Talk politics.

What really caused Covid?

2023-02-27T19:51:05Z

Posted by: airiefairie

"We want to know what led to this so we can hopefully try and prevent something like this from happening in the future."

These words by Dr. David Relman, an infectious disease expert and microbiologist at Stanford University, pretty much sum up the overall conversation surrounding the origins of COVID-19 in 2021. Did come from a lab? Was it an inter-species transfer? Or maybe something else? Surely in time the answer will become clearer, right?

But now, 3 years after the start of the pandemic which still disrupts our daily lives, the US is only adding more uncertainty about what really happened in Wuhan in late 2019. The Department has assessed that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a lab leak in China:

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/covid19-most-likely-caused-by-a-laboratory-leak-says-united-states-energy-department-in-shocking-new-report/news-story/657846c69334b91bec31de96ae88a51d

( Read more... )

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Is it a bird? Is it an UFO? No? It's the Chinese?

2023-02-05T14:58:40Z

Posted by: fridi

I wonder how much of the equipment from the balloon will be saved...

Suspected Chinese spy balloon flying above U.S. shot down off Carolina coast

Strangely enough, the Chinese explanation that the balloon was a weather balloon that went off its projected course because of weather conditions which exceeded the balloon's ability to maintain its intended course, has been accepted by almost everyone who knows anything about the conditions that existed in the upper atmosphere at the time.

The baying hounds of ignorance, on the other hand, staunchly maintain that it was a "spy balloon". Whether they are going to point to the fact that the balloon wasn't recovered for examination is **P*R*O*O*F** that it was a "spy balloon equipped with a self-destruct mechanism" remains to be seen.

PS - You do know that a helicopter that had been rigged with a grappling hook that had specially sharpened tines could theoretically have snagged the balloon and brought it back to the US so that all America could see the "spy equipment" that was mounted on it - don't you?

Anyway, I'm sure you were waiting for this, so here's a meme dump on the subject: MEMES OMG!

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Friday off-topic. Signs of intelligence

2021-08-20T19:39:49Z

Posted by: nairiporter

Hey folks! Just wondering what signs do you use to indicate high intelligence in a person.

I was reading up on it and found a few lists. Some of the things made sense to me, things like high adaptability, openness to new experiences and a good sense of humour, among others.

Have you ever been around someone who you consider very smart? How does he/she behave?

And do you think that you are a very smart person too? ;-)

Let's discuss.

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Well done, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

2021-05-31T18:55:10Z

Posted by: fridi

Now we know why US is so afraid of Huawei, there's just no back door in the network system for US to peek through. ;-)

U.S. spied on Merkel and other Europeans through Danish cables

And this was during Obama's time. You know, the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The US spied on a key ally and "friend". Mock quotes mine.

Can we expect some sanctions on the US and Denmark now please? I mean, China is a bad guy, sure, and Russia definitely is a bad guy, doing all that spying and stuff, and meddling in other countries' affairs and all that. Sanctions, anyone? Hey, where is everyone going? Hello?

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Spy literature... and spies... and rumours.

2021-02-07T11:34:09Z

Posted by: johnny9fingers

The new Mick Herron dropped on the 4th Feb; Slough House.

(I give it a hearty recommend BTW.)

But rather than spoilers I wanted to talk about how reality bleeds into a lot of current spy novels. And also how it seems that the international Intelligence community has finally tired of Uncle Vlad's way of doing things. I mean it's obvious that our spooks talk to novelists working on spook stories; and writers like Herron are included in one of the outer loops of the intel community - moving closer depending on their "soundness", no doubt.

Anyway, over the years I may have alluded to all the rumours about Uncle Vlad's time as a Berlin operative; that he was well-known in certain communities, and even had a future in them had he so chosen. (When it comes to spooks, quis custodiet ipsos custodes normally means spook-watchers like me.)

So, on page 40 of Slough House, Herron has this:

'"Rah-rah-rah Putin, homicidal Russian queen." Gay porn lost a superstar when he went into despotism, right? Could have been the new Joe Dallesandro.'

And later on the same page He calls Uncle Vlad "The Kremlin's Gay Hussar."

Methinks the pics will go viral soon. That seems to be the way these things work.

But even if the pics come out will it actually damage ~~Auntie~~ Uncle Vlad?

