Geee Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 National Review NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE On Monday, President Trump announced that a contingent of fewer than 100 U.S. troops in Syria was being moved away from Kurdish-held territory on the border of Turkey. The move effectively green-lighted military operations by Turkey against the Kurds, which have now commenced. Some U.S. military officials went public with complaints about being “blindsided.” The policy cannot have been a surprise, though. The president has made no secret that he wants out of Syria, where we now have about 1,000 troops (down from over 2,000 last year). More broadly, he wants our forces out of the Middle East. He ran on that position. I’ve argued against his “endless wars” tropes, but his stance is popular. As for Syria specifically, many of the president’s advisers think we should stay, but he has not been persuaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 @Geee Something I have saying for many many Many years now. In foreign affairs things are very rarely simple. The world is not Black & White, it is mainly shades of gray This is a Zone System Grayscale...but it is also a good representation of The World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Not an invasion? I could be wrong (as always) but Bombing/Shelling villages send Armor and ground troops onto another country and killing people sounds suspiciously like an invasion to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 A Sensible Take on Syria John Hinderaker October 11, 2019 Liberals’ foreign policy views are inconsistent, but entirely predictable: whatever a Republican president does, they oppose. Thus, Democrats applauded when President Obama prematurely withdrew American troops from Iraq, enabling the rise of ISIS. But when President Trump pulled a few hundred out of Syria, it was: OMG! The Kurds! James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation and the Institute of World Politics gave an interview to the Daily Signal that gives the best take I have seen on Trump’s recent Syria move. You really should read it all, but here are some highlights: (Snip) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geee Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 Trump Defends Syria Decision: ‘Sometimes We Have to Know What We’re Fighting For’ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geee Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 Media Begin to Acknowledge: Some Kurdish Forces Are a Problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geee Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 Why Trump Is Absolutely Right To Get U.S. Troops Out Of Syria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geee Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 Trump Did Not Betray the Kurds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geee Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share Posted October 14, 2019 How Terrible Does Turkey Have to Get? Turkey's military offensive into the overwhelmingly Kurdish northeastern Syria is sending messages on many wavelengths. One consequence is beyond dispute: Turkey is adding further chaos, bloodshed and tears to a region already in turmoil. The U.S. had apparently "assur[ed] Kurdish protection from Turkey." Trump spoke of "economic devastion" if Kurdish forces were attacked. "As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I've done before!)," Trump tweeted on October 7. [Microsoft may thoughtfully have censored this tweet for you. Ed.] So where is this "economic devastation" against Turkey? Or does that make twopromises that the U.S. has not kept? In theory, the Turkish incursion will build a safe zone that is 30 kilometers (20 miles) deep and stretches more than 480 kilometers (300 miles) toward Syria's Iraqi border -– which just so happens to be the very place where many of the Kurds in Syria live. From there, the Turkish army will push Kurdish militants south and ward off an "existential threat" to Turkey. Once cleared of the YPG forces, the main Kurdish group (the Syrian offspring of the insurgent umbrella organization PKK) Turkey says it will build homes, hospitals schools and rehabilitation centers for the two million Syrian refugees it hosts. This happy-ending scenario may not materialize so easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 2 hours ago, Geee said: Trump Did Not Betray the Kurds Caroline my friend. Then why did they make a deal with Assad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 OTOH Sometimes its not all that complacated Misvak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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