Latest news from Syria . . .

My impression is that a cold meat sandwich could outthink him...

 

Much money was wasted trying to rebuild that country, and we shouldn't do it again. Good intentions, but lessons learned.

Meanwhile, the taliban is still allied with AQ and other terrorist groups. ISIS is attempting to gain power there now as well. This is not the time to walk away on the military side. A lesson from Iraq is that, as feckless as the Afghan army is, if it is given our air support, the taliban and AQ can be beat back. They have no answer for our air power.

 

I agree with Cerberus that McCain is not terribly intelligent. I think he was played like a harp. And the man holds a belief that the U.S. has the right to interfere in countries like Syria. He and a few others in Congress believe that any war is good war. He is a man who believes that U.S. "leadership" is being at war and that U.S. "weakness" is the absence of war. When I see McCain in the company of those jihadists, I don't see a diabolical conspirator. I see an idiot. Obama, Hillary, McCain, Lindsey Graham ... all possessing a belief that we have a right to intervene into anything.

I'm hawkish on the defense of America. I am decidedly not hawkish on interventions into countries that pose no threat to us; i.e. Libya and Syria.

 

Problem is, this is just a way to stay there forever. For radical islamists are not going away. Occupying foreign lands is not a winning way, given what it creates. If you want to create even more enemies who will come after you, occupy another nation long term and watch at a never ending stream of new enemies as they reach the age old enough to shoot you.

We really do not give a damn about those people in afghanistan. So there are other reasons, having nothing to do with national defense. Is it to keep the poppy fields producing for our CIA to use to finance black projects? For it sure isn't that we care about their people.

 

If there's no way to identify the enemy then there's no way to defeat it, QED? The only way any enemy can be identified is by the uniforms that are worn, but jihadists don't wear uniforms? So the salient question is - How can the taliban and AQ et al be 'beat back' when they look exactly the same as civilians?

 

I agree with Cerberus and you that McCain is not very bright. In fact, he's dimmer than a NAAFI candle, which when lit casts more shadows than light.

And I agree also on all those named. Dumb as lead balloons, but they constituted the leadership of the USA at the time. And they shadows behind the curtain have now whipped Trump back into their contorted mannequin and off the war-wagon goes again.

 

My opinion of McCain is that he's the archetypal rabble-rousing yankee-doodle sabre rattler.

 

Because they do congregate into fighting forces. And the terrain of Afghanistan actually plays to our strengths. There is no jungle to hide in. And finally, U.S. ground forces have vastly superior training, support, and equipment. When we were there in force, the taliban was reduced to hiding in villages and setting IEDs. They lost every major engagement with U.S. forces. Anywhere U.S. forces went, they could take cities, set up bases, and enable Afghan governance (be that as it may). The next thing I'm going to say is not something I take lightly or say cavalierly, but our KIA in Afghanistan have been light. Consider that we lost some 55,000 in Viet Nam and over 33,000 in the Korean War. To date, we have lost 1879 in Afghanistan, in 17 years. What we have gotten in return is the denial of control of a nation that is allied with AQ. Being in Afghanistan also puts us within striking distance of major terrorist leaders in Pakistan.

In the absence of U.S. forces, the Afghan government has been losing ground to the taliban - quite a bit of ground. I think we should ramp things up again for a while. Sometimes it is just necessary to show strength and resolve and convince your friends and your enemies alike - our friends that we'll stand with them, our enemies that they may die, but they may not win.

Told ya I'm hawkish on some things ...

 

I'm waiting. I make no judgement on that yet. He has some good men close to him in John Kelly and James Mattis, for which I'm thankful. Both acutely understand war and the true costs of war.

 

Oh dear ... Why people can't understand ???
If you don't fight the war against Jihado Islamo in their land .. soon the war will be IN your land.
And you don't want that to happen !

 

No jungle, but plenty of mountains? I daresay that mountains don't 'play to you strengths??

And I couldn't agree more. What makes it all fall down are are the orders from the top brass - think 'lions led by donkeys'? But on the subject of 'superior training', can you tell me - way back 16 years ago, why didn't you just train a competent bunch of Afghans and then leave them to train succeeding intakes of recruits? I'd really be interested to know.

They weren't 'hiding', they simply decamped until you left the area in the assumption you'd finished the job, then they came back again. In other words they gave you the run-around?

And what about the casualty figures for us in the UK and other coalition forces? And the KIA is just one aspect - how about those poor 'lions' who were maimed and disfigured for life? Maybe the KIA were the lucky ones?