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Vlad's most useful idiot

2020-12-19T18:30:10Z

Posted by: luzribeiro

Let this sink in:

Russian government hackers are behind a broad espionage campaign that has compromised U.S. agencies, including Treasury and Commerce
and
Pompeo Says Russia Was Behind Cyberattack on U.S.

Can we expect that Trump finally retaliate? Or he will keep playing like nothing has happened? Is Trump protecting Putin's gang Ozero/KGB, or afraid of Muscovites?

The dacha cooperative Ozero was founded in 1996 by Vladimir Smirnov (head), Vladimir Putin, and some other guys who had a series of secret meetings in their dachas (villas) around St.Petersburg, near Lake Komsomolskoye (hence the name of the group Ozero, meaning lake). But it was nothing like those ridiculous adventures from the Peculiarities of the Russian Fishing and Hunting movies. Although there probably was vodka, and lots of it.

( Read more... )

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Even though I’m thinking about other things...

2019-12-10T14:33:32Z

Posted by: johnny9fingers

When this crossed my desk I felt I had to comment:

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/10/murdered-chechen-separatist-zelimkhan-khangoshvili-had-killed-on-russian-soil-says-putin

And I wondered how the German press portray the politicians of any stripe who are or were, er, um, apologists for Uncle Vlad’s extra-judicial actions?

So if something like this happened in your nation; and folk died because of some odd external, Russian-linked action, how would you feel about the folk who deflected, temporised, defended, or apologised for such things? I mean to say, let due process take its course and then take action. “Beyond reasonable doubt” used to be the benchmark.

Then I wondered; can we blame the Ukraine yet?

Now it may well be that Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was a nasty, evil man, with murderous sins staining his soul. So Uncle Vlad goes for the low-hanging fruit that everyone wants rid of; but establishing and re-enforcing a precedent that it is ok to send assassins into any territory to kill your enemies.

So my questions to the panel are as follows:

Is it likely that someone other than the Russians offed Khangoshvili?
If it was a Russian action, was the extra-judicial killing justified or was it murder?
And if it was murder, what action by Germany seems appropriate and proportionate?

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Let's workshop some rhetoric

2019-05-29T18:20:38Z

Posted by: edelsont

In a recent dispatch from the alternate universe that is Donald Trump's brain, we learn that that he had “smiled” when North Korea described Joe Biden recently as a “fool of low I.Q.” The White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, also said that Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim’s government “agree in their assessment” of Mr. Biden. (www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/us/politics/trump-biden-north-korea.html)

Later in the day, Mr. Biden chose to take the high road in response: “I’m not going to get down in the mud wrestling with this fella.”

Probably a sound strategy, in general. But in this case, I think maybe he could have had it both ways. Would he have been "getting down in the mud" if he had replied with something like this?

"I don't know about you, Mr. President. But speaking for myself, I don't think that an endorsement from Kim Jong-un is something that I would choose to brag about."

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Trump...

2018-06-12T09:22:18Z

Posted by: johnny9fingers

Some time ago I opined that Trump's finances were so opaque that we couldn't really judge him on the finance issue.

I also suggested that there may be a set of metrics with which we could assess Trump's policies in the light of possible collaboration with "external policy makers".

Now the metrics involved alienating the US's traditional allies, and courting the regimes who were the US's traditional opponents.

(As as disclaimer: I think that a NK deal would be a good thing if it happens, whoever manages to make it happen.)

However, trade wars with the G7, requesting the readmission of Russia to the G7 nations, and subsequent rapprochements with Russia et al, do look to be lining up Trump on the side of Uncle Vlad, alongside others like Arron Banks and Nigel Farage in the UK, and a few other Europeans.

The single greatest intelligence operation of all time has left odd bedfellows of the fellow-travellers. Boris, and Rees-Mogg etc are all aligning themselves with Trump and Uncle Vlad, despite knowing the intel available. As for folk like Assange, well....

So given the fact that Uncle Vlad has gotten away with it all, what can we expect from the next branch of geopolitical manoeuvrings?

I'd suggest a complete re-integration of Russia into the world community at the behest of someone other than the US, but with the US's backing.
We can forget about Crimea and the Ukraine, we can forget about nerve agents, and we can forget about all sorts of other activities which have subverted various western polities; because none of that will matter if Russia and the US work in tandem in time to Uncle Vlad's marching music.

