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Kurdish-led SDF forces arrive in Moscow to discuss future of east Euphrates
Kurdistan 24 ^ | 12/24/18 | Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Posted on 12/24/2018 7:06:29 AM PST by mac_truck

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has arrived in Moscow to discuss a possible plan to stop a Turkish attack as well as the future of the east of the Euphrates, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday.

The SOHR cited sources which said the SDF delegation and Russian authorities were expected to meet in Moscow “in the coming hours” to discuss the future of east Euphrates.

According to the monitor, the Russians offered to deploy border guards from the Syrian army in the border area from the east of Euphrates to the Tigris River in the Syrian – Iraqi – Turkish border triangle.

However, SOHR said debates continue about who would manage the areas that are under the control of the SDF in the east of the Euphrates.

It said the SDF demands Moscow to send regular Syrian army forces and not the Iran-backed Popular Defense Forces that were deployed on Feb. 20 in Afrin. Turkish airstrikes killed around 36 of them.

So far, SDF officials and those from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) have not confirmed the news. “I have no information about this,” one senior official told Kurdistan 24.

Maxwell B. Markusen, an Associate Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the Russians are now the Kurds’ best chance for survival.

“A negotiated settlement with the Russians and Assad regime is not likely to give the Kurds the same degree of autonomy enjoyed under the US-led coalition, but would represent a change from the brutal oppression and lack of civil rights that the Kurds faced before the Syrian civil war,” he told Kurdistan 24.

(Excerpt) Read more at kurdistan24.net ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Syria
KEYWORDS: detente; djibouti; erdogan; eritrea; europeanunion; hassannasrallah; hezbollah; iran; kerryhawks; keywordtrolls; kurdistan; kurds; lebanon; mactroll; nato; putinista; receptayyiperdogan; russia; sdf; sohr; sudan; turkey; yemen
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This is the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reporting, so take it with a grain of salt.
1 posted on 12/24/2018 7:06:29 AM PST by mac_truck
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To: mac_truck

At least they’re meeting. Perhaps Putin can get a port in Israel with Trumps blessing. Think so?


2 posted on 12/24/2018 7:21:48 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET
Perhaps Putin can get a port in Israel with Trumps blessing.

Russia already has a large naval port in Tartus without the blessing of anyone except Syria, and they just signed a 50 year lease extension in 2016.

3 posted on 12/24/2018 7:54:40 AM PST by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: All

Copy this and email it to your favorite talk host.
It would make sense to pull our guys out of there if this group feels this way about a NATO member claiming part of their area in their country.


4 posted on 12/24/2018 8:22:48 AM PST by mosesdapoet (mosesdapoet aka L,J,Keslin posting here for the record)
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To: mac_truck

Trust Putin
yup


5 posted on 12/24/2018 9:00:25 AM PST by norsky
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To: mac_truck

Regardless of what happens on the surface, I have personally witnessed the true fundamental and militant hatred Moscow has for both Jews and Israel.

It was one of the reasons several of us were removed from Moscow. Even with diplomatic status. As Americans, there was an effort to get Putin and Moscow to allow for an actual Israeli Embassy. Not only did this not truly happen, but the last three remaining synagogue’s were bombed and burned to the ground over the past 25 years. A new one has been allowed to be rebuilt, however, it is mostly a symbolic relic done for western consumption, (similar to the quasi Israeli office building, Israel uses for business in Moscow). As well, there are very few Jewish people left in Russia, as many have left because of persecution, or being treated badly. Meanwhile, Russia has actually maintained a PLO consulate/embassy in Moscow, clear back to when Arafat was the PLO leader. Even Jewish Ukrainian’s are trying to get out of Russian controlled portions of Ukraine, as they are being heavily targeted. Additionally, Russia is very much behind global political efforts to break up Israel.

The stage being set today by Russia, appears to be significantly more aggressive, and much more carefully planned out than Russia’s effort during the 1967 “Six Day War”. This time, the planning and posturing, military technology, armor, and man power is vastly greater.

Since the vastly increased Russian intervention with the historically anti Israeli Assad regime in Syria, the Russians have been playing a game with Israel, and have actually been allowing and facilitating Iran’s movement of weapons and soldiers through the Shia Crescent, into strategic locations in Syria, including along the Israeli border near the Golan Heights.

Israel has flown into Syria several times to destroy missile storage and assembly targets, but Moscow has also kept Israel from coming near numerous sites, with the real threat of shooting them down. As of two weeks ago, additional S-400s had been moved down near Damascus, which gives the Russians S-400 coverage all the way down to the Red Sea. This missile coverage now covers and targets/paints all Israeli, US, and NATO aircraft and defensive ARROW and Patriot missile air space. All of Israel is now covered by Russian air defense systems. This is very aggressive.

