Saturday, March 31, 2018

Useful AR15

UPDATE: 911 Audio Released of Man Who Shot 3 Home Intruders with An AR-15

Marine Corps Veteran Pens Open Letter to David Hogg

Marine Corps Veteran Pens Open Letter to David Hogg
Nice direct approach to the kid. Not that he'll read it or care one bit. He's on a roll as a famous public speaker and fantastic mouthpiece for antigun people. And the media are enabling him very enthusiastically. We can only hope this dies down soon, but it won't be due to him shutting up at all. --Del

Non-PC


Abortion Princess?

Pro-Gun Personality Has Golden Response to Demands for Liberal Disney Princesses
excerpt: It’s a rare event that Planned Parenthood admits even it has crossed a line. That’s what one of its affiliates was forced to do after posting a tweet saying it was time for a Disney princess who had an abortion. According to The Washington Post, Planned Parenthood Keystone hasn’t apologized for the tweet, which also said that it was high time Disney had a pro-choice princess, a trans princess, an illegal immigrant princess and a union member princess.

Friday, March 30, 2018

Random Thoughts for April


Random Thoughts for April, 2018.
By Robert A. Hall
Feel free to post or forward.

When the time comes, refuse the blindfold.

The Duke of Wellington said, “Whatever the provocation, one’s letters should show no severity or asperity, just a plain and short abstract statement of the facts.” Good advice for politicians today.

In any fair accounting, toilet paper and paper towels would be listed among the inventions that made civilization possible.

I think the saying, “The cure is worse than the disease” originated with federal bureaucrats.

We are all taking a course entitled, “Life101.” I hear the final is a killer.

Progressives believe we should be understanding and culturally sensitive to Muslim fanatics who rape and kill. But if you make one flirtatious or non-PC remark….

Multi-tasking is over-rated, which is why so many individuals using phones to talk or text while driving have accidents. Killing a child is not funny.

Recently some historically-ignorant person in Seattle called to report a Confederate Flag flying in their neighborhood. It was a Norwegian flag. This points up why getting rid of the Confederate battle flag and monuments is a bad idea. In 50 years, will people know what they stood for, or why my great grandfather fought through the war, and was wounded twice, putting down the slave power? Besides, what were the authorities to do? Take it down because it offended someone? Well, gay pride and black power flags offend some folks too. Should the government ban them too? This is why we have the first amendment. If you don’t defend speech you hate, you are not for freedom of speech. Hans and Sophie Scholl died for it.

There are some other factors, but mostly your weight, good or bad, is the result of choices you have made. So is your life.

I suspect the hardest part of becoming a medical professional is learning to say all the drug names.

America did not become exceptional because of Congress, but in spite of it.

All men are equal in the eyes of God and in the men’s room.

I hear Hollywood is making a new movie about the Alamo. In it, Travis, Bowie and Crocket are Alt-Right White Supremacists fighting to stop peaceful Mexicans from coming here to find a better life.

According to a column by Josh Kraushaar, quoted in The Week magazine, “The California Democratic Party even voted last week not to endorse Senator Dianne Feinstein, deeming her too moderate.” Let that sink in.

If you are listening to a song, and you can understand the words, it’s one that hasn’t been popular in years.

Chicago used to be called, the Second City. Now it might better be called, The Mess in the Middle.

Ugly? Try a tattoo or face piercing to distract viewers eyes. Works the same for attractive people.

Smart Phones and Facebook make people think they have a social life.

If AI makes the robots self-aware, will they demand healthcare, vacations, and $15 per hour?

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired by Trump on Twitter. Classy, huh. Of course, Tillerson was reported saying that “Trump is a moron.” Interesting he had to work there to find that out. Since Trump first came to my attention bragging in the papers about cheating on his first wife (a habit he can’t seem to break), at that time he was a NY liberal, anti-gun. 100% pro-life, for big government, for the “Dreamers,” I’ve held that opinion for 25 years. Will Tillerson now write a book, “Working for the Moron?” Interesting that his replacement is also economically-literate, thus against tariffs.