But what is becoming obvious is that our intelligence services are not fit for purpose in the modern world. If I can work this stuff out, so can they. Instead they are so preoccupied with Muslim terrorism that they are prepared for our polities to be subverted in other ways by non-Muslims with other agendas.

As for me, common sense indicates I should learn to suck up to Uncle Vlad, his minions, and his agenda. Everyone else has, and I suppose it makes sense.

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A tale of two thorns in the ass

2017-05-22T00:26:00Z

Posted by: dreamville-bg.livejournal.com

He's not free yet, but Assange is allowed a breath of fresh air... at least metaphorically.

Julian Assange: Sweden drops rape investigation

Watch the British police arrest him on the way to the airport. For what, you ask? For existing. Or more hilariously, for breaking bail on a non existent case. He has served a multi-year sentence. Even the cheapest lawyer would get him off the hook with ease. So that leaves extradition. I bet the US deep state still wants him to suffer an accident.

( As for the so called other whistleblower... )

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The Comey fallout

2017-05-11T10:06:00Z

Posted by: mahnmut.livejournal.com

So, after essentially handling a lost election to Trump on a silver plate, FBI director Comey suddenly becomes too much of an inconvenience for the guy he single-handedly made president, as he reveals he's looking into possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign - and gets duly fired for it. How beautiful! Long live democracy, and the separation of powers!

Oh, and Trump surrogates like Kellyanne Conway get grilled by the media about this, and most of them fail to make a sound case on Dear Leader's behalf - but so what? The deed is done already. And no one seems to be able to do anything about it. The president has removed an FBI director for investigating him. Cool.

Not that it took a lot of effort, what with Republicans in charge, but the Russians have succeeded with Phase 2 of their effort to invade the US... they have succeeded at totally disrupting the operations of their primary enemy's government (Phase 1 having been to install a buffoonish puppet into the executive office).

It's almost scary how easily these things happen.

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Former NSA Advisor and U.N. Ambassador Rice on Charges of Spying on the Trump Campaign

2017-04-15T23:04:00Z

Posted by: debunkgpolitics.livejournal.com

Originally posted by debunkgpolitics at Former NSA Advisor and U.N. Ambassador Rice on Charges of Spying on the Trump Campaign

The April 4, 2017 interview with Ms. Rice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpjN4iEz9Ooraised additional questions that would prove or disprove claims that she assisted in spying on the Trump Campaign.
In the beginning, she gave a fictional example of when unmaking a name would be necessary. Plus, Ms. Rice said that sometimes unmasking a name is sometimes okay (~5:35). Both points are sensible, as identifying the American can help officials better assess whether there is a serious threat. She later said that the White House would/could not have directed intelligence agencies to spy on political opponents (~11:14).
Another revealing point Ms. Rice made is that she, along with any other NSA Advisor, receives information based on what the intelligence community (IC) considers important (~11:58). Thus, the NSA Advisor is subject to the discretion of other intelligence officials, who have their own standard process of whether to specifically identify an American (~6:23).
Ms. Rice also said that possible Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election was revealed about six months ago.
Ms. Rice is correct in that interference in any U.S. Presidential election is a grave concern for the IC. Thus, the IC had every reason to unmask the name of an American conversing with Russian to properly investigate the matter. Clearly, the IC found identifying Gen. Mike Flynn necessary.
The pertinent questions are:
1. Did she request reports concerning possible Russian interference in the election?
2. Why would anyone reveal Gen. Flynn to the public rather than keep is identity internal?
3. How long did the IC monitor Gen. Flynn? Interfering with an election and investigating a threat to national security takes a while.
4. How much of the monitoring did Ms. Rice follow? Surely, she would have been regularly provided reports of an attempt to interfere with a national election.

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On the art of Kompromat, and why it may not affect Trump

2017-01-15T11:20:00Z

Posted by: nairiporter.livejournal.com

Interesting piece here about this new "Putin has sensitive compromising intel on Trump" debackle:

Everything you need to know about the Russian art of ‘kompromat’

Essentially, it explains what a "kompromat" is (compromising material), and how the Russians have developed it into art during the golden age of the KGB. Unlike their US counterparts, where politicians tend to use damaging information about opponents during election campaigns, aiming to discredit them and torpedo their campaigns, thus winning elections (i.e. the information tends to surface and make a splash in public space)

In Russia things are otherwise. Such information is actually seldom released. Rather, it is used to blackmail important politicians into doing your bidding: you force them to do you favours, and play by your tune for the entire duration of their term. It is an art in a twisted way, because it requires a lot of skill, persistence, and the knowledge to use the information in the appropriate moment in the best way possible.

