Over 2 million refugees from Syria are living in Turkey. Now those civilians can go back to their home country in the safe zone. Which is a big part of why Turkey needed to go in. That and the Kurds in their country were working with the Kurds in Syria made the whole idea of a Kurdish controlled area bordering Turkey impossible.
Um Trump has not started or escalated any conflicts. It is the Congress and Senate all demanding he not conduct diplomacy with North Korea or Russia. It is the Congress and Senate demanding we keep troops in the areas of conflict in Syria. So far at least Trump has been a champion of keeping us out of violent conflicts. Only in Saudi Arabia has he failed and we can hope he pulls the troops out of there as well as soon as possible.
Um, yes, I know all that, and I agree. The Trump haters, however, are having a very hard time adjusting to the idea that Trump is proving to be an amazingly-effective peacemaker, and not at all the bloodthirsty warhawk of their fevered imaginations.
Most of the Kurds in Syria probably came from Turkey since Assad had an all inclusive country, and they were under persecution in Turkey. Later on Assad began persecuting them, since the large amount entering threatened Syria's territorial integrity as well as to please Erdogan - not that it mattered, Erdogan back stabbed him the minute he had a chance. Anyway according to the Kurds, about 20 million or about 25% of the people in Turkey are Kurds. In Syria it's about 7%. Turkey has another population problem though. There are anywhere from 15 to 20 million Alevis in Turkey who are a branch of Shia like the Alawites in Syria. Erdogan is starting to realize, that they might be Greek crypto Christians who adopted a Muslim identity as protection. For not bowing down to Saudi Arabia, and allowing a Sunni to become president so sharia law can be imposed on all the non Sunnis who voted for Assad. Assad also dared not to allow a gas pipe to pass through Syria to break Russia's monopoly. But that's what happens to someone when they're not an opportunist and have a sense of loyalty. Assad and his country had to be destroyed because of it. The self designated gods have spoken. Bully for them! Take that you fools of misery. For we are gods of lofty see. That knowest more the way to go than stupid folks like you below. - Jeannette
LOLOL.. The Saudis built the East West pipelines over 20 years ago.. They never wanted a pipeline thru Syria. Qatar wanted a pipeline thru Syria as did Iran, but the European gas market is flat .. There's no need. The Kurdish population of Syria is that country's largest ethnic minority, comprising between 7% and 10% of the country's population according to most sources. The northeastern Kurdish inhabited region covers the greater part of Hasakah Governorate. The main cities in this region are Qamishli and Al-Hasakah. Another region with significant Kurdish population is Kobanî in the northern part of Syria near the town of Jarabulus and also the city of Afrin and its surroundings along the Turkish border...
Literally any country can come to the aid of the Kurds if they want to. It's not the responsibility of the US.
Bingo. People really think Syria will/should just give up their land? They literally invited Russia in to help them, meanwhile, Turkey is trying to create a "corridor" where terrorists can no longer strike at them. Who is the group that both Turkey and Syria and Russia are talking about? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...BF6A9E882A921DB753&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL https://nypost.com/2019/10/08/how-obamas-team-set-up-trumps-syrian-dilemma/ NorthEastern Syria is mostly desert with a low population density, but LOTS of oil. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=population+density+map+of+syria&atb=v190-4__&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9c/97/4a/9c974ad6310e5e4aded9b6dc8990a863.png But who are these people that the media flatly keeps calling "Kurds", even though they are made up of almost a dozen ethnic groups, but lead by the Kurdish, Communist, PKK. They are called the SDF, Syrian Defense Forces and were exclusively armed by the Obama Administration and "We The People" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Democratic_Forces "According to United States Army Special Forces Commander General Raymond A. Thomas at the Aspen Security Forum in July 2017, the SDF is a PR-friendly name for the YPG, which Thomas personally suggested because the YPG is considered an arm of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist group by the Federal government of the United States.[111][112] American Defense Secretary Ashton Carter confirmed "substantial ties" between the PYD/YPG and the PKK.[113] Testifying to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Congress, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, the top U.S. intelligence official, explicitly defined the YPG as the "PKK's militia force in Syria”.[114][115]" We armed many groups to defeat ISIS, that is another argument that doesn't need to be tied here. Bottom line is, we armed them, they helped beat ISIS and now they want NorthEastern Syria as their own country. If we want to do this, Congress needs to declare war on Syria and Turkey, then likely Russia by proxy. Until then, Democrats and anyone attacking a US pullout of Syria is just a warmonger.
