Trump on ceasefire in Syria: It is a great day for civilization

15 Comments / 15 Comments

1. I very much appreciate all this information.
   I have read it once and will read it again.

2. Johnathan Spector, wrote the following,

   Jonathan Spyer
   Yesterday at 2:00 PM ·

   Since the Autonomous Kurdish authority in north east Syria appears to be transitioning out of existence, I decided to write a brief retrospective focusing on some of my own experiences in this area over the last six years. The piece also notes the salient events and attributes by which this sadly apparently brief experiment in Kurdish self-rule will in my view deserve to be remembered. From today’s Jerusalem Post:

   Behind the Lines: Rojava sundown – a retrospective
   Islamic State, that most malignant expression of the Sunni Islamist trend, was the natural enemy of this emergent Kurdish autonomy.
   By Jonathan Spyer
   October 18, 2019 13:06

   The news emerging from northern Syria remains confused. There are now fighters from five separate armies maneuvering in the area between the Euphrates River and the Syrian-Turkish and Syrian-Iraqi borders. These are the invading Turkish-Sunni Islamist force, the defending Kurdish-led SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), the escaping Western (mainly US, also British and French) special forces soldiers whose mission has been declared at an end, and the incoming troops and hardware of Bashar Assad’s SAA (Syrian Arab Army) and of his Russian allies.

   Where all this will end is not clear. But one thing that seems apparent is that, with the return of Syrian regime forces east of the Euphrates, the emergent Kurdish autonomy in this area is finished.

   Kurdish friends I speak to tell me that this is only a military alliance for joint defense against the Turks. The politics, they say, will be decided later. And I think ( although I don’t tell them) that if two SAA divisions cross the river, with the Russian Air Force above them and Russian support behind them, then the political matter is also settled. Moscow may pressure its client to grant some improved level of representation, but the regime is reconstituting its authority.

   This brings to an end one of the more remarkable episodes in the recent history of the Levant – namely, the autonomous, self-governing authority known to the Kurds and then to the world as Rojava, which means “the sunset land” and denotes western Kurdistan. I happened to witness the emergence and growth to power of this entity. It deserves a retrospective, if not yet quite a eulogy. I want to attempt that here.

   THE KURDISH power emerged in eastern Syria in the summer of 2012. It was not born in revolt against the Assad regime. Neither was it conceived in collaboration with that regime, contrary to some of the claims made by supporters of the Sunni Arab rebellion.

   Assad was desperately short of loyal manpower that summer. He needed to draw in his lines of defense to keep his regime viable. The Kurdish authority emerged in the vacuum that followed the dictator’s unilateral exit from Syria’s northeast in June-July 2012.

   The Kurds had to fight for their lives from the beginning. An early attempt by the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra to wipe them out was successfully resisted. As one of the first journalists to visit the autonomous area, I witnessed the nascent YPG (People’s Protection Units) in action in the town they called Sere Kaniye. It’s back in the headlines again now, under its Arabic name – Ras al Ain.

   ————————————————–

   Amid all this, the Kurdish fighters maintained an odd sort of fatalism, very far from the modern Western attitude toward death. If you were there, it was reasoned, you were ready to die and willing for it. So no need for excess emotion. They used to bury the dead fighters five or six at a time; with terse speeches and songs on the parched plains of the Jazira, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, as they pushed Islamic State south. To its end.

   WHEN IT was over, and the jihadists’ caliphate destroyed, there was a quieter period. The nightmares were still there, of course, and no one really knew where things were heading. The most common predictions I remember in talks with friends were that the Americans would probably leave at some point, given the apparently limited and ambiguous nature of their commitment. If that happened, there would be a need for a rapid deal with the regime, to prevent a Turkish/Sunni Islamist rampage, and renewed catastrophe.

   That is now what appears to have happened. The result is that after six years, the tanks of the Syrian Arab Army are rolling back into Qamishli, Raqqa, Tabqa, Tal Tamr, Kobani, Manbij, al-Malikiya and the other towns east of the Euphrates. This is taking place not because the SDF has been militarily defeated. Rather, as needs to be stated plainly, it has been betrayed – by its allies.

   Complete Article at https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Behind-the-Lines-Rojava-sundown-a-retrospective-604994?fbclid=IwAR2b-bmeEs5sF8jmVYPsG3hoHMC0_GGiQADkoSK_9qyIgi5F-IrU-DZKIdM

3. The Turks insisted that Pence call the Syrian Democratic Forces the YPG. Yes the Syrian Democratic Forces included the YPG along with Assyrians Christians, moderate Sunni Muslims and other Kurds.

   The opposition to them are all Islamic Jihadis who are just like ISIS plus the Islamic Turkish Army.