( Read more... )

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Intervening in foreign elections: oh the outrage!

2016-12-18T19:23:00Z

Posted by: luvdovz.livejournal.com

CIA and FBI Now Agree: Russians Hacked to Help Trump

All right. Let's clear something out. To all those who are fuming over Putin's intervention in the US election, I'd like to remind that trying to manipulate elections is actually a well-known American sport. It was the CIA that started their work by intervening in foreign elections as early as 1948, when they influenced the outcome of the Italian elections. There's a book by Tim Weiner about it, called Legacy of Ashes. The purpose was to halt the advancement of the communists in Italian politics.

It was shortly thereafter that that CIA engineered the coup against Mossadegh in Iran. He was the democratically elected leader, right? Wasn't America supposed to be promoting democracy? Well, not really. The US conspired together with the British to install the Shah. We all know what happened after that. Axis of Evil? You created it, and now you're complaining about it!

And then there was Guatemala, Chile... The list could go on for quite a while. Hell, it even includes Japan, the paragon of post-war democracy! The liberal democrats there came to dominate Japanese politics in the early decades of that democracy. Sounds good - except that happened largely thanks to millions of dollars of covert CIA donations. We don't want the people to choose the wrong politicians, do we?

( So let`s see now )

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The best president Russia can buy.

2016-12-12T10:52:00Z

Posted by: luzribeiro.livejournal.com

Bombshell Secret CIA Report Says Russia Aimed To Steal White House For Trump
"A shocking secret CIA assessment has concluded that Russia interfered with the U.S. presidential election expressly to help Donald Trump win, according to an exclusive report Friday by The Washington Post."

Trump denies CIA report that Russia intervened to help him win election
"President-elect Donald Trump said he does not believe the CIA’s conclusion that Russia intervened in the election to help him win, attributing the assessment to Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton and claiming repeatedly that the U.S. intelligence community has “no idea” what might have happened."

First, how could he know what some hackers from another country did or did not do? Of course he'll say he doesn't believe it. And of course, for his supporters, belief is everything. Fact doesn't matter.

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Hybrid warfare is as old as they go

2016-09-13T10:47:00Z

Posted by: abomvubuso.livejournal.com

Recently relevant case in point: Laos. Obama did try to heal old wounds while visiting the South-East Asian country. He was actually the first US president to visit Laos - ever. Still, the country has half a century old grudge with the US. The American invasion in Laos had all the features of a horror thriller movie from the Vietnam War times. One only with losing sides in it. And the biggest loser of them all was of course the people of Laos.

They were relentlessly bombed by the US between 1964 and 1973. The first 5 years were actually secret war - even the US Congress was kept in the dark about it. The US unloaded over 2 million tons of bombs over Laos, many of them never exploding. 1/3 of the country is still covered with cluster bombs today, many are still taking lives. Some regions will probably never be fully cleaned.

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Cue the 9-11 truthers

2016-07-19T00:00:00Z

Posted by: mahnmut.livejournal.com

The Saudi question! The missing 28 pages! Who did it? It's 9-11 all over again!

That's right. The long-awaited classified files comprising of 28 pages telling us nothing new, have been declassified at long last. And, expectedly, they don't tell us, well anything new. Saudi Arabia the government "probably" wasn't involved in 9-11. But some Saudi officials might have been. That ambassador for example. He met with some of the 9-11 attackers and aided them in settling in the US just prior to the actual attack, it seems. Was he acting on his own? Was he a rogue operative? A cell in the vast network of Al Qaeda that the Saudis claim they've been actively fighting against on their soil? Predictably, these 28 pages don't tell us any of that. But quite a few eyebrows being raised from all of this, is quite natural, given the circumstances:

A newly declassified section of an investigation into the 9/11 attacks alleges connections between Saudi officials and the perpetrators.

