Prompted by newspaper report today of joint Russian/US Syrian mission supposedly announced by Russia–cite not given because the Brit newspaper does not give a referencable cite.
But the question is begged. In the query, “public joint” mission means
let people see the hardware, troops, and mission, ie, not a shadow take-down/elimination of a mutually desired target (e.g., some Chechen terrorist with eyes on US targets as well is handled by FSS and CIA)
…1a) And if so, led by someone with a national or supra-national identity (“coalition”)
Not, as heretofore in Syria, simultaneous operations that depending on target, time of day, and political atmosphere are announced as being “in mutual interest,” or something like that.
(For that matter, for the life of me I can’t remember what the Russian status was in “The Coalition of the Willing,” of the Gulf War, which was, after all, enormous, at all political and even force-supplying levels.)
ETA: I have the distinct feeling this was asked in GQ not so long ago–but perhaps it was specifically framed for WWII…
Well, here, for the historically curious, is the cite to the original quickie item in today’s Daily Mail, published with an update when I first posted, citeless and unelaborated.
And here, to the newspaper’s credit, sort of, is “the” article (when does an update or correction make an entirely different news item?–deep waters not for GQ) following an update just nowish a few hours later, with a new hed, new subheds, more detail on the very fact of the first article (or its brethren today), with cites to US DOD, with the exact opposite statement–no joint mission/you’re out of your mind–the report expanded with politics of Russian “propaganda” and what not.
But the OP GQ query is still begged, so all of that is in this context irrelevant, although “propaganda,” like “coalition,” is bound up with any military event.
The Russians and the US had differing aims in Kosovo and the airport confrontation was real, but in fact they both sent troops to prevent civil war in Kosovo. That counts as a joint military operation.
ITYM James Blunt. The Soviet Union and America cooperated on several space missions. And Russia and America routinely cooperate on ISS missions, often with military officers.