by Ghassan Kadi for the Saker Blog
In my previous article (http://sakerlatam.blog/the-saker-files/who-is-doing-what-in-syria-and-why/), I expressed my take on the highly unlikely possibility of an all-out war in Syria. As a matter of fact, I had been expressing this very same view for years, against all war-mongering theories that implied that America was just one step away from leveling Syria to the ground,
This is because I had always believed that Syria is not like any other nation that America has engaged in war with; Syria has rockets that can reach Israel, and this is in itself a deterrent that other nations did not have. If this reality formed the foundation of what became a solid alliance between Syria and Russia, then we should not be at all surprised.
To say that this deterrent has been as effective as otherwise Syria having a nuclear arsenal would not be an over-statement. And finally, President Assad himself has recently made it publically known, and for the first time from the horse’s mouth; not mine, that should American troops in Syria attack Syrian troops, then Syria will retaliate by attacking Israel:
http://www.addiyar.com/article/1496230-الرئيس-الاسد-سيضرب-اسرائيلاذا-ضربت-اميركا-الجيش-السوري
This serious announcement did not make news headlines in the West, as a matter of fact, it is very hard to find any evidence of it in the mainstream English press and even alternative media.
With all the above said, a “smaller” war seems more inevitable, but who is going to pull the first trigger and draw first blood? It will either have to be a madman asking for potential big trouble, or someone sure of his capabilities and knowing that should the fight escalate, he’ll be in a position of advantage.
If Netanyahu had the slightest hope in winning a relatively small confrontation with Syria, without allowing it to escalate into a big war, and if it did, he would turn it into a win, then there is no better timing for him to do it than now. After all, he is engulfed in corruption charges and Israelis are taking to the streets demanding his resignation. Nothing could save his face as much as a war, limited or otherwise, but one that he knows he could win. However, given the recent downing of an Israeli F-16 with a relatively archaic SAM-5, not to mention the thousands of rockets poised to be launched at Israel in such an event, this makes Netanyahu less likely to make such a gamble any more than a down-trodden bloodied boxer asking for a rematch before he recovers from his knockout.
The situation in the south of Syria therefore remains unchanged, and is likely to remain so, even if a limited war is to escalate in the north where American and Turkish troop have infringed illegally upon Syrian sovereignty.
However, the two hot spots are not totally unrelated as a direct escalation between Syrian and American forces WILL involve Israel as previously expressed.
So what are the Syrian troops doing moving into the American-held Syrian city of Manbij?
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201802251061966101-sdf-pass-territory-syrian-army/
Incidentally, just a few days ago, Syrian Army units entered the Syrian city of Afrin, and which has been under Turkish attack for a month or so, without any significant advances on the Turkish side. What is interesting here is that the people of Afrin welcomed the Syrian Army brandishing posters of both of President Assad and Kurdish leader Ocalan:
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201802231061920457-afrin-militia-rally-celebration/
Such scenes are pleasing for Syrians who seek national unity. After all, and regardless of what has been said in support of or against Syria’s Kurds, they are Syrian citizens, and they come from a lineage that is thousands of years old, and history has this fact well and truly documented.
By moving Syrian troops into Afrin and having them greeted in the manner that they have been, Syria is giving Erdogan a number of messages; one of which may knock some sense into him.
First of all, Syria is saying to Erdogan that Afrin is Syrian territory. Secondly, the people of Afrin are saying to Erdogan that they are loyal to Syria. In between the lines, Erdogan may see that Syrians are getting united, despite of their ethnicities, and if he pulls out without a fight, he may save himself a needless battle; because the union of Syrian people means that an independent Kurdish state is not on the agenda; or at least, not any more.
