Trump's bizarre neocon wet dream for keeping Syria's oil

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 5:00pm

From the very start, Trump had no issues abandoning the Kurds, but ending the embargo on Syria's oil was another story.

Reassurance patrols were carried out by the international @coalition in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, and the message is to reassure that there is no withdrawal and no change regarding the situation in #DeirEzzor in particular. pic.twitter.com/6GmLfYsS7r

— Omar Abu Layla (@AliAlleile) October 14, 2019

The United States is set to deploy hundreds of troops and tanks to guard oil fields in northeast Syria from Isis fighters in another U-turn on President Trump’s original promise to “bring soldiers home”.
The change in plan was confirmed in part by US defence secretary Mark Esper on Friday, who admitted that Washington aims to keep a “reduced presence” in Syria to defend oil facilities.

This plan looks dubious at face value.
But when you factor in that the Kurds have cut a deal with the Assad government, so roughly 200 American troops will be alone, and completely isolated in hostile territory.
That makes the plan look crazy.

And then the neocons enter, and the plan crosses into Bizarro World.

“It may seem weird to those outside Washington, D.C.,” Nicholas Heras, Syria analyst at the Centre for a New American Security think tank, told VICE News, “but there is a strong current of opinion within the think-tank scene, but also and more importantly among senior members of the Trump administration, particularly in the State Department, headed by Secretary of State Pompeo, a noted Iran hawk before he entered the executive branch, that the United States can have its cake and eat it too in eastern Syria.”
At the heart of this strategy is the notion of creating a purely Sunni Arab force composed of local tribes that can be used as an American proxy in the region, a long-held dream of figures in the Trump administration long hostile to the YPG and Syrian Democratic Forces. “This dream of having a Sunni tribal army has never really died,” says Heras, “and in Deir Ezzor, Iran hawks and U.S. counterterrorism experts find a perfect place to mingle and mix their ideas.”

In this worldview, according to Heras, “the United States can work to build a strong Sunni Arab army that can prevent the reemergence of ISIS, and that same Sunni Arab tribal army can be used not only to box out Iran but also to take the fight to Iran in parts of eastern Syria and potentially western Iraq where Iran has built a so-called land bridge between Hezbollah in Lebanon and its forces in Iraq and Iran.”

To do this, Trump will need buy-in from the same angry and demoralized Kurdish forces he just betrayed.

Oh yeah. This sounds totally doable.
Recall when we did this before.

Just think - if we spend just $1 Billion more we could have as much as a dozen Sunni fighters on our side.

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 5:23pm

meanwhile in Iraq

At least 40 killed as fresh protests engulf Iraq

At least 40 protesters were killed in Iraq on Friday when security forces used tear gas and an Iranian-backed militia opened fire to try to quell renewed demonstrations against corruption and economic hardship, security sources said.

Chaos in Baghdad as protesters try to storm Green Zone

Unlike the stupid Deir Ezzor plan, what is happening in Iraq could actually blow up in Iran's face.

Iraqi Kurds watching

As Newsweek first reported Wednesday, such a plan—pending White House approval—included the deployment of one half of an armored brigade combat team batallion, involving about 30 Abrams tanks. The Syrian Democratic Forces, the largely Kurdish militia backed by the U.S., would be asked to join the mission.
Responding to Newsweek's report about these potential military moves, a senior Kurdish intelligence official told Newsweek: "It's all about oil, it's thicker than innocent blood."

Upset over the U.S.' latest moves and uncertain about Trump's long-term commitments in the Middle East, Kurdish officials emulated to Newsweek that Iraqi Kurds may look to shore up ties with a new partner—Iran, a sentiment they were not alone in sharing.

"We are waiting for the USA to change its attitude," Shirwan Mirza, an Iraqi Kurdish member of parliament affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Newsweek, adding that, if it did not, "then we are obliged to look for another friend in this area." Asked if this could include neighboring Iran, Mirza responded, "That is right."

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 5:41pm

Meanwhile in Afghanistan and Yemen

@gjohnsit drawdown in Afghanistan

The United States has quietly reduced the number of US troops in Afghanistan by 2,000 over the last year despite the lack of a peace deal with the Taliban, Gen. Scott Miller, the head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a press conference in Kabul on Monday.
"We've reduced our authorized strength by 2,000 here, so there's a constant look as a military commander to optimize the force here," Miller said.

Saudis getting beaten again

The Houthi rebel movement, also known as Ansar Allah, launched an attack on the Yemeni and Saudi forces and gained control over the government forces’ positions in Yemen’s Saada governorate, which borders Saudi Arabia, a local military source said on Friday.

negotiating from weakness

A Saudi-brokered agreement has been reached between the warring sides in the south of Yemen, paving the way for wider peace talks to end the five-year civil war.
The Southern Transitional Council, backed by the United Arab Emirates, in August seized control of the southern port city of Aden, leaving the Saudi- and UN-backed government led by President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi in possession of little land or effective power. Hadi had already been thrown out of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in 2014 by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The split in the south between Hadi and the STC pitted two normal Gulf allies – the UAE and Saudi Arabia – against one another.

The newly negotiated government will involve a 24-member government with an equal number of ministries allocated to the STC and Hadi supporters.

