‘Judging Freedom’ edition of 12 December: Russia, Syria and Georgia
It was a particular pleasure to appear on ‘Judging Freedom’ today, when host Andrew Napolitano celebrated reaching 500,000 subscribers. The opening comments on this video express fulsome praise for this well-earned achievement in public service.
In our chat about Syria, the key question was whether this is truly a major setback for Vladimir Putin as Western mainstream is telling us or are they using this story line to cover up the disaster unfolding on the battlefield day by day for the Ukrainian armed forces and their US-NATO backers.
As I mention, the situation of the Russian bases in Syria is presently stable and there is every possibility that the new administration in Damascus will create an autonomous province to protect the Alawite population of that locality on the coast that is home to the Russians from retribution over their support role to the Assad family. Time will tell. But our media are ignoring the other options that Russia may well enjoy should it be required to abandon its 70-year lease on the bases in Syria. Among these options is Iran, with its seaports on waters leading directly into the Indian Ocean. In its present condition after having suffered extensive losses among its Axis of Resistance proxies, Iran could well be motivated to offer bases to the Russian navy and air force.
The Russians have for centuries coveted the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and link-up with the Mediterranean would be assured via the Suez Canal. Alternatively, the Russians could very likely strike a deal with Egypt or with Algeria to set up shop in the Western Mediterranean and so satisfy their need for reprovisioning and refitting naval vessels of their Black Sea fleet operating in the Mediterranean with or without passage through the Dardanelles, which is subject to Turkish control.
We also discussed at some length how the Russians may respond to the latest Ukrainian use of 6 ATACMS missiles against Russian military assets in the city of Taganrog, on the coast of the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainians were said to target a military air base, however, it could well have been a factory adjacent to the airfield that manufactures the Russian equivalent of the American AWACS, i.e., specialized radar equipped planes used for intelligence gathering and early warning about incoming missiles or planes. The Ukrainian ATACMS were either shot down by the Russian Pantsyr air defense missiles (2) or diverted by Russia’s electronic warfare gear (4). Accordingly actual damage from this missile strike was minimal. But the threat to key Russian security assets was real and the Russian response will have to be calibrated accordingly.
Washington has stated in the last day that it expects the Russians to respond with another attack on Ukraine using their new hypersonic Oreshnik missile. But there is now reason to believe that the Kremlin may be rethinking its strategy and will instead strike a target in NATO-land. The newly opened US missile base in Poland would appear to be very suitable for this purpose. And that would explain the otherwise inexplicable directive to Russian citizens issued by Maria Zakharova on behalf of the Foreign Ministry telling them not to travel to the European Union or North America.
See Dr. Gilbert Doctorow : Russia, Syria, and Georgia.