"Staffan de Mistura, the UN's special envoy for the Syrian crisis, appealed for fighters from the rebel group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham - formerly known as the Nusra Front - to be able to leave Aleppo with their weapons.
Eastern Aleppo, held by rebel forces, has been subjected to a constant campaign of air strikes by Syrian and Russian forces in recent weeks. About 275,000 people still live in the eastern part of the city.
He said he was prepared to personally accompany the jihadists out of the city if it would stop the fighting.
Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, backed the plan "for the sake of saving Aleppo."
The jihadist faction, however, has already rejected the proposal as a "surrender".
Russia and Syria say their forces are attacking Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. Western powers dispute this, pointing to the high proportion of civilians being killed.
Mr de Mistura said only about 900 of the estimated 8,000 fighters in eastern Aleppo were members of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham." BBC
-----------
I once asked the boys and girls from the WINEP and ISA/Kagan thinkeries where they got their information. That is an awkward habit I have that can be summed up as "how do you know that?" In the case of these citadels of exalted brooding the information is almost all sourced to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (an activity of MI-6). This of course makes all the numbers suspect. Nobody knows how many civilians and rebel fighters are in Aleppo.
The UN will investigate Russian activities in Syria? So what? The Russians will veto anything they don't agree with. That's real life folks.
The war party in the US is growing steadily in the halls of supposed power. The American people, to the extent that they think about distractions from actual life, do not want war with anyone. Least of all do they want war with Russia, but, it may happen, provoked by the chauvinists in both US political parties.
The Israelis now realize that the Russians have already shot down a couple of their aircraft and that they now do not command the skies over Syria. This is a game changer.
Natanyahu has asked Putin to mediate the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. This is another game changer. The US and especially our useless, arrogant and impotent State Department has clutched the ownership rights over the Palestine Question to its bosom for decades refusing to let the Europeans have any role at all.
The war party; McCain, Lindsay Graham, their staffers et al are doing their best to provoke a war in the insane belief that the Russians will back away from us before that happens and that if they don't back away we can destroy them without being destroyed.
I am old. I lived through the great days of the US. I am ready for the cataclysm that may come soon. pl
I am old. I lived through the great days of the US. I am ready for the cataclysm that may come soon.
I am not (quite) so old. But I try to follow the advice of an retired GB whom I used to attend Mass with: "Go to confession. Keep your magazines loaded." I pray every day.
Posted by: David Lentini | 07 October 2016 at 06:15 PM
The lunatics are inciting for a war with Russia (while, of course, planning to stay in their comfortable offices for the duration of the glorious war):https://consortiumnews.com/2016/10/07/key-neocon-calls-on-us-to-oust-putin/
Carl Gershman, another "F---ing idiot" a la Feith, "has called for the U.S. government to “summon the will” to engineer the overthrow of Russian President Vladimir Putin." Here is the foundation of this idiot's career: "In 1968, he worked in the research department of B'nai B'rith, and in 1972 he served on the Governing Council of the American Jewish Committee. From 1969–1974, Gershman successively served as Director of Research, Co-Chairman, and Executive Director of the Youth Committee for Peace in the Middle East... In 1972 he and Irving Howe edited a collection, "Israel, the Arabs and the Middle East"...
Infestation. Sigh.
Posted by: Anna | 07 October 2016 at 06:32 PM
Its really looking serious, isnt it?
Posted by: adam filipovic | 07 October 2016 at 06:36 PM
You know, Colonel, your post raises interesting points.
Do Netanyahu and others turn to Russia now because they think Russia is stronger than the U.S. ? I don't think that's it, but maybe it's that they think Putin's got the steadier hands...
And by the way, I truly value the information and insights this blog provides me.
Posted by: A Pols | 07 October 2016 at 06:47 PM
Colonel, if you are ready for that cataclysm you're a better man than me.
Posted by: Walker | 07 October 2016 at 07:05 PM
Sir
There is a great complacency in our country with respect to a military conflict with Russia. People have been conditioned by the rhetoric of "the greatest nation on earth" to believe we can prevail in any military conflict and there will be no death and destruction here at home.
Recently in a conversation about our coming election with a good friend who has always voted Democrat I was struck by how while she acknowledged the Borg Queen's track record as a warmonger, she was more afraid that Trump seemed more crazy and may engage in war. The media campaign to create the perception that Trump is Les Déplorables is causing significant dissonance and uncertainty on the part of some. IMO, most Americans can't entertain the thought that we could be engaged in military conflict where we could face direct repercussions at home.
