US Senate to Ban US Weapon Supplies to Turkey Over Potential Purchase of Russian S-400 System

___________________________

On Monday, the US Senate adopted the National Defence Authorisation Act for Fiscal Year 2019, which obliges the Secretary of Defense to present a special report regarding the potential purchase by Turkey of the S-400 air/missile defence system from Russia. The document stated:

Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of the Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the status of the US relationship with the Republic of Turkey. The Secretary of Defense may not take any action to execute the delivery of a foreign military sale for major defence equipment to Turkey until the report is submitted.

The document stipulates:

The required report should include an assessment of the potential purchase by the Government of Turkey of the S-400 air and missile defence system from the Russian Federation and the potential effects of such purchase on the USA-Turkey bilateral relationship, including an assessment of impacts on other US weapon systems and platforms operated jointly with Turkey to include the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike aircraft, the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, the CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, the AH-1 Attack helicopter, the UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter, and the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The Secretary of Defense isn’t allowed to take any action to execute the delivery of a foreign military sale for major defence equipment subject to congressional notification to the Republic of Turkey until the Secretary submits to the appropriate congressional committees the report.

Earlier reports said that Ankara intends to purchase over 100 F-35 warplanes. The proposed measure may hinder the execution of the contract.

The S-400 Triumf is an advanced long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 kilometres and at an altitude of up to 30 kilometres. In November 2016, Turkey and Russia were negotiating a contract for the supply of S-400 air defence systems. Russia confirmed the conclusion of the contract on 12 September 2017.

19 June 2018

TASS

http://tass.com/world/1010065

Advertisement

16 September 2014. As Seen by Vitaly Podvitsky. They’re My New TARGETS! 2014

They’re My New TARGETS!

Vitaly Podvitsky

2014

______________________________

The USA boasts of its “overwhelming conventional superiority”… that isn’t so… it’s never been so… it won’t be so in future, either. Note how unwelcoming the Eastern Europeans became to American plans for ABM bases after Russia said, “Fine… if you allow such bases, we’ll install Iskander SRBMs in Kaliningrad Oblast”. You see, the Iskanders would hit their targets before any ABM system would lock onto them. Czechia and Poland suddenly lost interest in such bases, reasoning that they didn’t want to become Priority One targets for Russian strategic assets. Fancy that…

“Overwhelming superiority”, indeed…

BMD

USA Riled by Russian Strategies

­­­­­

______________________________

Nowadays, political strategies and show biz have become so intertwined that it’s hard to tell the former from the latter, and vice versa. For Washington and Moscow… two old-time friends and rivals… the year 2012 ended with the announcement of the arrival of a new period of confrontation, which one observes at the parliamentary level now, but it could grow into something much more serious. Having shaken off the “archival dust” of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, the USA quickly replaced that obsolete document with the Magnitsky Act. Russia responded with a blacklist of Americans that it’ll deny Russian visas to and imposed a ban on the adoption of Russian children by US citizens. Like in chess, the game between Moscow and Washington is developing on the basis of a logical scenario.

International Grandmaster Aleksei Kuzmin thought, “The methods the two countries resort to aren’t important, after all, as the relations between the two countries were destined to deteriorate anyway. The political duel between the USA and Russia will assume yet more threatening proportions in 2013. Given that the two sides exhausted all their arguments concerning a European missile defence system, Iran, Syria and the evergreen issue of a Middle East settlement, there are practically no chances for striking an easy deal. In chess, a player often confronts difficult choices, where he has to decide whether the oncoming worsening of his position is beneficial. Every grandmaster knows how to provoke their opponent into making a move that could seem dangerous, but yields good fruit in the long run. A provocation that fails to hit its target makes your position weaker”.

International Grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev noted, “Whatever moves Russia and the USA choose to make, they’re unlikely to grow into a full-fledged conflict. No high-profile moves, like the Magnitsky and Dima Yakovlev Lists, the creation of new missile defence systems, or support of one of the parties to the Syrian conflict, can spoil relations between Russia and the USA. As always, the USA is feigning interest in what Russia has to say, but it does as it pleases. It reserves the right to set its own rules of conduct. Like in a game of chess, Washington controls the key fields of the chessboard while feeling free to decide whether to exchange pieces or launch a direct attack against the king”.

