All The Way To The Bank.

Iraq, "suddenly" (not really) experienced an urgent desire to buy S-300 complexes from Russia. As RIA reports:

Багдад возобновил переговоры с Москвой о покупке зенитных комплексов С-300, сообщил РИА Новости глава комитета по обороне и безопасности парламента Ирака Мухаммад Рида. Он отметил, что этот вопрос должен был решиться давно..."Мы ожидаем противодействия со стороны США в этом вопросе", — добавил Рида.

Translation: Baghdad resumed negotiations with Moscow on buying S-300 air-defense complexes was reported to RIA by Chair of Committee on Defense and Security of Iraq's Parliament Mohammad Rhida. He pointed out that this issue was supposed to be solved long time ago. "We expect opposition from the United States in this issue", --added Rhida. 

Say it ain't so, Mr. Rhida. No way this could be true, after all the operation for "freeing" Iraq was titled "Iraqi Freedom", not "Iraqi Occupation", right? Nah, I am being facetious. Rhida goes further and states that the share of Russian equipment in the Iraqi Armed Forces should be greater than 50%, because Russian technology is less expensive (cough, cough). Mr. Rhida, you may be in for an "attitude adjustment" program. You know, how the US does this "adjustment"--with drones and missile strikes, some of them very close and personal. Of course, as was predicted, Russia will be laughing all the way to the bank. Modern precision guided, stand-off missile paradigm, if one discounts very exotic and extremely expensive and advanced weapon systems such as Peresvet, calls for OTHER missiles to intercept a variety of the incoming missile weapons such as yesterday Iran's strike on US bases in Iran. S-300PMU2 Favorit is designed specifically for this task. Of course, there are such things as S-300V4 which are capable of dealing with anything out there, including hyper-sonic targets, but this one, for now, stays in Russia. 

I totally expect Saudis and other Gulfies have the same urge as Iraqis have now to buy all those juicy Russian AD/AM complexes and, I am absolutely sure, Russia, who currently procures S-500, Peresvet and some other new-physics systems for her own defense, will gladly accommodate desires, for appropriate price, of course, of many clients who partook in the operational concepts preached by Russia. Meanwhile, there is a scandal, of sorts, in the US Congress, because legislators are highly unsatisfied with "briefing" on the issue of General Soleimani's assassination. I am surprised with this dissatisfaction--wasn't it the same US Congress which stamped (approvingly) uncritically every single insane act since 911 and continues to do so today, not least through destroying all relations with Russia. So, my question is--what's the point if one lying body in US politics (Administration) will not "brief" properly the other collection of liars (US Congress) who, as a majority, do not know shit from Shinola anyway. I stand by my analogy of US political class being reminiscent of the headless chicken running like crazy in circles for a few seconds more before collapsing. 

Yesterday, and today, by refusing any negotiations with the United States because of sanctions, Iran clearly showed the limits of US, grossly exaggerated, power. The United States will continue to sanction anything Russian (yes, US Congress will continue to do so), but as in that timeless saying: the dog barks, the caravan passes on. I am writing for years that Pax Americana was built around mythology of the American military power. Well, the US is still militarily powerful but not, if one discounts US massive nuclear arsenal, in the paradigm of modern conventional warfare which is fast, precise, deadly and very long range. The US ignored this paradigm shift since 1980s and as a result experiences, since, 2008 one permanent Suez Moment--and that is not an easy pill to swallow. But, hey, there is always a Hollywood--I heard Top Gun-2 comes out soon, if you know what I mean.