Even before this, Russia already had imposed a long standing 60 mile no fly zone centered at Russian Naval Base Tartus, which had much of northern Israel “painted”. So now there are redundant S-400 and new reported S-500 systems overlapping Israel. When an Iranian UAV tested Israeli defenses earlier this year, an Israeli F-16 was shot down by a Russian S-300 missile, near the Israeli border.

Also, in the past few weeks, Russia has moved armor down to the Syrian/Israeli border. This is well beyond the anti-Israeli UN facade, where the UN has been quietly filling the DMZ with blue helmet Iranian/Hezballah soldiers, who have been digging in and keeping Israel from destroying new tunnels.

Behind the scenes, Moscow has been not so quietly building the Iranian nuclear program for three decades, which has always been a geopolitical reinforcement of relations with Iran, and about pacifying and placating Tehran, and making Iran capable of producing its own nuclear weapons. This effort has been stopped a few times by external force. Agree with it or not, this was always one of the strategic purposes for the US straddling Iran, as well as our presence in the Persian Gulf, being to neutralize Moscow’s efforts in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Persian Gulf region.

Moving from Moscow to Ankara, being approximately 98%+ Muslim, the population of Turkey is as anti-Israel as any nation on earth. Erdogan is militantly anti-Israel, and for the first time since WWII Turkey’s military is under the control of a militant Islamic leader. In two years Erdogan is estimated to have tortured and killed over 87,000 non compliant Turkish citizens, and has imprisoned an estimated 250,000 political prisoners. As well, Erdogan has moved Turkey squarely into Putin’s sphere. In the last few months, Turkey has signed an open ended contract with Russia, for what looks like a few dozen S-400 SAM systems, and has just signed a contract with Russia to build multiple nuclear reactors. This has happened at the same time Moscow and Ankara are finishing two new energy lines through the Black Sea, carrying Russian energy to Southeast Europe.

Neither the US or Russia need Middle Eastern energy, but the EU and East Asia do. This is all about Russia being able to determine EU foreign and economic policy. If Russia controls the energy into Europe, Russia determines global policy.

The Shia Crescent Axis (Russian/Iran/part of Iraq/Turkey/Syria has been strategically countered by the US/Egyptian/Israeli/Jordanian/Saudi/UAE alliance. However, long standing efforts by Moscow to flip Saudi Arabia back to Moscow appear to be working.

Recall, it was paid operatives from the Kremlin who originally provided the false dossier information, which while weak, was designed to destroy Trump, who the Kremlin perceived as a “hawkish” pro-American leader, which has served to not only neutralize Trumps efforts, but with a compliant media, has served to cause mass hatred by the US Senate and Congress, for all of Trumps efforts in the Middle East, including massive defense agreements with Saudi Arabia. Now, the false outcry over the death of Kashoggi, within the highly foreign surveilled Saudi Arabian Embassy/Consulate in Turkey appears to have been an additional set up to drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and the US. This US Congressional effort driven by anti-Trump globalists, has resulted in a recent and high speed warming by Saudi Arabia and Moscow.

Think about this. **The Kremlin itself, which hates President Trump, and had been deeply allied with the Obama/Clinton White House (think Uranium 1, Skolkovo, no missile defense for EU, anti-Israel, pro Iran, hate conservative US voters, etc...), is paid to provide/feed false dossier information to knowing and willing global socialists in the highest agencies of US Intelligence and FBI, who themselves also seek to carry out a Coup against a constitutionally elected US President, an elected President who will try to stand against Moscow and Beijing! Now the same anti-Trump US establishment has taken action to drive Saudi Arabia toward Moscow!

Beside stopping the high volume alternative Saudi energy pipeline to the EU (which Moscow could not control), the new anti-Trump driven effort to kill all Saudi agreements with the US, has driven what Moscow wanted all along, an alliance with the biggest energy producer of all Riyadh. Along with Riyadh, the UAE can only follow.

In light of Congress acting to hurt Trump by driving Saudi Arabia and the UAE into the arms of Moscow, (thereby giving Moscow what it really wanted), the Kurd’s only have ONE possible scenario to survive, (especially with Erdogan’s intention to move south and take everything east of the Euphrates, down to roughly Balad), and that is to swear allegiance to Moscow.


6 posted on 12/24/2018 10:05:12 AM PST by patriotfury ((May the fleas of a thousand camels occupy mo' ham mads tents!))
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To: mac_truck

The Turks are coming.....

https://twitter.com/Acemal71


7 posted on 12/24/2018 10:05:54 AM PST by gandalftb
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To: mosesdapoet
Uh, NATO does not endorse Turkey in Syria. The US can’t stop Turkey from invading Syria and can’t currently kick it out of NATO.

It would appear Russia could help the Kurds, right?