According to Aleksei Kuzmin, “The recently signed Dima Yakovlev Bill and the law that bans corrupt American officials from opening accounts in Russian banks or entering Russia are strategic moves designed to provoke the opponent into taking symmetrical measures, which in turn could strengthen President Putin’s positions on the ‘domestic policy section’ of the chessboard”. On the other hand, Vladislav Tkachiev observed, “All these moves are but red herrings, whilst Moscow consistently pursues its agenda, moving slowly, but surely, towards the ‘main target’. This is what’s bothering Washington”. In general, Russia is against “blacklist wars” or games for raising stakes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a few days ago that the only reasonable way of handling international relations is a dialogue. However, a dialogue presupposes two parties.

29 December 2012

Igor Siletsky

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_12_29/US-riled-by-Russian-strategies/

Putin Sez US Military Won’t Let Obama Get Flexible on Missile Shield

______________________________

President Vladimir Putin said US President Barack Obama is willing to revive deadlocked talks on a planned American missile shield in Europe, but that the military lobby in Congress and a “conservative” State Department are holding him back. Putin told the RT international news channel in an interview, “Is it possible to find a solution to the problem, if President Obama’s re-elected for a second term? In principle, yes, it is. Nevertheless, this isn’t just about President Obama. My feeling is that he’s a sincere man and that he sincerely wants to implement positive change. However, can he do it; will they let him do it? There’s the military lobby, and the Department of State, which is quite conservative”. Putin also emphasised the need for dialogue on the controversial shield, but said he was “not sure” that Washington was “ready for this kind of cooperation”.

Negotiations between Russia and the USA on the missile defence project stalled over Washington’s reluctance to give Moscow legally-binding guarantees that it won’t use the shield against Russia. Washington and NATO say they need the shield to defend Europe against a possible missile attack from Iran. Russia says the project could pose a threat to its national security and threatened a host of countermeasures. In May, the Russian General Staff said it didn’t rule out a pre-emptive strike against the American shield in the event of an “aggravation of the situation”.

Earlier this week, the US Democratic Party said in its 2012 national platform that if re-elected, President Obama would “move forward” with the missile shield programme, regardless of Moscow’s stance. However, Putin told RT that a unilateral move would “not enhance global stability”. He added that Russia would “have to think of how we can defend ourselves” if the United States proceeded with the shield, saying, “You also have to think about its strategic character, even if it’s built not for a year or even a decade”. He also said chances that a figure like Obama’s Republican challenger Mitt Romney… who famously described Russia as the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe”… could come to power in the USA were “quite high”, asking, “So, what are we supposed to do to ensure our security?”

In 2010, Obama scrapped the previous Bush administration‘s plans to deploy an anti-ballistic missile defence system in Czechia and Poland, in a move welcomed by Moscow. However, later, Washington announced it’d replace it with a reconfigured system that they’d eventually deploy in the Mediterranean, Poland, Romania, and Turkey.

6 September 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/world/20120906/175798904.html

Editor’s Note:

There are no planned ABM sites in CONUS. NONE. That means that the rhetoric that ABM forces are “defensive” is lies. Iran is no threat to Europe or the USA in the near or middle future. Indeed, it’s hard to see it being a threat in the far future (a generation from now). In short, it’s all a gigantic lie… it’s actually an attempt to try to decapitate the Russian strategic offensive forces.

The USA, unfortunately for it, believes its own propaganda. No ABM system can destroy all outgoing missiles. Under current plans, there are no ABM sites in CONUS to protect American cities from re-entry vehicles of ICBMs that evade the (rather leaky) ABM net. In short, it’s a massive boondoggle… a cornucopia of corruption and boodle for defence contractors and their One Percent investors. You see, the Eurasian ABM deployments would be reachable by Russian SRBMs… and their flight-time is so short that the ABM interceptors would be useless against them.

That is, the USA is playing with hand grenades with the pins pulled out. If the last twenty years have taught us anything, it’s that the USA is a reckless rouge state, especially under Republican rule. The USA didn’t learn a lesson when the Russians handily defeated their Georgian clients in ’08… they remain juvenile bullies. The only good thing is that so-called ABM defence is unfeasible technically and unaffordable financially (the Bush wars and tax cuts saw to that).

God save the world from the USA.

BMD