But the Syrian troops are also planning to move into the Syrian city of Manbij, and Manbij is not like Afrin, because in Manbij, there are American troops who did not pull out despite a formal Turkish request for them to do so:
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/top-u-s-general-says-no-manbij-troop-withdrawal-1.5770199
Turkey did not make any move towards Manbij after America’s refusal to pull out. Turkish troops are still bogged down in Afrin, unable to score any victory, hence unable to even think of deploying more forces or planning the next steps. But Syria is not asking the same of America; she has decided to deploy her troops and move in. After all, Manbij is Syrian territory and the American presence there is illegal and Syria does not need to seek America’s approval to move Syrian troops into Manbij anymore than America needs to seek Syrian approval for moving American troops into California.
We go back to the initial question. The party to pull the first trigger and draw first blood, even in a limited war, will either have to be a madman asking for big trouble and huge potential ramifications, or someone sure of his capabilities.
The way it seems, Syria has never been in a better position for a long time; despite all the damage and carnage and enormous human suffering.
We do not know what happens behind the scenes, and for the Syrian Government to be able to contain the Kurdish aspiration for separatism and be able to keep Syrian Kurds under the roof of Damascus, was never ever expected to be an easy task.
The Kurds who are separatists, and not all of them are, have played their game and failed. Without a crystal ball that sees what goes on behind the scenes within the closed doors of Kurdish elders, it seems clear that a consensus has been reached to dump the idea of separatism, endorse and welcome the Syrian Army, and stand up against the Turkish incursion in Afrin. The current presence of Syrian troops in Afrin and the welcome they received by the locals is a living testimony.
Has a similar deal been reached between the Kurdish elders and the Syrian Government regarding Manbij? The answer to this is most likely to be affirmative. Syrian troops will not enter Manbij to fight with its civilians. They will only move in after they have reached a level of national reconciliation that allows such a move and gives the troops the same welcome potential as the one they received in Afrin.
So what will happen to the American troops stationed in Manbij when Syrian troops move in?
The answer to this question will depend on the manner in which American troops respond to the advance to Syrian troops into Manbij that is illegally-held by American troops.
In brief, Syria is presenting herself, and seemingly for realistic on-ground reasons, to be in a position of solidarity, decisiveness and determination to impose her sovereignty on her entire territory.
In making those moves against the illegal presence of both Turkey and America on her soil, Syria is not in real terms asking for a fight with either Turkey or America. However, Syria is saying to both nations that Syrian territory is Syrian and should either Turkey or America stop Syrian troops or attack them as they exercise their legitimate and UN-endorsed right of Syrian sovereignty, and should either one of them attempt to stop Syria from implementing her rights, then Syria will have no other choice but push the intruders back, forcefully if needed.
Sadly, the US Government has had the history of responding to such similar moves in terms of body-bag count. And the post WW II human American toll has been borne by under-privileged young Americans. No one in his right mind within or outside the United States wants to see mothers of American soldiers, who joined the force in good faith, greet their sons and daughters back home in body bags.
If we cannot relate to the fears and apprehensions of those mothers, we cannot claim to be human. Whether those mothers understand the reality behind the wars their sons and daughters have been put into in order to fight is another story altogether, but in reality, the onus of the fate of their sons and daughters is on the decision makers of America.
Much has been said and written recently about sending American troops in Syria back home in body bags. I would rather see them walk back home after their leaders make the right decision.
The way it is in Syria however, American policy makers are putting American troops in harm’s way with odds that stack up against them unless their government decides to evacuate them, and soon.
America should look back at the Vietnam experience and leave Syria, now, and without any further delay. With or without Russian support, if all Syrians, including Syrian Kurds get united, and they seem to be doing so, America will lose all the local support base; a prelude for America to move out before it is too late.
In reality however, America has nothing to gain being in Syria, unless it is able to achieve a real strategic objective; something it currently lacks.
So who is doing what in Syria now?
America does not seem to know what it is doing, who is her ally and adversary.
The Kurds seem to have seen the light
The Syrian Government seems to have established a Damascus-based umbrella for the main Kurdish issue.
