Bajwa.

This is coolbert:

Also from the latest edition of the DEBKAfile newsletter:

"New Pakistan chief of staff takes command in orderly process"

27 November.

"Gen. Omar Javed Bajwa took command of Pakistan's armed forces Sunday after his appointment by Prime Minister Sharif Nawad. He takes over from Gen. Raheel Sharif, who was popular in Pakistan and the Arab world. This was the first changeover of military command in Pakistan in 20 years that was not accompanied by political or military upsets."

An orderly process for the first time in twenty years!!

PAKISTAN A NUCLEAR POWER. ANY AND ALL COMPROMISE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS THE PREVENTION OF WHICH BY WHATEVER PARTY I MIGHT THINK MOST HIGH ON THE AGENDA OF THE NEW PAKISTANI CHIEF OF STAFF!

AT LEAST I MIGHT LIKE TO THINK SO!

coolbert.

Ka-52 Egypt.

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Yet more from the latest edition of the DEBKAfile newsletter:

Psssst! It is a secret!!

Egypt enters the Syrian fray!! War by proxy!

"Egyptian pilots flying Russian choppers in Syria"

26 November.

"Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi's secret decision to intervene militarily in the Syrian war on the side of the Syrian President Bashar Assad is revealed here . . . The precise details of that intervention vary from source to source. According to one version, a group of Egyptian helicopter pilots landed secretly a few days ago at the Syrian Air Force base in Hama and were pressed at once into service for strikes against Syrian rebel forces. Some sources describe the Egyptian flight crews as taking over the cockpits of Russian attack/reconnaissance Kamov Ka-52 helicopters, with which they were familiar, having trained on them since the end of 2015. Others say that the Egyptian airmen flew those helicopters from Egypt to Syria over the eastern Mediterranean. There is also a claim that their arrival was preceded by a preliminary inspection of the Syrian front lines by two major generals from the Egyptian general staff operations division, who later submitted their recommendations to the Egyptian president. Others say the Egyptian generals headed a military delegation, which has set up a permanent mission in Damascus. But every one of those sources agrees that, one way or another, Egypt has secretly entered the Syrian war in support of the Bashar regime a development which has raised a firestorm in Arab capitals."

THAT CIVIL WAR IN SYRIA WITHOUT A DOUBT [?] THAT MOST COMPLICATED CONFLICT IN THE HISTORY OF ALL MANKIND? THE VARIOUS MULTIPLICITY OF FACTIONS ON THE GROUND AND IN THE AIR IMMENSE. TO INCLUDE NOW EGYPTIAN PROXIES!

Also do not discount that an Islamic nation [Egypt] predominantly Sunni providing support to suppress an insurgency by Sunni rebels whose goal is to topple a Shia ruled regime.

coolbert.

Fidel.

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Here begins a series of blog entries, extracts with commentary from the latest edition of the DEBKAfile newsletter.

"Fidel Castro is dead. He sent Cuban troops to fight Israel on Golan front"

26 November.

"Fidel Castro, the controversial revolutionary leader who ruled Cuba for 49 years [?], has died at the age of 90, Cuban state television announced. He rose to power in 1959 after a coup d'etat and transformed Cuba into the first communist country in the Western Hemisphere, only handing over to his brother Raul in 2008 . . . . Castro's sympathy for the Arab world's war on Israel in the last decades of the past century has never made waves. In fact, he sent Cuban troops to fight with the Syrian army against Israel on the Golan front in 1973 shortly after the Yom Kippur war. The Russians airlifted a Cuban brigade from Angola to southern Syria to take part in the Syrian war of attrition against Israel. The Cubans were there for three months"

Cubans in Syria? On the Golan Heights? An entire brigade of them? For a period of time a Cuban army of conquest to be found in various parts of the world. Proxies for the old Soviet Union involved in Cold War machinations.

Reports of Cubans even in Syria as of this exact moment fighting on the side of Assad not be discounted either.

coolbert.

Absalon.

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Gladio CIA style!

Sweden and Finland [?] too during that period of the Cold War having stay-behind Gladio units BUT AS ORGANIZED AND SUPPORTED BY THE AMERICAN CIA!! Sub rosa not done under NATO auspices. CIA secret measures known by the code name [?] of Absalon.