So after 16 misbegotten years, the entire adventure (misadventure?) was a waste of time, materiel and brave soldiers? Secondly it means that you'll be occupying Afghanistan until the talibs allow you to leave; and in the meanwhile how many more of your lads and lasses will be KIA and maimed?

And I think you should get the hell out asap. I know you'll 'lose face' but that's been the root cause of so many casualties - the US refuses to believe it can be beaten. Well to me it looks like you can, and beaten by a collection of warriors armed only with AKs and cleverly-hidden bundles of explosives. LEAVE NOW, before they kill any more of your countrymen. You are not invincible, as many other countries found out to their cost, when they tried to take on the Taliban - I'd have thought your administration would have 'learnt the lessons' of history?? You weren't invincible when you were in Vietnam, nor Iraq, nor Libya, nor currently in Syria - not only do you not understand the regional mindset nor ever will, but neither you don't understand that instead of making things better for the civilian populations, all you ever do is to make them worse.

I have to say that your input on this thread has, to my surprise, made me understand quite a few things about your foreign policy.[/QUOTE]

 

I've got news for you - it already is.

 

In a recent article Caitlin Mathews sadly quipped:

"Arguing that the Western war machine is a good way to bring about peace and justice is like arguing that a bulldozer is a useful tool for brain surgery. Arguing that the Western war machine is a good way to bring about peace and justice in Syria is like arguing that the gasoline which was used to start a house fire can also be used to extinguish it." (HERE).

I most certainly can't argue with that. It's self evident to anyone who can think for themselves.

Meanwhile Robert Fisk wrote a fairly long piece for the Guardian on the battle of Ghouta (HERE) in which he argues that the battle will go on regardless of the coordinated western propaganda campaign which forms part of the British Foreign Offie strategy of the Small American Group on Syria (HERE).

Lastly, Thierry Meyssan is reporting that the Russiand have now deployed ground troops in Syria, specifically in Ghouta (HERE), which if true (and he does have excellent sources in Syria) could be a game changer.

 

I agree with that, and I totally supported the annihilation of ISIS. I just don't want any part of Syria's civil war. We can deal with any outcome of that war but I don't want to be a part of that war.

 

That was exactly the plan when all those EXCEPTIONAL people went into Afghanistan
.............................................to Liberate the country by bombing it into the stone age

But the guys they were training, came to so severely HATE the guts of the American's
.............................................................training them that they.began murdering them.



Afghan Army Recruit Turns His Gun On US trainers, Killing Three Jun 8 2013
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/wor...is-gun-on-us-trainers-killing-three-1.1422068

Two Americans Killed by Afghan Recruit Aug 7 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/w...-afghan-recruit-in-green-on-blue-assault.html

Officials: Afghan Border Police Officer Kills 6 U.S. Troops - Nov 29 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112901420.html

Suspected Afghan Army Trainer Opens Fire on American Instructors July 20 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/20/AR2010072002731.html

Afghan Recruit Kills Nato Trainers Aug 10 2010
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2010/08/201082510438437223.html

Number of NATO Forces Killed By Afghan Recruits Hits New High
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Sec...orces-killed-by-Afghan-recruits-hits-new-high

& on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on & on
.

 

Here's Rania Khalek with some actual info for the unfortunately kept-stupid:

https://twitter.com/walid970721/status/969939223431303168

 

The Syrian Army is making quicker than expected progress in East Ghouta. If they can finish this one off they will free up lots of their military making the inevitable confrontations with Turkey or the US closer to fruition.

The Kurds in the northeast are also getting rolled very quickly by the Free Syria Army and Turkish military.

 

Where is this map from? It looks very detailed.

 

A pro Syrian Army source on Twitter. His maps are biased towards the Syrian Gov. but he has been good about correcting them if the information is wrong or premature.

Here is an archive, he has been making them for years now on the conflict.

I found the source from here, these interactive maps are pretty sweet and include most areas in the world. They are a good source of to the minute news but they are twitter feeds so sometimes not so accurate (They will mark stuff rumored or (pro) source to help with bias). Developed by people in Ukraine, so sometimes they will be biased especially when Russia is involved.

 

Let's see if that's the case:

This is the map of Ralph Peters, published by the US Armed Forces Journal in 2006:



Take a closer look at the Syria's eastern border:



The region I circled in red is "Euphrates river". As seen clearly on the map it is the westernmost "border" of the Syrian Kurdistan. Again, this map was drawn before the date it was published on the journal in 2006.

