Russian troops in Syria could end up helping Isis, report claims

The deployment of Russian troops in Syria could end up helping Islamic State as they have been sent to areas where they are most likely to fight other groups opposed to Isis, according to a new report.

The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) report comes ahead of a US-Russian summit meeting at the UN on Monday, when Barack Obama will question Vladimir Putin on the intention behind Russia’s deepening military involvement in Syria, according to US officials.

The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani – also in New York for the UN general assembly meeting – rejected suggestions that his country was operating in concert with Russia against Isis. “I do not see a coalition between Iran and Russia on fighting terrorism in Syria,” Rouhani said.

The Rusi report, titled Inherently Unresolved, assesses the global effort to counter the spread of Isis, and warns that Iraq and Syria may not survive as unitary states. It includes a section on Russian aims, particularly those underpinning Putin’s despatch this month of warplanes and troops to Tartus and Latakia in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Igor Sutyagin, a Russian strategic analyst, said there was an air regiment at Latakia with 28 planes, a battalion of motorised infantry and military engineers as well as a marine battalion at the naval base in Tartus.

The deployment, Sutyagin said, “underlines the contradictions of the Kremlin’s policy”, because the troops were in areas where Isis is not present.

“In this way, Russian troops are backing Assad in the fight against groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, which are themselves opposed to Isis. If Russian troops do eventually join combat, therefore, they would also – technically – be assisting Isis,” Sutyagin argued.


The report says the Russian deployment should not therefore be seen as a change of policy towards fighting Isis directly, but a largely political move designed to save Assad and consolidate Russia’s hold over its naval base at Tartus and its newly built air base in Latakia, while currying favour with the west and the Gulf Arab states who are themselves reluctant to fight Isis on the ground.

“Indeed, the Kremlin may well be hoping that the west will show its appreciation by lifting the sanctions imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine,” Sutyagin said.

The tensions hanging over the Obama-Putin meeting on Monday were highlighted by discord between Washington and Moscow in describing the summit. US officials said it had been requested by Putin. A Russian spokesman insisted it was Obama who asked to meet. The White House said the meeting would address both the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Kremlin said Ukraine would only be raised “if there was time”.

Celeste Wallander, the White House National Security Council’s senior director for Russia, said that Obama would press Putin on his objectives in Syria.


“There’s a lot of talk, and now it’s time for clarity and for Russia to come clear – come clean and come clear on just exactly how it proposes to be a constructive contributor to what is already an ongoing multi-nation coalition,” Wallander told journalists.

Putin meanwhile told CBS News: “There is no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. But at the same time, urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform.”

The White House argues that the Russian strategy of entrenching Assad will only serve to deepen the roots of extremism in Syria. Ben Rhodes, a White House spokesman, said that at the UN meeting “the president will have the opportunity to make clear to President Putin that we share the determination to counter Isil [Isis], that we welcome constructive contributions to counter Isil. But at the same time, we believe that one of the principal motivating factors for people who are fighting with Isil is the Assad regime.”

The Rusi report said that it would be “perfectly feasible” to defeat Isis if Turkey and Iran were also engaged in the search for a regional solution. It advised US policymakers to “not give up on the possibility of maintaining the unity of Iraq and Syria, but not be beholden or obsessed with this idea either”.


“If the US could ‘father’ two brand-new states in the Balkans during the 1990s, there is no reason why Washington should not tolerate at least the informal emergence of new states in the Middle East,” the report argued.

Read More >>

Read More

Is There Any Particular Reason For China To Stop Cyberscrewing the US?

The massive data breach of a US government server originating from China might make for awkward conversation between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Washington this week. But as pissed off as Obama might be, his options for fending off future Chinese hacking may be limited to incoherent mumbling and impassioned gesturing.

In July, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced it was the target of a yearlong data breach that was the largest of its kind in US government history. The records of more than 20 million people were compromised, including highly sensitive security clearance background information. Media reports citing unnamed government officials indicated the attacks originated in China, but whether the attackers had the support of the Chinese government is unclear. Though the stolen information has not shown up for sale in dark corners of the internet, reports indicate China may be compiling OPM and other stolen data into a database of US federal employees for further espionage potential, according to current and former intelligence officials.

