A couple weeks ago I asked a couple simple questions:
Why, oh why, would we choose the YPG-dominated SDF, over our long time NATO ally?
Why are we militarily containing Turkey?
This mention, today, is the first I've heard of this incident.
On November 30, following almost two-and-a-half months of silence, the Israeli air force bombed Syria with three waves of cruise missiles. The first and second waves were repulsed over southern Syria, and the third, composed of surface-to-surface missiles, were also downed. At the same time, a loud explosion was heard in al-Kiswah, resulting in the blackout of Israeli positions in the area.
It didn't take long for the Trump Administration to decide that false-flag operations were only conspiracy theories when it was convenient.
Why, oh why, would we choose the YPG-dominated SDF, over our long time NATO ally?
Make no mistake, we have set our military against Turkey, and that is huge.
A couple months ago the Trump Administration revealed that they planned massive mission creep in Syria, with the objective of getting Iranian forces out of Syria.
The fly in the ointment has been Turkey's hostility to the Syrian Kurds, our primary allies in Syria.
Those darn Russians are aggressively threatening everyone.
Don't believe me? Just look at this Bloomberg article published today titled:
How NATO Is Preparing for the New Cold War
A huge military exercise in Norway signals the alliance’s pivot back to its original foe, Russia.
This is escalating fast.
The other day I posted this essay about the danger our troops in northern Syria are in.
Then yesterday this happened.
Manbij, in northern Syria, has been a flashpoint since the Kurds took it from ISIS two years ago. Two weeks ago the clock starting ticking on Manbij.
As recently as April, President Trump sounded occasionally reasonable.
Tuesday's Russian/Syrian/Israeli/French fracas drove home to me how absolutely powerless I am in the face of events. Of course I know that I have no control over what various militaries do half a world away. But, this event emphasized that I have absolutely no idea what just happened (and therefore I have no ability to protest).
