Posted on 01/13/2018 6:17:56 AM PST by Texas Fossil
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Testifying at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, Acting Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, David Satterfield, revealed a new US policy on Syria that took even the senators by surprise.
The long-standing US policy—going back to the Obama administration—has been to support the UN-mediated Geneva talks to secure a political settlement that ends Syria’s protracted civil war, as well as Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
However, as successive senators expressed their skepticism about prospects for the success of the Geneva talks, Satterfield revealed that the Trump administration, in fact, shared those concerns and had an alternative plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at kurdistan24.net ...
Seems very accurate.
Again, the problems in the Region? Turkey and Iran. Past that, most of the region is sick of wars and atrocities.
She is correct, Asharq Al-Awsat is owned by the Saudi Royal family. But that perspective is not unified either.
What I find unfortunate, the perspective of Kurds in Iraq and Syria are so different.
I think SA and Israel see a multi ethnic Northern Syria as a stabilizer between Iran and Turkey with Saudi Arabia and Israel. Strange?
Syria Ping
That doesn't sound long lasting to me.
Obama abandoned the policy and coalition in November 2014 I believe. It might have been 2013.
Good.
The writer works for K24, Barzani in Iraq.
She has been at this a long time. I read her stuff many years ago.
Her perspective pre-dates Obama. We have been in Iraq for a long time. (Obama pulled US out and left Iraq to the mercy of the Iranians)
She normally does not write about Syria much. But the region is plagued with interconnected problems.
It it goes back to Obama it is most assuredly stupid as hell.
Get out of Syria. We have no business is Syria. This artical is propaganda by the kurd to get you to die for them on foreign soil. The Syrian/ russians will not permit a kurdistan and they will repell any effort to take their land. Get out!!
Actually Russia and US both support autonomy and some self government in Northern Syria.
Iran and Turkey are the problem.
ISIS is almost gone in Iraq and Syria. The people who ended them with the US support are the Kurds. They have allies, Assyrian and Arab elements, they are all sick of war.
You can think what you want. I don’t think you understand much of what has happened in Syria. (Yes, the US under Obama supported Jihadi’s to remove Assad. And no, Assad is NOT one of the good guys.)
No, but it helps explain why the old policy had so little chance of success.
Both are bad players.
But Iran is Shia and Turkey is Sunni. They don’t really like each other at all. But they both have ambitions to take over the Middle East.
Turkey feels pressure from other Arab interests in the region. Saudi Arabia is one.
Iran wants to end Israel. Turkey does not like Israel and reacted strongly to Kurd actions in Iraq. (that did not support Erdogan’s NeoOttoman ambitions.)
I don’t believe Erdogan can partner with anyone very long. He has wasted his political capital globally as far as the West is concerned. Nobody trusts or believes him.
So here we are.
Yeah, the problem is Iran because they fight Sunni terrorists in Syria who genocide Christians. Not ISIS, not al-Qadea, not the Saudis. Other than than Turkey and Iran, OP thinks the region is basically good and ready to be nice.
Sure, that makes sense.
OP is an old school neocon who wants Dubya’s foreign policy to come back. He keeps flogging this garbage that we need to get more involved in Syria.
“Yeah, the problem is Iran”
Of course it is the Middle East, with all kinds of bad actors and complexities, but...
Yeah, the main problem now is Iran.
No, the main problem is Sunni terrorists who Iran fights.
“No, the main problem is Sunni terrorists who Iran fights.”
I would agree with that a year ago, but ISIS has since been crushed, and Iran has now (effectively) seized the Kirkuk oil fields and secured a ground supply line all the way to the Mediterranean, Lebanon and Israel (the whole of the Saudi/Jordanian Northern Flank).
Al Queda is still huge in Idlib, but I expect that it will (once again) be Iran (Gen Suleimani) sending folks to kill Americans, to drive us out from Syria - like they drove us out of Lebanon in 1983 with the Marine Corps Barracks bombing, and believe they drove us out of Iraq.
If the Saudis have flipped however, as seems likely, the Sunni jihadis will be withering on the vine, with only Turkish support.
Never turn your back on the Saudis, you will find a knife in it, but, it will be a knife made in America.
I understand your stake in this but that changes no facts. The major factor in the autonomous region is not interloping countries. It is now and will be the sovereign country of Syria. If a foreign country tries to take over the state of Washington , we , the United States,are going to kill them all because that is our country to be saved from foreign aggression and saved for OUR people. This is the case with the communist kurds. They are not going to get autonomous property that does not belong to them and we should never be a party to that in anyway unless you want to see the greatest anti war movement since 1968. We need to get the hell out of Syria,NOW!!
How old are you? I’m 70. I remember the 1960’s.
Warning noted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.