US should use al-Qaida forces to defeat ISIS, former CIA chief reportedly says

Fourteen years after al-Qaida's September 11 attacks on the US, retired US army general and former Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus has been advocating the use of moderate members of al-Qaida's branch in Syria in order to fight ISIS, The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday.   

Petraeus, the former commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been "quietly urging US officials" to consider aligning with the so-called moderate members of Nusra Front in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast. 

Petraeus reportedly advocates "trying to cleave off less extreme Nusra fighters, who are battling ISIS in Syria, but who joined with Nusra because of their shared goal of overthrowing Syrian President Bashar Assad," according to those familiar with the general's thinking.   

Christopher Harmer, a senior naval analyst with the Middle East Security Project at the Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War, told The Daily Beast that Petraeus's recommendation is "an acknowledgment that the US stated goal to degrade and destroy ISIS is not working."

"If it were, we would not be talking to these not quite foreign terrorist groups,” Harmer said. 

“Strategically, it is desperate,” he added. 

Privately, US officials told The Daily Beast that any direct links with Nusra are off the table, but working with other factions, while difficult, might not be impossible.

“As prospects for Assad dim, opposition groups not already aligned with the US or our partners will face a choice,” one US intelligence official told The Daily Beast.

“Groups that try to cater to both hardliners and the West could find themselves without any friends, having distanced themselves from groups like al-Qaida but still viewed as extremists by the moderate opposition and their supporters,” the official said. 

US officials interviewed by the news outlet said that the idea that the US would, 14 years after the September 11 attacks, work with elements of al-Qaida’s Syrian branch "was an irony too tough to stomach for most."

According to the report, the officials found Petraeus’s plan "politically toxic, near-impossible to execute, and strategically risky."

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/US-should-use-al-Qaida-fighters-to-defeat-ISIS-Petraeus-reportedly-advocates-413880?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_source=socialnetwork

This Infographic provides at least one interesting detail about the F-22 Raptor Mission in Europe

Some facts about the inaugural Raptor deployment in Europe.

The U.S. Air Force has released an infographic with a collection of information about the F-22 Raptor at its first training deployment in Europe.
Even though it is quite simple, the image provides some useful information about the Rapid Raptor Package concept used to deploy the 5th Generation jet in any theater across the world in 24 hours: in particular, it states that a standard package is made of 4 F-22s, 1 C-17 and 60 supporting airmen. Not too much for the most advanced U.S. fighter plane currently in service.
Two of the four F-22s belonging to 95th FS are currently in Poland, for some training with the Polish Air Force and prove they can operate from former Warsaw Pact countries and airbases as well.
More base visits across eastern Europe are expected until the aircraft return to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, in mid September.
If you read us from a mobile device, please click here to open the infographic.



http://theaviationist.com/2015/09/01/this-infographic-provides-some-interesting-details-about-the-f-22-raptor-mission-in-europe/#disqus_thread

Here are the first pictures of the U.S. F-22s deploying to Poland for the very first time

 Two of the four F-22 Raptor jets belonging to 95th Fighter Squadron from Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, currently deployed to Spangdahlem airbase, in Germany, have landed at Łask airbase, in Poland, at 08.30 local time (06,30 UTC).



The forward presence of the Raptors in Poland is aimed at reassuring allies in Europe and bolstering regional security proving the 5th Gen. stealth jet’s ability to quickly deploy to the European theater: the F-22s returned to Spangdahlem to continue their deployment later on the same day.



Along with the F-22s, four F-16s from the 480th Fighter Squadron, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, taking part in bilateral training with the Polish Air Force (during which they will be joined by additional F-16s from the 176th Fighter Squadron, Wisconsin Air National Guard, in early September) deployed to Lask.

 

 

 

 

http://theaviationist.com/2015/08/31/us-f-22-arrived-in-poland/ 

Here's why North Korea's decrepit submarine force still freaks out the South

Tensions have been mounting on the Korean peninsula since a North Korean landmine seriously injured two South Korean soldiers on August 4.

