Well, Someone in the Pentagon Can Think beyond Dick Swinging

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The Russians and the US are developing communication protocols in Syria.

I am not talking about some sort of foreign relations touchy feeley crap.  I am talking about about the actual technical protocols to allow Russian and US forces to communicate with each other:

US and Russian fighter pilots communicated directly in the skies over Syria on Tuesday in a successful test of new procedures for avoiding incidents as they pursue separate air campaigns, the Pentagon said.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said the test, carried out between one aircraft from each side over south central Syria, lasted three minutes and “met its intended objective.”

“This test assured that the first time this mode of communication was used would not be during an unplanned encounter,” Davis said.

The United States and Russia signed a “memorandum of understanding” on Oct. 20 aimed at de-conflicting their air operations over Syria, where they are waging parallel air campaigns with different objectives.

………

A US defense official said Tuesday’s test did not amount to joint training with the Russians, as Moscow has described it in a statement.

“We put on hold all military to military cooperation following the onset of Russian aggression in Crimea, and that remains in effect,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Actually, what this means is that someone in the US military has realized best case scenario with all of this is that we don’t have US and Russian forces shooting at each other.

When one considers the facts on the ground:

  • The US is bombing ISIS and supporting al Qaeda affiliated fighters it has labeled “moderates” seeking to overthrow Assad, while supporting the Kurd’s fight against Isis.
  • The Turks bombing the Kurds and supporting both Isis and Al Qaeda affiliated fighters seeking to overthrow Assad.
  • The Saudis supporting both Isis and Al Qaeda affiliated fighters seeking to overthrow Assad.
  • The Russians coordinating airstrikes with the Assad regime against both ISIS the al Qaeda affiliated fighters seeking to overthrow Assad.

It’s a wonder that they haven’t already started shooting at each other, what with all the all the bullets flying in different directions.

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