Americans are very poorly informed about what is actually going on in Syria, and the wider demarcation lines and agendas, in the Middle East. The war in Syria was about Iran from the get go and remains about Iran now. The rest are details, shifting alliances and tactics, and not much more. Trying to understand what the Obama administration was doing under some supposed interest in promoting 'democracy' by removing a 'brutal dictator' in Syria would no more help you understand how the US got essentially in bed with Sunni jihadists to oust Assad during that civil war, than trying to fit Trump's action into some 'neo-isolationist' framework in trying to see how the US has become the enabler of trying to make Russia the main 'power broker' in Syria. The obsession with Iran is, in turn, itself a reflection of the power and influence the Israel lobby in the US, with the divisions in approach and tactics themselves a reflection of divisions in tactics and approach between elements of the same lobby. Or, sometimes, simply a case of certain individuals within the same lobby playing both sides and hedging their bets. The neocons were pro Israel lobbyists aligned with the military industrial lobby in the US, using Christian evangelical Zionists as their foot soldiers. The folks playing to the script of the Moscow project are pro Israel lobbyists aligned with Russia to work with them to serve as their foot soldiers in the Middle East. The neocon agenda was more ambitious, less realistic in achieving more than the mayhem and chaos it brought with it, while the Moscow project involves more attainable objectives (at least in the shorter run) with far greater means to accomplish them. Both those lobbies, and their different constituents, of course, occasionally work on some issues -- but more often also clash -- with the main power center that stands in opposition to them, namely the neo-liberal globalist agenda which finds its strongest proponents in the EU and within elements of the Democratic party. Once the dust settles over the recent events in Syria, the real fight will begin. Both sides are preparing for it. Whether Iran is in a position to actually go through with it is unclear, but if it doesn't, the Moscow project will indeed see Iran eventually ousted from Syria. Once that happens, Hezbollah will also be more isolated and eventually more likely to find itself unraveling from within. The case with Iraq will be more complicated but already in both Lebanon and Iraq, we have seen US sponsored elements trying to shift their strategy and try to sow discord and stir the pot within even the Shia communities in those countries.
Was Assad acting on Iran's orders when his oil sector and agriculture collapsed? Was inflation and unemployment and overpopulation Iran's fault? Why didn't Iran and Russia step up to help then? Why didn't they advise Assad to follow thru with the reforms he promised?
Iran had no desire, interest, or inclination, to be involved in Syria's domestic policies and issues. For Iran, Syria's importance lay in Syria being part of the 'axis of resistance'. And it was Syria's membership in the axis of resistance that brought together the different powers who tried to oust him. It is also evicting Iran's influence in Syria (effectively removing Syria from the axis of resistance) that the was the carrot dangled by Russian proponents of the "Moscow Project" to entice (some) of the pro Israeli elements in the US to work with them on this project. It is also "Iran", and driving it out of Syria, that is the real issue that Trump responds to when he is briefed about Syria. For instance, how do you think Trump (who had wanted to remove the US troops out of Syria) ended up keeping them in Syria to protect Syrian "oil wells"? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/graham-fox-news-star-showed-trump-map-change-his-mind-n1069901 Graham and Fox News expert showed Trump a map to change his mind about Syria withdrawal That wasn't necessarily true at all, but because they knew what the driver behind Trump's agenda and policies, that is what they had to emphasize.