That incident led to spiking tensions between the two countries, culminating in limited artillery exchanges and North Korea's placing of its front-line troops on a war footing. 

Tensions relaxed earlier this week when North Korea issued an apology for the land mine after tense negotiations. But there are still concerns over Pyongyang's ultimate end goal during the escalation. Just as Pyongyang was apologizing for the incident, 70% of its submarine fleet disappeared from South Korea's radar, meaning North Korea had deployed some 50 vessels.

The missing subs were cause for alarm in South Korea. "The number is nearly 10 times the normal level … we take the situation very seriously," an unnamed South Korean government spokesman told the AFP. 

Since the deployment of the submarines earlier this week there have been signs that North Korea may have recalled the vessels. Vice reports that there are signs that a number of the submarines have returned following deployment, according to a South Korean official. 

Kim Min-seok, a defense ministry spokesman for South Korea, likewise said that the submarines are believed to have returned to their pens in North Korea, according to Fox. But until Seoul can be totally sure of the vessels' location and intent, the country will remain at a heightened alert. 

“We’ve said before the disappearance [of North Korean submarines] is a source of concern, and the fact is they are not easy to detect when they are submerged under water,” Kim said.

"No one knows whether the North will attack our warships or commercial vessels," the unnamed defense ministry official added.

Pyongyang's deployment of its submarines was likely an attempt to put pressure on South Korea during the landmine attack-related negotiations earlier in the week, Moon Geun-shik, a defense analyst at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, told The Chosun Ilbo. Now that the negotiations have concluded, the submarines would likely return to port. 

 

(Screenshot / www.defense.gov) The location of North Korea's identified naval bases.

Age and obsolescence might also explain why the vessels have returned to port.

The Diplomat notes that Pyongyang's fleet of rusting diesel submarines is capable of little more than coastal defense and has limited offensive capabilities. North Korea has approximately 70 submarines in its fleet, but 20 are Romeo-class submarines built with 1950s technology. Another 40 are North Korean domestically developed Sang-O-class subs that were specially developed for the insertion of special forces into South Korea, along with mine deployment. The rest of the fleet is thought to be comprised of Yono-class midget submarines with limited range, firepower, and operating depth.

All of these submarines are diesel-electric and extremely old. As such, the submarines can submerge for only a few days at a time — and once they surface, it would easy for South Korea to be able to pinpoint their location. Even with many of the subs still missing, their operational limitations lend credence to the idea that at least a portion of the submarines have returned to their pens in North Korea or are continuing to hide out in secluded coves and inlets throughout the North Korean shoreline. 

But despite the submarines' age and relative technological inferiority, the vessels could still cause substantial damage to South Korean vessels and disrupt shipping throughout the peninsula. In 2010, a North Korean submarine destroyed the Cheonon, a South Korean naval vessel. The attack killed 46 South Korean sailors. 

 

Kim Jong Un surveys a North Korean submarine.

The sinking of the Cheonon is a stark reminder of the asymmetrical challenges that North Korea's massive — albeit rotting — diesel submarine fleet presents. 

They even has some tactical advantages over more advanced submersibles. Diesel submarines are significantly quieter than any other seaborne vessel. Although they cannot operate all that well in the open ocean, North Korea could still plant its submarines along major coastal transport and trade routes without Seoul being able to detect them.

“Picking up the quiet hum of a battery-powered, diesel-electric submarine in busy coastal waters is like trying to identify the sound of a single car engine in the din of a major city,” US Rear Admiral Frank Drennan warned in March 2015. 