Turkey is unable to achieve any military objectives and in the absence of a plan for a Kurdish state, Turkey will no longer “need” to be in Syria fighting Kurds. And last but not least, should America dig its heels in and refuse to leave Syria peacefully and engage militarily with the Syrian Army, not only they are poised to lose, but the heat will move south and Israel will pay the price.
This piece dismisses the necessity of Israel to degrade both Syria and Hizballah in Lebanon as a prelude to a war with Iran, which both Israel and the US desire greatly.
As for Assad attacking Syria, that is a bluff. The last thing Assad needs is a war with both Israel and the US. And any attack by Syria on Israel would undoubtedly be met by an attack by the US and possibly NATO as well, regardless of whether there are any explicit agreements to do so. Which is why Israel has successfully launched over 100 air attacks on Syria over the last few years without as much as a scratch on their planes until recently.
Also, if US forces in Syria would to fire on Syrian forces, and Syria responded by attacking US forces, Syria would be under a full-scale US/NATO air bombardment within a day or two. And Russia could do little to stop it since Russia’s air defenses, despite being integrated into Syria’s, would be overwhelmed within a week if not sooner.
US forces do need to be removed from Syria at some point. It is highly unlikely that it will be done by Syrian military force alone. I suspect Russia moves at the UN or otherwise negotiating might make it happen. Or it might not happen at all and the US will remain in Syria until problems locally with Syrian tribes or the Kurds themselves force them out without Syrian government overt involvement at all.
It’s not over until it’s over. The US and Israel plan for war with Iran is still on and therefore Syria and Lebanon remain at high risk.
@RS Hack: “the necessity of Israel to degrade both Syria and Hizballah in Lebanon as a prelude to a war with Iran, which both Israel and the US desire greatly”. Though I agree with the rest of your interpretation — that the Yanks will not be beaten off by blows but will go home quietly when they get tired of looking foolish sitting in their canoe on the sands without a paddle — I honestly do not see why the US (as a country) should desire a war with Iran just because Israel (as a country) sees Iran as yet another “existential threat”. The people of the USA have already spent considerable “blood and treasure” in a war against Israel’s previous “existential threat” — Iraq. They are currently spending considerably treasure fighting a war against Israel’s current “existential threat” Syria — though not much blood thank goodness (as yet!). But I cannot believe that citizens of the USA are prepared to spend what will be vastly more blood and vastly more treasure fighting big Iran because little Izzie feels threatened. My belief is based neither on a military nor an economic analysis, nor even on public opinion statistics; I simply remember a short letter in the Washington Post some years ago, re Syria: “We give Israel money and we supply them our weapons for free; do they want us to fight their wars for them?”. I guess that remark was posted by one of “the deplorables” who voted for Trump in their millions. Even though Trump loves his Jewish convert daughter (as a father should), and might even love his dual-citizen Israeli govt member Son-in-Law, the POTUS also remembers who voted him in.
The flaw in your theory is that the US requires conflict to sustain the corrupt MIC/Economy.
No one really cares if US troops are killed and maimed along the way. Seriously, you see any protests in the US about our troops being involved in conflicts in numerous countries? No. As long as it is not full scale war, military contractors are used heavily now to conceal causalities. Welcome to the new warfare, same as it was in the dark ages, mercenary armies paid through shadowed hands. Large enough mercenary armies to destroy entire countries.
And again, I disagree on your point on Israel. Brainwashed Americans will proudly send they kids to die for Israel, just like they want the stupid goyim to do. Just gotta prove the case that the poor persecuted Jews are under deep enough threat again which is easy enough because everyone is praying for a sign of the end times anyway. Really rooting for it I would say by the looks of what TV shows are most popular in the US.
“Also, if US forces in Syria would to fire on Syrian forces, and Syria responded by attacking US forces, Syria would be under a full-scale US/NATO air bombardment within a day or two.”
