Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-s-former-russia-adviser-set-give-testimony-giuliani-sondland-n1064846

[froot loops]

It's crazy that they would circumvent normal channels to fight corruption.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Lordy, there are tapes

[Dr. Strangelove]

Today the US vetoed a UN resolution that would have condemned the Turkish invasion of Syria. Russia was the only other country to do so

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump just lost his case in the DC Circuit trying to block the House from getting his tax returns from Mazars

Supreme Court is his only hope now. If they'll take the case up.

[CGVT]

Trump just lost his case in the DC Circuit trying to block the House from getting his tax returns from Mazars

Supreme Court is his only hope now. If they'll take the case up.

None of this shit matters. The rubes will support this jackass no matter what he does.

"But her emails!"

Fucking dumbasses

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump has defended his abandonment of the Kurds by saying the troops are coming home. He did it for the troops. No more Middle East wars.

But that's not true. The troops haven't started coming home. They were just moved out of harm's way.

And now we're sending additional troops to Saudi Arabia.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/politics/us-additional-troops-middle-east-iran/index.html

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't think we've seen an adequate accounting of the disposition of US forces on the ground in Syria and we are not likely to get that. Esper is saying the US simply moved troops somewhere else besides where they had been located. US advisers and support personnel are still there - just not in the area that Erdogan has his eye on and where Turkey boarders NE Syria.

It's important to point out a couple of things. The Kurds are not just in Syria. They have cultural enclaves in Iraq, Turkey (the largest) and Iran. Political entities within these enclaves have advocated for recognition and/or separate states in proposed federal systems sometimes using force in the form of terrorist activities. Their political activities within Turkey have for years been identified as terrorism.

These activities go way back decades. The current Trukish administration under Erdogan has opposed any level of recognition of the Kurds. Iraq, Syria and Iran have been somewhat more accommodating but whenever the Kurds start pressing for recognition or separate administrations, those governments suppress them. There are similarities here between the Palestinains in their quest for a homeland and the Kurds in their quest for one.

Turkey is the current Kurdish hot spot.There are several Kurdish political parties active in Turkey and all of them have been suppressed by Erdogan who considers all Kurds terrorists and with some cause. Erdogan and the Turkish military have made it clear that they want to establish a 20-mile deep "safe zone" inside north-eastern Syria to protect its border and resettle up to 2 million Syrian refugees. At first glance this doesn't seem like an unwarranted military objective. That the Kurds won't cooperate in this undertaking and have said they will defend their territorial interests represents just a continuation of decades of conflict between the Kurds, Turkey and other Arab states in the ME. To me and plenty of others that are looking at this other than another way to shit on DJT, it clearly is not our battle to be involved in.

I've not been following the US military operations in the Kurdish Zones of Iraq, Iran and Syria and the situations of the various Kurdish political groups with the central governments within those countries but, on reading up on it a bit ..... it's complicated. TBF, the messaging coming from opponents of Trump's recent pull-out announcement that labels the US as abandoning it's allies is a bit over-blown.

The Kurds fought the ISIS's goal of establishing a Caliphate centered and within Syria and extending outward into the entire ME along side a coalition of Arab militia forces. This coalition was labeled the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance. It was aided by a US-led coalition that delivered air strikes, weapons and advisers. In the end, it drove IS out of tens of thousands of square miles of territory in north-eastern Syria and established control over a large stretch of the border with Turkey. US involvement with the entirety of the SDF Alliance to defeat ISIS in it's goal of establishing a Caliphate was totally appropriate and would be consistent with similar goals of NATO Allies and other Arab states to defeat ISIS. I can see why a curtailment of direct US support to the various political forces - mostly the Kurds - is appropriate in light of the defeat of ISIS and the wish of Turkey to secure it's boarder and protect the whole of Turkey from Kurdish terrorism.