For this reason alone, North Korea's submarine fleet remains a major threat — however decrepit it may be.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-north-koreas-decrepit-125022871.html 

 

 

Obama authorizes Special Forces, CIA, to conduct assassinations in Syria

The United States Central Intelligence Agency is collaborating with the country’s Special Forces in a targeted killing program aimed against senior members of the Islamic State and other militant groups in Syria. The program, which has been directly authorized by US President Barack Obama, is limited in scope and has so far involved fewer than a dozen strikes against suspected militants. But it is believed to reflect increasing frustration in Washington about the lack of progress shown by the military campaign against the Islamic State. Recent reports by American intelligence agencies confirm that the militant group is “fundamentally no weaker” today than it was a year ago, despite an intense US-led bombing campaign involving thousands of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

The Washington Post, which revealed the existence of the program on Tuesday, said it brought together the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC) and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The CTC is believed to be primarily responsible for identifying and locating senior Islamic State figures in Syria, while the JSOC is in charge of killing them, mostly through the use of unmanned drones, according the paper. The two agencies continue to operate separate drone centers, said The Post, in Virginia and North Carolina respectively; but they have exchanged several of advisors who have constant access to each other’s drone video feeds.

The goal of the targeted killing program is to assassinate what the CIA refers to as “high-value targets”, which includes Islamic State leaders and those members of the organization whose job is to build a membership base outside the territorial boundaries or the Islamic State’s self-described caliphate. The Post said that the list of Islamic State members killed by the CIA-JSOC program includes Junaid Hussain, a British citizen who was instrumental in building and maintaining the Islamic State’s outreach campaign on social media. The paper noted that the CIA-JSOC targeted killing campaign is not part of the wider American military offensive against the Islamic State.

http://intelnews.org/2015/09/02/01-1766/ 

Dreadnought 2050: Is this sleek 50-man warship a vision of the Navy's future?

 Engineers have offered a glimpse into the future of Royal Naval surface ships by designing a vessel worthy of 2050, which can be operated by a significantly reduced crew.

Futuristic images of the ship – dubbed Dreadnought 2050 - have been released by a group of leading British naval electronic systems companies working with experts Startpoint.
It looks a little something like this.

(Startpoint 2015/PA)

The design includes a new-style operations room allowing commanders improved focus on specific areas up to thousands of miles away.

Engineers also believe the warship could be manned by a crew of around 50 – down from 200 on modern vessels.

(Startpoint 2015/PA)

(Startpoint 2015/PA)

Commander Steve Prest, the Royal Navy’s fleet robotics officer, said: “In 2013 the Royal Navy challenged the defence industry to innovate, and to generate new opportunities to give it an operational edge.

“We therefore welcome a project that allows some of Britain’s best and brightest young engineers to come up with ideas on what a warship might look like or be equipped with in 2050.

“We want to attract the best new talent to sea to operate, maintain and develop systems with this level of ambition.”

(Startpoint 2015/PA)

The original HMS Dreadnought was a Royal Naval battleship which, when she entered into service in 1906, represented such an advance that all other major warships were rendered obsolete.

Muir Macdonald, from Startpoint, said: “While some of these technologies push today’s boundaries in science and engineering, there is no reason why elements could not be incorporated into future designs.

(Startpoint 2015/PA)

“The Royal Navy needs visionary, innovative thinking and these concepts point the way to cutting-edge technology which can be acquired at less cost and operated with less manpower than anything at sea today in the world’s leading navies.”

http://home.bt.com/news/news-extra/dreadnought-2050-is-this-sleek-50-man-warship-a-vision-of-the-navys-future-11364001064766

Bangkok bomb 'suspect' living in Turkey, denies involvement

BANGKOK: The hunt for a group behind the Bangkok shrine blast narrowed on Monday (Aug 31) as police revealed they had two new suspects - one of whom told AFP she was innocent and living in Turkey.

Two weeks after the unprecedented bombing at the Erawan shrine brought carnage to the city's commercial centre, killing 20 people in Thailand's worst single mass-casualty attack, the motive for the blast remains shrouded in mystery.

Suspicion over the Aug 17 attack has alternated between Thailand's bitter political rivals, organised criminal gangs, Islamist militants, rebels in the kingdom's strife-torn south and sympathisers of refugees from China's Uighur minority.

Police are now seeking a Thai woman and an unidentified man after bomb-making materials were discovered over the weekend in an apartment in the suburb of Minburi. Investigators believe it was used as a hideout by the network that carried out the attack.

"We found fertiliser bags, watches, radio controls - parts to make bombs and electric charges," said national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri. "We are confident they are the same group."