As US is illegally in Siria, without any hope of getting legality of the action, even if they are attacked there, it would not trigger NATO pact automatically.
(E.G. In World War I, the treaties between Italy and Austria-Hungary, and Romania, which purported to require Italy and Romania to come to Austria’s aid if Austria was attacked by another nation, were ignored by both Italy or Romania because, as Winston Churchill wrote, “the casus fœderis had not arisen” since the attacks on Austria had not been “unprovoked.”[1])
((Of course, this is only theoretical, we all know the “exceptional nation” sometimes does “exceptional” things))
Yeah ..nah…but the war will be taken to Israel in a very deliberate and devastating way if Syria is attacked!
Israel will not be capable of controlling a war inside it’s borders and out!
USA UK interests will be met with massive force in the Persian gulf. Don’t for a minute think the war will be contained in Syria by NATO USA and Israel
NATO will probably disintegrate it’s already shaky alliance at the thought of coming up against Russia, Iran and China plus sleepers embedded in the West
That’s ludicrous to believe that the Anglo Zionist alliance can contain a war in Syria and they’re going to be unaffected
Sunburn missiles will be unleashed on warships in the Persian gulf and the world’s economy as we know it will grind to a halt.
A full scale war will commence and nobody can predict anything from there!
The Russian Eurasian vs The Anglo Postmodern….There is a good rational case now for saying Russia and its allies are more geopolitically powerful than the USA and its puppets. The Kurdish seperatist proxy has failed, Jihadist Sunni one has split apart, ISIS is gone….USA and UK used up all their divide-and rule cards in the middle east and lost. Turkey is a law to itself, leading a regional axis of Sunnis, not reliable to Anglo or Russians. The West no longer exists as a concept even. Germany, Southern Europe and a lot of Eastern Europe wants better relations with Russia, how long can the Anglo hold them back? These countries are still with some hope spiritually, wheras North America, UK, Holland, Skandinavia and Baltic are spiritually collapsed, given over to a depraved purely flesh and money based paganism, the worship of all that is destructive and surreal.
The former West, especially the Anglo ‘west’ is rotten to the core and is now in the deep Postmodern phase, as evidenced by their media. To read the Anglo media induces nausea, a single UK newpaper edition gleefully reported the cold weather was called the Beast From The East because it came from Russia, Thousands more ‘syrian’ Asylum seekers are to be allowed welfare, A new TV crime drama is starting about a Russian mafia, Old peoples homes now have pole dance shows as entertainment, Children can have state funded transgender operations, and the OAR Russian olympic team were cheats who should be banned from sport forever.
Russia do not give up, the spirit of Roman Filipov is a example to all who doubt.
@Anon “new TV crime drama is starting about a Russian mafia”. By the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Oh goody!
More “Russian” villains coming soon to the BBC.
Move over Serb villains.
Meanwhile Albanian criminals continue to supply Europe with around 80% of it’s heroin habit and most of it’s sex slaves.
But unlike much of the “Russian” mafia the Albanians are of course not eligible for Israeli citizenship.
Vera,
While I almost agree with your last sentence, I might carefully suggest that Albania is not immune to dual/multiple citizenship mafiozos.
The same can be applied to this article by Carlin:
https://russia-insider.com/en/actually-there-no-russian-mafia-theyre-all-georgian/ri22617
“The former West, especially the Anglo ‘west’ is rotten to the core and is now in the deep Postmodern phase, as evidenced by their media.”
Couldn’t agree more, and it’s evident that the media consumers are proud of their own pathetic lack of intelligence. Case in point: Just read roundabout 100 comments in The Guardian posted in late 2017 on the alleged Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. The few posts which dismissed the slander were greeted by other equally stupid anti-Russian propaganda memes learned by rote (troll factory, poisoned food, etc). And with most commenters demanding the referendum be annulled.
Soros is clearly winning his hearts and minds too, as does Putin.