Now let's check today's situation in Syria after 12 years:



Yellow lands are de-facto Syrian Kurdistan. The red circled part is the westernmost border of it; the Euphrates. Menbij and Al Tabqa are functioning as buffer zones and "bargaining chips" against Turkey and regime/Russia/Iran. So just ignore them for now because when the time comes and all parties gather around the negotiation table, Menbij and Al Tabqa will be given away by the US to secure east of the river.

So, here we are, right where the most hawkish strategists had foreseen long time ago... And what's sadder is despite all its outcries Russia is not willing to do no sh/t about the eastern stolen lands but some Russians still say Syria is a failure for the US... I'm just laughing my ass off... HA HA HA HAAAAA....

 

1. There was no secret about kurds living in the region. The land which they considered their own hasn't changed for 12 years and without mass cleansings won't change for another 100 years. So there is nothing astonishing in this fact. I can draw today the border between England and Scotland in case they decide to split. And if after 20-30 years it takes place it won't mean that it was me planning it from the very beginning... BTW it's high time you start laughing.
2. The aim of the US was to overthrow Assad and have the same regime as in Libya at the moment. With plenty of small, aggressive, corrupt terrorist controlling different territories. The aim was ethernal and controlled ISIS, which will get bombed every now and then justifying the US presence in the country. The Kurds would have been a shield from it and a possible continuation of ISIS penetration to the side of Russia and Turkey. Now the kurds are a problem by themselves and Turkey is pushing them out releasing the territory for Assad as a peace compromise. If Russia attacks the US forces in the region it would provoke the US for a possible world war. So it's better for the US to confront with NATO member trying to figure out why they need kurds if ISIS is gone and Syria is still alive...
You call it success? I wouldn't like such a success to anyone. Because what happened in Vietnam or Korea brought much more glory and not that big damage to the US as Syria did.

 

Yet another series of arguments out of some elementary school vision posted with Yandex...

I have been to many different cities of Syria. I got Syrian friends. I employed a Syrian. I know Syria very well. Have you ever been to Syria once? Euphrates region have been home to Turkmens and Arabs in the very first place since Seljuk Empire and I'm not talking about some hundred thousands brought in from somewhere else, I'm talking about few million Turkmens have been living there for more than 6 hundred years. Apart from that, "living" in a region does not automatically justify a land grab. Gotta grow some balls and go to Middle East to get firsthand experience of what really is going on there rather than vomiting blabbers here... You can't learn these from Kremlin propaganda websites Sergey...

Hahaha really? Just as expected a Russian troll is doing what he's good at: Posting nonsense. Since such trolls got real terrible reasoning due to their little or no questioning abilities they rarely think of causes of the events folded out in certain ways. For example, before coming up with some ludicrous sh.t like; "nothing has changed within 12 years", they never think about where those 4 million refugees in Turkey might have come from, or the 3.5 million in Jordan. Funny...

What an analogy. They are part of the United Kingdom and basically are already separate countries having their own national flags and there's a 96 mile long "official" border in between. You try draw a line on sand Sergey, that's what you sound you might be good at.

Nope...

No no no... So wrong... You don't even have a clue about what Libya has in the name of a regime...

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, right? Still tho, "not eternal" ! lol...

Oh they already tried and got their asses kicked pretty bad, lost more than 100 Russian citizens in Deir Ez Zor. God knows how many times they lost that much of men at one battle in Syria, but that did not trigger nothing close in definition to a war because A) you might have missed but there's a war that's been going on for some time now and Russia is one of the weaker parties -as they have to use fighter jets too often because they don't have proper proxies deployed on the ground to take out adversaries in Eastern Ghouta... And B)Russia simply can't risk to admit that it brought Wagner's fascist gangs to Syria, because then it would have had to admit that it sponsors bunch of terrorists of its own creation to be able to deal with US proxies in the field. Would have been a hit taken right in the face of the hard earned imaginary reputation...

Aint calling anything a success. What I said was clear; Syria was hardly a failure for the US. Read before dive head on. Your arguments, analogies, comparisons, they are even weaker than the weakest proxies in Syria. Some of them are horribly ridiculous. Neither Vietnam, nor does Korea constitute a comparison material to the situation in Syria. US and allies took direct military actions in both wars. Your ignorance is beyond pathetic.

 

You don't have any counterarguments here for what I have said. We can trace history to Byzantine empire if you want, but it won't explain the logics of those who estimated the reaction of kurds and identified the borders of their neighbourhoods. Of course not only kurds live there, but it doesn't change anything. They are the local power in the region in case that government forces are away. The only thing needed is to make a plan for government forces. There we go. Don't need to google it or yandex it. Pure logics. Nothing more. The only amazing thing about it is that it amazes you.
Talking about world law is always good, but not in this case. If there was a conference between kurds, ISIS, Syrian state and 'opposition' it could have been an argument. But the whole thing around it was war. Civil war. And while you have a civil war you don't really have time for asking someone abroad about the best and the most reliable solution. You just hold the positions which are good enough for the rest not to shoot at you.

