The Conservative Cave

Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: Ptarmigan on November 03, 2015, 10:09:07 PM

Title: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: Ptarmigan on November 03, 2015, 10:09:07 PM
Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/11/03/bloody-sinai-russian-plane-crash-puts-spotlight-on-lawless-region/?intcmp=hplnws

Quote
The Russian passenger plane that went down in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday has shined a spotlight on the rugged and lawless Egyptian region on the northern shore of the Red Sea, where terrorists from two continents gather and weapons of all kinds are bought and sold.

Weapons from small arms to shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles are bought and sold in clandestine auctions attended by shadowy buyers who arrive by caravan, according to regional sources. Plundered caches from Libya, Gaza-bound shipments from Iran and weaponry from a roster of bad actors exchange hands in the desert where Moses is believed to have wandered with the children of Israel for 40 years.

“The region is awash in weapons,” said Scott Stewart, the vice president for tactical analysis at the STRATFOR, a Texas-based global intelligence firm, noting everything from heavy weaponry and artillery rockets are trafficked through the area.

Could Metrojet Flight 9268 crash be a terrorist act? Sinai Peninsula is a hotbed for terrorism.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on November 03, 2015, 10:32:55 PM
The southern half of it is very sparsely populated and very difficult to get around, even in a chopper, the terrain is alot like a bunch of shark jaws stacked together.  The Arabs (Whom the Egyptians despise) living there are notorious smugglers, it's been their way of life for centuries, and only the goods have changed.  They're pretty much the lawless Islamic cutthroats they've been for all that time.  There aren't really any towns to speak of, the population is spread out very thinly up the wadis.  You can tell you're in a heavily vegetated part if you can see more than a dozen camelthorn trees (which would be in one of the wider wadis, since nothing grows on the rock crags that loom over them), though way back up the wadis there are a few places where there are springs and a few date palms, but nothing like the expansive Sahara oases like you might see in a movie.  On some schedule known only to themselves, the Arabs get together in surprisingly large numbers for market purposes.  I swear they were auctioning off girls at one such gathering we encountered there on a patrol.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: txradioguy on November 04, 2015, 06:49:53 AM
The southern half of it is very sparsely populated and very difficult to get around, even in a chopper, the terrain is alot like a bunch of shark jaws stacked together.  The Arabs (Whom the Egyptians despise) living there are notorious smugglers, it's been their way of life for centuries, and only the goods have changed.  They're pretty much the lawless Islamic cutthroats they've been for all that time.  There aren't really any towns to speak of, the population is spread out very thinly up the wadis.  You can tell you're in a heavily vegetated part if you can see more than a dozen camelthorn trees (which would be in one of the wider wadis, since nothing grows on the rock crags that loom over them), though way back up the wadis there are a few places where there are springs and a few date palms, but nothing like the expansive Sahara oases like you might see in a movie.  On some schedule known only to themselves, the Arabs get together in surprisingly large numbers for market purposes.  I swear they were auctioning off girls at one such gathering we encountered there on a patrol.

And right in the middle of it is the Multinational Force and Observers of which 2CR is about to be a part of.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on November 04, 2015, 08:13:09 AM
Yeah, I was in the MFO (101st deployment with the Rakkasans in the 80s), however the USBATT sector is along the eastern seacoast between the Straits of Tiran and just short of Eilat, two other nations have the battalion sectors that are actually between Israel/Gaza and Egypt with land on both sides, and the MFO military HQ (With a US logistic support unit of about half the size of an infantry battalion) in the north camp.  Most of the indigenous population is concentrated in the north, along the Med coast, with just a handful of coastal towns (Sharm being the biggest) of the few coastal towns in the US sector.

As far as the plane goes, I expect it was a device snuck into the cargo or an inspection port on the ground at Sharm by one of the locals in the ground crew.  African airport ground operations are pretty sketchy even compared to grass strip county airports in the US.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: BlueStateSaint on November 04, 2015, 01:15:19 PM
And right in the middle of it is the Multinational Force and Observers of which 2CR is about to be a part of.

Well, at least it keeps the Dragoons out of the Russian steamroller's path.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: Lacarnut on November 04, 2015, 10:50:01 PM
If it was an act of terror, I suspect Putin will go after these rag heads with a vengeance. Shame we have a Coward-In-Chief.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: Chris_ on November 04, 2015, 11:11:56 PM
If it was an act of terror, I suspect Putin will go after these rag heads with a vengeance. Shame we have a Coward-In-Chief.
It's a shame some KGB cold-war relic has more sense than our President.  It's truly a sad day for the United States.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: BlueStateSaint on November 05, 2015, 04:31:53 AM
The U. K. Foreign Secretary has said that it's likely that the Metrojet Airbus was brought down with a bomb smuggled onboard.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: txradioguy on November 05, 2015, 06:25:29 AM
Well, at least it keeps the Dragoons out of the Russian steamroller's path.

Yeah but it has the potential to be an "put of the frying pan and into the fire" situation.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: BlueStateSaint on November 06, 2015, 09:36:44 AM
Yeah but it has the potential to be an "put of the frying pan and into the fire" situation.

I know.  They know, as well.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: txradioguy on November 06, 2015, 10:24:21 AM
I know.  They know, as well.

I wish I was getting ready to hit the leather and ride with them.
Title: Re: Stronghold for terror: Russian plane crash puts spotlight on lawless Sinai
Post by: Lacarnut on November 06, 2015, 10:03:34 PM
I wish I was getting ready to hit the leather and ride with them.

I wish they would get out along with the rest of the American troops in the M.E. Let these savages kill each other. Many of the rag heads hate us and trying  to civilize these different factions is an impossibility.