@Nussiminen: “Soros is clearly winning his hearts and minds”. Not so much winning the hearts of his readers as buying the minds of his writers: a newspaper losing money; Soros to the rescue; “Who pays the band calls the tune”. Readers posts to The Guardian are selected for publication ‘Below The Line’ and quite unreliable as a measure of actual opinion. So much so that former readers have set up a fact-based site named Off-Guardian which exposes the Soros connection and other journalistic malpractice. I gave up reading that paper in 2003 when it started cheering “Operation Enduring Freedom” against oil-rich Iraq, and I found out there was a personal representative of Rothschild on the “Guardian Trust”.
On the other hand, President Putin is certainly winning the hearts and minds of people everywhere, not by bribes but by Putin’ a check to this Anglo-Zio-Capitalist PipeLineIstan misery which has been steadily attempting to neo-colonize the world (including Russia itself) since the 1980s.
Thank you. Interesting, the statement of Asad about attacking Israël if US attacks Syrian troops. By your analysis, I think Israëls only option is letting the syrians + other nations in the environment fight each other untill utmost weakness. The other option of going straight against Syria using US seems no option. That is good for mankind.
It appears, that Turkey is actually helping to shape the situation with the Kurds, which is favourable to Syria. Without the Turkish intervention, the Kurds would still be licking American boots. Someone had to knock some sense into them. It could not be the Syrians, Iranians or Russians – imagine the hysterical reaction of the West?! More tomahawks for sure! But Turkey, being the NATO member and having legitimate “security concerns”, was the ideal candidate to “reason” with the Kurds..
Clearly there were a lot of talks and agreements taking shape between Syrians , Russians,, Kurds and Turks, behind the scenes and official headlines. Early days, but looks like it is paying off.
Excellent point, hadn’t thought of that angle, how Turkey plays in was confusing a bit, we still have to hope the Kurds in Manbij are as thoughtful as those in Afrin. and will Turkey turn their attention there if needed as they have stated and threatened. For the sake of everyone the Kurds need to formally align with Assad, accept that they will be treated fairly, which would give Turkey reason to declare victory and return home with the least repercussions, and leave the U.S. hanging with very few logical responses left except to leave. Hoping for the best. at least it seems now to be in the cards.
Are you kidding me??
Nothing will be able to remove the Americans except for WW III.
The Americans are in Syria for the long haul.
This was all planned way in advance and was executed with the invasion of Iraq.
Occupying parts of North Eastern Syria and parts of the Euphrates River valley could never have been accomplished without the occupation and dismantling of Iraq.
Once Saddam was finally removed and Iraq was occupied and dismantled as a country, this was the excellent opportunity to start the plans for chaos and ISIS, while investing heavily in the Syrian revolution.
If you were an American Zionist would you back down out of Syria and leave Israel vulnerable to Syria and Iran ?? …..Of course not!!!
You would double down and build as much bases as soon as possible inside Syria to weaken the most dangerous and important neighbor of Israel at all costs.
In their plans the Zionists never factored for a Russian resurgence and subsequent intervention. And this is what makes this plan so dangerous.
The Americans have enough bases and resources in the area to wipe out the entire Syrian regime. With bases in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE , Jordan and Djibouti, etc.
Hi Harry_Reid – thanks for comment – I think you’re mistaken about Americans – they back down readily – and turn tail and leave and go back and boast about the evil Syrians –
They did it in Vietnam
It seems to me there’s a bitterness in your comment – are you Iraqi ? I have a dear friend who is married long term – to a great Iraqi guy – they met in England at university – all his relatives are dead – he’s been working in Qatar for the past years – before he was in the oil industry in Iraq – they have two beautiful adult daughters, one is Sunni and one is silly – American style –
He talks about Iran – its sad how Iraqis are very prejudiced against Iran – and in fact – a refugee in my small rural community – an Iraqi – is very adamant that Iran started the 1990’s war with Iraq –
Its so confusing
I think a very shallow analysis in this article – the USA *has* to win something in Syria or they look like the paper tigers Mao suggested they are. The real plan of the USA is to prevent Russian/Iran controlled pipelines and Chinese OBOR projects from being realized, that is the pure financial side and they will not give that up. If the Kurds decide to toss out the Yanks, the Yanks will reactivate ISIS under some other name and cause more ruckus in Kurd areas and to be honest, the Kurds invited the devil in and there’s no way they can get rid of the USA no matter what they do.