Related: Hacks Bring Down US Background Check System — But the Worst Is Yet to Come

China's alleged cyber intrusions are not limited to traditional espionage. They also target the private sector and commercial secrets -- an issue the House and Senate leadership warned President Barack Obama about in a letter this week.

Most countries make a distinction between political and economic espionage, with the former tacitly accepted as something all nations do, while the latter is not viewed as an acceptable government activity. The Chinese government tends to conflate the two, which makes a certain amount of sense given the intimate relationship between government and private industry in China. Despite high-profile breaches like the OPM hack, the US is most concerned about halting China's economic espionage activities.

"This isn't a mild irritation, it's an economic and national security concern to the United States," National Security Advisor Susan Rice said during an address at George Washington University Monday. "Cyber-enabled espionage that targets personal and corporate information for the economic gain of businesses undermines our long-term economic cooperation, and it needs to stop."

Xi repeated what has become China's standard answer to US accusations: "China takes cybersecurity very seriously," he said. "China is also a victim of hacking. The Chinese government does not engage in theft of commercial secrets in any form, nor does it encourage or support Chinese companies to engage in such practices in any way." China has in the past expanded on these denials, citing its lack of control over independent actors — so-called "patriotic hackers" — and unsanctioned activities by local governments far from Beijing.

Determining who's doing the hacking is also challenging. Denise Zheng, deputy director and senior fellow in the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said hackers "may wear a PLA [China's People's Liberation Army] hat during the day and black hat at night."

The question of how the US should respond remains tricky. Obama last week said the attacks were straining the US relationship with China, and "that we are prepared to some countervailing actions in order to get their attention."

Those actions may not necessarily take place online.

"We've made clear that we have other punitive measure available when we do see instances of cyber intrusion and cyber theft," Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, said yesterday in a conference call with reporters. "Sanctions remain a tool of the United States, and we would be prepared, if necessary, to pursue sanctions."

Related: Chinese Cyber Attacks Trigger US MIDLIFE Crisis


Follow Shannon Hayden on Twitter: @ShannonKHayden
Read More >>

Read More

White kid builds nuclear reactor and Homeland Security offers help

A Muslim teenager built a simple clock out of electronic components and took it to show his engineering teacher at school — but he was arrested when another teacher thought it looked like a bomb and alerted administrators.

Police in Irving, Texas, never suspected the device was an explosive device and did not alert the bomb squad, but they still arrested 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed because he could offer no “broader explanation” for his clock besides describing it as a device that measures time.

When another 14-year-old boy built a nuclear reactor at his parents’ home he was invited to meet with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Energy — who offered their expert assistance, equipment and encouragement to apply for a research grant.

READ MORE: The mayor of Ahmed Mohamed’s town is a well-known conservative folk hero for fighting fake Muslim ‘threats’

Taylor Wilson, who is white, entered his nuclear fusion reactor five years ago in a series of science fairs that eventually won him a trip to Switzerland, where he toured the Large Hadron Collider — the world’s largest particle accelerator.

Wilson, now 21 years old, later won $50,000 at a science fair for an anti-terrorism device he invented that can detect nuclear materials in cargo containers.
He demonstrated that device to President Barack Obama at another science fair organized at the

White House.
The president also invited Mohamed to visit him at the White House after the Muslim teen’s story sparked national outrage over an apparent double standard.

A black Florida teen was arrested and expelled in April 2013 after her science fair experiment, which involved mixing toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a plastic water bottle, created a chemical reaction that resulted in a firecracker-like “pop” and some smoke.

The reaction caused no injuries or damage, but the principal of Bartown High School feared the device had violated school policies.

Police charged Kiera Wilmot, then 16, with possession and discharge of a weapon on school grounds and with discharging a destructive device.

The honors student was eventually cleared of charges and went to the U.S. Space Academy after a NASA veteran heard about her story and paid for scholarships for Wilmot and her twin sister.
Watch Taylor Wilson discuss his nuclear reactor in this TED Talk:

Read More >>

Read More