Wednesday, October 9, 2019

President Trump On Turkey's Military Incursion Into Northern Syria: 'I Hope Erdogan Will Act Rationally'



WNU Editor: President Trump "hopes" that Turkish President Erdogan will act rationally. But if I may quote what Hillary Clinton said a few years ago .... hope is not a strategy. But there may be a strategy behind President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the quagmire that is Syria today while also giving Russian President Putin the headache of handling Erdogan, and it is articulated here .... The puzzling logic behind Trump’s Syria withdrawal (M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times).

28 comments:

Blackdog said...

Quit giving this person credit for having no strategy and just blindly reacting. Anybody can say this is what my strategy was after the fact, but after listening to him speak you must except his thinking. I am so tired of everyone saying this Is what he really meant or he was joking. Everyone quit making excuses. No one would cut any of us this much slack. It time to be realist.

Anonymous said...

I think you’ve gone full trump. I used to follow your page for a balanced view of world events, slowly your page has turned into something else. There is no excuse for sacrificing the very people that sacrificed so much to make the world safe from ISIS.

fazman said...

Reminds you of when Bush told Iraqis to rise up then walked away and left them to die.

Mike Feldhake said...

Look, sometimes it's best to have your competitors fail then allow them watch you fail. I was uncertain what to do with the Kurds, they are not our issue, actually it was the English empire who screwed that up - why should we have to clean it up. I think Trump is thinking big picture and economics not military strategy which eats Tax dollars. Do we really want this fight. I say NO!

Blackdog said...

I think if you read up on the geopolitics of the area, a free and democratic Kurdistan would be a plus for the region. The losers? Turkey of course. Which is why they are doing what they are doing. Iraq. Which is why they did what they did. Syria. Which is to be determined.

Blackdog said...

I think “cleaning it up “ was just sitting pat. There was very little fighting going on. That is why there are only about a thousand u.s. troops in the whole area. It’s been a “stable “ spot for a while.

Bob Huntley said...

Trump badly needed a side issue to take attention away from his impeachment.

Anonymous said...

Trump never promised them anything; Obama backslid into Syria like Crowley of "Good Omens".

That said I think it is a very bad move unless he is trying to pit Turkey against Russia or making the Code Pink Republicans and the fuck ass Democrats stand for something consistently.

We should never turn our back on the Kurds.

People have pointed out that they (most of them) are Muslims and therefore at some time ion the future the will backstab us. They could vote against us consistently as a member of the OIC. Taken that as a given I think it is still in our favor to help them. In the Short term it clips the wings if Shia Iraq, Iran and Turkey. In the long Run Iran could take advantage of it, if they were not stupid like the Turks, the French , the Ukrainians and many others.

Why ethnic determination was applied to parts of Europe but not at all the the Middle East is crap. Why did not Wilson not make a stink about it? Cat got his tongue?

It is funny how ethic determination was not applied to Alsace Lorraine. Alsatian is very close to Swabian dialect.

I think Trump may every well be thinking big budget and about future P2P potential battles.

Mutti, the hippo sized PM, complains about the pullout, but she never offered to send 1,000 German spec ops or regular troops to help put. It might get in way of lucrative business contracts in Turkey, Iran, Russia or China and ho-mama could not have that. In ho-mama's defense, she hasn't turned her military into meals on wheels. Nah, she did that to her whole country.

George H.W. Bush was a Code Pink Republican. So are many of the so called 'grown up' serious, Never Trumper Republicans.

Lastly,

I have not forget every stick,s tone and barb thrown by miserable fucking liberals who opine this or that war is illegitimate. It is just not one or two, but everything since WW2. Until we win the war on the home front against the ass fuckers (i.e Democrats), why fight abroad?

Anonymous said...

What impeachment fool?

Nancy Pelosi has an 'impeachment inquiry' that is not an 'impeachment'. If they disagree, they can take it to SCOTUS.

Precedents about how to conduct a real impeachment were set by the last 2 impeachments. Pelosi is not following any of them . She just wants the headlines.

This is a pit fight. The nepotism of having your son on Air Force 2 to ink deals with the Chinese and Ukrainians is blatant. The Democrats have everything to lose. So they will tell any lie, break any law to maintain their privilege, status, money, and power.

You, the fool, remind me of a person, who throws sucker punches at one or both of the fighter circling each other in a fight. SO BRAVE! You are a real prize; it is no wonder she divorced you.

RussInSoCal said...

The Swamp is clearly disturbed. Remember that Erdogan was partially responsible for standing up ISIS. Now he realizes its a massive Terror org and needs to be destroyed. Erdogan also wants to resettle Sunni Arab refugees in north western Syria. A region he's wanted to carve out for a long time and create a security zone for Turkish interests.

Trump has told Erdogan that he's now responsible for ISIS - and will have to destroy it if it comes back. Trump has shifted responsibility of something that is clearly regional and naturally goes to Turkey, back to Turkey.

Russia has also vowed to maintain the territorial integrity of Syria no matter what. How will Putin now deal with Erdogan who has decided to carve out a piece of Syria for his own purposes? (I think they'll have some disagreements)

And Iran - who wants to maintain connectivity to Lebanon and its Shiite allies in that region. But with Erdogan now squatting in Northern Syria, Iran will be greatly hindered in maintaining that land bridge.

Now the three main antagonists in Syria (Turkey, Russia and Iran) are forced to confront each other for a change.

Israel is benefited by this - as is the US. Iran is hindered by the Turks. Russia has no desire to have Syria used as an attack base against Israel. Again - they have to deal with one another.

The Syrian Kurds are already moving toward Damascus. Which is what Russia, Assad and the US want them to do.

So yeah, there's a strategy.



Bob Huntley said...

