While US media coverage of the withdrawal from Syria has been presented as sending the entire world into a tizzy about what will happen next, with the Syrians presented as viewing the pullout as an “American betrayal.”
That may hold true for Syrian Kurds, the one group of allies the US has kept in the war, but most everyone else seems upbeat about the prospect of a US withdrawal. Syrians living in Turkish-backed territory in particular are hopeful this will mean the return of some cities which the US backed the Kurdish YPG in taking to the population largely driven out by the fighting.
Those in the Syrian government’s territory also clearly benefit, as while the US is never entirely openly at war with them, US attacks aren’t unheard of, and even in the best of times the US has tried to destabilize those areas in the name of regime change.
Kurdish areas are less hopeful, with a Turkish invasion looming. Yet Turkey’s past attacks on Kurdish areas have shown that a US presence has limited impact on that at any rate. Nevertheless, the US has long viewed the YPG as a temporary alliance, and was never going to scrap historical ties to Turkey in favor of them.
This has meant that in the grand scheme of things, Western war-enthusiasts are the ones taking the dimmest view of this pullout, and who stand to lose the most. Within war-torn Syria, the US pullout mostly just amounts to one of the belligerent factions, one which has been bankrolling various different factions throughout the conflict, is simply being taken off the table going forward. Given the US resistance to peace deals that don’t conform to US demands, this can only be a good thing for compromise peace deals.
Americans Broadly Welcome US Withdrawal
Outside of Washington, many are upbeat about post-US Syria
Netanyahu is whining, “what about the Golan Heights – you are sticking around to defend that – aren’t you”?
Richard, I don’t hear Bibi or Jared saying anything at this point. The Zionist way is triangulation, playing one side off against the other.
CIA/Mossad is definitely not pulling out of Syria. Their support for ISIS will continue, as will their covert attempts to get the USA to attack Iran. That is the big kahuna as far as the Zionists are concerned.
It is also the Zionist way to check their receipts – “Hey, we donated to that Senator and got his niece a good job – why the hell is he voting for military withdrawal”?!
That’s also triangulation, Richard. It’s war by other means. That’s what Zionists are best at.
Don’t forget that the money “donated” came from the laundered $4 billion/year looted from American taxpayers (as foreign aid). Those taxpayers are largely against foreign aid payoffs.
But our betters in DC have decided that it doesn’t matter what the people want.
I noticed the UNGA again strongly supported the ownership of the Golan as being Syrian despite Israel’s theft and annexation of it. Israel wants control of everything.
Anything of value. The Israelis say they need control for defense, but meanwhile they plunder any resources there.
They are total jerks.
We haven’t heard the end of it yet I suspect. The stock prices will suffer for the weapons manufacturers and you’ll hear gloom and doom about the economy.
All this despite the fact only a tiny fraction of Wall Street thieves will suffer a reduction in their ROI.
Everyone knows poor folks have to die in order to sustain the rent checks of the elite.
No, incredibly, we will be told money earmarked for Syria was only about $1.95, and the budget wont change. Troops will go somewhere else, not home. Air targeting and spec ops will be untraceable mercenaries.
Africa is probably SpecOps’ next stop after Christmas break.
Don’t get to enthralled with the simple announcement of an intent to remove U.S. troops from Syria. The military-industrial complex and the deep state aren’t through with Syria yet.
I’ve often wondered what it would take for the Deep State to end the soft coup that’s been going on for nearly two years now, instigate a hard coup and assassinate Trump. I think his determination to end the wars will do it.
Welcome to the White House President Michael R. Pence.
The key is “2,000 troops.” A US general said a year ago we had 4,000 Americans in Syria. I’m betting the rest will stay, CIA and contractors, perhaps even secretive Spec Ops.
If only Trump were that prescient!!!!!
True enough; removing the troops also gets them out of the way for bigger ops.
There’s also the possibility Erdogan will MbS himself with war crimes against the Kurds and so become reliant on U.S. diplomatic support.
Trump may be determined to end the wars, but its not like that can’t be played. The existing stalemate is unsustainable; going with Trump and creating new angles is the best move for the D.S. as well in Syria.
An eye for an eye is one thing, a thousand innocent eyes for an eye is another. On the eve of the Lords Birthday we might remember that Netanyahu has made it clear, he does not believe in and is totally against the turn the cheek love your neighbor New Testament way of promoting peace. It is a perfect time for Israel to start making life easier for Palestinians and making friends with her neighbors, it’s not to late, it’s never to late but I’m afraid Mister Netanyahu needs to retire.
Pfft.. that scum bag needs to be arrested and tried for his crimes. We have to start punishing the elite for their sins or go extinct. Maggots like Netanyahu brought us where we are today.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Dave .. I’ve been saying for years that Nutty&Yahoo needs to be arrested and prosecuted for his crimes against humanity. We need to begin punishing the elites for their crimes or go extinct. It’s vermin like Nutty&Yahoo that brought us to where we are today,
This also revives hope in Syria that the Golan Heights is not lost forever.
The Kurds can get in on this too if they swallow their pride and return to the peace table with Assad.
More like run back to Al Hasekah and hide behind SAA lines. The Turks are very serious about the PKK threat.
The Turks are very serious about Kurdish genocide. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is still just a dick.
Snip, snip.
Erdogan should, but probably can’t, be wary about this Christmas gift of Kurds for the killing.
MbS thought he could get away with the Kashoggi murder.
The Syrians maybe should be looking this gift horse in the mouth. Looks to easy.
Trump has long wanted out of Syria, but Erdogan is clearly thought too independent by NATO. The U.S. can squeeze the Lira and Turkish economy, though.
If Erdogan goes too heavy on the Kurds, the U.S. might be handed a MbS moment to play for all its worth on the MSM against Turkey.
I’m happy about the pull-out and proud I’ve supported Trump. But what I haven’t seen yet is an account of Assad’s reaction. Discussion of the Syrian President’s point of view is so far conspicuous by its absence. Assad considered the US presence as an invasion (which it was), and as a complicating factor in his civil war fight. I hope the US withdrawal helps Assad to stabilize his country.