Trump supports have a clear ideology. If Trump says it, it’s true. If he says the opposite tomorrow, that’s also true. If Trump is for it, it’s right and conservative. Regardless of what conservatives believed in the past. This, to me, is the definition of RINO.

When someone says to a Marine, “I almost joined the Marine Corps,” I think the proper response is, “I almost respect you.”

I wonder what Darwin would say about opioid overdose deaths?

In response to a post about a fake veteran “hero.”: “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then claiming to be something you're not is the sincerest admission of inadequacy.” Lt. Col. Tom Kratman USA (Ret) and excellent author of military science fiction.

(About School Choice): When I read articles like this, I have only one question: you say you want an excellent education for your child, but what are you bringing to the table? Without the parental commitment, all you can ensure is more trouble, more cost, and a low likelihood of value added...to the detriment of the others. –George.

I see that Holy Cross College has dropped their mascot, “The Crusader,” in deference to Muslims, the first and biggest religious crusaders, who tried to overrun Europe many times, and now may have succeed. My I suggest in substitute, “The Total Loss from Holy Cross”?

Some people put up with their adult kids pissing in their mouths so they can maintain contact with their grandkids, hoping they can help them turn out better.

If you buy your clothing a size too big, everyone will think you lost weight.

Bumper Sticker on a Texas SUV: It would be nice if closed minds came with closed mouths.

I found a novel by the great George V. Higgins that I had missed called “Outlaws.” He has one of his characters say that the only people bored in retirement are boring people. Yup.

Food manufacturers apparently think that if you put enough sugar and salt in it, anything will taste good.

So, is premediated sin worse than spontaneous sin? Asking for a friend.

“Gun Free Zone” is liberal speak for “Target Rich Environment.”

If all Second Amendment Supporters converted to Islam or claimed a new race or gender, liberals would insist the government give them free guns.

Some persons try to time the market when they can’t even time bananas.

If they tell me I’m dying, and thus can eat anything I want, they’re going to need a big coffin.

Is it just me or are both parties doubling down on crazy?

I hear global warming is getting so bad that Hollywood Celebrities are downsizing to 50,000 sf homes, getting new yachts under 300 feet and using the private jet only twice a week, to cut carbon.

The way he’s going through Republicans, I expect to be in the Trump Administration next year. For about three weeks.

I take enough pills every day to cure the Russian army of trench foot.

If you pray, pray for self-discipline. Nothing is more correlated with a successful life. If your kids or grandkids need it, they can get it at Parris Island.

There’s nothing you eat that doesn’t have a study showing that it’s bad for you.

If the Democrats win control of the Congress in 2018, they will discover that Obama’s expansion of the use of executive orders to bypass congress will come back to haunt them.

Believing and Knowing are not the same thing.
           
Get the collection! My “Random Thoughts” from 2008 through July, 2013 are collected in this book: The Old Jarhead's Journal: Random Thoughts on Life, Liberty, and Leadership by Robert A. Hall
The Old Jarhead’s Journal is a collection of Random Thoughts on politics and life and Conservative Political Essays, mostly published on the author’s blog, including the essay “I’m Tired” which went viral on the Internet in 2009, “The Hall Platform,” “This I Believe,” and “Why I’m a Republican.” While they will be of interest to conservative thinkers, they are collected here in book form as a service to readers who wish to give a copy to favorite liberals and watch their heads explode. All royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

*****

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1304815980andsr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com. He currently works part-time as a writer-editor in the My Life, My Story program as the Madison VA hospital, interviewing vets and writing up their life histories.