   So it is clear to me the USA has now thrown the allies under the bus to the advancement of Islamist Terrorists both ISIS and those more clearly aligned with Turkey. Trump is taking victory laps for this? Maybe he also believes the Turkish propaganda or does not know better or does not care most likely as we want US troops home if someone else can not pay for them.

4. by Sigmund Reichwald is with Rebin Rozhbayane.
   October 13 at 2:55 PM

   Just spent a few hours with Rebin Rozhbayane the very first Peshmerga commander invited to train in the US with the American military. He is also a hero of the battles of both Mosul & Kirkuk. Unfortunately, the timing of his visit to NYC coincided with a very low point in US-Kurdish relations and he was understandably distressed by the turn of events in Syrian Kurdistan. Rebin & I had a long & in depth discussion about the situation in Rojava, a part of Kurdistan he is personally very familiar with, having served there himself on several occasions, tho he is personally based in Erbil. I can’t go into great detail here but suffice to say he knows the YPG/SDF forces extremely well, has fought alongside them as a brother in arms, and was quite clear & unequivocal that all the talk of their being terrorists, communists and an extension of the PKK are simply outright lies – nothing more than Turkish misinformation & propaganda. They are honorable warriors & firmly pro American in their worldview – and our abandonment of the Syrian Kurds to the tyrant Erdogan is nothing less than betrayal of the Kurds and of America’s vital national security interests throughout the region. The ultimate winners here are not only the Fat Turk but also Iran, Hezbollah & Putin. The big losers, apart from the Kurds, are the US, our Sunni Arab allies, our Persian friends opposed to the current regime in Tehran, and of course, Israel.
   Shame Trump, shame.
   Shutting down for the Jewish holiday of succot, now.
   Let’s hope & pray for some miraculously good news, over the next days & weeks.
   Har biji Kurdistan! Am Yisrael Chai!
   DSR from the Kurds, are the US, our Sunni Arab allies, our Persian friends opposed to the current regime in Tehran, and of course, Israel.
   Shame Trump, shame.
   Shutting down for the Jewish holiday of succot, now.
   Let’s hope & pray for some miraculously good news, over the next days & weeks.
   Har biji Kurdistan! Am Yisrael Chai!
   DSR

5. @ Ted Belman:Ted, first the YPG are NOT terrorists. That is Turkish propaganda. I will provide some writing below in a new comment) from a Kurd describing who they are actually not from the Turkish view which some are now using to defend this betrayal after the fact. Remember until one week ago they were American Allies (SDF) who lost 11,000 solider fighting under the joint goal of defeating ISIS. Now they are bad guys, how hypocritical.

   Also 200,000 or more have already fled the area. Also the Turkish allies on the ground (“Free Syrian Army”) are Islamic terrorists mostly who act like Daesh, sing their songs in some. They are savages who butcher people.

   Turkey intends to bring Syria Sunni Arabs Refugees into this location and replace the Kurds. This is Erdogan’s stated plan and the cease-fire deal will not stop it. Maybe the Syrians or Russian’s will stop it.

6. What is going on in the zone is not ethnic cleansing. Only YPG terrorists are being removed.

   Secondly International law allows for “safe Zones” where justified. Israel is constantly faced with the necessity of creating a safe zone in Syria and Lebanon.

   Finally what commitments did Trump give the Kurds? Neither Obama or Trump supported independance. Please be specific with a quote if possible.

7. @ yamit82: Yamit and Laura, none of Trump’s critics have “overlooked” these three points. All three have all been the constant theme of the Democrats, Many Republicans, and the MSM. You are not being original here.

   I agree wholeheartedly that Turkey is guilty of ethnic cleansing and agression against a neighboring state. The Turks have been oppressing the Kurds for at least a hundred years, in addition oppressing the Aramaean to Christiann communities,etc. Massacreing and/or expelling two million Greek, Exterminating up to 1.5 million Anatolian Armenians, etc. Their ethnic cleansing activities are a disgrace, and the Americans sale of arms to them over seventy years, sponsoring their atomic energy program which may give them nuclear weapons in a few years, permitting them to manufacture U.S. advanced fighter planes in Turkey for their own use, failure to impose any sanctions on them for their genocidal behavior, etc. are equally a disgrace to America and a stain on our flag.

