posted October 10, 2019 03:14 PM            

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The story that will define today in the history books began shortly after 9:00 a.m. EST, when we learned that Turkish troops had begun their offensive against the Kurdish forces in Syria. Until Monday, when Trump abruptly withdrew about 50 US soldiers who had been stationed in the region, those forces had been our allies in the fight against ISIS, bearing heavy casualties so US forces didn't have to. This morning, Turkey crossed the border with airstrikes and artillery to clear out the Kurds they insist are allied with terrorists in Turkey. It is not yet clear how this will turn out. In America there is a bipartisan outcry that the Kurds are going to be massacred.

Under pressure from the overwhelming criticism of his sudden abandonment of our allies, Trump tweeted that he is bringing US troops home from the long and costly Middle East wars that so many people loathe. This is not true. He has simply ordered the 50 soldiers who were in the Kurdish zone-- whose presence kept the Turkish forces from attacking-- to pull out of the region and join the other 950 or so US troops in southern Syria. The chief spokesman for the Defense Department says there has been no change in our overall forces in Syria. The withdrawal is not a withdrawal, it is a policy change. It will permit ISIS to rebuild, and it will dramatically increase the power of Russia in the region. (This is really complicated for American readers. I am linking an article about the power structures along this border zone, and how Russia benefits, in the notes.)

Trump has shifted our interests in Syria to align with those of Russia. He has also badly hurt our national security by making us an unreliable partner. When asked if he worried that abandoning the Kurds would hurt our ability to make alliances in the future, Trump replied "No it won't. Alliances are very easy." (Spoiler alert: no, they aren't.)

This is a huge deal, and Trump's abrupt change of policy in Syria seems to have sparked more concern about his presidency at home. Former Trump loyalists, including Senators Lindsay Graham (SC), Mitch McConnell (KY), and Marco Rubio (FL) are all tweeting in angry opposition to the move, but, interestingly, they are not tagging the president in their tweets (which means he almost certainly won't see them). So their support for him might be weakening, or they might simply be trying to stay alongside the growing number of Americans who are lining up behind impeachment.

A story broke today that Trump is so worried that Republicans are not unified behind him that he is calling McConnell up to three times a day to chew him out. McConnell's spokesman denied the story, but what is more important than the content of it is that, once again, it is a leak from someone fairly high up (the story specified that McConnell had shared the information with only a few Republicans).

The leaks keep coming, and they are getting more and more important. The story broke today that after the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump asked the Ukraine leader to investigate the Bidens, one of the officials who had been on the call was so shocked by it s/he recounted the conversation to the person who would later become the first whistleblower about the call. The whistleblower wrote notes about the conversation (which is standard operating procedure in intelligence). According to those notes, the "visibly shaken" official said the call was "crazy," "frightening," and "completely lacking in substance relating to national security." The worried official believed the president "had clearly committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a U.S. person for the purposes of advancing his own reelection bid in 2020." This note was key to convincing the Intelligence Community's Inspector Genera Michael Atkinson, appointed by Trump, that the whistleblower's complaint was "credible" and "urgent."

Shockingly, that was not today's major leak. We also learned from three people who had been in the Oval Office meeting itself, that in 2017, Trump tried to get then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to pressure the Department of Justice to drop a case the Southern District of New York was pursuing against one of Giuliani's clients. Tillerson declined, pointing out that would be illegal, and then recounted the conversation to then-Chief of Staff John Kelly in the hall.

These leaks are significant not simply for their shocking information, but for the fact folks are leaking as they are. The second story is from two years ago, and Tillerson and Kelly both sat on it. But now the White House walls are cracking.

Trump's lawyers have tried to protect him by arguing that, since current Department of Justice policy says that a sitting president cannot be indicted, a sitting president cannot even be investigated. But on Monday, a federal judge in New York dismissed that argument out of hand. With few legal arguments left to put off the coming reckoning, Trump and his loyalists are riling up their base: that was the point of the crazy letter full not of legal arguments but of right-wing talking points Trump's lawyer sent yesterday to Nancy Pelosi. He is going to try to get out of his legal and political troubles by convincing his supporters they must defend him, democracy, and the Constitution in a war against Congress and Democrats.

This is dangerous, unAmerican talk, and, as is typical for Trump's rhetoric, it has the story exactly backward.

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posted October 11, 2019 12:10 AM            

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Originally posted by shura:
I am speaking of the average consumer here with a polite "we"

Curious that you would follow the Kurd's story for decades. Do you mean to say you have been following the greater middle east story? The Turkish story? Or perhaps there is a personal tie? I ask because it is a rare interest and I wonder what inspired it.

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posted October 11, 2019 12:11 AM            

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Originally posted by shura:
Snark doesn't bother me belage. Have at it.

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posted October 11, 2019 11:34 AM            

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Originally posted by Belage:
I believe I am older than you, so I have been watching the political scene in the US and internationally for decades.