Once more, we have to re-live the entire drama of 9-11. Why now, some might ask. I dunno, perhaps Obama is trying to make up for some missed opportunities from throughout his tenure, now that his sojourn in the White House is fast coming to a close? Make a lasting impact of some sorts? Maybe he doesn't care if the US-Saudi relations would get any much worse than they already are (and hey, aren't they icy at this point!)

Point is, these 28 pages aren't giving us anything conclusive. No lid is being removed from a huge bowl of stinking secrets. We're all left disappointed in the utter lack of surprises there.

Of course, most of us "know" in "our guts" that there must have been a Saudi involvement. It just can't be that these guys acted without any help from a relatively powerful intelligence service. But if we're expecting the truth to be presented to us on a silver plate, just like that, it ain't going to happen. Not within at least a couple more decades, I predict.

Then it wouldn't even matter that much. And that's the catch.

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Which America are we actually talking with on the Syrian issue?

2016-01-05T14:36:00Z

Posted by: luvdovz.livejournal.com

There's a certain sense of confusion in some European and Asian capitals right now about the fact that the current US administration, with a remarkable persistence that's worthy of a much nobler cause, keeps insisting on deposing Assad in Syria - what's more, they want to do it before the terrorist groups there have been eliminated. I.e., right here, right now. But putting short-term goals ahead of long-term consequences is not something that should be a surprise as far as US foreign policy is concerned, is it.

Hillary Clinton, the "presumed" nominee of the Democrats, is the one prominent presidential candidate to support this view. The arguments in favor of that proposal are as well-known as they're unconvincing. The Department of State and the White House seem to believe that the root cause for all the mess in Syria and the ascent of the Islamic State is none else but Assad himself (omitting to mention how the US invasion of Iraq was what really unlocked the gates for the ascent of extremism; plus some other reasons that are not so convenient to know, and are therefore discussed even less). Even more amazing is the belief that some sort of "moderate" opposition does indeed exist in Syria, and not only that, but it's capable of replacing the current oppressive regime, and oppose the the terrorists adequately. I'm sure most people with a brain have figured out by now that this is much closer to fantasy than reality.

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Between this and the Lavon Affair:

2015-12-30T18:21:00Z

Posted by: underlankers.livejournal.com

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spy-net-on-israel-snares-congress-1451425210

There is one basic aspect of Israeli spying and attempts to manipulate the USA in reality as some of the nutty fringe claim it does because it's always a first resort of those people to find some dastardly Jewish influence most especially where there is none. Namely, it's poorly done, clumsy, and tends to horrendously backfire on Israel. The Lavon Affair hardly helped them present Arabs as mindless bloodthirsty ogres, and this didn't exactly ensure the attempt to torpedo an Iran deal to forestall Netanyahu's inevitable in five years since 1993 Iranian atomic bomb succeeded either. Worth noting is that the NSA kept spying on Turkey, France, and Germany, too, even after official promises to do nothing of the sort.

Now granted, countries bitching about espionage like this is like a hyena critiquing the predatory technique of an African Wild Dog, but that never stops anyone. As far as the Presidency spying on the Legislative branch, Congressional whining about Executive abuse of power might be slightly more convincing if Congress took fewer breaks and did more passing of actual legislation with teeth designed to curtail that abuse. But that, of course, would mean actually making hard decisions that might lead voters to hold the ones who do accountable, which is precisely why it ain't happening.

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Trimming NSA's wings a little bit

2015-06-06T00:27:00Z

Posted by: airiefairie.livejournal.com

At long last. Two years after Edward Snowden's revelations about illicit wiretapping by the NSA, it would appear that Congress may have drawn a lesson or two from the whole affair. After a vigorous debate, a surprisingly large majority has voted for reforming the agency.

Granted, the changes in the law, now known as the Freedom Act, are far from appeasing all expectations of the NSA detractors, but they are putting an end to a number of spying practices - like the mass wiretapping of phone conversations. The eavesdropping will only be allowed in extraordinary cases, and with an explicit court permission. The new law also puts some controlling mechanisms in place, which is a big step towards curbing the unlimited power of NSA's omnipotent spying apparatus. Now Congress will have the opportunity to oversee NSA's activities in a real way, which was virtually impossible until now. This is also a result of Snowden's revelations.

