I had to spend a long time on Gemini making heads and tails of this. My quick take is Russia out, China quietly moving in, Turkey probably high on momentum and a U.S. about to get schooled by Iran and well, I don't expect Syria becoming a vacation spot in my lifetime. Maybe next time you can do more 40,000 foot Tom?
What does it mean to me, an American. I don't care how many people are getting killed because they were dumb enough to trust us ;) (bad joke, sorry)
> Some critics argue that Washington is betraying the Kurds by allowing these developments to transpire. Yet the longstanding U.S. position—which the Trump administration is now implementing under changed circumstances—has been that relations with the SDF are “temporary, tactical, and transactional,” as stated publicly during the author’s time as U.S. envoy to Syria under the first Trump administration.
Russia has always been the weakest link in the region. Both Turkey and Iran could block its ships and airspace if they wanted to, and that would be the end of it for the Kremlin. Bandar ibn Sultan Al Saud tried to persuade the Kremlin to withdraw its support for Assad, offering favorable terms: high oil prices, safe hosting of the Olympic Games in Sochi, since the Chechen clans are under their control, and much more. But Putin and the Kremlin, in their idiotic stupidity, refused him. Qasem Soleimani promised Putin mountains of gold, which ultimately did not happen, but he accomplished his task by dragging these idiots into this conflict. I observed this because these events took place in parallel with the revolution in Ukraine. More precisely, with the pre-revolutionary situation in Ukraine. The most interesting thing is China's interest in this region. It seems that China's strategy and plans to build a global trading empire under the Belt and Road Initiative are going according to plan. Syria plays an important role in this plan. The fact that the US has completely destroyed its reputation and been completely ousted from Syria also plays into China's hands. China never takes a specific position so as not to spoil relations with other parties, but only builds partnerships. The US, in turn, immediately sided with Israel. Incidentally, all of Turkey's mega-projects are also funded by Chinese money. Perhaps their interests in stabilizing the region coincided here. The Kurds were just an obstacle to these plans. The fact remains that the US never had any plans to stabilize the region, otherwise Assad's regime would have been destroyed immediately. The plan was to create more chaos, to draw Iran in more so that it would spend its resources on the war, to degrade and destabilize it, and the US was also interested in controlling the main resources of Syria and Iraq. Not in terms of extracting resources, but in terms of controlling oil prices.
I guess this leaves the Turkish influenced forces as the only "side" holding ground in Syria besides Damascus. Oh wait, Israel is doing its best to annex land too.
I wouldn't bet on the PKK going away with this either, back to insurgency I guess, basing in Iraq? Unclear to me the politics of "kurdish" Iraq - maybe something for a future article?
Thanks for reporting on something nobody else reports on. You seem a tad negative on Pkk. Oh well. I have noticed an interesting thing regarding that conflict in the very little of reporting that has been coming. SDF is now not reported as Kurds, but as Kurd dominated. This is important because the media then acknowledges that the areas attacked are not all Kurds. In Norway this is important because «we» support the Kurds. Because we supported them against Iraq, Iran and Turkey… in general PKK is viewed as good guys. But by acknowledging that there are others within SDF and these are now leaving the whole myth of Kurdistan is challenged.
Yeah, now everybody is babbling about 'Kurdish-led/dominated SDF' - where all the Arabs that used to serve in the SDF have defected. 🙄
And re. population in the areas still controlled by the PKK: according to the census from 2004, over 50% (probably around 55%) are Arabs. Something like the highest percentage of Kurds can be found in the Qamishli area, where they're making about 35% of the population.
Thus, nearly everything published about this gang in the mainstream-media is simply a farce. Similar mythology like about Israel.
Yes, but changing the words means that there will be less resistance to the Syrian government taking over. Not that that is Norways business, and not that we will do anything in any regards. Regarding the criticism against main stream media, I understand it. And that is why I am on Substack. Still, they give information. One just has to be careful.
I sincerely wish the people of Syria a revival and restoration of the country. Al-Sharaa seems capable of this. Syria has oil and gas, and that should help.