   Where I to some extent disagree with you, however,, is when you put all the blame for this on Trump personally. Every U.S. President from Truman and Obama has supported America’s alliance with Turkey, despite the Turks despicable behavior and Turkey’s failure to cooperate with U.S. defense and foreign policy at least since 2003. President Obama, Trump’s immediate predecessor, was especially enthusiastic in his support for the turkish alliance and Turkey’s dictator Erdogan. I believe that many of the tenured civil servants in the Departments of Defense and State, and the CIA, as well as senior career military officers, and several of th politically influential “think tanks,” are deeply committed to the Turkish alliance, although they have no rational grounds for their support. Turning all this around has not been an easy job for Trump. He has actually been more critical of the Turkish government’s behavior than any previous President. And at least he has imposed some token sanctions on them to signal his displeasure with Erdogan’s regime.

   But I think his Pentagon, CIA and State Dept. advisors have all told him that the Turkish alliance is vital to U.S. national security interests, and since he knew little about Turkey and the Kurds before he became President, he has felt obliged to believe what they tell him, even though much of what they tell him is biased and misinformation slanted towards Turkey. Under relentless pressure from all sorts of people trying to drive him from office, he has not had much time, and perhaps not much leftover energy, to make an independent study of the situation and realize that his advisor’s have not told him the truth about the Turkish-Kurdish nexus. Surrounded by enemies, he is probably not mucch inclined to go against his bureaucratic and military advisors and make enemies of them, too. He needs some friends in the national security establishment if he is to survive as President. Or so he must think.

   The constant drumbeat of criticism of Trump’s Turkey-Syria-Iraq policies by Congress and the press is unfair, because they only noticed that there was a “problem” with Turkey and its behavior in 2018! Where were they all these years, especially during the Obama years, when they could have spoken out against Obama’s collaboration with Erdogan, but didn’t have a word of criticism of it? They are self-righteous hypocrites for putting all the blame on Trump.

8. @ yamit82:
   Trump should be listening to Mark Levin.

9. Mostly overlooked by most supporters and critics of Trump’s brokered ceasefire or pause are: 1) He gave his royal support for ethnic cleansing 2) He supports the invasion, conquest, and occupation of one sovereign nation to another. 3) America gave commitments to the Kurds and then reneged on the same commitments leaving them hung out to dry.

   It shows Trump and thru him, America has no honor, commitments are meaningless to Trump. Can’t at this time calculate the cost to Trump (politically) and America (national security)over this mercurial illogical move… Trump’s brand populism and isolationism are beginning to worry me…I support his economic policies because they seem to be working he has a liberal social agenda but his foreign policy will sink him because it flys in the face of reality on the ground… Trump seems to be trying to force reality to conform to his 19th century-views (Isolationism and libertarianism) and concepts unworkable in 21st century. This is why his biggest supporters today are Rand Paul, Tucker Carlson and the idiot sycophant Lou Dobbs. Those three seem to be the ones who he mostly listens to and takes advice from.

10. @ Laura:

    Maybe you’ve head about him in a Jules Verne book….?

11. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter on Thursday he is confident that joint efforts with the United States will promote peace and stability after the two sides agreed to pause Turkey’s military offensive in northeastern Syria.

    “Mr. President, many more lives will be saved when we defeat terrorism, which is humanity’s arch enemy,” he wrote in response to a post on Twitter in which U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the deal earlier on Thursday as “great news”. <strong> (The KURDS YPG are the terrorists to Erdogan NOT ISIS). He is talking about killing Kurds in Syria here.

12. @ Sebastien Zorn:
    Why is your name familiar to me?

13. I won’t say I told you so because, well, that’s just the kind of guy I am.

14. Three inferences may be drawn from Pence’s disclosure that the US would facilitate the Kurds’ retreat:

    The US forces scheduled to withdraw from Kurdish regions are still present.
    They would have to coordinate their steps with the Russian and Syrian military forces which moved into those regions this week.
    Washington is in no position to tell the Kurds what to do after pushing them into the arms of Moscow and Damascus.

    It therefore remains to be seen how Russian President Vladimir Putin responds to Washington’s truce initiative with Turkey and how US military steps in northern Syria fit in with those of the Russian forces. Pending answers to those questions, Kurdish leaders will not move out of their positions.

15. Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, immediately countered that the agreement was not a cease-fire at all, but merely a “pause for our operation.” He added that “as a result of our president’s skillful leadership, we got what we wanted.”

    He noted that the United States accepted the importance of the safe zone to protect Turkey’s legitimate security interests. “It is fully agreed that the safe zone will be under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces,” he said. “Giving a break does not mean to withdraw our forces,” he said. “We will go on being there

    Mr. Cavusoglu also directly contradicted Mr. Pence’s announcement that Turkey had agreed to engage in no military action in Kobani, Syria.

    “We did not make any promises about Kobani,” Mr. Cavusoglu said, adding that they would discuss Kobani with Russia going forward

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkey-agrees-to-pause-fighting-but-not-to-withdraw-forces-from-northern-syria/ar-AAIVBVA?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=HPCDHP