Russian Strategic Bombers Deal New Strikes on IS

[Purveyor]

Source: New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSNOV. 19, 2015, 11:52 A.M. E.S.T.

MOSCOW — Russian strategic bombers struck targets in Syria Thursday in a third straight day of a heavy bombing blitz, military officials said.

Russia, which has conducted air campaign in Syria since Sept. 30, sharply raised its intensity this week on President Vladimir Putin's orders.

Putin told the military to step up the bombing after the confirmation that the Russian plane crash in Egypt that killed all 224 people on board was downed by a bomb, which the Islamic State group said it had planted.

Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov of the Russian military General Staff said that long-range Tu-95, Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 bombers operating from Russian bases on Thursday took part in raids against IS targets in Syria. They joined Russian war planes based at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's province of Latakia.

Read more: Link to source

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Vlad is certainly NOT fucking around...

[Thinkingabout]

1. Did not think he would be happy.

[Gregorian]

2. Total death machines

I have to say it is awe inspiring.

Top speed: 1,429 mph
Range: 3,169 miles
Wingspan: 113'
Weight: 119,000 lbs
Designer: Andrei Tupolev
Manufacturer: Tupolev
Engine type: Turbofan

Think of what we could build if we all worked together. Oh well, bombs away.

[7962]

11. We kinda did "work together"; they stole a lot of our design

Look at the pictures of the jets

[backscatter712]

21. I'll give it to the Russians: The Tu-160 is badass.

Sure, it's the Russian clone of the B-1B, but it's faster, has longer range, and is the largest warplane in the world.

Perfect for ruining Daesh's day. I have no complaints.

[Jesus Malverde]

34. Probably a lot cheaper for the Russian taxpayer as well....nt

[maxsolomon]

3. I've been thinking the bombers were coming

either Daesh doesn't understand the scale of war that Russia can unleash, or they didn't think they would. probably the latter based on the (relative) restraint that the US has shown in its air campaign. Putin has no such concern for the innocent under the bombs. Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius

targeted versus indiscriminate. this isn't Chechnya or Afghanistan - it's flat, open terrain.

[daleo]

16. Plus, Russia wouldn't mind knocking IS oil resources out of the market, since they are competitors

The west seems ambivalent about that.

[maxsolomon]

23. You really think that's entering in to the equation?

Last edited Fri Nov 20, 2015, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Daesh's "competition" is a thimble to a tsunami. Your theory sounds

I think the ambivalence stems from not wanting to kill the civilians driving the trucks.

[daleo]

24. Yes, oil is never a consideration in middle eastern wars

[maxsolomon]

27. wow, you got me there

Russia is obviously worried that the oil Daesh trucks into Turkey tanker by tanker will hurt the price of crude on the global market.

Makes perfect sense as the motivation. Not revenge for the Jet bombing. Not its longstanding support of Assad.

did you even read what I said? I said the WEST was ambivalent about killing the truck drivers. not Russia.

[daleo]

30. Let me be clear, then

The west didn't want to bomb ISIS's oil facilities, since they hoped to hand it back to our favoured rebels in due course. Plus, some parties that are nominally western allies, were probably making very good money as middlemen in the ISIS oil smuggling game. Those were likely well connected people, though those connections were of the shady variety.

Russia, on the other hand didn't have those considerations to deal with, so they bombed ISIS oil convoys as they discovered them, especially after the downing of their civilian aircraft. The fact that Russia is an oil exporter only adds to their willingness to take out ISIS's oil revenues. It may be a small factor, but it always helps one's strategy when several interests converge. The causes of big events are always multi-factorial.

[bemildred]

39. +1. nt

[FLPanhandle]

4. "Bombing Blitz"

The Russians don't worry about civilian casualties.

They just bomb everything.

[COLGATE4]

5. Works for me. nt

[840high]

7. Me 2

[cheapdate]

8. Doesn't work for me.

Proportional force and respect for the rights of non-combatants are established principles of modern warfare, even if Vladimir Putin and others don't agree.

Russia is using heavy bombers designed for theater operations to reduce entire cities to rubble and standing armies to dust. Many more non-combatants than Daesh fighters will be killed or murdered by indiscriminate Russian bombing.

It's easier for Russia to simply obliterate whole areas from the air than it is to send in soldiers. Easier, but wrong and counter to several well established rules and conventions of war.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

10. Well, at least they aren't making a glass parking lot.

I think we should be grateful for small favors.

[7962]

12. Sadly, thats the only way to totally defeat them. total destruction.

Remember the 1st Gulf War, the total bombing of Iraqi forces in and around Kuwait led to complete capitulation in a matter of days.
Of course the difference here is that THESE guys are crazy. The Iraqi forces were forced to be there.

