Tag:Conflict

This is breaking as we speak. Whatever Trump intended when he stabbed our Kurdish allies in the back by giving Turkey free rein to slaughter them, it isn’t working out as either he, or his fellow pocket despot Erdogan had intended. MSNBC is reporting that the Syrian Kurds have made their decision. They have made their deal-with-the-devil by siding with Assad and the Syrian government. As such, Syrian forces are advancing towards the Turkish border, and will be folding the Kurds into their forces as they advance. This is incredibly dangerous, and could quickly spiral out of control. Trump’s greed has not only abdicated our position of any authority in Syria, but in giving Erdogan the green light to obliterate the Kurds, he let that dipshit end up biting off more than he can chew. Erdogan is now trying to set up a 20 mile “security zone” along the Turkish-Syria border. But now he has front line Syrian troops advancing to defend their own sovereign territory, and mixed in with them, or perhaps even leading the way for honors sake, there is a very well battle tested Kurdish force, wanting revenge on the Turkish troops for pulling this lame shit in the first place. And one more thing to consider, even at this early stage. Syria has the full backing of Russia, and acts in consultation and concert with Vlad the Imp. Russia has had it’s troubles with Turkey over the years, including the Turkish downing of a Russian fighter a couple of years ago during another Syrian border dispute. Only Trumpenstein can fuck things up so completely without even having a clue as to what he’s doing. You now have Syrian troops, augmented by Kurds, moving forward to expel Turkish troops. If Turkey digs in, then you no longer have a border skirmish gone wrong, you have a regional conflict. And if Putin embeds Russian troops with the Syrian troops moving forward, and Turkey causes Russian casualties, the conflict likely gets even broader. And there sit 1,000 US troops, no longer with a dog in the fight, but still in harms way. I will update this column with any new information as it becomes available. But this is what happens when you have an unqualified, petty, self dealing criminal running national security foreign policy. It’s the rest of us who end up paying the price, simply because Trump couldn’t care less. UPDATE 9:25 a.m. PDT: MSNBC is reporting that Erdogan is using Turkish militias in addition to regular Turkish troops, and those militias are about as anti Assad as it’s possible to get. If they come in contact with Syrian troops, this is going to get personal in a hurry. They are also reporting that there are already several hundred ISIS fighters that have already escaped from Kurdish captivity, and may of them are trying to spring as many more of them as possible. If they get their hands on weapons laying around, US troops could find themselves being attacked by ISIS groups. And the cherry on top. While the US forces have drawn farther back, and are consolidating, defending on how things flow, they could end up surrounded. Trump has made it clear that the US will not fight Turkey on Syrian soil. But if a US position is fired on, either accidentally or on purpose, by […]

Hey, we’re lost. But at least we’re making good time.   Yogi Berra Right now, the whole situation in the Middle East is starting to look like a full blown, no holds barred, don’t-tell-mama mess.Not only is Iran enriching uranium again, in direct violation of the JCPOA, but by all appearances, albeit it appearances with a pyramid block sized grain of salt hanging from its neck, Iran just took a sucker punch at some Saudi Arabian oil refineries. And our current President, as well as his national security, intelligence, and diplomatic advisers should be piling out of a shoe box sized Volkswagon in the middle of the center ring. There are as many various scenarios for the action as there are “experts” and pundits to espouse them. Iran did it to strengthen their negotiating hand for easing oil sanctions. Iran did it out of furious desperation over the crippling inflation from the restored US sanctions. Iran did it to test a weak US President whom they have come to suspect has a spine made out of silly putty. Who knows? And at this point, when we are on the brink of a regional conflict that could cause not only global panic, but a global recession due to an oil shortage, who cares? But all of these scenarios, as well as every other one I have heard, all lay the blame solely and entirely at the feet of Iran. And regardless of their reasons, if Iran is “going rogue,” this is an incredibly risky move for them. The lack of international US leadership aside, if Iran causes a serious oil disruption with a conflict, European and Asian countries will have no choice but to rally together to protect their oil lifelines. And this would inevitably lead to the destruction of the current Iranian regime, regardless of what comes afterwards. The Iranians may be many things, but they’re not bone stupid, that’s Trump’s job on the world stage. If they’re willing to take a risk like this, I find it impossible to believe that there isn’t a “silent partner” in there somewhere. Whenever I come across a situation that seems to lack sense and cohesion, I like to look at it through the eyes of an investigator. And whenever any qualified, competent investigator is presented with a possibly criminal act, the first two words that come to his or her mind are who benefits There are actually very few senseless crimes in this world. The reasoning and motive may not always be readily apparent, nor may they actually make much sense to a sane person when they are uncovered, but there almost always is a motive present. And when I look at the current situation in the Middle East, and I remove Iran from the equation, or at least minimize them, and I ask myself that question “Who benefits?”, only one possible suspect comes immediately to mind. And that prime suspect is Vladimir Putin. NOw, hear me out, because it makes perfect sense when you look at in the light of only facts that we already have before us. Putin has been in bed with Tehran for years now, sliding them arms, and giving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and their proxy militias free reign and support in helping to prop up Assad in Syria. That continued support would create […]

