Trump Was Right to Let Turkey Advance in Syria

American Thinker.com ^ | March 3, 2020 | William R. Hawkins

[Kaslin]

The outbreak of direct combat between Turkey and the Syrian regime of Basher al-Assad has shown the wisdom of President Donald Trump's strategy in the area. He took considerable flak for pulling American troops out of northern Syria last October. It was argued that the withdrawal in the face of a Turkish advance would threaten the Kurds, a longtime U.S. ally, and could even revive ISIS! In response, President Trump tweeted "As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I... consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey." U.S. troops redeployed to protect oil fields in Syria to keep them out of the hands of the regime and to protect the Kurds in the area, but a military confrontation with Turkey was avoided. The White House understood the strategic benefits from stronger Turkish-Sunni forces being brought into territory liberated from Assad; a calculation made on a level beyond what critics could grasp.

Ankara has taken control of the Free Syrian Army, the Sunni rebel force that the U.S. had only half-heartedly backed during the Obama administration. Turkey and Syria have long-standing disputes over territory, water rights, and other antagonisms which have only been heightened by Iran's large-scale intervention in the civil war to prop up Assad. A majority of Syrians and Turks are Sunni whereas Assad is an Alawite which is associated with Iran's Shia faith. It is this schism in Islam that is the driving force of conflict in the Middle East today. The U.S. and Israel are aligned with the Sunnis because Iran is the expansionist power.

[boycott]

I have zero trust for Turkey.

[GraceG]

Let turkey exhaust it’s resources so WHEN we have to fight them, they are weakened.

[trebb]

I continue to trust president Trump’s judgement - he thinks in pragmatic terms of reality instead of politics.

[buckalfa]

So far so good for the President’s Syrian policy. One big if to consider: inadvertent Russia vs. Turkey conflict and America’s NATO treaty commitment. The old attack on one is an attack on all thingy.

[Red Badger]

When two of your enemies are about fight, offer to hold their coats..................

[McGruff]

But we still have troops in Syria.

US troops have been squaring off with Russian contractors in Syria raising worries of wider conflict

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2020/02/06/us-troops-have-been-squaring-off-with-russian-contractors-in-syria-raising-worries-of-wider-conflict/

Why?

[cloudmountain]

Basher al-Assad is just like his daddy: Hafez al-Assad, the Middle East’s BIGGEST MURDERER.

[Harpotoo]

Turkey is again unleashing the Hordes upon their NATO and US allies!

[Harpotoo]

How’d that work out for Ukraine?

[oldvirginian]

It’s the middle east.
They’ve been butchering each other since the first two happened to cross paths.

Other than backing Israel to keep them from being wiped out I don’t see where we have a dog in any hunt there.
Except Israel, and maybe Egypt, every government there is an authoritarian hell hole.
We don’t need their oil anymore. Screw’em.

[mac_truck]

Basher al-Assad is just like his daddy: Hafez al-Assad, the Middle East’s BIGGEST MURDERER.

...and right now Assad is attacking Al Qaeda's biggest stronghold, so whats the problem?

[dfwgator]

Erdogan wants to resurrect the Ottoman Empire.

[desertfreedom765]

I don’t think too many other people are nostalgic for that murder machine.

[cloudmountain]

It’s the middle east. They’ve been butchering each other since the first two happened to cross paths.
What else is new?
The previous wars were about water, land and power. Nothing new.

Other than backing Israel to keep them from being wiped out I don’t see where we have a dog in any hunt there.
Except Israel, and maybe Egypt, every government there is an authoritarian hell hole.
We don’t need their oil anymore. Screw’em.
All true.

[cloudmountain]

...and right now Assad is attacking Al Qaeda's biggest stronghold, so whats the problem?

I see no problem: business as usual.

[Harpotoo]

And Trump of all people and NATO is going to help him?

[Wuli]

“A majority of Syrians and Turks are Sunni whereas Assad is an Alawite which is associated with Iran’s Shia faith.”

A giant half truth and no basis for the U.S. to back an “ally” in the sectarian religious-based proxy wars in the Middle East.

The half truth of it is that the Alawites are just nominally Shia Muslims (broke with formal Shia faith over 1,000 years ago), while actually both formal Shia Islam and formal Sunni Islam see the Alawites as heretics.

Assad’s link to the Mullahs in Tehran has far less to do with any Shia connections than it does that the major Sunni powers - Saudis, Egypt, Turkey are allied with the U.S. and Syria has not been allied with the U.S. Assad’s friendship with the Mullah’s is a friendship based on both being not in the U.S. camp, much more than any Shia connections.