It's in this environment when the war party led by the Borg Queen could seriously miscalculate as their core belief system of unchallenged American military hegemony can't countenance anyone standing up to them.
Since the media attention is on the outrage du jour on something Trump said it will be very interesting to see what happens if R+6 roll Aleppo before election day.
Posted by: Jack | 07 October 2016 at 07:20 PM
Don't despair, Col. We are experiencing growing pains of many sorts.
You (& others, of course) did good duty getting us this far. I think we are observing the angst of the old order, hanging on too long (as is ever their wont).
Please keep up the fine analysis... minimize stress over the near term outcomes.
Posted by: ked | 07 October 2016 at 07:22 PM
While we may still be a great nation -- I certainly want us to be -- we cannot ever be a great nation in the way we were in a few decades ago.
We all need to realize that and make peace with this fact.
Posted by: jerseycityjoan | 07 October 2016 at 07:30 PM
Colonel: about the Russians having shot down two Israeli aircraft, does this refer to the Syrian claim of having shot down Israeli aircraft? I haven't been able to locate any proof of that, only claims.
Posted by: OIFVet | 07 October 2016 at 07:36 PM
You won't find your nemesis so soon, Col. lang. The russians will stand no chance. In place of the old and weak Shock and Awe, Hillary will deliver a powerful new doctrine called the Cough and Faint. The Five Eyes will be prescripted Hillary glasses for pentaplopia so they can collectivelly help Hillary walk over Russia, and while shaking their heads in glorious seizure, Russia will be spat on to Diluvian perdition and crushed into smitherens under the mighty butt of the fainting grandma. A single C battery will fall from somewhere inside her gigantic pants and hit Putin to ignominious death.
Posted by: Anonymous | 07 October 2016 at 07:40 PM
I was in a hurry and posted my first comment about America being great without making my real point, sorry:
The elites and the politicians who continue to see us as the world's savior and defender with some kind of permanent immunity from unsolvable problems or permanent consequences aren't doing anybody a favor.
How can we save the world when clearly we are not even saving ourselves these days?
That's why Sanders and Trump got all those votes. People are worried and disgusted. And our national deficit is $19.3 trillion. Looking for another field for another round of trillion dollar fighting is beyond crazy; it's suicidal for us as a country.
Posted by: jerseycityjoan | 07 October 2016 at 07:41 PM
On civilians in Aleppo Thierry Miessan just wrote: "Currently, the Western part of the city houses between 1.4 and 1.5 million inhabitants who are partisans of the Republic, and the Eastern part houses between 25,000 and 30,000 people. "
http://www.voltairenet.org/article193570.html
Posted by: apol | 07 October 2016 at 07:44 PM
I'd like to remind the youngsters here that this willingness to wrestle the Russian bear has strong roots in the Cold War. Many of us old cold warriors remember how close we danced to nuclear destruction. We did the duck and cover in grammar school, looked through ads for home fallout shelters. When we joined the military, we were resigned that any dust up in the Fulda Gap would inevitably lead to a nuclear exchange.
I remember the CG of the 25th Infantry Division telling us that if the balloon went up in Europe, we would be lifted into the streets and sewers of Frankfurt to stem the tide of the 2nd and 3rd echelons. We managed to train for this in Hawaii... with great seriousness.
I also remember the lengths the Reagan Administration went to to stop the airing of "The Day After," a movie about the aftermath of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. At the time, the Administration was trying to convince us that nuclear war was survivable and winnable. All we needed was enough shovels.
It appears this idiocy is in our blood.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 07 October 2016 at 07:53 PM
where is this going: preparing to invalidate an unfavorable vote and send decision to House of Representatives??
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-government-officially-accuses-russia-of-hacking-campaign-to-influence-elections/2016/10/07/4e0b9654-8cbf-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html
Posted by: rjj | 07 October 2016 at 08:14 PM
If Russia/China being in the ascendant means they fund Bibi-land's multi-billion dollar habit for military weaponry, I just might be OK with it. But I have children and grandkids and would not want to condemn them to pay for my generation's idiocy.
Posted by: BabelFish | 07 October 2016 at 08:31 PM
Sanders is out of the game.
Trump is still in the game.
I hope the Trump Team is smart enough to have some people reading these threads and also the threads at Naked Capitalism . . . but at the very least these threads. Failing that, I hope somebody here knows somebody who knows somebody . . . who can get specific word to high up the Trump information ladder.
