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13 May is a holiday honouring the Black Sea Fleet that began in 1996 to commemorate the founding of one of our main naval bases. The Black Sea Fleet is a strategic formation of the Navy of the Russian Federation to ensure Russia’s military security to the south. Its main bases are Sevastopol and Novorossiysk, with subsidiary bases at Temryuk and Tuapse. Besides the naval bases, it has surface ships and submarines, naval aviation and air defence units, coastal defence troops, and naval infantry battalions. The main objectives of the Black Sea Fleet at present are:
- The protection of economic zones and areas of industrial activity, with the suppression of illegal activities
- Ensuring navigational safety
- Execution of Russian foreign policy in economically-important regions of the World Ocean (visits, business visits, joint exercises, activities in the peacekeeping forces, etc)
13 May 2013
RIA-Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20130513/181118560/Russian-Navy.html
http://ria.ru/infografika/20130513/934047240.html
Brit Newspaper Sez Iran to Send 4,000 Troops to Aid Assad in Syria
Tags: Assad, Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, political commentary, politics, Revolutionary Guard, Revolutionary Guards, Shia Islam, Syria, Syrian Civil War, The Independent, Twelver, United States, weapons of mass destruction, WMDs
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On Sunday, The Independent reported that Iran would send 4,000 Revolutionary Guard troops to Syria to fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s forces. Iran took the decision to send soldiers to Syria last week, prior to Friday’s Iranian presidential election, which saw cleric Hassan Rouhani defeat a number of more conservative candidates. The report comes after the USA announced on Thursday that it would begin to arm the Syrian opposition in the face of evidence (sic) that Assad used chemical weapons against rebels on multiple occasions.
16 June 2013
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_16/Iran-sends-4000-troops-to-aid-Assad-in-Syria-report-7276/
Editor’s Note:
There’s much rot written about Hassan Rouhani in the West. He isn’t a Western rightwing neoliberal (“libertarian”, “conservative”)… he was close to Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He’s no Rafsanjani… who’s probably the most pro-Western and pro-libertarian figure in Iran. If anything, he’s an interesting mixture of Khomeini and Shariatmadari, who both, don’t forget, were Grand Ayatollahs and down n’ dirty Twelver Shias. Alawis in Syria regard themselves as Twelvers, so, this report shouldn’t surprise anyone. Given Rouhani’s mainstream position in Twelver theology (mainly, he believes that the government should listen to criticisms emanating from the souk… but not in bowing down to the West), don’t expect any monkeying with the basic structures of the Islamic Republic. Remember, there’s a two-fold reason for the Western criticism of Iran. Firstly, Iran kicked out American military and economic interests. Secondly, Iran took a moderate socialist course, becoming part of the anti-crapitalist bloc. To speak plainly, Iran isn’t going to rejoin the American bloc or totally reject socialism, ergo, expect great disappointment in Western circles later. “The more things change, the more they stay the same” (by the way, Russia and China hailed Rouhani’s election).
BMD