How Not To Do Military Reviews.

Or why amateurs, especially from Western military cultural milieu don't get it. People already posted here somewhere this video of new iteration of a venerable TU-160 Blackjack strategic bomber, TU-160M.

For more than 9 minutes they talk about how great this aircraft is, which it is, especially its new fully computer driven version TU-160M, but when it comes to actual capability of all TU-160s they mention good ol' Kh-15 and this:

Seriously, that's it? "Kh-55 family" with the range of 311 miles (500 kilometers). Really? First, those fanboys, evidently, have no idea that no matter how good and sophisticated TU-160(M) is, and it is, it is a PLATFORM whose combat value is defined by weapons it carries. And sure as hell, even the range of "Kh-55 family", namely Kh-555 cruise missiles (one of many) TU-160 carries is much longer than 500 kilometers. Namely it is 3,500 kilometers. But, of course, TU-160's MAIN strike weapon is Kh-101(102 in nuclear variant) cruise missile whose range is in excess of 4,500 kilometers, while its latest iteration has the range in excess of 6,500 kilometers.  

While reviewers marvel at TU-160 capabilities as platform, they forget the main reason platforms exist and that is to carry and shoot weapons. And here we reach the main point--while all kinds of fanboys, including those who actually did or serve in NATO AF, masturbate to all kinds of impressive things of modern bombers, they forget the main thing: even good ol' non-stealthy, loud, rumbling Bears (TU-95 MCs) with their 1950s design can take off from ANY airfield in Russia and without even leaving Russia's airspace launch a salvo of 6,500 km range cruise missiles at any target in any NATO country, US included. Moreover, even SU-34s are capable now of such strategic strikes. And here is the point--the US is nowhere near to this arsenal. It simply doesn't have anything comparable to Kh-101 (X-101) in its previous or latest variants. 
 

This is the sight, not just the sight of magnificent TU-160s, which gives Pentagon chills, because Russia has many of them, while the US continental Air Defense is an exercise in wishful thinking and futility against salvos of low flying, smart and stealthy Kh-101s. In the end, why do you think venerable B-52s still fly? Good platform if the US gets its hands, maybe, in a distant future, on something like Kh-101M. But don't hold your breath, Russia long ago won the arms race of ranges and, most importantly, air defense. 

P.S. A truckload of Bears also undergo modernization--new navigation-targeting complex and EW for, and you guessed it, Kh-101s. 

Even People With Half-Brain Knew It All Along.

I don't think that MSM revealed anything here that hasn't been known for awhile to anyone with even basic logic. It was a PR sham all along. 

Defector says thousands of Islamic State fighters left Raqqa in secret deal 

  ...he told Reuters in an interview that the number of fighters who were allowed to go was far higher and the account of a last-ditch battle was a fiction designed to keep journalists away while the evacuation took place. He said a U.S. official in the international coalition against Islamic State, whom he did not identify, approved the deal at a meeting with an SDF commander.

Even pathetic neocon rag Newsweek reported on that. What is interesting here is how this whole thing will go with Israel's almost open support for takfiris and with Trump, in effect, declaring Jerusalem a capitol of Israel. I defer it to Colonel Lang who is a professional in the area:

IMO there will be no peace for Israel ... 

One phrase stands out in his piece:

Will the Muslims ever trust the US again to act as an honest broker? Dennis Ross badly damaged our credibility.  Is it completely gone - perhaps forever?  

Syria (after Ukraine), in my very humble opinion, changed not only regional, Middle East, but global dynamics and it is inevitable that many Arabs do turn back to Russia as I type this. In general, Umma seems to be in a rather welcoming mood, once one considers that couple of RUAF (VKS) TU-95 strategic bombers just two days ago were greeted in Indonesia--the largest Muslim nation in the world. So, a lot is going on right now.

Remember what Russia "sells" today--it is not just oil, gas, fighter planes, nuclear power plant, or space stations. Russia's main export today is (geo)political stability--the price of this product cannot be easily calculated in money, albeit monetary, and gigantic at that, value is there too. This is an extremely hot commodity in the world today--from Middle East to Asia-Pacific. It is a dramatic turn of events and there are many buyers for that commodity--some want just part of it, others want a Full Monty. This is how the new world order emerges.