If it was kurds then it would change the picture. But kurds didn't leave the region. They fought for their homeland with ISIS. The refugees were planned connected into network and used for some terrorist attacks in EU... and Turkey. The refugees can only return to the region with a support of Syrian state. Kurds won't support those who left.

That's a common practice that Europeans have much better organization than it is in asia or middle east. At least about agreements and laws. But all the flags, constitutions and other stuff is not changing or establishing the fact. This is only a process growing around the fact. If you have a flag and a wonderful story since times of Salahadin about your possible claims I wouldn't bet a cent that you have any success in case of civil war in Turkey. But I would definitely bet for kurds.

Please, call the American diplomats and ask them to stop repeating 'Assad must go', since it is not their aim. BTW if that is not their aim you could kindly ask them what it is. I have no interest in not believing my own eyes. Overthrowing Assad was an initial aim of the USA.

I don't care about a bunch of people who don't have any real control over Syria. In the 90s Yeltsin was controlling all the Russia. On paper. In fact he couldn't control even his own alcocholism, while the power in Chechnya belonged to the same guys who fight for ISIS at the moment. Libyan centers are Tripoli Tobruk and it used to be Sirt before it wasn't destroyed in a battle against ISIS. The south belongs to the touareg tribes. Smaller centers are controlled by smaller armed groups who defect from one larger group to the other. Look at the story of Haftar for instance. Who is he? What kind of power does he have?

Yes. Because clock is systemic. And if there is no system in your viewpoint you would never be right. Even accidentally.

For some reason Russian army even now is regarded as hordes of barbarians with wooden sticks and huge axes... A strike of Russian army starts with reconnaissance, then it is time for an air strike and only then the groundforces perform the planned maneuver. Even if a 100 of Russian citizens was around American positions and got killed it doesn't mean that Russian army tried to attack americans. The American planes are systemically seen off by Russian aircraft. In Syria as well. There were no air clashes. But there were no such orders as well. All the international personnel in Alleppo was surely under fire of Russian attack planes. But these guys were not there officially and this is a different thing.

I don't understand you. There was one media propaganda issue about Wagner group. And I heard different figures and different speculations none of which coincided and made any sense. So for me it was just a media propaganda. Perhaps it was a signal sent to Russian army as well. The war is going on quite close and quite risky.
Besides, ... Russian citizens do fight on the side of ISIS. Some of them are already in Russian prisons. I will tell you even more. Some Turkish citizens (kurds) are fighting against the Turkish army. So what?

Russian allies in the region include Syrian army and Hezbollah. If I had to choose two strongest parties I wouldn't hesitate to pick these ones. ISIS used to be stronger but not strong enough with the united world against them. Turkish army is also stronger, but it fights for the interests of Turkey and is currently Russian ally... Israeli army is stronger. But they don't take part in the conflict officially. Kurds? Well. Debatable. But for Russia kurds were not the best of choices from the beginning. There was an information campaign in Russian media to make people to like Kurdish fight with ISIS. There still is some pity among Russians about the Kurds. It's really a pity that we have to stay against each other.
The private companies can perform dirty things in the region. And no one reall calculates losses of them for the army. I still don't know what was about this attack and how many Russian citizens were killed and what they were doing there. but I am sure that it was their own choice. The group exists, it operates and I really doubt it would have been possible if they lost 100 men.

Yeah. I am bad. And I make mistakes. I don't have special sources of information or acquaintances among every army and years of living experience in every country on the globe. I am just interested in politics. I just read the news and try to understand what is happening. Just that. Nothing more. Of course I have mistakes. I corrected some of my mistakes today. There are quite interesting people here who helped me to correct it and I am still grateful to them. Unfortunately your post haven't given me anything of interest. You speculated on 100 killed Russians, underestimated the force which regained most of territory from ISIS, told me of some refugees as if I didn't know of them, you tried to show a map of territory which kurds wanted to control years ago with the map of their territory controlled when they had a chance for it and having noticed similarities you lost your mind... What do I have to get from your message? That Russians are weak fascists?

 

I stopped reading right here:

Some people are spending part of their valuable time sharing their analysis, researches and thoughts here. That moronic Byzantine suggestion plus other worthless blabbers are doing nothing but lowering the general quality of the forum... It's already time to leave you drowning in your trash trolling...

One more time you quote me and you are on ignore.