Syrian Kurds have an "out", it just isn't what they wanted
Our withdrawal from Syria leaves our Kurdish allies in the lurch.
That much the mainstream media gets right.
But the loss of the US presence has renewed worries that Turkey, which regards the SDF's main component, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), may now be preparing to launch an operation to drive the group out of the city of Manbij or further."The latest news has been literally shocking. We didn't only have the threats of being attacked by the Turks but, to top it all, the US decided to leave with no one to replace [them]," said Nour Osou, a 38-year-old resident of Tal Abyad, a town the YPG captured from IS in 2015.
...
"It's unbelievable why it's going this way with the Trump administration - leaving Turkey and Russia to prevail in Syria, leaving their allies eaten alive?"
This is all true. Given the current situation, Turkey will invade and crush the Syrian Kurds.
However, there is another way that few are talking about.
It's what I expect to happen.
According to political sources in Damascus, the Syrian Army will not come to the aid of the Kurdish warriors but also will not join the Turks in their extermination. Rather, they will stand by and watch, waiting to see who collapses first, the Kurds or Erdogan...
At present, talks are underway between Syrian authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose largest contingent is the YPG. Last February the Kurds made a similar appeal to Damascus as Turkish troops were advancing on the city of Afrin, west of the Euphrates.The Kurds offered to relinquish the destroyed eastern city of Raqqa, which they had liberated from ISIS, as well as the northeastern city of Hassakeh, in return for military support. Damascus said no, arguing that it was already in control of half of Hassakeh, and demanding that the Kurds surrender all cities—not just two—and their entire arsenal in exchange for government protection. The terms of the government also called for all SDF fighters to surrender their arms and join the Syrian military.
The SDF at the time rejected the offer, instead hoping for US support to migrate west, across the Euphrates. That never happened.
In other words, the end to the partition of Syria and Kurdish separatist dreams in exchange for not being slaughtered.
It appears that both Damascus and Ankara expect them to take the deal.
Comments
"and, turns out, this $h!t
continues 2,100 years from now on many of the same sites as today. {smh}" – Isaiah 66:4:2
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
isaiah 66:4
-- Jewish Scriptures, Isaiah 66:4 (KJV) source
I'm not understanding you, Wink.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
prolly should have made
it Isaiah 67:7.
My point was and is that this same $h!t has been happening for 2100 years or longer.
Same players, different jerseys.
Like many of us, I knew we were fucked when we invaded Iraq in Mar., 2003.
What I didn't know was that we would be THIS fucked.
I suspected and expected we'd be there thru most of Dubya's 2nd term, if not to the end of the term. I didn't expect we'd be there much longer than that - that by then we'd have had enough of not winning. But, then, I didn't know that the MIC has no interest in winning.
I said then, back in 2003, that we'd leave there no better than we found it.
Vietnam did teach "us" one thing though... do Not take The Press to war with you.
Keep your citizens in the dark. Funny, the Press agreed to that. Now mostly backs the MIC.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
this same $h!t
More like 4000 years. 2100 years just brings us to Maccabean times. Early Halftime where the times alleged for Jesus through the Flavian Conquest would be Late Halftime.
This "$h!t" was already 2100 years old in the days of Titus Flavius.
[video:https://youtu.be/-evIyrrjTTY]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
fucked
Any intervention in the Middle East is "THIS fucked". The whole damn place is "THIS fucked". And, as you pointed out, always has been.
And you were right. We will leave there no better than we found it -- and we end up leaving here much worse off than we were before.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Of course, anyone who tried to point this out,
back when it might have made a difference, was liable to get lumped in with people’s “crazy Republican uncle,” as happened to Ron Paul and his followers.
The warmongers always have a reason.
There's always yet another reason floated by the neocons and warmongers and MIC as to why we should expend American blood and treasure in places we shouldn't be. They just roll out the old excuses (anyone remember 'the domino effect'), change a few words, and suck more and more trillions of dollars away from urgent domestic needs like universal healthcare and free college for everyone.
"War Is A Racket"
Good old Smedley Butler. That book should be in every library. I tried Project Gutenberg: nil.
I found it
Try this site Ihttps://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
Thanks!
Yep, that's the expected outcome.
I hope they take the deal.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
What a surprise
he was lying to us. Again. I remember the discussions we had about it and how many people stood up for him and believed what he was saying. Now many of them are upset about Trump saying he's going to pull the troops out.