[cheapdate]

14. The U.S. used extensive bombing in the 1st Gulf War to drive a conventional, uniformed army

out of Kuwait. By that measure it was successful. It did not result in a peace or a cessation of hostilities between the U.S. and Sadaam Hussein. The U.S. continued to bomb Iraqi military assets for several years until they finally invaded the country in 2003 -- which of course led to nearly another decade of combat and now the rise of Daesh.

But all of that aside, the two conflicts are not the same. Daesh is not a conventional army, they are an incredibly cruel guerrilla force. They cannot be separated from the larger civilian population. Indiscriminate killing and "total destruction" of cities, towns, and villages throughout Syria is an utterly immoral proposition.

[Jesus Malverde]

36. I think it's a mix of crazies and mercinaries....nt

[COLGATE4]

13. Seeing as ISIS' actions are also wrong and counter

to several well established rules and conventions of war, I think it's a draw.

[cheapdate]

15. That's a dark road,

where the crimes of the enemy are believed to justify crimes of your own. That's a dangerous road to go down.

[COLGATE4]

17. Spare me the drama.

The world is a very dangerous place. We are forced to go down a whole lot of dark roads. The trick is being able to come out of it alive.

[cheapdate]

18. That's not "drama", that's real shit.

You don't believe things can go to a very dark place when you start down that road? History is full of examples.

"Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" is not wisdom.

[COLGATE4]

19. Neither is adolescent philosophizing.

[cheapdate]

20. Touched a nerve, did we?

Called you on your fascist bullshit, did we?

(Note to potential alerts - please consider the preceding escalating insults leading us to this sorry state.)

[COLGATE4]

22. No, just bored with High School discussions of morality in war.

[LanternWaste]

26. Conviction are indeed, rather important to us all... until they become inconvenient to our biases.

Conviction are indeed, rather important to us all... until they become inconvenient to our biases.

[rockfordfile]

32. No I don't think so

You sound like a right winger or some person that has watched to much TV.

" The trick is being able to come out of it alive." LoL I could see that right wing nut Arnold saying that in one of his pos films.

[COLGATE4]

33. Your unsolicited opinion will be given

all the attention that it deserves. Welcome to my Ignore list.

[EX500rider]

6. Blackjacks, Backfires & Bears...oh my!

Blackjack: (they only have 16 of these)
?itok=Xjr6XjvH

Backfires: (over 100 still in service)


Bears: (sort of a upgraded B-29-about 55 combat ready)

[Jesus Malverde]

35. Interesting the scary names NATO chooses for planes.

The Tupolev Tu-160 Beliy Lebed (or White Swan, Russian: Туполев Ту-160, NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing heavy strategic bomber designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Although several civil and military transport aircraft are larger in overall dimensions, the Tu-160 is the world's largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep aircraft built.

One persons tupolev is a blackjack to others it's a white swan. Might be more correct to call it a Tupolev Tu-160.

[Xipe Totec]

9. Bouncing the rubble nt

[LanternWaste]

25. I hope Putin got the correct country this time...

I hope Putin got the correct country this time...

[jakeXT]

28. What's next? "ISIS 'left on brink of defeat' by Russian bomb attacks with only 34 bases left"

Mohammad Ali al-Hakim of Iraq's al-Nakhil news agency said the recent air strikes have put the vile organisation in a very vulnerable position


ISIS could be close to collapse, according to reports which claim the death cult has only 34 bases left as targets continue to be blasted by Russian bombers.

Mohammad Ali al-Hakim of Iraq's al-Nakhil news agency said the recent air strikes have put the vile organisation in a very vulnerable position.

He said: "At present, ISIS only has 34 bases in Mosul, Raqqa, etc. which were many more in number."

He added: "The end of the ISIS which has been borne by the westerners is close."

French, Russian and American planes have blasted hundreds of ISIS targets in recent days in revenge for the attacks on Paris earlier this month which left 130 dead, and the Russian tourist jet downed on October 31, killing all 224 people on board.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/isis-left-brink-defeat-russian-6888434

[Purveyor]

29. Might help explain trigger happy Turkey. Their anti-Assad minions are failing. eom

[Jesus Malverde]

37. If you watch liveleak.

The jihadist are definitely on the run. They are losing on all fronts. Even the Iraqis are making gains. It's clear the US was not attacking them with anything but concern that Assad would fall. It's very cynical and has obviously been a failed strategy. The response from NATO to turkeys attack on the Russian jets is telling and ultimately could signal a split in NATO.

[jakeXT]

38. I'm surprised Dempsey admitted funding of ISIS by Arab allies

I wonder what the sat pictures given by Putin to Obama directly during their coffee table meeting did.
At least there is something going in Centcom regarding fudging the numbers.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

31. Oh: IS, not US. Whew, what a relief. NT