Russia launched its first air strikes in Syria Wednesday, Sept. 30 was confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow and quickly criticized by US officials. US appeared very concerned of "civilian" casualties. Interesting this concern came from a country that has killed nearly 2 million civilians in the past 15 years.
Moscow stressed that it acted in support of Bashar Assad’s war on the Islamic State, assisted by other foreign powers including Iran and Iraq working together from an allied command center in Baghdad.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — “They are the most violent strikes,” says a man filming the grim aftermath of what he asserts was a Russian air attack on the town of Talbiseh, in the Homs Province of Syria. “This is the Russian criminal regime.” The voice then trials off into laments and prayers: “Oh God, oh God, oh God. God is all we need.”
He concludes: “This is what the criminal Russian planes did.”
When Russia declared it would start hitting the Islamic State in Syria, opponents of President Bashar al-Assad were immediately concerned that it would target them as well — insurgents who rebelled long before the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL, existed in its current form.
AFGHANISTAN CORPORATE MEDIA COVER-UP/DECEPTIONS/PROPAGANDA CURRENT EVENTS MIDDLE EAST TORTURE/WAR CRIMES WAR/DRAFT/VETERAN AFFAIRS WHITE HOUSE
By all accounts, the U.S. military is fostering something "worse than the Taliban."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Monday before leaving the United States after a seven-day trip that focused primarily on strengthening commercial ties between the U.S. and India.
The Middle East[note 1] (also called the Mid East) is a eurocentric description of a region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. Formerly, the eurocentric synonym Near East (as opposed to Far East) was commonly used. Arabs, Azeris, Kurds, Persians, and Turks constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population,[1] while Armenians, Assyrians, Circassians, Copts, Druze, Jews, Maronites, Somalis, and other denominations form significant minorities.
The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, and the region has generally been a major center of world affairs. However, in the context of its ancient history, the term Near East was used in reference to the Eastern Mediterranean/Ottoman Empire regions, while the term Middle East was restricted to the area between the aforementioned Near— and Far East (Mesopotamia to India). Several major religions have their origins in the Middle East, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the Baha'i faith, Mandaeism, Unitarian Druze, and numerous other belief systems were also established within the region. The Middle East generally has a hot, arid climate, with several major rivers providing irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia, and most of what is known as the Fertile Crescent. Most of the countries that border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil, with the dictatorships of the Arabian Peninsula in particular benefiting from petroleum exports. In modern times the Middle East remains a strategically, economically, politically, culturally and religiously sensitive region
The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office.[2] However, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902[3] to "designate the area between Arabia and India".[4][5] During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, a rivalry which would become known as The Great Game. Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf.[6][7] He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East, and said that after the Suez Canal, it was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards British India.[8] Mahan first used the term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal.
The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar; it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. Naval force has the quality of mobility which carries with it the privilege of temporary absences; but it needs to find on every scene of operation established bases of refit, of supply, and in case of disaster, of security. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, and the Persian Gulf.[9]
Mahan's article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question," written by Sir Ignatius