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Bibi, Irrationality, and Suckers:

2015-03-13T15:46:00Z

Posted by: underlankers.livejournal.com

So, in a recent case of the curious predilection of the same people who scream and whine and howl treason over any number of picayune cases of normal outreach to other states to accept a foreign leader as a stump speaker when he agrees with their quest for their own anthropogenic apocalypse, Benjamin "Yoni is the only reason I have a career" Netanyahu has made a long-standing career of lying about an inevitably in three years Iranian nuclear apocalypse that never happens. There are several problems with this. First, that he's an unbroken string of promises of the inevitable in three years apocalypse that stubbornly refuses to happen ever since he made a speech in 1992 promising Iranian nukes in three years. I

In 1995, the Israeli Harold Campings of international politics, not chastened at all by his first false prophecy, proceeded to write a book where he promised a nuclear bomb-equipped Iran in another three years:

http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Terrorism-Democracies-International-Terrorists/dp/0374524971

And then he said this a year later to the US Congress, promising with surety Iranian nuclear bombs in three years, no questions whatsoever:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook11/pages/14%20address%20by%20prime%20minister%20netanyahu%20to%20a%20joint.aspx

Then, in 2002, he promised that by 2005, Iran would be sure to be armed with nuclear bombs and the intent to use them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpQdg4D78Jc

So, in short, (as these are the incidents mentioned in these articles), every time Mr. Netanyahu has solemnly promised gullible suckers that the Iranians are three years away from an atomic bomb since 1992, people have invariably agreed with him and not noticed this long string of suckering people along for a career.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/02/brief-history-netanyahu-crying-wolf-iranian-nuclear-bomb/

On top of that, the Mossad, which can hardly be said to 'hate Israel' also believed that the Iranian nuclear threat was non-existent in 2012. Now, I take for granted that the knee-jerk warmongerers will find a way to claim that the Mossad is a stealth Neo-Nazi Anti-Semitic hate organization or some such rationale for this conclusion, but I'd be interested in how they understand the Mossad's own belief about this.

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Report-Leaked-intelligence-document-shows-Mossad-didnt-think-Iran-sought-nuclear-weapon-391902

If the Mossad, one of the most effective intelligence organizations in the region, with far more reason to fear an overrated tinpot dictatorship with a small nuclear arsenal than the United States would have, does not think the threat is credible, why does Netanyahu disregard his own intelligence agencies? Wars started on these bases tend to end badly for the people who start them, after all. In other words, in terms of irrationality and a war on reason, the Iranian nuclear bomb is perhaps the most literal and blatant demonstration of this in practice in terms of day to day events that might get actual flesh and blood people killed in real life.

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Doing evil does not make you good...

2014-12-11T00:09:00Z

Posted by: luzribeiro.livejournal.com

...Even if your intentions are (allegedly) benevolent: protecting your people, countering extremism, ending terrorism, things like that.

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Looks familiar?

Yeah, we've already heard about the Congress report on CIA's ~~enhanced interrogation~~ (fuck PC) torture. It doesn't tell us anything new, granted. It's just an official acknowledgement of what everyone had already known for quite a while: that the US has committed crimes against humanity and/or war crimes, while pretending to be a valiant defender of freedom and paragon of democracy.

We already knew all that - because secrets of this magnitude tend to leak through sooner or later, and a number of outlets had spread the news a long time ago. Curiously, back then these were declared traitors, criminals. Now, when Congress comes up with basically the same info, the tune has changed a little bit.

( Interesting way to promote democracy, no? )

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Why Russia is not concerned about the Islamic State

2014-10-26T20:36:00Z

Posted by: nairiporter.livejournal.com

The reports that Russia may have agreed with the US on an exchange of intel related to the Islamic State has caused quite a stir in Moscow. The Russian ministry of foreign affairs hurried to deny these allegations with such vigour that one thing became very clear from the whole debacle: Putin's government is only prepared to give unofficial support to the US-lead operation in Syria/Iraq.

The first reason for this behaviour is that it was the US who initiated the struggle against the jihadists. Anti-Americanism is sadly so strong among the Russian leaders that the very participation of Americans in any project makes it impossible for Russia to officially join it. That, of course, is hardly rational and sensible behaviour, including from a Realpolitik point of view, which has become so fashionable in Russia lately. The latest statements of foreign minister Lavrov are proof that even if it came to defending themselves from, say, an alien invasion, the Russians would still refuse to cooperate with the "hawks" at the Pentagon.

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