I'm still shocked by how many of them protested against racist Sessions being fired and are putting their faith in war criminal Mueller who lied to them about Iraq's WMDs and many, many other issues. Oh well. I shouldn't be surprised. After all they refused to believe that Barry and Hillary were war criminals. And believe that Pelosi will deliver single payer.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
welcome to my little slice of hell
Admittedly, that part's a problem I don't have. My family and friends are pro-legalization (marijuana) and were glad ol' Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is again among the unemployed. Frankly, I think that was the real reason Sessions got canned: cannabis was a major winner in the 2018 mid-term elections, and Trump read the tea leaves correctly.
Welcome to my little slice of hell!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Why do people keep trusting the US?
Everyone's seen the pics from the Saigon evacuation. The US just keeps screwing the people who bleed for the empire.
I guess there's an awful lot of desperation in this world.
My head spins trying to keep track of the local situations that the US has the gall to intervene in.
Beats me why they would trust. Desperation, I guess.
"There were desperate scenes of families separated and crying out for help, pleading not to be left behind," reported former CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley, as the city of Saigon was evacuated ahead of its fall on April 30, 1975. Bradley's intrepid reporting, detailing the dramatic events of the day the Vietnam War ended, originally aired on the "CBS Evening News."
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
I mean, why do they trust the Germans?
/s I came across this while looking for a link on the evac of Saigon.
Scary does not describe what's in this.
Wonder how close this comes to Mr. Trump's effect on his followers? Some say there is no comparison, and they are probably correct.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
They were likely
working for the US in one way or other.
dfarrah
The US doesn't trust the US.
Congress is running at an approval rate of 20.1 percent.
source
It would appear that the people of the US don't trust the US much, either.
Maybe some folks have been talking to their Native American neighbors.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Indeed
One useful side-effect of Herr Drumpf: a lot of people overseas (and First/Native nations) are giving up on the US govt. Even if he isn't isolationist like some groups hoped for, he's still isolating the US by His Whackiness.
Still, the US is devilishly good at finding fighting clients. Blame the Seeing-Eye A-holes, I guess. Easier to have conflict with your neighbors than a (somewhat) remote empire.
My wife's great-x grandmother hid out from the Trail Of Tears, but most of her family are Drumpfenjugend. Go figure. Divineorder, thanks for digging up that scary video. Thank FSM we don't have a Leni Riefenstahl as a media consultant now! My father fled Europe in the 30's, and I'm understanding him better now.
But they keep voting for the Duopoly!
Like a battered woman going back and forth between two abusers.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
exactly
Exactly. Other parallels with Battered Woman Syndrome exist -- and they're worse: the beLIEf that no better can be had, and that she'd better stay where she is; the beLIEf that if she ran away, the abusers would track her down and drag her back regardless of what she does; etc.
Truly terrifying.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Also belief that the battering is her fault for annoying him.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
We weren't supposed to find out about that
People didn't seem to be upset about Bolton saying that even if ISIS was defeated the troops would stay in Syria anyway until Iranian troops left. Usual mission creep.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Whew!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Just great
This is just what we need in this country and with our military scattered around the globe. A warmonger as president. With the mood of the country after Trump's Syrian thing I'm betting that people will vote for him and maybe that's why he wrote that letter the way he did? People sure don't seem to care that we are in countries illegally do they? Or that Mattis is a war criminal. "Killing people is fun." Oh well he will fit right in with Obama who said that he is "good at killing people."
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
What oil tanker convoys?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
The whole “Islamic State” phenomenon had very murky beginnings
Lambert Strether of Naked Capitalism’s thoughts back in 2014:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/07/isis-iraq-t-shirts-cats-app-hasb...
Not so murky. Sons of Iraq - thank Gen. Petraeus and Saudi
Intel for originally funding, arming and training Sunni elements of the Iraqi army who were recruited out of US POW camps along with anti-Shi'ia militia leaders in central Iraq. Was justified within the Bush and Obama NSC as a counterbalance to Iranian supported Shi'ia who were clearly going to dominate the Iraqi government. Beginning in 2011, the Qataris and Turks moved huge amounts of arms and Sunni fighters out of Libya to Syria. GCC and Saudis then took over the show. Many of the Jihadis who had gone to Iraq crossed back over into Syria, this time with coordinated help of the CIA, squaring the circle.
ISIS has its origins back to 1999 as a small Al Qaeda splinter group but it didn't really even get noticed until after the US and Saudi/GCC elements got their funding during the Surge and took over the organization solidifying and expanding their hold in Sunni west central Iraq. The Saudis and Qatar then concentrated on their Jihad in Syria, which became the central focus of the ISIL Caliphate.
creep
From the mouth of the usual creep.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Russia indicates they will impose a semiautonomous Kurdish
region within a federal Syria. So far, they've done exactly what they said they would.