Why on earth would Iran bother with Syria's piddling oil fields? They peaked in 1996 at 350,000 pbd.. and were down to 35,000 bpd before the war. I guess you are well aware that Trump is seriously stupid. As for the other… I just assumed the Iranians wouldn't want a failed state on their border.. That's so …. Israeli.
Turkic tribes arrived Anatolia in 11. century from Central Asia with Battle of Manzikert, 1071. Muslim Kurds arrived region from Iran after Turkic conquest of Eastern Roman Empire. They had some small emirates but they were never fully independent, they were always vassals. Kurds played great role during Ottoman Sultan Selim's reign for Turks to convert sunni Islam by force. Because Turks were predominantly shia muslims or in belief of tengrism (shamanism) so Ottomans saw them as threat during 16. century. Thousands of non-sunni muslim Turks were massacred by Ottoman Empire with help of sunni Kurds. Turks became islamized after all. (Also this is the reason why history of Azerbaijan and Turkey became isolated.) Anyway neither Anatolia nor Syria is homeland of Kurds, there is no evidence Kurds were existing in Anatolia and Syria before 1071 - in Byzantine resources....If it was true, they would be Orthodox Christians.
Iran has no interest in Syria's oil or oil fields, but if you want to understand what motivates Trump, it is the same obsession (but with different tactics) that motivated the Iran obsessed, neocon, crowd which led to even jokes being made whenever Netanyahu gave a speech (people betting on how many words before he mentioned Iran and how many times he would mention Iran in any sentence). The different 'tactics' is important, however. Enlisting the Russians to get rid of Iran, which is the basic idea behind the "Moscow Project", is both more attainable and - even though the project no longer seeks "regime change" in Iran -- it is also nonetheless more dangerous as Russian hegemony isn't going to be better than an American one. Neocons who share the anti-Iran obsession but are very much opposed to the flirtation with Moscow, sometimes need to emphasize the "Iran issue" even when they are really talking a about Russia since the former excites Trump's attention but the latter doesn't. All that, of course, courtesy of what a good dose of anti-Iran obsession and propaganda will do to an impressionable mind like that of Trump's!
The story you told was interesting, but I like to tell you a different version of the history of the Turks, Azeris, and Kurds and, hopefully one day when I feel like the issues are less politically sensitive, I will do so. For now, however, let me say that you are right that no one has an 'original' claim to any land. That said, however, eastern Anatolia was technically a part of IRAN during much of the Persian-Roman wars and the presence of Iranian tribes there wouldn't be a huge surprise. While the Sassanian empire at its height had reclaimed pretty much all of the territories of the Achaemenid dynasty, the typical boundaries of Rome and Iran (and later the Byzantine empire and Iran) including right before the conquest of the Persian empire would have been as follows: p.s. The height of the Sassanian empire's territorial reach was as follows:
of course he has. The mess in Iran is totally the result of his violating the nuclear agreement. And didn’t Trump just decide to send US troops to Saudi Arabia to protect the oil fields? And is he not leaving troops in Syria to defend the oil fields. A pattern seems to be emerging.
As I said hopefully he changes course on Saudi Arabia and the whole middle East and pulls all of our troops out of there. Let the Russians sacrifice their children to the never ending conflicts there.
Not from Moscow's point of view. The regime change war against Assad had to do with his refusal to allow a gas pipeline from Qatar through Syria to break Russia's monopoly. Moscow had fought 2 deadly wars to hold on to Chechnya and protect its pipelines when the country was infiltrated with CIA embedded jihadists from the Gulf. To them the Shia crescent that runs from Syria to Iran is seen as protection and a matter of survival. Kadyrov's job is to keep out the jihadist/terrorists so they won't enter Russia, and there have been quite a few battles in Chechnya and Dagestan these past years. Shoigu said that Turkey is not watching over the ISIS camps in Syria, but why would they, when they were originally sent by Turkey into Syria to fight the Kurds?
