Trump doubles down on sanctions - threatening Europe with divorce

I was not aware that ISIS had a large presence in Afghanistan ? How would one tell ISIS from Al Qaeda or Taliban there in any case. The situation in Afghanistan is no better now than it was 18 years ago - in fact it is worse - due to our presence. The extremists were not defeated in Afghanistan - and if they are still there - ISIS is still there - just under a different name.

In Iraq it is a different story - I would grant that ISIS was defeated in Iraq - we were always fighting ISIS in Iraq. That was the strange thing about our policy - We were supporting ISIS in Syria - while at the same time fighting them in Iraq.

Rand Paul described this strange situation on CNN's Sunday morning program "State of the Union".

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2...-my-son-into-that-mess-on-the-crisis-in-iraq/

Wow - well known congressman going on a major network and accusing the President of arming the 911 Terrorists. I am sure many were saying "Holy Carp" what just happened ? The next day - as would be expected - every print and network front page story was "Congressman Accuses Obama of Arming 911 Terrorist Group" Read all About it !!

But, that is not what happened was it ?! The media response was "crickets" - Silence. The media knows better than to challenge the Establishment narrative - at least if one wants to keep their job.

So forgive me if I do not just accept the State Department narrative at face value - and neither should you. The Obama is no longer in the WH - but, the Establishment is still the same - just with a different puppet in the White house.

The big problem with the "we defeated ISIS in Syria" narrative is that this is largely untrue. It was the Syrian Army and Russia that did the heavy lifting. Even when the US was involved - in a small number of engagements - it was the Kurds that were doing the fighting on the ground and we were controlling the skies.

The fact of the matter is that for the vast majority of the war in Syria we were on the same side as ISIS. I was only in the last few years - after ISIS was mostly defeated and it was clear that the Al Qaeda/ISIS rebels were going to lose - that we started to attack ISIS - this was primarily an exercise in trying to cover our tracks.

The last rebel stronghold is the Idlib Province. This area is a complete mess. Al Qaeda/Al Nusra, ISIS, and other groups are there - having concentrated there due to fleeing other areas taken over by Assad.

Trump acted to stop the Syrian Army from attacking Idlib rather than engaging in an effort to defeat ISIS - and other Jihadist groups. Turkey is heavily involved in this as well. The situation is extremely complicated .. Al Nusra (Al Qaeda by a different name) is attacking ISIS.

It is not that I am saying that Trump was wrong to try to stop Turkey/Russia/Syrian Army from laying waste to Idlib - hypocritical perhaps but that is another story. I am not saying he was right either. What is nonsense however is that it is the US that is actively engaging in the defeat of ISIS in Idlib - or that they were a major part of taking out ISIS in Syria in general. This is just feel good propaganda for Trumps base. It is Turkey, Russia and the Syrian Army that are fighting the Jihadists in Idlib.

Here is a video of Al Nusra attacking ISIS in the Idlib Province.

All these groups are defeated in essence - and have been for some time - defeated by the Syrian Army. To get them out of the cities - in many cases they were allowed a path of escape. This is "art of war 101". Giving the enemy a route of escape rather than have them fight to the death. This frees the city with less casualties. Now most of these "escapees" are concentrated in Idlib - and the battle to finish them off is ensuing.

Here is a video of an area under the Control of the US -one of the last ISIS strongholds. There are no US soldiers doing any of the fighting on the ground- the soldiers are all Kurdish. The US coalition gives air support but most of the fighting has to be done on the ground. As you can see from the video - ISIS is already defeated - these are just the last pockets of resistance.

The real battles - when ISIS was fighting back with tanks, mortars rockets and other sophisticated military hardware that we gave them - was with the Syrian Army/Russia in bigger centers such as Palmrya.

You can to look at the battles in various cities- Aleppo- Homs and so on - all these major battles were fought by the Syrian army et al. The idea that Trump - who was not even office when most of these battles were fought - defeated the Islamist Jihadists - of which ISIS is just one - is simply false.

 

Some interesting info...







The above came from...

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/26/americans-and-germans-are-worlds-apart-in-views-of-their-countries-relationship/

 

Says who? You? President Blowhard LardButt?

They don't want us to "take Iran down."

Good luck getting this generation of young people to fight in ground war with Iran.

 

Yeah and doing that while Germany, France and UK stand with Iran.

 

Q

I dont foresee a ground war with iran

Nor do see the euros fighting beside the iranians

 

We dont need to fight. Our involvment alone is enough to make USA back off.

 

You overrate yourself

 

Why? We saw that trump backed off from us whenever we opposed him.

Nordstream II - we won
Tariffs? we won.

Trump always backed off.
And we saw that trump also backed off from Iran.

So its 3:0 for us.

 

Yes, that is true.

 

We dont know what provocation iran will make

In spite of your support they are hurting economically

If they kill Americans there s nothing germany can do to save them

 

We actually can give them our passive radar tech. With that they detect your F-35 and shot them down.

Btw Saudi Arabia killed 4000 americans. Can Iran kill 4000 and nothing happens ?

 

You? Occupied? Last time I checked, the US is paying to be there.

lol... I must have hit a nerve there.