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Perhaps a few years. I dont believe significantly. No matter .... an eye on international politics is one thing but the Kurds have hardly occupied center stage for decades. They are an obscure interest.

posted October 11, 2019 12:33 PM            

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Originally posted by shura:
Perhaps a few years. I dont believe significantly. No matter .... an eye on international politics is one thing but the Kurds have hardly occupied center stage for decades. They are an obscure interest.

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posted October 11, 2019 12:37 PM            

For instance, the PKK, Kurdistan Workers' Party, is a Communist group of...Kurds labeled terrorists by the EU, the US and Turkey.

posted October 11, 2019 03:19 PM            

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Perhaps you are in the habit of paying attention only to those who occupy center stage.

In any case, due to time constraints and lack of interest, I will not be distracted from the crux of the question and concerns I posted here. But feel free to continue to digress. :-)

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Or perhaps I am not. Perhaps I, too, hold obscure interests. Perhaps this is a contrariness we share. Perhaps I have reasons for those obscure interests. My admittedly somewhat off topic question wondered about yours. Easily answered, then we might continue on with those on topic issues presented which you have ignored.

posted October 11, 2019 03:23 PM            

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Originally posted by jwhop:
Kurds are not a monolithic society or group. They are a many splintered and fractured religious, ethnic and ideological people commonly referred to as..Kurds.

For instance, the PKK, Kurdistan Workers' Party, is a Communist group of...Kurds labeled terrorists by the EU, the US and Turkey.

It pays to delineate exactly who's being talked about in any discussion of the Kurds.

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Yes, I pointed this out several posts back. Unfortunately, it seems our Belage is pressed for time and unable to discuss this perhaps uncomfortable fact.

posted October 11, 2019 07:48 PM            

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Originally posted by shura:
Yes, I pointed this out several posts back. Unfortunately, it seems our Belage is pressed for time and unable to discuss this perhaps uncomfortable fact.

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Belage is not pressed for time and unable to discuss this fact. She is only pressed for time and unable to discuss your line of questioning regarding her interest in the kurds.

Regarding the Kurds'political diversity, you did not point it out. In fact you characterized the entire Kurd politics as being a communist group.

Regardless, the Kurds as a group have been used as foot soldiers in the war against ISIS, doing the ground work that the US did not or could not do. So now that the ISIS danger is behind us, the time has come to split hair over the Kurds' political diversity and dispose of them like one does of toilet tissues?

I am perfectly aware this thread is or can become an exercise in futility. I have reserved my opinion on a lot of policies adopted by Trump and have not jumped on any bandwagon driven by emotionalism and partisanship. I try to go past his personality to understand the motive and basis of what he does. I have asked a question on this thread and was given various answers, (thank you all who responded) none of which were satisfying to me. It is what it is.

posted October 12, 2019 08:24 PM            

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Originally posted by iQ:
Well, the retreating YPG have unleashed the imprisoned ISIS Soldiers.
It is back to Square one now.

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Surprise. Surprise.

ISIS was on its deathbed, but Trump's decision has just given it the shot in the arm it needed.

posted October 13, 2019 12:24 PM            

Wow the 'D' word. Took some balls to sneak that one in. Impressive. I like that!

posted October 13, 2019 12:35 PM            

1) you know shiiit about the Kurds

2) you are as informed about the Kurds as you claim but for the sake of partisanship chose to misrepresent the situation #resist

3) you are as informed about the Kurds as you claim but chose to misrepresent the situation because you sympathize with Marxist terrorist groups who brutalize even their own kind.

posted October 13, 2019 04:53 PM            

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Originally posted by Randall:
Nah, President Trump is in his usual state of mind--stable genius. If you watch his latest rally, you'll see him at the top of his game.

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posted October 13, 2019 09:55 PM            

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Originally posted by shura:
So what's the deal here Belage ....

1) you know shiiit about the Kurds

2) you are as informed about the Kurds as you claim but for the sake of partisanship chose to misrepresent the situation #resist

3) you are as informed about the Kurds as you claim but chose to misrepresent the situation because you sympathize with Marxist terrorist groups who brutalize even their own kind.

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posted October 15, 2019 12:59 AM            

ABC News Busted Creating “Fake News Propaganda” Surrounding Syrian Conflict…
October 14, 2019
sundance

Last night and again this morning ABC News aired shocking footage supposedly from the frontline battle between Syrian Kurds and the invading Turkish troops. The report and footage was described in shock-filled breathless language, intended to provoke the audience. ABC News anchor Tom Llamas aired the allegedly shocking footage, claiming it showed a fierce Turkish attack on Kurdish civilians.

However, there is a very big problem. The footage is 100% fake…. it never happened.

The footage ABC News used in their broadcast comes from a nighttime machine gun demonstration at the Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky. The stunning propaganda effort was first caught by Twitter user PolishPatriot. WATCH:

Again, this footage is 100% fake. The Washington Examiner’s journalist Becket Adams called ABC and asked them what was going on........