As seen at the wiki from the memoirs of William Colby:

"'The situation in each Scandinavian country was different. Norway and Denmark were NATO allies, Sweden held to the neutrality that had taken her through Two World Wars, and Finland [was] required to defer in its foreign policy to the Soviet power directly on its borders. Thus, in one set of these countries the governments themselves would build their own stay-behind nets, counting on activating them from exile to carry on the struggle. These nets had to be coordinated with NATO's plans, their radios had to be hooked to a future exile location, and the specialized equipment had to be secured from CIA and secretly cached in snowy hideouts for later use. In other set of countries, CIA would have to do the job alone or with, at best, 'unofficial' local help, since the politics of those governments barred them from collaborating with NATO, and any exposure would arouse immediate protest from the local Communist press, Soviet diplomats and loyal Scandinavians who hoped that neutrality or nonalignment would allow them to slip through a World War III unharmed.'" - - W. Colby.

See the various wiki entries the topic in each case Gladio units:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio#Denmark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio#Sweden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio#Finland

coolbert.

Tillsammans.

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Suomi ikuisesti!

This too resembles Gladio?

From MARCONI through Harry an update on the Swedish military and the soon-to-be return to conscription.

  *  "Sweden is using Finnish Volunteers to swell their Armed Forces."

"The news spread that the largest reservist organization in Finland, Reserviläisliitto, offered to help Sweden re-build their Army again."

". . . rebuilding dismantled capabilities will take years, and as such the situation is [similar to] as when Estonia had to rebuild their defense forces from scratch following their restoration of independence."

FINNISH VOLUNTEERS NOT NECESSARILY JOINING THE SWEDISH MILITARY BUT PROVIDING AID AND ASSISTANCE FOR THE SWEDE. THAT GOAL TO FORM AN ADEQUATE AND PREPARED RESERVE FORCE?

COLLECTIVE NORDIC SECURITY WITHOUT NEEDING NATO OR AN EUROPEAN ARMY!

Until relatively recently a rather significant portion of the Finnish population spoke Swedish! This is still true?

The Finnish soldier as rated by Sir John Keegan the BEST combatant of the Second World Two. The tradition continues?

Norden tillsammans = Nordics together!

coolbert.

Kaitseliit.

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Gladio by another name?

Estonian Defense League a quasi-military organization as currently being trained and ready for action.  As reported by the New York Times.

My instantaneous thought was Gladio!


"Spooked by Russia, Tiny Estonia Trains a Nation of Insurgents"

"The Estonian Defense League . . . requires its 25,400 volunteers to turn out occasionally for weekend training sessions that have taken on a serious hue since Russia’s incursions in Ukraine two years ago"

"Estonia, a NATO member with a population of 1.3 million people and a standing army of about 6,000, would not stand a chance in a conventional war with Russia. But two armies fighting on an open field is not Estonia’s plan"

"Estonia has stepped up training for members of the Estonian Defense League, teaching them how to become insurgents, right down to the making of improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.s"

TO WHAT EXTENT IF ANY IS THIS BEING DONE UNDER NATO COMMAND? TO WHAT EXTENT DOES A GLADIO TYPE ORGANIZATION STILL EXIST WITHIN NATO?

The Estonian realizing their own conventional military as is constituted no match for the Russian. BUT an insurgent and guerrilla warfare organization already in place and trained a much more serious matter. Dissuade the Russian from any action to begin with!

DEFENSE! KAITSELIT!

coolbert.

Frigates.

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As seen at Freeper:

"Romania Orders Sigma Light Frigates"

"BUCHAREST, Romania --- The Romanian Government has ordered four Sigma class light frigates for the Romanian Navy at a cost of $1.1 billion. The new ships will be built under license at the Damen Shipyards in Galati [Romanian]. According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense in Bucharest, 'The project provides for the purchase of four corvettes multi-role with a minimum lifespan of 30 years which can be extended by successive upgrades.'"

My observations:

* These warships relatively cheap? Labor costs in Romanian shipyards are low?

* Must last for a minimum of thirty years.

* Designed from the start with upgrades in mind.

It is a surprise [?] that a nation possessing only was is normally perceived as a very modest industrial capability is able to design and build and put to sea sophisticated naval vessels such as these Sigma class frigates?

Consider these warships a good possible for an export item too!

coolbert.