US forces setting up airbase in northeast Syria: sources.....

The "better to fight them there than here" logic has been perfectly valid in all past wars but we are now at war with an ideology not a country and we may need to change our way of thinking on this. Fighting the last war is a sure fire way of losing the current war. It may be that the best way to fight an ideology is to quarantine it like the disease it is.

 

Well they affect migration and the Europeans are not happy so I guess time will tell if they coup with that or not and if the barbarians can be left alone in the desert.

 

From the start of the Syrian civil war, I did not believe U.S. involvement in any form was any our business. I still believe that.

I was right. It pains me to take any responsibility for the rise of ISIS, the hundreds of thousands dead, the homeless, and the refugees.

But the U.S. is not solely to blame for the mess that is Syria today. If the U.S. had taken a strict hands off policy, I think it is very likely that the Saudis and Turks would have supported the rebellion (as they have), and the situation would quite likely be exactly the same as it is today. But at least, if we had stayed out of it, we would have no responsibility for it.

That said, ISIS is our enemy, and it is in our national interest to destroy them. Toppling Assad is none of our business. Destroying ISIS is our business.

This brings me to the point with regard to this airbase...

If the intent of the airbase is to further support the Syrian rebels, to my mind, this is just a continuation of this whole wrong-headed policy. If the intent is to support the war against ISIS, I would be OK with it.

Big picture: There will never, ever, be peace in Syria and Iraq until the Alawites, Sunnis, Kurds, and Shiites have their own independent countries. To my mind, that is the only way forward that will bring a lasting peace.

 

Sounds messed up to me. Russia is there supporting Assad. Now we are gonna support the Syrian Rebels who want to overthrow Assad? That pits us against Russia, or our champ against theirs. I don't have a problem killing ISIS.

 

It seems fairly evident to me that the US and Russia reached an understanding at the G20 summit in November and this air base is a consequence of that. Both nations are acting in concert towards an agreed outcome - public rhetoric apart.

Prior to that understanding/agreement RT was daily reporting on Russia's air intervention against ISIS and othjer terrorists in Syria, but this quickly altered to virtually no news at all. It's the same for the US. There is a news blackout in effect.

 

I agree with arming the Kurds. If we would have supported the Kurds, and gotten out of the way of Iran and Syria, ISIS would be gone.

The FSA does not actually exist as cohesive entity it is neither moderate nor democratic. There are a bunch of groups fighting against the Assad regime in Syria and they are either extremist or fighting alongside extremists (Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, Salafi, ISIS)

My point was to separate these Strict Sharia Theocracy loving rebels, from the Kurds.

 

The Syrian government offered to let the US build an airbase in Syria long before the current war on Syria began.

 

Whenever Biden paid Poroshenko a visit, it seems he was given the go ahead because he always restarted the fighting and began killing more civilians so he could ethnically cleanse the Donbas. I guess this time Biden is giving the Turks the go ahead so they can kill more Kurds and ethnically cleanse the Eastern part of Turkey.

Funny how there was such a big hallabaloo in the media about Assad killing his own people when it was nothing in comparison...not to mention that many of the protesters were probably paid and armed by the CIA like in Ukraine.

 

I have news for everyone, the Russian jets have been supporting the legitimate opposition in their fight against ISIS. The militant jihadists, or rather terrorists are not Syrian at all. Most have been sent in or are being supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey who have their own self interests in Syria; and that is sharia law...not to mention a grab of the Syrian oil wells.

What damn business does Saudi Arabia and Turkey have in deciding what government the Syrian people should have? This is like China or N. Korea deciding what kind of a government the American people should have. The Syrian people no more want sharia law than we do, so why don't we leave them the hell alone.
.

 

But this time the US was not invited into Syria, and so once again Washington is breaking international law and making the UN irrelevant.

 

The Syrian government invited the Turks, Saudis, Qataris et. al. to invade Syria.
The Syrian goverment insists on classifying Syria as an Arab nation.
As long as they call themselves the Syrian Arab Republic, they are granting jurisdiction to the various fanatics that control Arabia.