The Fourth Ape


China

CHINA: According to WORLD’s June Cheng, authorities are forcibly closing Bafu Christian School in Beijing and have arrested the church pastor who started the school. Says China Aid’s Bob Fu, “Forty riot police showed up taking the tables and bookshelves and throwing them out on the street. They barred entrance to the school, and parents and church members ‘protested’ by singing hymns outside the school.” Earlier, Fu gave the BBC an overview of China’s crackdown, “a new kind of Cultural Revolution under President Xi.” --Mindy Beltz, Globe Trot

France

FRANCE: Here’s a lesson in why straight reporting is better than politically correct reporting. On Tuesday French authorities charged two men, a Muslim neighbor and his homeless friend, in the death of Jewish Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old grandmother stabbed 11 times and burned in her apartment last Friday. On Wednesday The New York Times reported on thousands turning out for her funeral. It mentioned the suspects as a neighbor and a homeless friend, and said, “French authorities have suggested that Ms. Knoll might have been the target of a theft that escalated, for reasons that remain unclear.” Accurate details of the neighbor, well known to Knoll’s family, already had been widely reported in French and Israeli media. The NYT account downplays why French authorities are treating it as one in a string of anti-Semitic killings. Also failure to ID alleged killers makes it awkward also to report good turns: At her funeral an Israeli reporter spotted Lassana Bathily, the African-born Muslim man who hid Jewish victims inside a kosher grocery store during the 2015 Paris terror attacks. Donning a yarmulke, Bathily took a seat on the back row and later was crowded by Jews wanting to thank him. --Mindy Beltz

Why Do Taxi Drivers Racially Profile, While Uber And Lyft Drivers Don't? It's Called The Free Market Working.

Why Do Taxi Drivers Racially Profile, While Uber And Lyft Drivers Don't? It's Called The Free Market Working.

The Dissapperaed

THE DISAPPEARED: China’s global kidnapping campaign has gone on for years. It may now be reaching inside U.S. borders.
I think many people find it difficult to understand that some governments really have no morals other than whatever serves their goals. Human rights, justice, international law, none of that really comes into the calculations of what to do and how to do it. It certainly can be very effective in achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. I wonder how far this is going to go before there's some kind of break point. --Del

Dear Parkland Activists: You Admit to Bullying the Shooter, But Have the Gall to Blame Guns and the NRA?

Dear Parkland Activists: You Admit to Bullying the Shooter, But Have the Gall to Blame Guns and the NRA?

then & Now


Facebook Memo

Facebook Memo

Florida Shooter


Trusted


Army mulls tougher basic training for out-of-shape, undisciplined recruits

Army mulls tougher basic training for out-of-shape, undisciplined recruits
Time to adapt to what we have... And what we have are not the young men of 1941, or even the young men of 1965, we have a seriously different distribution of physical conditions, emotional delicacy, and mental resilience. Sending unprepared men into combat is guaranteed to get a whole lot of them killed and also the failure to achieve whatever the objective was. War is a tough, unforgiving business, and no place of those without good physical capacities or disciplined mindset. Even in other functions, military discipline is a critical element, without it things don't run well at all, and we've seen far too many examples of that in the past several years. Let's hope this kind of approach will be successful in getting people into shape both physically and mentally. Tough training washes out people now, the Marines lose a significant fraction of those who enlist during their basic training, and doubtless the other services will as well when they tighten up the training. Better to lose them from training than have them get themselves or others killed in combat, or turn into bad soldiers, like Manning was. --Del

Thursday, March 29, 2018

You're Fired


Italy

Italian anti-terror police arrest man accused of links to Isis
Excerpt: He is suspected of attempting to spread similar propaganda at the cultural association of which he was president, and where he was in charge of teaching religious lessons to children as young as 4 years old, according to La Repubblica. Secret recordings caught him telling youngsters to attack "unbelievers" with swords and bombs, the newspaper said.

Woman, 24, fights for life after being ambushed and stabbed by three child Syrian refugees who followed her after arguing with her at a supermarket in Germany

Woman, 24, fights for life after being ambushed and stabbed by three child Syrian refugees who followed her after arguing with her at a supermarket in Germany
Diverse enough, Yet? ~Bob

Cathedral ransacked by Islamic State-linked extremists cancels Easter celebrations

Cathedral ransacked by Islamic State-linked extremists cancels Easter celebrations

https://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Cathedral-ransacked-by-Islamic-State-linked-extremists-cancels-Easter-celebrations

Gun Owner


NRA donations tripled after Parkland, Florida shooting

NRA donations tripled after Parkland, Florida shooting
Isn't this interesting? After the FL massacre the screaming about the NRA having blood on its hands got a response the antigun people didn't think of.... donations to the NRA tripled! Also, a bunch of new people joined. Not everyone is fooled by the media hype. --Del

David J. Shulkin: Privatizing the V.A. Will Hurt Veterans

David J. Shulkin: Privatizing the V.A. Will Hurt Veterans

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Church in Vietnam

After the fall. Relatively free in the cities but persecuted in the countryside, the church in Vietnam has grown rapidly in grace and numbers

Remember When?


