loss of oil sales.

Domestic Use of the Armed Forces

And then there's this ongoing stupidity:


September 16, 2025

Israel in Gaza

Israel had launched a new ground offensive apparently to take Gaza City.

Domestic Use of the Armed Forces

Trump has signed an order to deploy National Guardsmen to Memphis.

United States v. Drug Cartels

The US sank a second Venezuelan civilian boat yesterday.

September 23, 2025

Middle East War

A wave of countries has recognized a Palestinian state as the US influence over the globe has decreased under the Trump administration and as support for Israel has diminished due to the ongoing situation in Gaza.

Palestinian statehood was already recognized by the majority of the globe's nations, but now over half of Europe's nations do and only the US and Panama do not in the Americas.

September 24, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Hmmm. . . while I'm grateful that Trump is suddenly supporting Ukraine, sort of, why the change in view?

Chances are high that Trump thinks his yapping achieves something.  Now, he probably suspects, Vlad Putin will be shaking in his boots.

He won't be.

September 26, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

Donald Trump claims that he won't allow Israel to annex more of the West Bank.  

Said Mahmoud Abbas, whose party governs the West Bank, expressly rejected the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and stated that Hamas needs to turn its weapons over to the Palestinian Authority, which is very rapidly achieving recognition as the Palestinian sovereign.

United States goings ons

Secretary of Defense Hegseth ordered all flag rank officer to report to him next week, an extraordinary move.  No reason has been given for it.

October 2, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

Israel ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City  and that anyone who stayed would be considered a militant supporter and face the “full force” of Israel’s latest offensive.

This is a war crime.

October 3, 2025

United States v. drug cartels

Trump designated drug cartels as unlawful combatants in what is in fact an unlawful use of U.S. military power.

October 6, 2025

United States goings ons

Donald Trump has deployed units of the California National Guard into Oregon illegally.

update:

The judge which earlier ruled that the Oregon National  Guard could not be deployed for this purpose has extended the order to California and Texas National Guardsmen as well.

October 12, 2025

Israel v. Hamas

A Trump Administration brokered ceasefire which is designed to stop the fighting, secure the release of hostages, and lead to an eventual new Gazan (Palestinian Authority) government seems to be holdings.  Gazans are returning to their wrecked homes.

United States goings ons

While the rulings are interlocutory in nature, the Federal Court and Federal Appeals Court with jurisdiction in Illinois have blocked the illegal deployment of National Guardsmen in the state.

October 14, 2025

Gaza

Hamas is back in the streets in Gaza and killed at least 33 people for what it terms crime.

October 17, 2025

Russo Ukrainian War

Senile real estate developer Donald Trump will be meeting with Vlad Putin in Hungary.

The illegitimate Second Trump Administration pulled tomahawk missiles it had previously promised to Ukraine back.

Ukrainian President Zelensky will meet with senile real estate developer today.

Gaza

The senile real estate developer threated Hamas with death if violence continues inside of Gaza.

United States v. Drug Cartels

No reason was given, but it's likely that his conscience wouldn't allow for what is going on in that command.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Sunday, October 4, 1925. Fawzi al-Qawuqji attacks Hama.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji lead an assault on French security installations in the city of Hama, Syria.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji had started his military career as an Ottoman officer, and then under King Faisal.  He thereafter served in the Syrian Legion for the French, before deserting in the Great Syrian Revolt.  He served the Saudis after that, and then the Palestinian Cause against the British in the 1930s.  He was wounded in the Palestinian uprising and ultimately took refuge in Germany, where he joined the German Army, ending up a prisoner of war of the Soviets.  Released in 1947, he made his way back to the Middle East and was appointed the Arab League field commander of the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) in the 1948 Palestine War.   His forces ultimately lost control of territory that was to have been Palestinian.  He retired to Syria thereafter and died in 1977.

Al-Qawuqui is one of those rare military refigures who had a track record of serving in uniformly losing causes and who not only survived them, but inexplicably continued to receive further commands.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji in May, 1948.

The Soviet Union gave up on restricting the alcohol content of beverages.

Ty Cobb, who was normally a centerfielder, pitched against the St. Louis Browns for one inning.  The Browns had George Sisler first baseman pitch for two innings against the Tigers.  Non pitchers in the pitching role would not happen again for another 92 years.

The Finnish torpedo boat S2 sank in a storm with the loss of all 53 hands.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 3, 1925. The launch of the USS Lexington.

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Thursday, September 17, 1925. Establishment of the Polish Orthodox Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Church granted autocephaly to the Polish Orthodox Church.  The church has approximately 500,000 members today, of which 156,000 live in Poland.

Metropolitan Dionysius, head of the Polish Orthodox Church in 1925.  He'd be removed due to Communist pressure in 1948.

The Escadrille Cherifienne, a French Foreign Legion unit composed of Americans, bombarded the city of Chefchaouen, considered a holy shrine of the Jebala people.