 

I agree with everything you wrote except the last paragraph. The Syrians did have peace and lived well with one another under the tolerant Assad, until Washington decided they wanted Syria broken up so it can be more easily controlled. This is why Washington was arming terrorists, and had Russia not intervened, ISIS would have taken over Damascus and killed everyone who didn't convert to their extreme form of Islam. The American bombings of ISIS were only a pretext to deceive the American public.

To keep Syria from breaking up, the Syrian people flew in from all over the world to vote for Assad. They wanted to send a message to the US to butt out of their affairs, but like everything else, Washington managed to keep the American people in the dark by keeping it out of the media.

Washington's excuse for not wanting the elections, was because there was fighting going on, and yet at exactly the same time there was a civil war going on in Ukraine so that only the Western part voted, but that election Kerry approved of.

[video=youtube;ZnFQd4wBXnk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnFQd4wBXnk[/video]

[video=youtube;_voiTVsqCaw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_voiTVsqCaw[/video]

[video=youtube;7zufjMn8Jf0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zufjMn8Jf0[/video]

 

I agree.....that's why we should arm them directly and tell Abadi in Iraq to kiss our ass. Then tell Erdogan in Turkey.....get use to the new future.

 

If we are setting up an airbase that is going to give cover to the Kurds.....then there goes that theory with Biden and Turkey. Just sayin!

 

All I have to say is be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Look at Libya, we took out Qaddafi and now Libya is in much worst shape if we had done nothing and let Qaddafi put down his little rebeillion. Now Libya is a jumping off point for terrorists into southern Europe and into the African countries south of Libya. Libya is has become a safe haven for ISIS, AQ and other terrorist organization along with being a training ground.

Assad seems to me the be the best worst choice in Syria. There are no good ones, only bad ones. The majority of Syrians want Assad to stay, but who are we to let Syrian's decide their own fate and choose their own leader? Apparently that is not the way we work. We want to choose the leader for Syria, how did Maliki work out for us?

https://www.rt.com/politics/official-word/320261-assad-france-poll-figaro/

https://gowans.wordpress.com/2015/1...cked-opposition-would-that-not-be-major-news/

 

Carter has already released the new strategy. Not only are we doing this.....We are sending in 1800 from the 101st in Iraq.

Gonna clean some house on Daesh.

 

Okay, so the question I have, will we concentrate on Daesh or will we also try to remove Assad while doing so? Probably all of this might have been unnecessary if we just let Assad deal with his own internal problem.

 

I have news for you Ivan, the Syrians are Arabs, and have every right to call themselves that since they speak Arabic. The Sunnis are the majority but they want Assad, and do not want Sharia law. But even if they did, the minorities like the Alawites, Shias and Christians combined are more than the Sunnis. So why doesn't Washington get the hell out of there and leave the Syrian people alone.

 

Carter and the Military will concentrate on Daesh.....BO and his Team will still push to remove Assad, as the Saud and the Sunni Arabs won't accept the Shia ruling over the Sunni in Syria anymore.

We can at least give some cover to the Kurds. Neither the Russians nor the Turks will attack this base we will control Unofficially.

 

Jeanette, the history doesn't support the notion that the Syrians "lived well" under a tolerant Assad. He's a brutal dictator, and he has been able to hold his country together at the point of a gun for a long time, but those days are over. IMO, Jeanette, both Iraq and Syria are Humpty Dumpty, and all the kings horses, and all the kings men, cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again. IMO, until the Sunnis, Alawites, Kurds, and Shia are governing only their own people, there will be endless war there. What we have learned about Iraq and Syria is that the only real loyalties in those countries are to tribe and religious sect, not to country.

We cannot fix that. We cannot change it. The best thing we can do as an international community (besides wiping out ISIS) is to start talking about forming new countries in that area. The people of those two countries have proven this to us. Syria and Iraq exist in name only anymore. They are not really united countries anymore. They never will be. The sooner we recognize this truth staring us in the face, the better.

 

What you're telling me then is that the foreign terrorists have now become the will and voice of the Syrian people because that's the way Washington, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, KSA and Qatar want it. I guess they are the important ones and the Syrian people cheering for Assad are inconsequential...either that or they voted at the point of a gun? Interesting!

 

The U.S. military obviously hasn't read this website about all the scary Russian weaponry.