Israel

'Rise and Kill First': Israel's History of Targeted Killing

Vietnam

Redemptorists reach out to neglected Vietnam War veterans
This excellent article is three years old now, and the government has been pressuring the Redemptorists heavily since then, forcing them to relocate active priests away from the Saigon center and generally harassing them. On my last visit the police told my VN contacts that if I went to visit the Redemptorist center they would work to find all our workers and shut us down. They even take photographs of those who visit the center and keep records on them. This is why the charity I help with has to keep a very low profile. We still manage to get money over there and distributed by hand to the needy. Every bit of help we get is appreciated. -Del
Vietnam Healing Foundation

Marine Obi


https://cache.legacy.net/legacy/images/Cobrands/CentreDaily/Photos/03584140_5312009.jpgCaptain Jessica S. Conkling June 28, 1981 - May 5, 2009. Captain Jessica S. Conkling, U.S. Marine Corps, died Tuesday, May 5, 2009, near San Diego. Captain Conkling was on a night-time training mission in a Super Cobra helicopter when it went down in the Cleveland National Forest. Conkling and fellow pilot Captain Aaron D. Cox, who was also killed, were training for an upcoming deployment. Jessica Conkling was born in State College, Pa., on June 28, 1981. She was a 1999 graduate of State College Area High School. She graduated from The Pennsylvania State University in 2001 with a B.S. degree in hotel, restaurant and institutional management. Jessica was a member of the crew team while at Penn State. She worked as a manager for Houston's Restaurants in New York City and in Phoenix, Arizona before joining the Marines. She attended Officer's Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in December 2004. After completing the Basic School in Quantico, Jessica began flight training at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Florida. She flew the T34C "Turbo Mentor" aircraft and the TH-57 "Sea Ranger" helicopter during the flight training program. She was promoted to first lieutenant in December 2006. In June 2007, she was awarded her Wings of Gold and was designated an unrestricted naval aviator. Jessica then reported to the Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Calif., for further pilot training in the AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter. Upon completion of the training, she joined Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267. In July 2008, she was deployed to Okinawa, Japan, as part of the Aviation Combat Element of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Jessica was promoted to captain in January 2009 and rejoined her squadron at Camp Pendleton upon completion of the deployment. Captain Conkling's personal decorations include the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. Jessica is survived by her father, Thomas W. Conkling; her mother, Saralee Conkling; her sister, Amy L. Bennett; and her brother, Thomas S. Conkling. Captain Conkling was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on May 22, 2009. Gifts in memory of Jessica may be made to the Penn State Libraries at 510 Paterno Library, University Park, PA 16802. Donated funds will be used to purchase culinary and military books in Jessica's honor, as these were her two great passions.

Mass Shootings

Data on mass shootings at school don't live up to the hysteria
All horrible tragedies, but are they the greatest danger to surviving high school? Let's check on suicides, drug overdoses, murders outside school, and accidents. --Del

Protecting Schools

Protecting Schools the Israeli Way

FBI

American who escaped Al Qaeda captivity says FBI, under Mueller and Comey, betrayed him

Assault weapons


Gun confiscation in Massachusetts

BREAKING NEWS: Seventy-Two Killed Resisting Gun Confiscation In Massachusetts.

National Guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned assault weapons were ambushed by elements of a Para-military extremist faction. Military and law enforcement sources estimate that 72 were killed and more than 200 injured before government forces were compelled to withdraw.
Speaking after the clash, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction, which was made up of local citizens, has links to the radical right-wing tax protest movement.