Syrian rebels attack Al-Musayfirah.  The attack was at first successful but deployment of the French Air Force caused the rebels to withdraw.

Last edition:

Wednesday, September 16, 1925. B. B. King born.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Wednesday, July 22, 1925. Battle of al-Kafr.

John Henry "Harry" Selby, legendary African big game hunter, was born in South Africa.  After a lifetime as a ph, he died in Botswana, at age 92 in 2018.

In Memoriam: Harry Selby, Hunter And Rifleman, Dies At 92

Selby was part of the post World War Two generation of professional hunters in Africa, who are more associated with guiding than market hunting.  He obtained his professional license in 1945.

The Battle of al-Kafr saw the Druze shoot down a French military aircraft and ambush a column of French soldiers, killing 111 out of 174 members.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 21, 1925. Scopes verdict and the Great Syrian Revolt.

Monday, July 21, 2025

Tuesday, July 21, 1925. Scopes verdict and the Great Syrian Revolt.

The infamous Scopes trial concluded with John Scopes being found guilty of violating the Butler Act, and being ordered to pay $100.00.

The Great Syrian Revolt started in reaction to the French High Commissioner of the Levant, Gen. Maurice Sarrail, ordering the arrest of nine Syrian delegates and their deportation to Palmyra.

The Soviet Union adopted the metric system, that being the only good thing the Communists ever achieved in the country.

Last edition:

Monday, July 20, 1925. Salkhad.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Monday, July 20, 1925. Salkhad.

Druze rebels captured the French Army garrison at Salkhad.

Sheikh Sultan el-Atrash, leader of Druze revolt in October, 1925.

The Druze have been in the news recently given a conflict between the Druze, who tend to be allied to Israel, and Bedouins.  

Nobody ever wanted the French in Syria, excepting of course, the French.

Italy and Yugoslavia signed the Treaty of Nettuno.  The treaty allowed Italians to emigrate to Dalmatia, and was opposed by the Croatian Peasant Party, causing Yugoslavia to take three years to ratify it.

Boise City, Oklahoma, was incorporated.


Last edition:

Saturday, July 18, 1925. Nazi tome and Scopes trial.

Friday, June 6, 2025

Saturday, June 6, 1925. The Great Syrian Revolt.

Walter P. Chrysler incorporated the company that bears his name.

The Great Syrian Revolt against the French started when representatives of the Jabal Druze State were treated poorly by the French administrator.  Syrian rejection of French rule, however, had been smouldering since the end of World War One.

Indeed, this ties right into the events we've been otherwise cataloging regarding France at the end of World War One.  Syria and Lebanon had been granted near independence during the war, which France tried to renege on as soon as the Germans were defeated. Only British intervention, which nearly resulted in fighting between the French and British, stopped that from occurring and assured rapid Syrian and Lebanese independence.  French insistence on occupying the same territory at the end of the Great War nearly resulted in fighting between the same two European powers then and France had never been welcome by most of the regions inhabitants.

French attachment to the region is hard to really explain, but it is in part cultural and goes all the way back to the Kingdom of Jerusalem,1099–1187, 1192-1291, the long running "Crusader Kingdom" in the same region. Lasting almost two hundred years, the kingdom, which was mostly governed by French Crusaders, formed a strong cultural attachment to the region with the French.

The Saturday magazines hit the stands.





Last edition:

Wednesday,. June 3, 1925. Blimps and Stormy Weather.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Thursday, May 31, 1945. Intervening in Syria.

Churchill informed de Gaulle that British forces had been instructed to intervene in the Levant in order to end the fighting and the threat it posed to Allied supply lines to the Pacific.  The British soon arranged a ceasefire but British intervention would bring the UK and France to the point of war.


The Norwegian government started to return to Oslo.

Odilo Globocnik, age 41, Austrian Nazi  committed suicide after being captured by the British.

On Okinawa, the Japanese pulled out of Shuri.

Japanese resistance ended on Negros in the Philippines.

Last edition.

Wednesday, May 30, 1945. Czech reprisals.

Friday, May 30, 2025

Wednesday, May 30, 1945. Czech reprisals.

The forced expulsion of ethnic Germans from Brno began.

The French Army took control of the parliament building in Damascus while French aircraft bombed other parts of the city.

On Okinawa US forces reached Shuri and the southeast edge of Naha.

Last edition:

Tuesday, May 29, 1945. Hitting Yokohama.

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Tuesday, May 29, 1945. Hitting Yokohama.

"Men of Co. B, 184th Inf. Regt., inspect a Jap 75-mm gun they captured on Okinawa. 29 May, 1945. Company B, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division."

85% of Yokohama was destroyed in a B-29 raid.

The second Sandakan Death March begins in which the Japanese guards commence a force march of Allied POWs in Borneo.

The French Army shelled Damascus and Hama.

Last edition:

Monday, May 28, 1945. Memorial Day.