Russia's military involvement in Syria has not only shifted the balance of power in the region and "spread panic throughout the ranks" of extremist militants, but also demonstrated the incredible capabilities of the Russian Army in situations of real warfare, French intellectual and journalist Thierry Meyssan underscores.
"The Pentagon is now divided between those who tend to minimize the facts while attempting to find a weakness in the Russian system, and those who, on the contrary, consider that the United States have lost their superiority in terms of conventional warfare, and that it will take long years before they are able to recover it," the journalist wrote in his article for Voltairenet.org.
"When is the last time you bought a Russian product that wasn't petroleum?" Gates and Rice noted in their article entitled "How America Can Counter Putin's Moves in Syria."
Today the situation is quite different.
The Pentagon's hawks are racking their brain over how has Russia managed to rebuild its defense industry and very high-technology weapons? They are asking themselves whether Moscow has used all its new weapons in Syria or it has another ace up its sleeve.
"The confusion in Washington is so great that the White House has cancelled the official visit by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and a delegation of the Russian Chief of Staff… Furious, the 'liberal hawks' and the neo-conservatives are demanding a re-launch of the military budget, and have succeeded in stopping the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan," Meyssan emphasized.
Instead it "should be understood for what they actually reveal — the fact that the Pentagon did not know the terrain. It had become deaf and blind," he stressed.
Meyssan referred to the infamous incident with the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea which occurred on April 12, 2014.
The French journalist suggested that "the Russian Air Force has at its disposition a weapon which enables it to jam all radars, all control circuits, all systems for the transmission of information, etc."
Since the beginning of its military deployment in Syria, "Russia installed a jamming center at Hmeymim" which has been working with a perimeter of 300 kilometers, Meyssan believes.
"According to the Romanian expert Valentin Vasilescu, Russia has installed several Krasukha-4, equipped its planes with SAP-518/ SPS-171 jamming equipment (like the plane that overflew the USS Donald Cook), and its helicopters with the Richag-AV system. Besides this, it is using the spy-ship Priazovye (Project 864 Vishnya class, to use NATO terminology), in the Mediterranean," the French journalist narrated.
Launched from the Caspian Sea, Russia's missiles crossed Iranian and Iraqi air space at an altitude from 50 to 100 meters (depending on the terrain). Unlike US missiles, none of Russia's Kalibers were lost.
"At the same time, this salvo demonstrated the waste of the incredible sums of money spent on the useless 'anti-missile shield' built by the Pentagon around Russia —even though it was officially intended for protection against Iranian launch sites," the French journalist noted with unconcealed sarcasm.
The Russian military campaign is bearing fruit: according to Meyssan, at least 5,000 jihadists have been killed, including several leaders of Ahrar el-Sham, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, while at least 10,000 mercenaries have fled to Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. Meanwhile, Syrian government forces are gaining ground in the region.
The question remains open "whether or not Russia will be authorized to finish its job by pursuing the jihadists who have found refuge in Turkey, Iraq and Jordan," Meyssan added.