Gage blamed the extremists for recent incidents of vandalism directed against internal revenue offices. The governor, who described the group’s organizers as “criminals,” issued an executive order authorizing the summary arrest of any individual who has interfered with the government’s efforts to secure law and order.

The military raid on the extremist arsenal followed wide-spread refusal by the local citizenry to turn over recently outlawed assault weapons.

Gage issued a ban on military-style assault weapons and ammunition earlier in the week. This decision followed a meeting in early this month between government and military leaders at which the governor authorized the forcible confiscation of illegal arms.

One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that “none of these people would have been killed had the extremists obeyed the law and turned over their weapons voluntarily.”

Government troops initially succeeded in confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons and ammunition. However, troops attempting to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with resistance from heavily-armed extremists who had been tipped off regarding the government’s plans.

During a tense standoff in the Lexington town park, National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander of the government operation, ordered the armed group to surrender and return to their homes. The impasse was broken by a single shot, which was reportedly fired by one of the right-wing extremists.
Eight civilians were killed in the ensuing exchange.

Ironically, the local citizenry blamed government forces rather than the extremists for the civilian deaths. Before order could be restored, armed citizens from surrounding areas had descended upon the guard units. Colonel Smith, finding his forces over matched by the armed mob, ordered a retreat.
Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support the state/national joint task force in its effort to restore law and order. The governor also demanded the surrender of those responsible for planning and leading the attack against the government troops.

Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, who have been identified as “ringleaders” of the extremist faction, remain at large
.
And this fellow Americans, is how the American Revolution began, April 20, 1775.

History. Study it, or repeat it.

Nigeria

Nigerian Christians call for abducted schoolgirl’s freedom

Poverty Pimps

Millionaire poverty pimps fight 'income inequality.' There’s a reason Washington D.C. is the most unequal city in the country. By Daniel Greenfield
Don't you love it when the hypocrisy of the cadre vanguard is revealed. The dachas and wealth of these appratchiks would neither be relinquished nor taxed under a new regime. But they would be happy to go after your property to distribute to others they deem more worthy. Worded well in the USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, etc. Could JB Pritzker, would-be governor of Illinois (Madaganistan), be part of this club? Yours truly, Larry Greenberg

On Campus

On Campus, the Barbarians Are Inside the Gates
Free Speech is supposed to be free speech that gets protected, and laws of behavior are supposed to be enforced. This gentleman makes a great point about how the really nasty "protesters" (they do a lot more than protest) don't really get taken down by the authorities as the laws say they should. Every single person who shows up in a mask should be immediately arrested and taken away, booked, photographed, fingerprinted, and spend at least the night in jail, not let out without bail, and given a court data. If that gets done regularly, a lot of this would stop. If they show up without masks, the cops should warn them once to make a path, and if they don't the cops then open a path with nightsticks and pepper spray, and arrest those who stayed in the way. The only way you get bullies to stop bullying is to make it both painful and futile. --Del

Britain

The Corrosion of the British Spirit
It's a very sad thing to watch cultures built on good humanitarian (let's not say Judeo-Christian) values allow themselves to be diluted, weakened, devalued in some ways, as what is undercutting them are very different values or lack of values. Saddest of all is the tendency for anyone who raises the least objection, if only to speak up about actual events, to instantly be tarred with the "Far Right" brush, or the racist or phobic brush, and dismissed with disdain. PC intolerance of any dissent is one of the worst things about these times, and its strength does not seem to be waning at all. It's hard to imagine where all this will go over time, but the low birth rate of native Europeans and the high birth rate of the immigrants says there'll be some major demographic shifts in the next 30 years. Will aggressive Islamism grow steadily stronger and influential in many places until descendants of the original population become a discriminated minority? Will it get to be like some places in India, where there were just some deadly riots between Hindus and Muslims, except in Europe it'll be between Muslims and everyone else? Nations divided into hostile fractions don't work out well. Energy goes into conflict instead of constructive efforts. Until someone comes along with the smarter, tougher armed force who takes over from everyone. E.g. Alexander the Great. How did the Brits take over all of India, over decades of time? One sub state at a time, incorporate them, then recruit them to fight alongside you against the next sub state. Over years the dominoes fall, one by one. If I lived anywhere in Europe I'd go to whatever trouble I had to in order to get my hands on guns and ammo, and slowly find some like minded people to associate with. Of course that would make me one of the crazy extreme Right guys.....RJD