For the US press to label the withdrawal of around 1000 military advisers and support personnel as abandonment of the Kurds fails to address the complexity of the relationships in the region among the Kurds and the various Arab militias that actually play a much larger part in supporting the Kurds v. ISIS than the US does. But, I get it. Trump has a penchant for doing something that isn't unreasonable as far as it relates to reducing US troops in the shit storm that is Syria but then predictably fucks up the messaging that comes with it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

For the US press to label the withdrawal of around 1000 military advisers and support personnel as abandonment of the Kurds fails to address the complexity of the relationships in the region among the Kurds and the various Arab militias that actually play a much larger part in supporting the Kurds v. ISIS than the US does. But, I get it. Trump has a penchant for doing something that isn't unreasonable as far as it relates to reducing US troops in the shit storm that is Syria but then predictably fucks up the messaging that comes with it.

Wow. It's not just the media labelling things that way. It's most of the Republican Party. A bipartisan reaction, really. Because unless you're a Trump apologist, you can see that's the reality of what's happened.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Not a Trump apologist at all .... anymore. Done with that. However, I do like facts and other details that I'm pretty sure aren't being talked about much to be talked about. The well deserved focus on Trump's idiocy can be a distraction from that sort of thing.

If the way this is being reported and talked about by the rest you mention in your post is accurate - namely he did this troop withdrawal without much consultation but rather just an independent action on his part where it appears he by-passed all established practices and principals for a policy change of this magnitude - I'm fully on board with the criticism of it from all quarters.

Given his penchant for power phone calls between heads of state who are mostly dictators, an agreement that was probably forged between Trump and Erdogan on Turkey's territorial interests on its NE Syrian boarder seems likely. However, I have a suspicion that we aren't getting all the facts and details from the press or from members of Congress both of whom have agendas to serve.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Dr. Strangelove]

No idea if this is true. But it'd be a bad escalation

EDIT: Have just seen it reported on CNN that Turkish artillery shells landed close to US special forces in Kobani. Like a few hundred meters away. But no one hurt

https://www.newsweek.com/us-troops-s...n=Distribution

[Jeff Buchanan]

Trump has announced a "phase 1 trade deal" with the Chinese what ever that means. Details were sketchy but China will buy more ag products from the US in exchange for elimination of the tariffs scheduled to go into affect next week. December planned tariffs are still on the table. Some Huwawei sanctions have been eliminated too. China has apparently agreed to some kind of restriction to currency shenanigans they pull. The deal also includes something in the technology transfer sphere but none of that has yet been disclosed.

It's something, I guess but it's not a complete victory. Pundits on Trump's favorites list will claim it is though. Without the details of the current deal and without a pathway for the next set of negotiations, if there are to be any, this is pretty much of a noting burger.

Predictably stocks soared. By late afternoon, the DJIA was up over 400 points. It gave up 100 points - most likely on machine trading - just before the close at around 300. Other new worthy events will affect the global markets going forward. Maybe Iran and oil prices will come back into the picture.

BTW, I don't think the outrage of "abandoning" the Kurds is going to continue to get much traction. Next week we'll shift to the continuing saga of Donald Trump's impeachment with the walls around his fortress Trump's bluster being penetrated by the facts. I'm waiting for Giuliani to crack under pressure ..... again ..... this time real pressure from the Justice Department, not some media talking head and say or do something stupid. That will also get some press.

For sure, Trump won't resign like Nixon did. This is going to be fun to watch because it will be such a circus. My fears of an impeachment being bad for the country basically gone because reality is a butt kicker and Trump should be gone.

Gets bags of popcorn at the ready.

[froot loops]

Given his penchant for power phone calls between heads of state who are mostly dictators, an agreement that was probably forged between Trump and Erdogan on Turkey's territorial interests on its NE Syrian boarder seems likely. However, I have a suspicion that we aren't getting all the facts and details from the press or from members of Congress both of whom have agendas to serve.

The problem is nobody close to the situation seemed like they had any clue. Maybe they are feigning ignorance but they are, they are good actors.

[froot loops]

William Barr got his pound of flesh for Trump. For being Trump's fixer he gets results.