On the appearance side, if the USA pulls out they will have lost another war (and the peace) with the list growing longer and more countries willing to challenge the hegemony. So for the sake of appearance they can’t pull out regardless of the illegality of their presence. At all costs they need to keep the fear of the hegemony intact as a deterrence.
Syria won’t be able to dislodge them, they need air superiority or a credible deterrence which they don’t have unless Russia gifts them some more advanced AA defense, but even if they receive advanced AA the Syrian defensive infrastructure would be overwhelmed in a short time by US air strikes if they down a US plane. Russia and China won’t risk WWIII when the US is so close to financial collapse – why would they? Let the US spend it’s dollars in worthless endeavours as their financial wealth dries up and their infrastucture degrades, all China/Russia have to do is prepare for the (financially lucrative) clean-up as the current US target suffers and the USA collapses.
The only thing that the Syrians can do to dislodge the USA is a war of attrition through individually killing US soldiers, and that is something that unfortunately the Syrians and other Middle Easterners seem to be very inept at – stealthy assassinations.
Can someone explain why the USA is in Northern Syria? They are jammed up against Turkey, there must be a reason.
They must be feeling exposed.
Andrew, the US is in Northern Syria for the oil –
How do they get the oil out?
And even if they do control the oil it won’t be the US government reaping the rewards but corporations. If you look at he 5700 Americans killed in wars since 1999, it pales into insignificance beside the 128,000 suicides in the USA army in that time. I don’t think the people of the US have the stomach to fight anymore.
The US is increasingly divided, Trumps election was mostly a protest vote, the days of unlimited power in the hands of a few, is coming to an end, so too is the financial might of one of the worlds greatest democracies.
It could be replaced by a Russia/China alliance but I don’t think the China miracle has been built on good enough stone, leaving us with a vacuum that the old powers can do little about, while we get swept into a future very much unplanned for.
Andrew, the primary driver of US foreign policy has always been the interests of the multinational corporate complex and the globalist banks. So, of course corporations will receive the benefits of the oil revenue.
As for as how they will get the oil out, most likely through Turkey. If Erdogan is reluctant to agree to this there are a number of tools to persuade him.
The first, and most useful tool is simple bribery. Erdogan would be given a royalty for oil transported through Turkey.
Second, the threat to freeze or confiscate assets held by Erdogan or his allies and supporters in Western banks.
Third would be economic sanctions against Turkey.
Fourth, regime change. All these options work well with most relatively poor countries.
The USA banks have been able to create money with a stroke of a pen in the Eurodollar market. Thats how the world was financed since the end of WW2. That has broken and could be causing a lot of heartache especially in China and could lead to the end of US hegemony
Perhaps the USA needs oil sold in US $ to create $ ?
How much oil is in Syria and is it important to the US now it’s a net exporter? Also Russia still dominates the EU energy market and I don’t see Syrian oil being able to threaten that.
Confiscation of assets will just force others to leave the US $ system.
We live in a world of accelerating scarcity. The Western economic model for the past hundred years has been based on the availability of cheap energy, especially cheap oil. Oil production in the United States is expensive oil. That fact makes all the difference to the economic equation. There is evidence that the great Saudi fields (once a seemingly unlimited source of cheap oil) will soon approach terminal depletion. Predictably, the reaction to resource depletion has been to fight ever more bitterly over what is left. Recall that ISIS was apparently first designated to extract and manage Syrian oil. Russia spoiled this by destroying their oil transport. So the Syrian reserves represent a source of real Wealth. Central banks can redistribute wealth but cannot create it. Russia may be the last and best source of global oil reserves.
sounds like trump
This is why the Kurdish leadership are as untrustworthy as Erdogan. They just sail where the current direction of the wind is.