Why? Because Trump has a debate coming up this Sunday, I think. If he were to start with an introductory statement ( I believe the candidates get those) and if he were to make his statement a very clear and unambiguous promise that his defense/offense policy is No First Use Ever of ANY Nuke, whether Tactical OR Strategic, people would hear that statement. If he also PROMISED , if elected, to seek an IMMEDIATE TRUCE to ANY war with Russia that Obama had started before Inauguration Day, he might reach a lot of people.
If Trump makes those two promises if elected in his statement, I will vote for him based on those two extinction-avoidance promises.
Now . . . is Trump smart enough and disciplined enough to make that promise and keep re-making it throughout the coming Town Hall debate?
Posted by: different clue | 07 October 2016 at 08:33 PM
apol,
it seems that either Thierry or Wikipedia has gotten it wrong regarding number of inhabitants in opposition controlled areas / east. WP shows numbers of 250,000 - 300,000.
Posted by: onikok | 07 October 2016 at 08:48 PM
I wrote this over at my place this morning. Might even say that it applies here.
Gotta take a breath
Look, everyone knows that the deal is going down.
What everyone is worried about is that it might not go their way.
Well, I got new for all you pilgrims. All of you are right. It won't go your way.
No reason to stop anything. Even if shit goes seriously south, do you think that you aren't going to have to put time and energy into the system to make the new way work? Do you think that the energy that you put in now is going to be wasted?
Look, life is series of decisions and accommodations. Some of what you sow gets reaped. Some is carried away on the wind. Get over it.
All you can do is keep trying, don't plan on winning them all. Try to learn from your failures. Try to reinforce your successes.
Things are going to go awry in the none-to-distant future. Stay on your feet, keep your wits about you and soldier on.
Posted by: Degringolade | 07 October 2016 at 09:13 PM
Well, here is a funny story about Putin. No way to verify anything really but the the story goes that in the 90s he use to work as an arbitrator for the mafia gangs of St. Petersburg.
As far as the job description is concerned, there are two major points:
1. The arbitrator's judgments must be perceived as fair by the overwhelming majority of the gangsters.
2. The arbitrator carries a big gun and must be able to enforce his judgments if any (or both) of the conflicting parties disagrees with it.
Given that national governments are really just the biggest gangs in their land (at least from the historical POV), I think Putin is well qualified for the job.
Posted by: Tol Tapen | 07 October 2016 at 09:39 PM
The encouraging thing for non-US people is, I think, the evidence that rational, sentient commentators like our host and TTG are aware of the perils of what Paul Craig Roberts's harping on about "insouciance " really entails.
Personal note: my daughter turned 25 last month and I'd rather like to see her grandkids.
Apologies for mawkishness.
Posted by: Cortes | 07 October 2016 at 09:40 PM
The Israelis are all in a lather thinking that Obama is going to allow a UNSC resolution thorough that might actually reference the fact that the settlements are illegal. Of course the fact they told the US to got F it's self less than a week after Obama delivered on the massive new welfare check for Israel might give them pause to worry. But what Netanyahu is up to is pretending to talk peace with Putin to find off action in the UNSC until the new prez is signed in then he can tell Putin to get stuffed.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-official-obamas-settlement-critique-an-alibi-for-planned-anti-israel-moves/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/security-council-to-discuss-settlements-as-obstacle-to-peace/
Posted by: BraveNewWorld | 07 October 2016 at 10:35 PM
Well, it seems Trump is out of the game.
It was a good run. What was he thinking?
Posted by: Peter L | 07 October 2016 at 10:36 PM
I was wondering about this as well. If true it really would be a game changer.
Posted by: BraveNewWorld | 07 October 2016 at 10:36 PM
As Nick Turse notes, the Win/Loss record for US Military action, isn't that "exceptional",
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176191/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_killing_people%2C_breaking_things%2C_and_america%27s_winless_wars/
The illusionary "belief" that the US win's all it's wars is "exceptional", given the track record.
What is "exceptional", is that the impacts and consequences of the "win/loss" record almost never touches US soil.
Posted by: Brunswick | 07 October 2016 at 10:54 PM
Whatever happened to those nuclear vets and citizens of Nevada and Utah that came down with leukemia, thyroid cancer and other _____?
In the early sixties I served with a vet of the tests at Nevada Test Site in 1957. He and several thousand others did tactical maneuvers within minutes after the detonation and not far from ground zero. I lost contact with him but heard later from a mutual friend that he had developed bone cancer and was medically discharged. I hope he or his family got some restitution.
By the way, after hearing Governor Mike Pence at the VP debate, he should be added to the war party along with McCain and Graham.
Posted by: mike allen | 07 October 2016 at 11:03 PM