Are you ready for some good news?

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 12:16pm

It seems like there's nothing but bad news out there, but if you look hard enough you can find a hidden gem, like this.

A suspected drug smuggler and other former member of the last remaining U.S.-backed rebel group in Syria defected to territory controlled by Bashar al-Assad government in an embarrassing spectacle for the opposition militia and U.S. Special Operations.

According to rebel sources familiar with the matter, Samir Ghannam al-Khidr and several members of the Maghawir al-Thawra militia and their families on Tuesday, April 14 defected to the city of Palmyra from the al-Tanf garrison, which is run by U.S. Army Special Forces in Syria’s eastern desert on the Iraq border.

It's interesting that they smear a defector as a "suspected drug smuggler" when the Pentagon has been assuring us for years about how these guys are thoroughly "vetted".
So which is it?

“He left because he could not smuggle drugs in this area due to the efforts of Maghaweir al-Thowra in interdicted drugs,” the Maghawir stated. “We allowed him to leave with his family, as we did not want to get in a conflict with him because all the women and children with him.”

Actually the defectors reported that they had to shoot their way out. You know, like prisoners.
What's more, this is the second time this week that dozens of Maghawir members defected to the regime with their U.S.-made weapons.

We appear to be reaching the end of our illegal war on Syria.

Speaking of illegal wars, Saudi Arabia is desperate for an exit door in Yemen.

The move came less than two weeks after Saudi Arabia invited the Houthis to Riyadh for direct peace talks.
The ceasefire is an indication that Riyadh may be preparing to end its involvement in the war and sue for peace...
By now it has become clear to Saudi Arabia and its allies that they cannot win the war in Yemen and that they urgently need an exit strategy. The coronavirus pandemic provides a convenient opportunity to save face by declaring an end to hostilities on humanitarian grounds.

Right. Because the Saudis are known for their humanitarianism.
Or maybe they are simply broke?

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Comments

Submitted by CB on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 12:46pm

They also revealed that they had

been trained and supplied with weapons by the Americans.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 12:57pm

That's no secret

@CB
The Pentagon openly admitted it last year.

Submitted by CB on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 1:51pm

Yes. It was also generally known for many years before that

@gjohnsit
and I had been following along.

I was thinking about a different group that tried to defect which ended up in a shoot out several weeks ago. I can't find a link right now. Maybe you have heard about that one?

I am getting distracted by events here at home and my fingers have got in front of my head.

Submitted by Linda Wood on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 2:18pm

Our OPERATIONS

certainly are "Special", adding drugs to the environment of hell we create. And also diverting humanitarian aide to Daesh under the cover of guarding a refugee site. Special, special, special.

Khaled Samir al-Khedair, another former militant from the At-Tanf base, said that US occupation forces were training militia to attack Syrian Army positions, as well as civilian infrastructure and oil and gas fields. Salah Rashid al-Zaher, another militant, confirmed that this training for sabotage ops was taking place. According to al-Zaher, in addition to much of the Rukhban camp aid being sold to Daesh, some of it was also traded on the black market to camp residents at exorbitant prices.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 3:12pm

Didn't the CIA revive heroin trafficing in Afghanistan?

@Linda Wood
So as to have an off-budget source of income?
And the same in Nicaragua? (BTW, doesn't that country's name mean Blackwater?)

—

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

Submitted by CB on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 4:45pm

The CIA not only revived it

@The Voice In the Wilderness
they put it on steroids.

Afghanistan was not the major world source of opium prior to the 1970's. This honor went to the CIA named Golden Triangle in Indochina. Opium production flourished in that region to become the world's #1 supplier when the US first got militarily involved in the late 1950's until the mid 1970's when they were ignominiously forced out.

Opium production then shifted to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the CIA became deeply involved in the country. The US, under Reagan, gave financial aid and arms to their proxy, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, to wage war against the Soviets. They also financed Hekmatyar to open 6 opium refineries to increase funding for the proxy war.

Afghanistan is now the worlds largest supplier of opium.

Opium production in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been the world's leading illicit opium producer since 2001.[1] Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply.
...

Soviet period (1979–1989)
It was alleged by the Soviets on multiple occasions that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents were helping smuggle opium out of Afghanistan, either into the West, in order to raise money for the Afghan resistance, or into the Soviet Union, in order to weaken it through drug addiction. According to Alfred McCoy, the CIA supported various Afghan drug lords, for instance Gulbuddin Hekmatyar[15] and others such as Haji Ayub Afridi.

Another factor was the eradication effort inside Pakistan (whose Inter-Services Intelligence were coincidentally supporters of the Mujahideen). The Pakistani government, US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other groups were involved in attempting to eliminate poppy cultivation from certain areas of the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bordering Afghanistan. The opium industry shifted from Pakistan into Afghanistan during the 1980s.[16][17]

You can make your own judgement - coincidence?

Submitted by ludwig ii on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 3:08pm

I wonder if this will make it onto John Krasinski's web show?

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 3:10pm

Oil prices below zero i.e. cheaper than free

Or maybe they are simply broke?

—

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