8 posted on 12/24/2018 11:51:49 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: patriotfury; All
It was one of the reasons several of us were removed from Moscow. Even with diplomatic status. As Americans, there was an effort to get Putin and Moscow to allow for an actual Israeli Embassy. Not only did this not truly happen, but the last three remaining synagogue’s were bombed and burned to the ground over the past 25 years.

The Choral Synagogue in Moscow, one of the oldest in Russia, has been in continuous operation since 1906 and it has never been burned to the ground or bombed.

I'll wager your foreign service MOS was disinformation officer.

9 posted on 12/24/2018 12:23:14 PM PST by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: mac_truck; SkyPilot; Roman_War_Criminal; null and void; Lera; 444Flyer; SVTCobra03; metmom; ...

[ Kurdish-led SDF forces arrive in Moscow to discuss future of east Euphrates ]

THAT’S an interesting headline.

Someone once said long ago, that Turkey could shut off the Ataturk Dam and essentially dry up the Euphrates. And that Iraq and Syria were not too thrilled about that possibility.

Is is true that Turkey could do that (crazy though it would be) FReepers?

I just find this interesting because you have some Ezekiel 38 players and then I thought of this passage from Revelation (NO “s”).


Revelation 16:12 King James Version

12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.


Now let me be clear, I do NOT believe this happens (Revelation 16:12) until the Great Tribulation and we are NOT even in the Tribulation, let alone the Great Tribulation.

Others think we are and so we just have to agree to disagree.

Still, I find the references interesting. Also, they must march WEST of the Euphrates to make their way to the Valley of Megiddo (when the time comes for that to be fulfilled).


10 posted on 12/24/2018 1:39:45 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: patriotfury

[Regardless of what happens on the surface, I have personally witnessed the true fundamental and militant hatred Moscow has for both Jews and Israel.]

What little I’ve seen of RT (Russia Today) is that Israel is bad, Palestinians good. Much like The Guardian.

While I am not for purposely making trouble with the Russians, like Hillary’s “Russians cost me the election” lie, I do believe that Russia will march on Israel, along with Iran and Turkey (plus a few others). It is therefore not surprising that Iran, Turkey and Russia continually seem to be mentioned in the news. For this is Ezekiel 38 which is prophesied for the Latter Days.


11 posted on 12/24/2018 1:43:36 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: SaveFerris
Is is true that Turkey could do that (crazy though it would be) FReepers?

Yes, but that water has to go somewhere, if the turkeys in Turkey can't pump it elsewhere fast enough, the damned dam will overtop and fail.

The Iraqis praying for water will have their prayers answered.

In spades!

12 posted on 12/24/2018 1:44:37 PM PST by null and void (The Deep State is why even though our economy is booming, the stock market is losing ground.)
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To: patriotfury; Jewbacca; null and void; SkyPilot; Roman_War_Criminal

[ Meanwhile, Russia has actually maintained a PLO consulate/embassy in Moscow, clear back to when Arafat was the PLO leader. ]

Long ago, brother Dave Hunt (RIP) claimed that when Israel went into Lebanon in 1982 to clear out some PLO, there was reportedly a U.N. base which had been pre-supplied with Soviet weapons. Dave further opined that some of the weapons required specialized training to operate; training that wasn’t necessarily given to rabid PLO terrorists). Read between the lines there. Dave did not specify the nature of said weapons.

I’m pinging someone who has knowledge in these areas, though I’m not going to mention what little I know of his experience publicly nor privately. Perhaps he can comment on whether this was true or not. TIA


13 posted on 12/24/2018 1:52:13 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: null and void

lol


14 posted on 12/24/2018 1:52:40 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: mac_truck

Are there any “good guys” left in Syria?

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/are_there_any_good_guys_left_in_syria.html


15 posted on 12/24/2018 3:33:10 PM PST by WWII_Historian
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To: mac_truck

Actually, I taught on and off, near Kitai Gorad (China City/town) metro station, at what is called the “Choral “Synagogue”.

I used the term “burned to the ground” which was not totally accurate. The external masonry and brick external walls did remain standing.

It was also rebuilt/restored. However, just as before I was there in 1991, and having spent most of the decade there, space was used for a gallery, government offices, and even as a police precinct office. After it was restored, it was once again used to show off how the Soviets had religious diversity. And this is how it was in the 1990’s.

Once again, it is used in part as a tourist stop, as it was during the “formal” Soviet Period, to show the rest of the world how pluralistic and free the USSR was, and how free Russia is today. The facility is also used by the police.

The other synagogue’s in Moscow were not rebuilt.

There is also the “Central Baptist Church”, which once hosted Billy Graham, during the “formal” Soviet Period, which was used for propaganda purposes in the West. During that event, there were religious freedom protesters which made it into the sanctuary, but were never seen or heard from again. It even has a beautiful (but dilapidated) pipe organ! It too saw an increase in membership in the 1990’s! Wow, Russia is so open and free! Lenin even made sure the phrase “freedom of religion” could be found in Soviet law!