The deal is a significant enhancement of the status of the STC, which has previously been excluded from all UN-brokered peace deals, and STC sources appeared to be more pleased with the agreement than the other side.

Submitted by Bring Back Civics on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 6:14pm

not impressed gjohnshit

I comment from time to time, but gjonshit is relentless in hie support for the Democratic party and in his demonizing of Trump. I detest Trump's continuance of neoliberal economic ideology, but I applaud his attempted effort to dial back the regime change military operations that are done on behalf of the MIC and no one else.

If gjohnshit is not a CIA intelligence asset, I would be shocked.

Submitted by MrWebster on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 6:31pm

Gjohnsit is a CIA asset? CIA should demand money back.

@Bring Back Civics @Bring Back Civics Gjohnsit has been an anti-imperialist voice since god knows when. He has attacked the dem establishment like big time. He is pro-Bernie and the DNC establishment hates Bernie. Which is like evidendce he works for the the CIA? The CIA should demand their money back.

Really "GjohSHIT". fuck you.

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 6:36pm

I think it's safe to say...

@Bring Back Civics
that your comment is a gross violation of our DBAA rule on several levels.

Bye bye, Bring Back Civics.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 8:45pm

I almost miss being accused

@JtC
of being an agent of both the far right AND the far left at the same time like I was on TOP.

However, a CIA asset? That's a new one.

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 8:54pm

Heh...

@gjohnsit

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 9:43pm

I think it's also safe to say

@JtC

That as a strategy, getting bojo'd off a site because I have poor impulse control doesn't make me very clever.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 7:00pm

This is funny

@Bring Back Civics

but I applaud his attempted effort to dial back the regime change military operations that are done on behalf of the MIC and no one else.

Looking like the MIC is getting the better of Trump's trying to bring the troops home.. oh well at least they are keeping Assad from getting his hands on his own oil. Go team Trump!

—

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by lizzyh7 on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 7:09pm

Hey now,

@Bring Back Civics we're all Russian assets here, not CIA. S/

—

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 8:25pm

Some of us are double-agents

@lizzyh7

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 10:38pm

Can you get me a job? :)

@gjohnsit
I'd love to be back on the government payroll.

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by dervish on Sat, 10/26/2019 - 1:18am

Some of us are triple agents. n/t

@gjohnsit

—

"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 8:42pm

You got me

@Bring Back Civics

If gjohnshit is not a CIA intelligence asset, I would be shocked.

I don't know what I did to give it away, but you saw through my 11th dimensional chess.
Now that my cover is blown I'll have to go back to DKos for a new identity.
Oh wait, I was banned from there for not buying into the CIA's Russiagate hoax.

One thing, how am I "demonizing Trump"?
Is it my pointing out that he is still committing war crimes at a pace even faster than Obama?
Is it my pointing out his neoliberal war on all domestic programs that help the working class?

Submitted by smiley7 on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 8:47pm

Mother Hens :)

@gjohnsit

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 10/25/2019 - 9:23pm

Caitlin on Syris oil

As Trump said, “We’ll be deciding what we’re going to do with it in the future.” In no other international power dynamic would this be considered a rational thing for anyone to say. The idea of another nation invading Texas and seizing control of its oil fields and then Xi Jinping or whomever saying “We’re controlling their oil and we’ll be deciding what we’re going to do with it in the future” is unthinkable, but a US president can just come right out and say this about a weaker nation and it won’t even be front-page news.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Donald Trump is the most honest US president of all time. By that I don’t mean that he’s an honest person; he of course lies constantly. I simply mean that while his predecessors have always made sure to dress their imperialist military campaigns up as benevolent humanitarian intercessions, Trump just stands there out in the open like “Yeah we grabbed their oil and it’s ours now, blow me.” There was once a time when claiming a war was really about oil got you branded a conspiracy theorist. Now the US president just outright says it.

China invades Texas and keeps its oil is such a good analogy for lots of the things we do. Imagine Russia overthrowing Mexico or Canada and installing a Russian friendly government and the US not going bat shit crazy over it. Or Russia putting troops and military equipment into them including nukes. Or holding war games just off our coast like we do off of Russia's. Now if that ain't the definition of American exceptionalism...oh yeah. There was that time when we killed lots of Russian mercenaries in Syria and Russia did nothing afterwards. Israel hid behind a Russian jet and then Turkey or was it the U.K. blew it out of the sky. Imagine if those things happened to our military. There would have been hell to pay. So how long will Russia tolerate our keeping Syria's oil from them? What can they do?

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Submitted by laurel on Sun, 10/27/2019 - 12:23pm

Denying the sovereignty of other countries.

@snoopydawg

Almost like denying the humanity of other people.

We learned that the United States has approximately 800 formal military bases in 80 countries, a number that could exceed 1,000 if you count troops stationed at embassies and missions and so-called “lily-pond” bases, with some 138,000 soldiers stationed around the globe.

-- https://www.thenation.com/article/the-us-has-military-bases-in-172-count...

Imagine our reaction if another country tried to build a single military base on U.S. soil.

—

Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 10/26/2019 - 2:34am

Vote D and Obama, get neocons. Vote R and Trump, get neocons.

And in Germany it’s no different.

Left, right, or center, it’s NATO, Israel, oil, Arab despots, and fake “humanitarian intervention” all the way — even among the Greens, who started out as the peace-movement party.