Headlines:
- Russian Naval Ship Crosses Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait, Heads to Syria
- Russia Intensifying Syria Airstrikes
- President Erdogan underlines importance of stability, trust for global growth in address to G20’s Energy Ministers
Russian Naval Ship Crosses Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait, Heads to Syria
Having made its way down from the Black Sea, and through the Bosphorus Strait and the Marmara Sea, the Caeser Kunikov entered the Dardanelles Strait at around 8:50 a.m. local time (GMT 5:50 a.m.) on Sunday. Turkish press sources have stated that the ship’s final destination will be Syria’s Tartus Port, where Russia operates a naval supply and maintenance base.
With Russia continuing air raids in Syria, in support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, observers have noted the heavy Russian Navy traffic through Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. Close to 70 Russian Navy ships have crossed through the Turkish Straits in 2015, according to a maritime news site.
Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Russia’s involvement in Syria, Turkey nonetheless has no authority to prevent ships from passing through the straits, per international agreements.
The Turkish Straits are a key access route for Russia, which has been limited in its options for sending military resources to Syria. In early September, NATO member Bulgaria denied the use of its airspace to Syria-bound Russian planes.
The commencement of Russian air raids in Syria has marked a significant shift in the dynamics surrounding the prolonged war. The United States has cautioned that the Kremlin’s involvement is more focused on supporting the Assad regime than on fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “They’ve made a significant military investment now in further propping him [Assad] up,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
The Russian air strikes began after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the United Nations, the two leaders agreeing that their armed forces should keep communications open and avoid coming into conflict in Syria.
A U.S. defense official confirmed that talks between the United States and Russian militaries could take place within a day, possibly via secure video-conference or in person. The Pentagon aims to involve both civilian and uniformed defense officials in the talks. [Source: BGNnews]
Davutoglu spoke to the UN General Assembly at the United States last week, and said that “Turkey was ready to work with all including Russia, on Syria.” Here is the result of this cooperation. Russian naval ships crossed Turkish straits and reached Syrian lands, and the Turkish government did nothing to stop them.
Russia Intensifying Syria Airstrikes
Russia is intensifying its airstrikes in Syria, which it says have “considerably reduced” the combat potential of militants.
The Russian air force began strikes in Syria on Wednesday. In the past 24 hours, it has carried out 20 flights targeting 10 ISIS positions in Idlib province, the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement Sunday.
Since 2011, Syria has been torn apart by a brutal civil war that has seen the rise of extremist groups including ISIS. Moscow supports the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and says it is targeting ISIS, al Nusra and “other terrorist groups.”
But the U.S-backed coalition against ISIS — comprising the United States, Britain, Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — accuses Russia of attacking civilians and Syrian groups opposing al-Assad.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, said most of the strikes appeared to have targeted areas not under ISIS control.
“What is happening is that they are backing the butcher Assad, which is a terrible mistake for them and for the world. It’s going to make the region more unstable, it will lead to further radicalization and increase terrorism,” he said.
Al-Assad told Iranian television station Khabar TV he was optimistic that a coalition of Iran, Russia, Iraq and Syria would be successful, according to a transcript carried by Syrian state news agency SANA.
“It must succeed; otherwise the whole region, not only one or two countries, will be destroyed,” he said.
“When these countries unite against terrorism and fight it militarily and in the areas of security and information, in addition to other aspects, this coalition will, no doubt, achieve real results on the ground, particularly that it enjoys international support from countries which do not have a direct role in these crises and in this region,” al-Assad said. [Source: CNN]
Turkey took place next to the USA, as expected. And this American coalition is acting like they didn’t know that Russia would make massacres once it landed to Syria.
President Erdogan underlines importance of stability, trust for global growth in address to G20’s Energy Ministers
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the G20 Energy Ministers’ meeting in Istanbul on Friday where he called for a multi-dimensional approach to energy issues, particularly of investment and funding for energy concerns. He also highlighted the importance of stability and trust for global economic growth. The president stressed that establishing and maintaining strong economic growth, both on the local and global levels, can be attained by stability and trust. “The G20 has a big share in the strong coordination of financial and macroeconomic issues among the world’s leading economies. The main goal should be to take measures to prevent an environment that causes crises to emerge and establish a corporate structure of cooperation,” Erdogan said. Calling for a multi-dimensional approach to global energy issues, Erdogan highlighted the importance of investment and funding of new sustainable energy projects.
Turkey took over the presidency of the G20 from Australia, and China will preside over the summit in 2016. It is a key group tackling world economic challenges, such as unemployment and income inequality, and is responsible for continuing to direct the global economy, as it emerges from the recent financial crisis.
On Friday, Erdogan called for more public-private partnerships for much-needed infrastructure investments. Erdogan said the public sector should overcome its jealousy toward the private sector, and called for the establishment of efficient cooperation between the two. During his speech, the president asked the private sector to cooperate “hand-in-hand” with the public sector and jointly invest in new projects. “The private and public sectors should collaborate to meet the necessary financing for global infrastructure investments,” Erdogan said. He added that the world needs to invest around $70 to $90 trillion for infrastructure until 2030 to achieve sustainable growth, while developing countries should invest $1.5 trillion annually. “A new effort and a new mentality for cooperation is needed to achieve this,” Erdogan stressed.
Erdogan said: “With this understanding, we want G20 countries to develop concrete and comprehensive investment strategies. As G20 leaders, we will address our infrastructural investment strategies as a whole during the G20 Summit in Antalya. Our decisions on the issue will help economic growth increase momentum.” [Source: Daily Sabah]
Erdogan is still serving to the global finance sector, while pacifying masses from uprising against this cruel Capitalist order.