However, as you should know, religion in general was hunted down for eradication during the “formal” Soviet Period. The reason was similar to why “religion” was hated by the National Socialist Party of Germany, or by the humanistic left-wing socialist we have today in the US. When you read Nietzsche, Marx, Engels, etc..., or the Communist and Humanist - Manifesto’s I and II, it becomes clear, humanism is the religion of the socialist state, and crucial to the control of a central authority over all society.

Millions of people were hunted down and enslaved and or killed by Soviet police, especially by Lenin and Stalin, including the Russian Orthodox population! I once interviewed a group of Russian Orthodox Priest, who were “priest” during the formal time of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and they explicitly stated their official position had to deny the existence of God. Their position was then necessarily purely symbolic. Furthermore, several of them were used by the police to spy and report on Russians who were seeking “God”, as these represented a danger to the authority of the state in everyday life.

Additionally, near the same area, there is a real WWII Jewish ghetto, where Jews who were brought back as slaves from Central Europe had to live, as they were not allowed to live with “ethnic Russians”, whatever that means. With a background in history and economics, I had been invited to teach World History and Economics to Jewish high school and college students, as they were largely not permitted to attend school with actual Russian students. There were exceptions, but the general rule was Jews had to stay in their ghetto area.

This also happened to other European’s after the WWII, where they were brought back as slaves, and placed into specific area’s.

German and Jewish slave labor actually built much of Moscow’s metro system, especially downtown. The metro system gets pretty deep, and even with depth, remains clay’s and alluvial soils for the most part, with a persistent water table, so it was dangerous, and many died. Tens of thousands of Jews died, due to the harsh conditions, even well after the war. Fearing further brutal Russian persecution, many changed their names, and gave up whatever culture they had left.

Later, after I was arrested the second time, (which was not unusual for foreigners, even with diplomatic visas), many of the families in the ghetto had experienced significant pressure and persecution, and had left, or were trying to leave Russia.

It was always touch and go, as there really was never formally recognized religious freedom in Communist and Modern Russia, but in 1997, there was a wave of humanistic resurgence, which swept back through the Russian government, from which they tightened any loophole they could find, and re-solidified police authority to go after any non-registered Orthodox group, or any other group, and a new wave of religious persecution began. We saw hundreds of Russian Jews and especially evangelicals, getting physically beaten and even imprisoned and killed, from all over Russia. However, similar to what we have see happening in China, Russian Christians continue to exist. The 97 law did recognize “Islam in its respected jurisdictions”.

We tried to help several Russians, Jews, and orphans get support from the US, and visas to the US, because of what was going on.

By the way, you would wager wrong friend, as my Passport information would show dozens of transatlantic flights and visas, but before my service time.

Actually, my brothers and I rebuilt an orphanage on the south side of Moscow, which housed, and or was used to “educate” 1200 orphans.

And yes, what some of us have learned, and some of what we could say would blow the minds of most people, and could cause trouble.


16 posted on 12/24/2018 3:49:36 PM PST by patriotfury ((May the fleas of a thousand camels occupy mo' ham mads tents!))
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To: SaveFerris

Dave Hunt was a true brother.

And this report was circulated at one point.


17 posted on 12/24/2018 3:53:31 PM PST by patriotfury ((May the fleas of a thousand camels occupy mo' ham mads tents!))
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To: patriotfury

Really liked Dave Hunt.

Never got to meet him.

But I will. :)


18 posted on 12/24/2018 3:57:07 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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Eventually!


19 posted on 12/24/2018 4:01:45 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: mac_truck

Hey there mac_truck

I was a bit rusty on my dates and times, and some of the links are broken, however, I did a little additional digging from some old haunts I used to read, and found these -

Somewhat more recent news on the “Choral Synagogue”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/security-guard-shot-by-gunman-outside-moscow-synagogue/


https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-days-when-moscow-s-main-synagogue-was-crawling-with-kgb-agents-1.6070498


https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/31/world/a-moscow-synagogue-burns-fanning-anti-semitic-fears.html


https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/24/world/bomb-blast-damages-synagogue-in-moscow.html


Jews Gather At Burned Synagogue | News | The Moscow Times
old.themoscowtimes.com/rss/toolbars/closeAd.php?.../free/...burned-synagogue/...

Jan 4, 1994 - Members of Moscow’s Jewish community gathered Monday to pray at the blackened site of Moscow’s Marinoi Roshchi synagogue


http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2015060/Synagogue-Burns-Down-In-Moscow.html


20 posted on 12/24/2018 4:35:29 PM PST by patriotfury ((May the fleas of a thousand camels occupy mo' ham mads tents!))
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