And so Trump has his side issue. That is his strategy and normal reaction to unhappy things that happen in his life. You guys have relatives, kids, friends that will have to go, maybe die, to resurrect the old strategy?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"I think you’ve gone full trump. I used to follow your page for a balanced view of world events, slowly your page has turned into something else. There is no excuse for sacrificing the very people that sacrificed so much to make the world safe from ISIS."

He's always been full Trump. Hell, the guy has read his book and sings his praises at every opportunity, never seeing his faults.

Trump is still the better option for President than Hillary, and probably will still be the better option come to the next election; but he's a seriously flawed hamfisted 'politician' and until someone better comes along, Trump is what we got.

Roger Smith said...


Come on, Bob. You can do better than that.

Roger Smith said...


I think DJT should have put pressure on the Kurds, assuming he didn't, to reign in the PKK. Turkey does have a valid complaint here.
As for ISIS, recall the photos and videos of Erdogan's military cooling their heels when all others were in conflict with ISIS. The came under flack for that. Now they will have to deal with any problems created by their land and resource grab. US forces will not be involved in this one to the extent we were before and, I would think, not before Erdogan gets a black eye or two over his adventure. PKK is not likely to disappear no matter what.

Anonymous said...

Bob is lame. He is nowhere near his grandfather who served in Ww2. He is more of the Bill Clinton type.

Mike Feldhake said...

Yeah, that bugged me as well. Kurds supporting the PKK and this is more evidence of the quagmire there in that region.

Antitroll said...

Reminds you of when USA lied about nukes in Iraq and ruined the lives of millions of Iraqis.

Andrew Jackson said...

Will Iran intervene ,that's the real question.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, anti-troll ya schmuck. Keep lying.

We have the convoy from Iraq to Syria ahead of the ground invasion and the convoy for Syria to Iraq when it looked like Syria was going to fall.

Of course all us schmart people know they were delivering pallets and pallets of Cheerios.

A schemdrick like anti-troll cannot adequately explain the news reels of U inspectors showing up to a site and be kept waiting for 2 or 3 days. If there was nothing to hid why the stall.

Which communist's ass did you vacate?

Anonymous said...

Kurdistan is a quagmire.
Donbass is a quagmire.
Alsace Lorraine is a quagmire.

They all have something in common besides war/violence.

It is just so easy to say quagmire.

Bob Huntley said...

Okay Roger.

There is something about Trump that can’t be explained by mere incompetence. In fact I believe what started as his strategy, that is to look stupid while things go on in the background, has now developed into a manifestation that his Trump, to the core.

Imagine having a President that throws personal and insulting comments at individual politicians and private citizens. That is Trump. Trump’s business history shows in his Presidency. He is always in trouble in one way another but he seems to thrive on it.

He lives in the present only and has no ability for self-evaluation, the Obama birth certificate being one example. He latches on to some far-fetched conspiracy theory in an effort to retaliate for some perceived, or, real retaliation, and whether, or, not he actually believes something isn’t the point. He rants about something and his staff have learned to leave him alone and that something generally goes away, displaced by some other atrocious issue, which in turn similarly goes by the wayside.

He’s creating noise (publicity) and that’s what he views as successful. The Ukrainian transcript is another "in the face" example of incontrovertible evidence, he pushes the matter further and further so that the controversy around it becomes what he feels is successful. Another event to distract from some other criminal act.

The facts of his behavior are not important to him. He has managed to get through life in a storm of controversy and so far his Presidency is a continuation of that.

While those he surrounds himself with aren’t necessarily incompetent, they tend to understand what he’s trying to do as in make a storm the issue and not the facts and fall in line.

He does not realize that as President the scrutiny he faces is different than that of a criminal businessman, real estate broker and TV personality. He is using what he knows got him by in the past and so far, that has succeeded, primarily to criminal acquiescence of key individuals in his, and he does believe it is his, Department of Justice etc. He has turned Barr, someone with an lifetime history of integrity, into his quasi personal lawyer who is now looking like a clown. What is he holding over Barr?

Impeachment, does seem to have his attention but he sees it as one more problem to barnstorm his way through. Whether he gets away with it is up to the American public and the other people they’ve elected.

Accordingly this move against the Kurds, is consistent with all of the above and he has no concern that the lives of many allies will be lost. A dire message to allies of America, current and future. The message, America will cast you aside given half the chance. America, because he does speak and act for Americans, not only his cult but every American, even you.

Anonymous said...

Okay Bob,

Can you please go back to your chub, bear, or whatever lifestyle you had and quit posting communist TP's?

Antitroll said...
This is considered occupation
US doesn't follow intl law

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2018/03/russian-media-there-are-20-us-military.html?showComment=1519989454701#c4517303141114070502

Peckerheads like you Bob never made a case for being Syria. You just criticized anyone that did.

Just 18 months ago one of your fellow trolls (forgive me If I do not know his rank or unit) and a self confessed Canadian and connard. If 60% to 75% of the voters wanted us in Syria and could articulate the reason for being there, Trump is enough of a politician to be there.

As it is you and other talk about WIC, occupation and everything else while doing your Statler and Waldork routine.

Now, you are complaining that Trump is not wanting to be in a war that has no popular backing. Even Rand Paul flip flopped. Does the support for the war has so much as a plurality?

I think you should spend you time on one of those elegant floating casinos, stoned, drunk and feeding slot machines. It is all you are good for.

Bob Huntley said...

Anon

No.

Anonymous said...

So you'll continue post communist talking points and do your Statler and Waldork routine.

Bob Huntley said...

Nay.

Anonymous said...

Proof is in the pudding. We know you will.

Bob Huntley said...

Anon

Nope.

Anonymous said...

You doth protest too much.