"Also notable: the USA are evacuating about 7,000 Daesh-prisoners from facilities in Syria - to Iraq."
Presumably to attack the PMF and give the IRGC another headache. Ultimately the thing that will end these wars is to stop the Israelis dictating to Congress that every single country in the region that doesn't do its bidding has to be sanctioned, destabilized and thus filled with fanatics and mercenaries. It doesn't really matter which former tyrant or (former) terrorist is currently playing tyrant.
It feels like the Americans are defacto leaving the country for now and washing their hands of anything that might happen once their evacuation is completed.
Not necessarely a bad thing considering all the damage they have caused with their "tactical" alliance with the PKK in Syria.
Well, you could say that the US presence in the Middle East has been reduced to zero. Obama and Trump have practically withdrawn all troops. More precisely, their policies were exactly the same. A few thousand soldiers do not decide anything in the region. As always, the main players there will be Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
The Syrian Kurds PKK/YPG/PYD/SDF are so democratic that they deliberately directed American planes to targets among the Sunni civilian population in order to force them to leave these territories and consolidate them under their control. In other words, they engaged in terror and blackmail. This seems easy to interpret as ethnic cleansing. And the PKK's wonderful “democratic” rule in Syria was so wonderful and magnificent that thousands of Kurds were forced to flee to Turkey during this war because of their terror. And you can understand them, because no one can stand it when your children are mobilized into the army, and the first thing they do is start filling your head with Abdullah Ocalan's ideology. In addition, kidnappings, murders, torture, and terrorist attacks against civilians are standard practice for such Marxist-Leninist democratic ideology. Everything is in the best traditions of the communists. It is also not surprising that some Arabs left the SDF and joined As-Sharaa's army. First, they share the same culture and religion. Second, no one will be loyal to the repressive and corrupt PKK system.
I had to spend a long time on Gemini making heads and tails of this. My quick take is Russia out, China quietly moving in, Turkey probably high on momentum and a U.S. about to get schooled by Iran and well, I don't expect Syria becoming a vacation spot in my lifetime. Maybe next time you can do more 40,000 foot Tom?
What does it mean to me, an American. I don't care how many people are getting killed because they were dumb enough to trust us ;) (bad joke, sorry)
SDF was not for the US gov. some kind of dream alliance or a good buddy. So, they were informed US support is limited to fight ISIS only and they cannot feel it as "betrayal". E.g. read the beginning of the note of the former US envoy to Syria https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/kurdish-collapse-northeast-syria-key-things-watch
> Some critics argue that Washington is betraying the Kurds by allowing these developments to transpire. Yet the longstanding U.S. position—which the Trump administration is now implementing under changed circumstances—has been that relations with the SDF are “temporary, tactical, and transactional,” as stated publicly during the author’s time as U.S. envoy to Syria under the first Trump administration.
Russia has always been the weakest link in the region. Both Turkey and Iran could block its ships and airspace if they wanted to, and that would be the end of it for the Kremlin. Bandar ibn Sultan Al Saud tried to persuade the Kremlin to withdraw its support for Assad, offering favorable terms: high oil prices, safe hosting of the Olympic Games in Sochi, since the Chechen clans are under their control, and much more. But Putin and the Kremlin, in their idiotic stupidity, refused him. Qasem Soleimani promised Putin mountains of gold, which ultimately did not happen, but he accomplished his task by dragging these idiots into this conflict. I observed this because these events took place in parallel with the revolution in Ukraine. More precisely, with the pre-revolutionary situation in Ukraine. The most interesting thing is China's interest in this region. It seems that China's strategy and plans to build a global trading empire under the Belt and Road Initiative are going according to plan. Syria plays an important role in this plan. The fact that the US has completely destroyed its reputation and been completely ousted from Syria also plays into China's hands. China never takes a specific position so as not to spoil relations with other parties, but only builds partnerships. The US, in turn, immediately sided with Israel. Incidentally, all of Turkey's mega-projects are also funded by Chinese money. Perhaps their interests in stabilizing the region coincided here. The Kurds were just an obstacle to these plans. The fact remains that the US never had any plans to stabilize the region, otherwise Assad's regime would have been destroyed immediately. The plan was to create more chaos, to draw Iran in more so that it would spend its resources on the war, to degrade and destabilize it, and the US was also interested in controlling the main resources of Syria and Iraq. Not in terms of extracting resources, but in terms of controlling oil prices.