 

No, Jeannette, that's not what I'm saying. I will try to be as clear and succinct as I can.

1) The foreign terrorists you speak of are mostly all fighting for ISIS and AQ. It is in my country's national interest, and many others, to destroy them all.

2) Assad is a brutal dictator, but that is not our business. He is no threat to my country or any neighboring country. The insurrection in his country - I mean the rebellion of indigenous Syrians against him - is a Syrian matter. On that matter, it is perfectly appropriate for the U.S. to take a diplomatic position, but not military action. By "military action", I mean arming and training indigenous Syrians to carry out war in that country. I have always been against that, I continue to be, and I know I am right about that.

3) Iraq is a broken and divided country. The three ethno/religious groups in that country can not tolerate being governed by any of the other two groups. The same holds true in Syria with the Alawites, Sunnis, and Kurds. My opinion is that there will be nothing but war, destruction, and death in those countries until those peoples are given their own sovereign nations, and they can govern themselves. I would support the general concept of a Kurdish nation in what is now northern Iraq, a Shia nation in what is now eastern and southern Iraq, a Sunni nation that covered what is now western Iraq and eastern Syria, and an Alawite nation that lies in what is now western Syria.

I believe that the nations of Syria and Iraq don't exist anymore. What exists are Alawite, Sunni, Kurds, and Shia.

I don't believe the Iraqis, the Syrians, the Russians, or the western powers can fix this.

What we can do is suggest independence for these groups and start the dialogue.

Meanwhile, we can join forces and destroy ISIS/AQ. They are not tolerable. They have to go.

I hope I have clarified my position for you.

 

Here's a poor translation of some news from Syria by Greekdefense.net. The translation might not be totally accurate...but it's better than nothing.

Turkish artillery and tanks were pounding positions of the Syrian Army and the Syrian National Guard in al-Ball village in Aleppo to provide coverage for the Turkmen Islamist units. At the same time Turkish tanks are in a fighting position on the border and near the Kurdish city of Kompania.

The Turkish force that invaded Syrian territory eight days ago, is being strengthened and everything suggests that it will not be too long before it comes into contact with the Russian advisors which are helping the Syrian Army and the Kurdish YPG at the Qamishli airport, and which clearly outnumber the Islamists.

It seems Turkey fears the S-400, so it is not boosting its fighters. So at this stage, the Russians have the initiative. More than likely though, there will be some kind of hot event between them, either in the air or on the ground.

Reliable Greek sources have said that two Turkish submarines from N.Cyprus are patrolling daily in the area near the Russian surface units in Syria.

Devotoglu said it will act against the Kurdish YPG and any threatening deployment along its border and in the Russian base. In Biden's meeting with Devotoglu, Biden said that "US and Turkey are prepared for a military solution to Syria if a political settlement is not possible."​

As for my opinion, there will be a war between Turkey and Russia. It's inevitable, especially considering mad dog Erdogan's aggressive actions in the Aegean and its subversive actions in the Caucasus, Central Asian States, and towards Crimea. It's only a matter of time.

 

I think the difference here is that Iraq was held together by a Sunni who was as brutal as Erdogan of Turkey is towards some of his people. (Yes, he has gassed the Kurds).

Assad though is not a Sunni, he is an Alawite, and his government is as tolerant and as secular as any Western nation. And yes the Syrians did live together peacefully for years, and it was a lovely country, until billions were thrown into it by such as Soros and his NGO's, so as to undo the peace.

When the Syrians protested, they thought they were doing so for more rights in Assad's government. When the provocateurs began firing on the police, causing Assad to over react, these protesters realized they had been deceived and joined up with Assad's army.

Russia realized when the Brookings Inst. report came out that Washington didn't really want peace in Syria, but instead they wanted it broken up so they could more easily control it. It's not though what the Syrian people want. They want their country to be the way it was before all the foreign interference. I knew Syrians who were raving about it, and even moving back.

Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister did begin a peace initiative with Syria's legitimate opposition about five months ago. He took suggestions also from Iraq, Iran, KSA, and Qatar...and many of those suggestions have now become part of the Syrian government.

Anyway Syria is not going to break up. Russia will never allow it.