Trump Won’t Let Go of Syria – Kills Scores of SAA

5 Comments

1. 

   Oui on February 8, 2018 at 3:08 am

   Liz Sly – Washington Post Beirut bureau chief covering Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and beyond. RT=Gosh, hmm or huh.

   "The Coalition remains committed to focusing on the defeat-Daesh mission in the Middle Euphrates River Valley and asserts its non-negotiable right to act in self-defense." (4)

   — Liz Sly (@LizSly) February 7, 2018

   Barbara Starr – CNN correspondent at the Pentagon
   JUST IN: Russian contractors may have been involved in pro-regime attack on US military advisers and their partner forces in Syria that led to US counterattack with aircraft and artillery in east of Euphrates. No US wounded.

   JUST IN: Russian contractors may have been involved in pro-regime attack on US military advisers and their partner forces  in Syria that led to US counterattack with aircraft and artillery in east of Euphrates. No US wounded.

   — Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) February 7, 2018

2. 

   Oui on February 9, 2018 at 8:19 am

   Thanks for your thoughts on the Syrian issue, indeed an unfortunate outcome of the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia. The Obama administration had the State Department under Hillary Clinton with Susan Rice and Samantha Power, proponents of a R2P policy for intervention [read: regime change] in Libya and Syria.

   But Hillary Clinton seemed impatient for a conclusion to the multinational military intervention she had done so much to organize, and in a rare unguarded moment, she dropped her reserve.

   “We came, we saw, he died!” she exclaimed. [Source: NY Times]

   Two days before, Mrs. Clinton had taken a triumphal tour of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and for weeks top aides had been circulating a “ticktock” that described her starring role in the events that had led to this moment. The timeline, her top policy aide, Jake Sullivan, wrote, demonstrated Mrs. Clinton’s “leadership/ownership/stewardship of this country’s Libya policy from start to finish.” The memo’s language put her at the center of everything: “HRC announces … HRC directs … HRC travels … HRC engages,” it read.

   America’s blunt foreign policy over the decades failed to differentiate between strands of Islam, causing quite often upheaval. Perhaps the US is used to empire building while neglecting the needs of the people, social cohesion and cultural background.

   President Obama and in particular HRC sought a close relationship with Erdogan’s Turkey, Emir al Thani of Qatar and president Morsi of Egypt after the overthrow of Mubarak. This constituted the Muslim Brotherhood triangle, designated by the US as a moderate form of Islam that could run the affairs of a secular state. Turkey was seen as a model state for the North African nations in the Arab Uprising of 2011.

   The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Arab Emirates of the Gulf States. This is a historic given going back to the period in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser.  

   ○ How Nasser shaped the Arab Spring
   ○ The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary)

   Persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s caused an outflow of Egyptians who were welcomed by the rising oil-rich states of the Gulf region.

   ○ First visit of the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, Hassan al-Banna, to Saudi Arabia dates back to 1936

   Further reading:

   ○ Muslim Brotherhood Axis Egypt – Turkey – Qatar Faces Defeat
   ○ Exiled Brotherhood officials may find home in Turkey | Al Monitor |
   ○ Visions of Gulf Security

3. 

   Oui on February 10, 2018 at 8:01 am

   Two IAF pilots hurt after F-16 downed during retaliatory strike in Syria | Ynet News |

   Apache helicopter downs Iranian drone that entered Israel, triggering alarms in Beit She’an region; IDF attacks Iranian targets in Syria in retaliation; Syria fires antiaircraft missiles at Israeli F-16s, leading pilots to bail out; IDF: ‘Incident is ongoing. Iran dragging the entire region to an adventure and will pay the price.’

   The pilots were able to bail out of the plane. One pilot was seriously wounded, while the other was only lightly hurt. They were taken to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for treatment.

   The IDF’s strike was in response to an earlier infiltration into Israel of an Iranian drone originating from an airfield near Palmyra, Syria, which was successfully intercepted by an IDF Apache helicopter.

   …
   Pilots of one of the fighter jets recognized antiaircraft missiles locking onto their plane, prompting them to eject.

   The fighter jet crashed in an open area near Kibbutz Harduf. The police said the crash caused no casualties or damage in the community.

   IDF has targeted the Iranian control systems in Syria that sent the #UAV into Israeli airspace. Massive Syrian Anti-Air fire, one F16 crashed in Israel, pilots safe. #Iran is responsible for this severe violation of Israeli sovereignty. Event ongoing, more to follow.

   — Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) February 10, 2018

    

   ○ Israel launches ‘large-scale attack’ in Syria after fighter jet crashes | The Guardian |

4. 

   Oui on February 17, 2018 at 3:26 pm

   ○ A train crash between Turkey and the US put on hold | Hürriyet Daily News – Opinion |

   Just hours after the Mattis-Canikli meeting, Tillerson met Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in an unusual setup, with no translator or note-taker present in the room. It was not clear whether the Turks pushed for such a set up – in which Çavuşoğlu did the translation for Erdoğan – or whether Tillerson decided for it.

   The next day presented a peculiarly optimistic picture in Ankara. There we saw Tillerson and Çavuşoğlu almost completing each other’s sentences in front of the cameras, while announcing that the countries have “come to terms” to normalize ties.

5. 

   Oui on March 4, 2018 at 2:38 am

   Posted earlier @BooMan …

   Chessboard Near East. NATO leadership (USAsians) is provoking a war with Putin’s Russia. NK action will provoke retaliation from both China and Russia. Trump will attempt to eliminate the self-interest of South Korea which will come under immediate fire from NK. Russia is building new military bases in ally Syria. The result of the West’s provocation for regime change through jihadist proxies and funding from KSA, UAE and Qatar. Great support for Syrian opposition from the Atlantic Council. The Obama White House let ISIL expand as a force to fight the Syrian Army. Similar to present support for the Kurds fighting inside NE Syria. Turkey has all but switched allegiance from NATO partnership to Putin’s Russia because of self-interest. Europe also has split politically from Erdogan’s Turkey. So the new Near East alliance is formed by Iran – Syria – Iraq (partly) – Turkey and Russia. Any attack on Iran will get a response from the alliance. See my earlier writing about the CENTO states and the Baghdad Pact. These same states were used by the US to contain Communist expansion of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Putin succeeded to maintain Russia’s key naval bases of Sevastopol on Black Sea and Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea. Important defensive moves, Russia has no global footprint to threaten US might in an unipolar world.

   [Of course my comment was troll rated within the hour – don’t criticize Dem “progressives” on the site]