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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Assad Has Won and America Must Go. What does Washington think it can accomplish in Syria? |
| 2018-09-25 |
| [NationalInterest] Syrian government forces and their allies stand ready to roll into the province of Idlib and extinguish the last major rebel stronghold in the country. Russian air attacks pummeled Idlib in early September. Today’s announcement of a Russo-Turkish agreement for a buffer zone in Idlib appears to have postponed a full-scale attack on the province, but it is likely to be only a temporary reprieve . The Syrian civil war is in its endgame. Yet at this late hour, holding few cards, the United States has doubled down on its Syrian intervention. Why? America’s Syria policy is now in dire straits. On September 3 President Trump made a typical Twitter threat, warning Bashar al-Assad not to "recklessly attack Idlib Province." This bluster was paired with a far more serious announcement. The administration’s newly-appointed "representative for Syria engagement," retired diplomat James Jeffrey, told reporters that the United States had redefined its Syria goals to include the withdrawal of all Iranians and Iranian proxy forces from Syria and the "establishment of a stable, non-threatening government acceptable to all Syrians and the international community." Jeffrey added: "That means we are not in a hurry ." |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy |
| #8 Re: #6 & #7 -- Exactly! A Free and prosperous Kurdistan would be nice , but hardly practical unless we can build a Coalition and conquer all of the neighboring countries. ...So after we nuke Assad then what? Do we go in and do the full Nuremberg Trial circus with all of his supporters? If we don't then why kill Assad? Sometimes a problem is like a forest fire in the wilderness -- just standing back and letting it 'burn itself out' is the only pragmatic (if ruthless) response. |
| Posted by: magpie 2018-09-25 15:06 |
| #7 Erdogan would be a bigger opponent to that than Assad. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2018-09-25 10:34 |
| #6 The US would like to see Syria's Al-Hasakah Governorate (Kurdish: Parêzgeha Hesîçe‎,) incorporated into Iraqi Kurdistan. Hasakah, "located in the far north-east corner of Syria and distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water, picturesque nature... Prior to the Syrian Civil War nearly half of Syria's oil was extracted from the region." After Israel, it would provide the US a second ally in the Levant. |
| Posted by: Hupusing Claitch6798 2018-09-25 09:32 |
| #5 What's the prize at the end? Syria, and democratizing Iraq, buffer Turkey's move thru oil regions and Israel/Jordan into Saudi Arabia. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2018-09-25 08:41 |
| #4 Globalists are the only ones trying to bring back the Cold War. Remember Obama's reset button? All those times he accommodated Russia? The Islamists are on OUR side. We're supporting them against Syria's government. A free hand in Syria? What's so important there? Why are we spending massive amounts of our money that could be better spent on our own people? Why is it so important that we need to ally with head-chopping Islamists? What's the prize at the end? |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy 2018-09-25 08:01 |
| #3 I've never understood why we tolerate these dolts. We could remove him anytime we wanted. Sure there would be lots of pretty explosions because we still refuse to put up microwave beam weapons, but we could do it. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2018-09-25 07:31 |
| #2 Er why not? It's costing the russians lots of money they could be spending doing something more anti-western. I can't think of a better way to tie down russia, kill islamists and not cost the west a penny. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2018-09-25 05:57 |
| #1 Yet at this late hour, holding few cards, the United States has doubled down on its Syrian intervention. Why? Because the cold war is back and USA can't allow Russian-Iranian alliance a free hand in Syria. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-09-25 04:39 |