So i dont have a right mind. No sympathy for terrorists. Do you feel sorry for the family grieving in sympathy of their dead takfiris? What about thousands of innocent kids killed by the American army? why would anyone offer condolences to such a vile army.
These mothers would have been more humane had they asked their kids not to spread chaos in syria.
America knows it clearly, their ally is Israel for which they would risk nuking themselves.
more like what is better outcome for them in the present conditions. Make another chaos in syria and they will go back to their old ways.
hi, you don’t distinguish between the American government and the American people – the mothers of the troops in Syria are not friends with Israel – they might buy some Halvah made in Israel – there are some fancy ladies’ shoes that are made in Israel – but mums don’t even know where Israel is on the map.
I make my own Halvah.
Most Christians in the USA love the idea of Armageddon and are willing to sacrifice even the USA to support their idol, the anti-Christ Talmudists pretending to be Biblical Israel.
Plus they wrongly suppose that more war is pleasing to their god, who is not Jesus Christ, but Molech.
thanks Ghassan – great article – such a good read – and I agree with you – much on Alternative Media is war mongering – there’s always another war on the horizon – but I think that its the THREAT of war – that is on the horizon –
I hope the American troops go home – long past time – bring ’em home.
The big question is when will the Americans leave Syria. The Americans will leave Syria when the Syrians tell them to leave.
Right now Assad protests the American presence, but face facts. He is using American presence to win over the Kurds. Truly, America is a useful idiot.
The big, ongoing battle is for East Ghouta. The two nearby pockets, Mukayyam al Yarmuck and Dumayr are also crucial. There are too close to Damascus to ignore. Once they are cleansed of Daesh, then attention can be placed on Al Tanf. There is no reason for US troops to be there, other than to support a phony popular insurrection against Damascus. I see also renewed interest in reclaiming all territories around Daara and direct confrontation with IAF intruders. It has to be done.
So, in about two month’s time, Syrian troops cross the Euphrates at some point, possible the Iraq border, and reclaim their own territory. The Americans have the option of making a stand over a piece of real estate, or withdrawing. All the while, their backs are exposed to Kurds.
Just my opinion.
Great article, thank you.
Also, 23 comments, for the most part, very good.
Of note:
and
Ann on February 27, 2018 · at 2:21 am UTC
Hi Harry_Reid – thanks for comment – I think you’re mistaken about Americans – they back down readily – and turn tail and leave and go back and boast about the evil Syrians –
They did it in Vietnam
and
“Creeds that operate secretly, undermining national and global institutions, by operatives with fundamental hatred-based discrimination against all out-group peoples need to be uniformly made illegal in the global community!”
It is the psychopaths creed, sealed and doomed by karma to implode.
Achtung, Achtung: SVT calling, SVT calling!
Tonight, Sweden’s national broadcaster presents a German documentary on Russia’s approaching Presidential Elections. Here is an English summary (translation mine):
The concluding question clearly suggests that ‘corruption’ and ‘abuse of power’ are Westish for protecting Russia and her people along with Syria’s. Who would ever have guessed?
Great analysis
Hmm. Sobering analysis. I hope that he is right that the Kurds have seen the light, that would certainly seem to be in their long term best interest and they seem to be politically, in Syria, a very interesting group of people of very great value to politics in Syria. So let us hope for the best there, however, with the current crop of U.S.A. nincompoops I would be expecting the worst. God only knows with these people, they have $$ jingle in their pockets and are looking to blow it on something, realistic war options are limited, and they don’t want to lose their toehold to springboard into Iran or at least to pose an ongoing threat. ?