Media Silent as House Passes Resolution for Syrian No-Fly Zone — Provoking War with Russia

The optics of all this are not good. It really makes one wonder just to what extent the Russians were involved in the presidential election.

It also appears that Trump may have started running US foreign policy even before he hit the ground.

One assumes, hopefully, that his sons are not quite yet American plenipotentiaries.

Apparently the Russians regard Erdogan's statement about overthrowing Assad as "political" and meant for internal Turkish consumption. When Lavrov meets his Turkish counterpart (today?), he is going to get the matter clarified.

www.hurriyetdailynews.com... &NewsCatID=353&_sgm_source=106727&_sgm_campaign=scn_b1055d51fae9c000&_sgm_action=click

London & Assad forces are right now in secret talks, to define the surrender of Britain and France in Syria.

originally posted by: Flanker86
London & Assad forces are right now in secret talks, to define the surrender of Britain and France in Syria.

link please...

Also there is nothing for France nor the UK to surrender in Syria.

a reply to: ipsedixit

well now, I guess Erdogan started singing a different tune once the Russians demanded an explanation of that statement he made hehe.

Erdogan backtracks on ousting Assad after Russian reaction
"Let nobody has doubts, let nobody interpret otherwise what we have many times said on this issue, that the goal of the Operation Euphrates Shield is not a country or a person, but terror groups," said Erdogan.

He was speaking in his 30th meeting since last year with another group of several hundred heads of neighborhoods (mukhtars) at his Bestepe Palace in Ankara, according to the private-owned Dogan news agency.
Turkish President's swift change of tone followed a Wednesday night phone call with Assad's main backer Vladimir Putin of Russia.

It was the second phone conversation between the two since Erdogan said his army was in northern Syrian to topple Assad as a bloody regime siege supported by Russians and Iranians on Aleppo made sizeable advances against the rebels.

Haha yea I knew he was blowing hot air. Obviously his motives were true before the Russians had him bite his tongue. Im guessing there was a reminder about the seriousness of their commitment to the stability and assistance to Syrian sovereignty.
a reply to: Xcathdra
He is probably goofing. Obviously they would do no such thing. It is a simple matter of recalling them when the stalemate happens at Raqqa. Thats my bet on the Fall and Split of Berlin comparisons between WW2 and our current WW3. It will be like a combination of the creation of Kurdistan (post ww2 Israel) and the cold war stalemate combined. Would be insane if Trump's wall was actually a veiled reference to a Berlin wall revival in the 21st century.

Eastern Influence goes West of Raqqa, and Western influence to East Raqqa. Mosul and Aleppo stand as good reference points too for comparisons. Wonder what other symbolism there is in all this.

You guys are reading way too much into this. This is just asking for an assessment of the effectiveness and feasibility of a no-fly zone. That way, if anyone suggests using one, they can point to the report and say it's been thoroughly studied and the military experts concluded it was a bad idea. If they just wanted to start a war, why would they ask for an assessment that everyone knows is gonna show it's a bad idea?

a reply to: worldstarcountry

and again there is nothing to withdraw let alone surrender.

Interesting little article on the hurriyetdailynews.com website:

US will not abandon Kurds, says former senior official

www.hurriyetdailynews.com...

According to Long, the U.S. may treat the Kurds in Iraq and Syria “somewhat differently.”

“I guess what I am trying to say is that those Kurds [in Iraq] may be treated by the U.S. somewhat differently than the Syrian Kurds who [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan is more concerned about,” she said.

“I can’t see the U.S. abandoning the Kurds, I can’t see the U.S. abandoning the Kurds fighting ISIL in Syria and Iraq. I can’t see the U.S. losing the potential buffer that Kurds represent or could represent between a possibly hostile Russian-Iranian-Syrian post-conflict entities. We can call it Syria or something else … on the border with Turkey. I think this is also something for Erdoğan to also consider. Does he want a buffer there? What would that buffer look like?” she added.

According to Long, the U.S. is “looking keenly at what could very well be a hostile Iraqi-Shia-Iranian proxy state” on the Turkish border.

“I think what you will expect will be a very nuanced approach where the U.S. tries to keep its relations with both [sides], trying to persuade Erdoğan that taking both of those entities fighting abilities off the battlefield during the anti-ISIL fight is a mistake. Trying to persuade Erdoğan that everyone should look toward the most distant future as to what buffer may be needed there and how that buffer should or could look like,” she said.

It would appear that Kurdistan is going to become a reality, if we can believe former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, and she has the credentials to be something of an authority on the subject.

The only question in her mind, if I interpret her correctly, is whether the Kurdistan which appears is a proxy of Iran and Iraq or of the Americans and hopefully, Turkey, or to state it another way, who will enable, facilitate, back the new national entity first, Turkey and the Americans or Iran and Iraq.

There is an implied enhancement of Kurdish rivalries involved in this as well, is there not?

That's my reading of her statement.