Police had detained an unidentified foreign man on Saturday morning at another flat nearby, where detonators, industrial pipes and ball bearings were found. Dozens of fake Turkish passports were also found in his flat, police added.

In a televised broadcast Prawut displayed a photograph of the wanted Thai woman taken from an official identity card, showing her wearing a black headscarf.

Wanna Suansan, 26, Bangkok bombing suspect. (Photo: National Council for Peace and Order)

He said an arrest warrant had been issued for 26-year-old Wanna Suansan - also known by the Muslim name Misaloh - from the southern province of Phang Nga, the first time a suspect in the bombing probe has been identified. A sketch of an unidentified man with a moustache was also broadcast.

Speaking to AFP by telephone, a woman who identified herself as Wanna said she was currently living in the central Turkish city of Kayseri with her husband and that she was last in Thailand three months ago. "I have not been to that apartment for almost one year now," she said, adding that she had sublet the flat to a friend of her husband's.

The woman, whose identity AFP could not further confirm, said she was horrified to learn via a Thai friend she had been named as a suspect. "I was very shocked and thought my friend was joking with me," she said, adding she had been in contact with Thai police and was happy to cooperate with investigators.

Thai police refused to confirm or deny whether they believe Wanna is in Turkey. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, allowing speculation to fill the information gap - with the ruling junta and police at times appearing to contradict each other.

Uighur connection played down

Authorities have been at pains to play down any suggestion the attack was launched by international terrorists or targeted Chinese visitors, in a nation where tourism represents nearly 10 percent of the economy.

In July, Thailand deported 109 Uighurs to China, enraging supporters of the minority who allege they face torture and repression back home. Turkish protesters stormed the Thai consulate in Istanbul and forced it to close at the time.

Police have said the only suspect in custody, whom pictures showed was thin with heavy stubble, was part of a crime group who helped illegal migrants obtain counterfeit documents - and that the attack on the shrine was retaliation for a crackdown on their lucrative trade.

Asked if the detainee was linked with smuggling Uighur migrants to Thailand, junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha refused to rule out the theory. "Everything is partly involved," he told reporters in a typically cryptic answer.

But some analysts have poured cold water on the idea of crime gangs going to such extremes of violence. "If it was linked to organised crime, where's the profit motive? How does killing 20 innocent civilians help your business?" Zachary Abuza, an expert on Southeast Asian militant groups, told AFP.

The junta, which has pegged its legitimacy to upholding security and reviving the flagging economy, may have pushed the police into "unsubstantiated hypotheses", Abuza added.

Police have also said they were working with "several embassies" to try to ascertain the identity of the detained foreigner, who is being held in military custody.

Officials initially said he was not cooperating with his interrogators as they brought in multiple translators, including an English speaker. But on Monday police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters the suspect's interrogation had yielded "very useful" information.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/bangkok-bomb-suspect/2089660.html

Nearly 100 Afghan schoolgirls fall ill in reported Taliban poisoning

Nearly 100 schoolgirls fell ill in the city of Herat, Afghanistan, on Monday in an incident being investigated as a potential poisoning or a poor quality air freshener.

Forty of the 94 girls sickened were admitted to a hospital. All the schoolgirls began feeling better and were in good health by the afternoon. Most girls have been discharged from the hospital.

"Our initial finding shows some kind of spray was used by some of the students to freshen up the classrooms," provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told NBC News. "Our investigation is ongoing to determine if it was an act of sabotage or poor quality spray."

Taliban militants have previously targeted girls' schools and the Shiite Muslim minority, but the militant Islamist group has not claimed responsibility.

"I was inside a classroom and felt a bad smell. I don't know what happened later on," Hasina, a teacher at the school, said, according to Pajhwok Afghan News. "When I opened my eyes, I was in hospital."

The incident was initially reported as the poisoning of at least 116 schoolchildren.

http://www.albawaba.com/news/nearly-100-afghan-schoolgirls-fall-ill-reported-taliban-poisoning-737768