Um, excuse me Mr Prime Minister Netanyahu sir? Stand up and take a bow, fool! Like all long time, far right, semi authoritarians, you finally committed the cardinal sin. You started believing your own press clippings, and just look where it’s got you. Since day one, you’ve played Dipshit Donnie like a cheap tambourine, gaily slapping him around until you get the noise you were looking for. You conned him into moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and in so doing, making a de facto statement that Jerusalem was no longer an “open” city, it was now internationally recognized,, at least by one ignorant buffoon, as the capitol of the state of Israel. You got him to basically “endorse” your reelection effort, in return for the useless gesture of naming a worthless patch of scrub land after him. But like all self absorbed autocrats, you stepped on your crank. Face it, you need the US congress a whole helluva lot more than the US congress needs you. You enraged Democrats when you snubbed Obama by accepting an offer from then House Speaker to address a joint session of congress, without Obama’s approval. And you outrages now only American Jews, but even Israeli Jews, when you acceded to The Pampers President’s infantile tantrum to bar US Representatives Omar and Tlaib from Israel. And His Lowness is doing you no favors when he keeps telling Jewish Americans that you are their Prime Minister, setting up a false equivalency. And how much of a master of politics can you be when you don’t even realize that while the GOP talks the best game on Israel, Jewish Americans vote 79% Democratic” But by far your most mortal sin, and the one for which you may well pay the highest price, was in sticking voodoo doll pins into Trump to gert him to leave the Iran nuclear deal. You may well have had perfectly legitimate strategic reasons for talking him into it. But with that action, you proved yourself to be every bit as big of a political ignoramus as The Mango Messiah. True, Iran is a sponsor of state terrorism, including the groups Hezbollah and Hamas that cause you such grief. But an Iran that was busy playing nice with the international community in return for sanctions relief, was highly likely to keep a fairly tight lid on their nonsense, to ensure that they didn’t queer the deal. By getting the US to pull out of the deal, and reimpose sanctions, you ensured that Iran would want someone to pay the piper for this perfidy. And you’re a helluva lot closer than everybody else involved. More importantly, by pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear accord, Trump alienated the US from its international partners, and made us a pariah. It also made it easier by far for Tehran to take a more belligerent attitude, since the rest of the world normally looks to the US for guidance on international conflict issues, and thanks to you and Trump, we’re persona non grata in the arena right now.Good luck in Trump trying to build an international coalition on behalf of Saudi Arabia, the only other country with rulers as childishly petulant as Glorious Bleater. And now Iran appears to have directly attacked Saudi Arabia, adversely affecting about 5% of the worlds total oil […]

Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu is a man in deep political trouble. For years, the power player in Israeli politics, Netanyahu barely scraped out an electoral victory in the last Israeli elections, then, in that Israeli parliamentary way that we with a 2 party system cannot fathom, he couldn’t put together a “ruling coalition.” When his opponent couldn’t scrape one together either, another election was called for late next month. But that’s not his only problem. Turns out that Benjy is kind of a scumbag, both personally and politically. Turns out that he is under potential indictment by the Israeli justice system for corruption, and he and his wife both are under investigation for misappropriating government funds. This is not a position you want to be in heading into a high stakes election that could cap your political life. Fortunately for him, Netanyahu has been around long enough to know the cynical secret that every good authoritarian knows, nothing unites a nation like a common enemy. It doesn’t amaze me in the slightest that today, a bare three weeks before his election, he suddenly gets reliable intelligence that Iran was planning a drone strike against Israel, so he launched a preemptive strike in Syria first. Please excuse my cynicism, but to a lifelong political junkie, this has a strong whiff of “Iraqi MWD” bullshit to it. Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Donald Trump is a bird of highly ruffled plumage. His vaunted “These are so easy to win” trade war with China is falling apart, with China calling the shots for the first time. The economy is slowing down, he is losing to every top tier candidate in the Democratic field, and expat members of his own party are threatening to either primary him directly, or set up a Super PAC to try to sink his little red boat in essential battleground states. His personal life ain’t going much better either. The Democrats in the House are closing in on both his tax returns, as well as his business records, and there is now a solid “majority of the majority” in the Democratic House itching to continue with impeachment proceedings when congress comes back in session in a couple of weeks. Are you following me here, my friends? The comparison simple enough? Donald Trump  is looking at an extremely difficult, if not impossible reelection campaign, with both economic as well as political pressure bearing down on him. At the same time, he has not only a National Security Adviser but a Secretary of State that are both quite public about their wish for regime change in Iran. This is incredibly dangerous. Trump is a chicken hawk itching for a fight as the ultimate distraction, surrounded by toadying sycophants ready to egg him on. If Israel becomes embroiled in an armed conflict with Iran, Trump and his draft dodging buddies will immediately try to send troops in support. This is going to come down to two things, the US congress and the American people. Israel is not a part of NATO, so there is no article 5 intervention called for if they become embroiled in a war with Iran. As we speak, Iran presents no clear and present danger to the United States. Likewise, there is no conceivable way that a new conflict with Iran could be justified by […]

Jeez, it’s getting so that you don’t dare to sleep anymore. Every time you close your eyes, that damn little ditty from Wes Craven starts going through your head, One, two, Donnie’s coming for you! Three, four, better lock your door. On the other hand, you need a good nights sleep if you’re going to have to wake up to […]

Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, has been MIA over the past couple of months. This is notable for two reasons:...

Well, if Trump had to make a nomination, we Democrats would want Trump to make one most easy to hold against him, the one most easily shot down as both extreme and dangerous. Thankfully, someone like Trump is as predictable as the tide, and we got our wish. Step up Mr. Not Yet Justice because […]

Well, I hope that all of the bed wetters and mouth breathers out there proudly wearing their