Shulkin Out

Trump fires VA Secretary Shulkin and nominates White House doctor Admiral Ronny Jackson to replace him

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Joe Biden's Son Hunter Kicked Out of Navy for Cocaine



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/joe-bidens-son-hunter-kicked-out-navy-cocaine-n227811

Flint

(Democrat) Flint mayor diverted water-crisis money to political PAC, suit says

https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/09/us/flint-mayor-water-crisis-lawsuit/index.html

Pelosi, House Democrats block veterans’ health care bill

Pelosi, House Democrats block veterans’ health care bill

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pelosi-house-democrats-block-veterans-103344318.html

We never drink alone.


It's a complete mystery

FBI can’t figure out motive of Muslim who drove burning minivan full of propane tanks onto Travis Air Force Base

Child sex gang

Child sex gang of seven 'predatory' (Muslim) men who abused girls as young as 13 in a 's*** wagon' with number plate ending 'SHG' are convicted after jury took 24 DAYS to reach their verdict

Pakistan

Pakistani Court Frees 20 People Suspected of Burning Christians Alive in Industrial Kiln for ‘Blasphemy’

Facebook Data

Funny, When Obama Harvested Facebook Data On Millions Of Users To Win In 2012, Everyone Cheered
Nice article, filled with facts, oh boy. Seems like if the Dems do it, it's smart, forward thinking, if any conservative does it, it's a scam, deception, unethical manipulation. But then again, if the Left didn't have a double standard, they have no standards at all. --Del

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Hero Cop

French cop who swapped himself for hostages has died, official says
http://www.foxnews.com/…/french-cop-who-swapped-himself-for…
Excerpt: he French police officer who offered himself up in a hostage swap Friday after an armed man yelling “Allahu akbar” went on a rampage in southern France has died, a report said early Saturday. French President Emmanuel Macron said Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, 44, died after being seriously injured in the attack. Macron said Beltrame "fell as a hero" and "showed exceptional courage."

Another faithful adherent of the Religion of Peace

Former Bay Area resident killed in fiery crash at Travis AFB's main gate identified
Excerpt: FBI agent Sean Ragan said Hafiz Kazi was found dead inside the Kia minivan Wednesday evening shortly after rolling slowly through the main gate of Travis Air Force Base and crashing.

Protest

Chicago Teens Protest Gun Violence by Trashing Wal-Mart

Donation not verified


ID Required


Rocks

School district plans to arm students with rocks as protection against school shooters
You Can't Make This Stuff Up. --Rod

Iran

Iran said to be building military facilities in Syria near to Russian positions. Tehran's gambit is apparently based on assessment that Israel wouldn't dare strike for fear of tangling with Moscow. By AVI ISSACHAROFF
This is very, very troubling. Why would Putin allow his men and materiel to be put at unnecessary risk? If Israel and Russia have not worked out a modus vivendi, if and when Israel strikes at Iran, Russia, caught in crossfire, could be forced to defend itself. If Israel asserts its strategic interests, inadvertently clashing with Russian troops and weapons systems, how would it look to the world and how would Russia respond if little Israel comes out on top? Would Putin risk losing his macho stature? Would he strike back at an Israel that views war as an existential challenge? Is Russia up to a real expeditionary venture if the confrontation continues? How would the Trump administration react?  Does Russia wish to create an Iranian hegemon in the Middle East?  
 
Even if there is no confrontation with Israel, Russia seems unable (perhaps unwilling) to restrain Iranian expansion. It is quite conceivable that after the carnage of the Syrian civil war has subsided, Assad will be nothing more than a satrap (a very old Persian word) of the Shi'ite Islamic empire. Would Russia be content to become a barely tolerated nominal ally, belying its claim to superpower status?
 
Yours truly,
Larry Greenberg