Posted on 12/28/2019 8:21:03 AM PST by BeauBo
“I am so disgusted with Trump’s “Save Idlib” tweets”
He is just trolling the the Russians/Assad Regime, as they did to him when the shoe was on the other foot.
Now that Obama is out of office, the US and Russia actually agree on blowing up jihadis, even if they will take some (tounge-in-cheek) cheap shots at each other in the press about it.
“Welcome to Turkey”
Turkey’s jihadi surrogates, coming home to roost.
The families will likely end up there (if they can’t settle them permanently in land captured from Syria, for a future annexation vote), but the jihadis themselves will possibly be used as a Turkish/Muslim Brotherhood Foreign Legion, to keep trying to take control of territory where ever they can.
“Their method worked well in the rest of Syria when combatants could be sent to Idlib.”
That phase was probably easier for the Turks to agree to, especially in return for the prize of Kurdish Afrin.
The value received by Turkey for each jihadi loss will likely decline as the war continues, until only the Kurdish areas remain in Turkish/jihadi control.
Then it will likely be more of a head to head, win or lose confrontation between Erdogan and Assad.
t don’t think Russia (or, lessly, the US) will ever let it come to a head to head. Maybe Turkey will cede back Irbil for Afrin - though that complicates the other need which is for a peace between Erd and the Kurds.
Other than Afrin and some western border cities, I see the Kurds coming out alright. Though that is no success it is no disaster. We seem determined to give them the oil to buy their peace.
Though I don’t trust Erd to use them responaibly (or even intelligently) it’s historically an improvement when terrorists are absorbed into a political system.
This isn’t surprising in the least. War is always the game in the middle east as long as there is Islam..and that’s certainly not going away.....and Syria will always be a target for war and conflict.
They have to figure it out over there..... it’s not as though these alliances don’t shift on a dime. Russia will always protect it’s ports in Syria and Turkey’s Erdogan will always stick his nose in every conflict as long as he’s in power and seeks domination... He’s no ‘friend’ to any. And the Kurds should focus on the lands they have and stop trying to take more as I see it.
Trump knows that the Ruskies won’t balk at the necessity of accepting some collateral damage when it comes to rooting out the bad guys who mingle and hide among ‘regular” populations - something he would not have been able to do w/o some uber-serious flak - from both sides of the aisle.
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