I guess this leaves the Turkish influenced forces as the only "side" holding ground in Syria besides Damascus. Oh wait, Israel is doing its best to annex land too.
I wouldn't bet on the PKK going away with this either, back to insurgency I guess, basing in Iraq? Unclear to me the politics of "kurdish" Iraq - maybe something for a future article?
Thanks for reporting on something nobody else reports on. You seem a tad negative on Pkk. Oh well. I have noticed an interesting thing regarding that conflict in the very little of reporting that has been coming. SDF is now not reported as Kurds, but as Kurd dominated. This is important because the media then acknowledges that the areas attacked are not all Kurds. In Norway this is important because «we» support the Kurds. Because we supported them against Iraq, Iran and Turkey… in general PKK is viewed as good guys. But by acknowledging that there are others within SDF and these are now leaving the whole myth of Kurdistan is challenged.
Yeah, now everybody is babbling about 'Kurdish-led/dominated SDF' - where all the Arabs that used to serve in the SDF have defected. 🙄
And re. population in the areas still controlled by the PKK: according to the census from 2004, over 50% (probably around 55%) are Arabs. Something like the highest percentage of Kurds can be found in the Qamishli area, where they're making about 35% of the population.
Thus, nearly everything published about this gang in the mainstream-media is simply a farce. Similar mythology like about Israel.
Yes, but changing the words means that there will be less resistance to the Syrian government taking over. Not that that is Norways business, and not that we will do anything in any regards. Regarding the criticism against main stream media, I understand it. And that is why I am on Substack. Still, they give information. One just has to be careful.
I sincerely wish the people of Syria a revival and restoration of the country. Al-Sharaa seems capable of this. Syria has oil and gas, and that should help.
"Also notable: the USA are evacuating about 7,000 Daesh-prisoners from facilities in Syria - to Iraq."
Presumably to attack the PMF and give the IRGC another headache. Ultimately the thing that will end these wars is to stop the Israelis dictating to Congress that every single country in the region that doesn't do its bidding has to be sanctioned, destabilized and thus filled with fanatics and mercenaries. It doesn't really matter which former tyrant or (former) terrorist is currently playing tyrant.
It feels like the Americans are defacto leaving the country for now and washing their hands of anything that might happen once their evacuation is completed.
Not necessarely a bad thing considering all the damage they have caused with their "tactical" alliance with the PKK in Syria.
Well, you could say that the US presence in the Middle East has been reduced to zero. Obama and Trump have practically withdrawn all troops. More precisely, their policies were exactly the same. A few thousand soldiers do not decide anything in the region. As always, the main players there will be Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
The Syrian Kurds PKK/YPG/PYD/SDF are so democratic that they deliberately directed American planes to targets among the Sunni civilian population in order to force them to leave these territories and consolidate them under their control. In other words, they engaged in terror and blackmail. This seems easy to interpret as ethnic cleansing. And the PKK's wonderful “democratic” rule in Syria was so wonderful and magnificent that thousands of Kurds were forced to flee to Turkey during this war because of their terror. And you can understand them, because no one can stand it when your children are mobilized into the army, and the first thing they do is start filling your head with Abdullah Ocalan's ideology. In addition, kidnappings, murders, torture, and terrorist attacks against civilians are standard practice for such Marxist-Leninist democratic ideology. Everything is in the best traditions of the communists. It is also not surprising that some Arabs left the SDF and joined As-Sharaa's army. First, they share the same culture and religion. Second, no one will be loyal to the repressive and corrupt PKK system.