Seems quiet obvious that a loud mouth American visiting a non English country doesn't get that they act just like a loud mouth Mexican demanding they speak Spanish in the US,.. something they would never accept. They are missing something.

 

We dont have a boot on your neck anymore

The military occupation ended in the mid 50’s

But American troops are still there nevertheless and I think it bugs some germans

 

The Saudi government did not kill 4000 Americans

 

So much for your "You lost the war and have been occupied by American troops for the past 74 years"... what a joke.

If you got... I dunno... 80 million Germans, there is bound to be some there who are always bugged about... some subject. Non the less,... it doesn't really change the average American being a loud mouth who expects people to speak English, is offended that immigrants would speak Spanish to them, and doesn't get that they are acting just what they hate themselves. They are missing something and do not get their ways sparks rude reactions. Bit weird to blame the Germans over that.

 

Worldwide the need for English is 20 times greater than the need for german

This is an English language forum and the germans who show up here have a deeper hate for America than can be explained by who does not learn whose language

I’m thinking the germans who post here are not typical of germany as a whole

and are probably as unstable back home as they are here

 

Once again you summarily dismiss the trump era contribution to defeating isis over its vast caliphate and focus on the small remnant of ISIS that made its last stand in Syria. By so doing you take a big crap not only on the US but on all our troops that fought to defeat this sadistic bunch of thugs. Not sure why you don't want to give credit where credit is do other than your obvious TDS and anti Americanism but you do so there's no point in trying to convince you otherwise.

 

What Troops ? do you see any US troops fighting ? - and I did not deny Trumps contribution - I merely corrected your mistaken perspective.

Then you descend in to name calling and projection. I defend Trump on a regular basis and give credit where credit is due. You are the one engaging in blind partisanship - just another form of TDS. If Trump took a dumb in your back yard you would no doubt claim it smelled like fresh flowers.

Then- lacking any coherent response to my post - project your anti american nature onto me. Since when is criticizing the Gov't for arming terrorists - such as Al Qaeda and ISIS - Al Qaeda being the ones who did the 911 attacks - "Anti American". You are the one that obviously hates America - and the principles on which this nation was founded. Mind you - hating the founding principles is unintentional on your part since you likely do not know what the are or understand them.

I don't blame you for this so much - 12 years of school and we manage not to teach what the founding principles are ... OH ... I did it again - now you will call me "Anti American" for criticizing out failing educational system.

Just curious - is there nothing that you are critical of in our system - or are you a good little sheep and agree with everything the Gov't does because it is "anti American" to disagree.

 

Once again you summarily dismiss the trump era contribution to defeating isis over its vast caliphate and focus on the small remnant of ISIS that made its last stand in Syria. By so doing you take a big crap not only on the US but on all our troops that fought to defeat this sadistic bunch of thugs. Not sure why you don't want to give credit where credit is do other than your obvious TDS and anti Americanism but you do so there's no point in trying to convince you otherwise.

Lets begin at the beginning and your earlier assertions that isis wasn't even in Afghanistan and if it was America did nothing to defeat it. Wrong on both counts and here is just one example.
"The following are major operations conducted against ISK by the forces of United States of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام – ولاية خراسان‎, ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām – Wilayah Khorasan), or ISIL-KP,[19] is a branch of the militant Islamist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), active in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some media sources also use the terms ISK, ISISK, IS-KP, or ISIS-K in referring to the group. The Khorasan group's area of operations also includes other parts of South Asia,[20][21][22]such as India where individuals have pledged allegiance to it.[23][24] However its main activity is in the border region of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan
MOAB Airstrike in AchinEdit
Main article: 2017 Nangarhar airstrike
On 13 April 2017, a GBU43/B MOAB was dropped in an airstrike on a cave complex in Achin District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. It was the first use of the bomb on the battlefield.[49][50][51] The Afghan defence ministry reported it to have killed over 36 militants and destroyed the tunnel complex including a cache of weapons. No civilian casualties were reported.[52]

 

Where do I say ISIS was never in Afghanistan ? .. and Afghanistan is a red herring as it had nothing to do with what was being discussed.

.

You then completely mischaracterize my comments and then name call on the basis of that mischaracterization - "Strawman".

You are projecting your issues on to me. It is you spouts blind partisan nonsense - which is a symptom of TDS - and it is you that holds anti American sentiments - hatred for the founding principles and those that try to uphold them.

Help can be found here:

https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/projection

 

That's not relevant in Germany.

 

Humans have a finite amount of time in their lives

If you live in germany learning the local language is a given

But which foreign language would you learn?

Unless you have a special interest in a certain language most people try to learn English

But worldwide German is only one of many languages someone might choose to learn

So for Germans to get angry because every visitor to their country does not speak german is absurd

 

About half the Germans speak English as well. If some loud mouth American expects that they all speak English, and behaves like a Mexican in the US expecting everybody speaks Spanish,... than you will encounter plenty of times the "rudeness"... which is only mirroring the idiocy of the American behavior back.

And it does seem you're giving your best of ways that Germans just must reply rude loud mouth Americans in English in their own country. It doesn't work like that, champ. An American would be rude against a Mexican expecting everybody speaking Spanish in the Us as well. I dunno how this escapes you, but it does, and it's comical.

 

In fact they are all too typical.