[Wuli]

“Ankara has taken control of the Free Syrian Army”

That is a second massive half truth by the author.

Erdogan has also brought into the what was the Free Syrian Army other fighters from the radical fundamentalist religious militias that Assad defeated in the rest of the country. Some of those groups were radical fundamentalist militia groups that Erdogan had been supporting all along, when the U.S. was trying to build the Free Syria Army from “Syrian moderates”.

Erdogan is not to be trusted, regardless of how we feel about Assad.

[wtd]

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Something more at play here with the Sultan's absolute madness lately + haven't quite placed it yet and need more eyes on this

• 5 major projects went online recently and are here. In my opinion, especially with the whole S400 fiasco...the sultan should have STFU and sat down when TurkStream2 went online....in went online in two parts.

  

• EastMed is a definite trigger for the Sultan. The illegal maritime agreement he made with the UN selected govt in Tripoli is when all hell broke loose ..

  

  Please bare with me here.

  I didn't realize that Russia + Ukraine made their deal on the same day (12/21/19) that OvenMit found out that Nordstream2 would not be completed thanks to 45 and the defense bill...

  

  link to tweet: https://twitter.com/Avery1776/status/1208421374177484800

• 11/03/19 Germany + Russia Denmark gives go-ahead for Nord Stream 2 Russian pipeline segment

  Remember when the #MockingbirdMedia freaked out when 45 brought up the fact that Germany buys all her gas from Russia? He is talking about Nordstream2 that was halted 12/21/19

  

  Video link: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1234671608930787330/pu/vid/1280x720/khShFg0ALzw9HdUL.mp4?tag=10

  11/12/19 TurkStream Russia + Turkey 1 of 2 offshore pipelines goes online offshore-mag.com/pipelines/arti…

  11/13/19 Ukraine + Libya First batch of Libyan crude oil unloaded at Ukraine’s Odessa seaport hellenicshippingnews.com/first-batch-of…

  11/28/19 Libya GNA (UN "selected" MB govt in Tripoli) Turkey Maritime Agreement

  

• 12/17/19 Derkach (Ukraine's Chuck Grassley) exposes the EU Sticker Scam. Russian, Ukrainian, EU and American oligarchs have been making a fortune via sanctions on Russia by taking RUSSIAN gas, slapping an EU sticker on it and selling back to Ukraine!!!! @ClimateAudit

  

  Video link: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1234672779435208707/pu/vid/1280x720/Pp_w0Bb8EAhIYv2m.mp4?tag=10

• 12/17/19Ukraine MP Derkach says Naftogaz CEO Kobolev, Favorov 'naftogazed' $1.5 bln from Ukrainians with Biden's full knowledge

  

• BUSY BUSY DAY

  

• 45's actions directly impacted Nordstream2 and the surface some may say the same from EastMed from the headline.

  Really though Rubio + Menendez are behind this one which lifts the arms embargo to Cyprus and the sultan was beyond PISSED.

  

• Same day....

  

• Watch how the EU gets in the middle of it.

  https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1234678269607206914/pu/vid/1280x720/EESw-5gxjg0C5j6a.mp4?tag=10

  video link: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1234678269607206914/pu/vid/1280x720/EESw-5gxjg0C5j6a.mp4?tag=10

  These crooks have known their days are numbered and Nordstream2 was their PlanB (45 shut it the f*ck down)

  So back to Russian gas with an EU sticker on it for now...

• 12/22/19 Greek FM Nikos Dendias meets General Haftar in Benghazi, a day after Turkey approved military pact with Libya's UN-backed government

  

• 12/26/19Libya Egypt + Italy El-Sisi reiterates to Conte Egypt’s position in support of LNA in its war on terrorism

  

• 12/26/19Libya LNA General Haftar accuses sultan of smuggling Daesh terrorists to Libya (and he was correct)

  

• 12/31/19 Leviathan goes online (Israel to Jordan gas line) #NobleEnergy

  

• 01/02/20 EastMed Israel + Cyprus + Greece deal finalized

  

  video link: https://youtu.be/_bkXjRk3g4A

• 01/06/20Libya LNA Haftar takes control of Sirte

  https://i.imgur.com/ltnyi9w.jpg

• 01/07/20Libya LNA Navy docking in Sirte

  

• Also the day of the plane shot down in Iran who happened to have the CEO of plane company that was delivering weapons, etc to the pets in Tripoli uawire.org/ukrainian-plan…

  Elena Malakhova, CEO at Volaris Business, LP + Skyaviatrans LLC

  

• Just another example of how crazy the sultan is being.....">

  

  Link to actual tweet: https://twitter.com/arabnews/status/1234628984010346496

• End