Proof of U.S. military insanity
You might remember this headline from 2016.
In mid-February, a CIA-armed militia called Fursan al Haq, or Knights of Righteousness, was run out of the town of Marea, about 20 miles north of Aleppo, by Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces moving in from Kurdish-controlled areas to the east.
After over a decade of an invasion and occupation of a third of Syria, without a Congressional AUMF, with the mission of overthrowing the Assad regime at any cost, We've come back around to the exact same spot.
The violence in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour erupted Monday after the SDF launched a campaign to target what it called “criminal elements,” a reference to some leaders within the Deir al-Zour Military Council, the SDF’s local affiliate.
The clashes have spread to several towns and villages in the restive province, where the Islamic State terror group ruled from 2014 until 2019, when the SDF, supported by a U.S.-led global coalition, ousted the militants.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has researchers on the ground, said the fighting in Deir al-Zour has killed more than 28 people and wounded many others.
Actually the death toll is up to 40 now and climbing fast.
There are currently about 900 U.S. troops in Syria, although there are reports of another buildup.
Comments
I came across this.
Whenever I think of Syria
....I always wonder whether the payback, when it comes, will impact only the regional participants, or whether it will reach all the way back to the United States.
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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Nevermind
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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
In a biography of Lawrence
...there was a description of how he was captured by the Turks, tortured and raped repeatedly in a jail in Deir al-Zour. This was probably the nadir of his experiences as western superman in Arabia.
Hannah Arendt described Lawrence, as the imperial archetype for the fascist superman mastering "lesser peoples."
Tim's thread starts off with a zinger this morning-
Rahmbo will teach the Chinese what to eat. He actually imagines himself as a role model. What vanity.
Listened to Tim and some other knowledgeable East Asia observers on an internet discussion conference last night. There were just over 200 people listening at any one time. Carl Zha was also one the guests. It was interesting that the consensus was that a person in the west couldn't find accurate reporting in English language media and the public was by and large propagandized.
This was headline news for today on North Korea-
North Korea simulates ‘tactical nuclear strike’ on South Korea
Pyongyang says its latest launch is a response to US-South Korean military drills that included deployment of B1-B bomber.
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1106603.html
So Pyongyang "says" its a response to US-ROK military exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield. Like there is some doubt about that?
In South Korea, Lee Jae-myung has started a fast, of indefinite duration, which many are calling a hunger strike, to protest multiple oppressive and wrong headed policies of the Yoon administration, including his own ongoing political persecution by Yoon. I'm very disappointed by this because it's a sign of the dysfunctionality of the legislature and judiciary in South Korean government. The democratic facade and rule of law is failing.
2 years of investigation, over 400 warrants. All the 200 prosecutors/investigators could develop was a few coerced statements from people already incriminated. This is a political witch hunt, not a prosecution. The overwhelming smear tactics by the conservative media in collusion with unlawful prosecutorial leaks unfortunately is effective. On the progressive left, descriptions of the Yoon administration has gone from republic of lawyers, to dictatorship of lawyers, to simply tyranny to no avail. Hwang Kyo-ahn's hunger strike in Nov. 2018, (a conservative party leader) wasn't particularly effective either. It seemed like a sign of desperation.
I saw the signs in support of Lee Jae-myung at the National Assembly building rally today identifying it as a "candlelight" affair which appears to be an attempt to encourage street support. The candlelight demos have been declining in numbers and not having any impact really. The signs at the assembly building also referred to the administration as a tyranny. Yoon's model appears to be the US Joe McCarthy 1950s extremist style ideological government.
[News analysis] The origins of Yoon’s anti-communist politics
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1106603.html
I never thought Yoon was a moderate, but he did try to pose as one. Now I'm trying to interpret a lengthy interview with an author who just wrote a book trying to describe how it is, that a far right extremist like Yoon, was promoted by the democratic Moon Jae-in administration. Why is it that after his true political colors, and campaign of politically motivated political prosecutions were revealed by his prosecution of Justice Minister Cho Guk's family, President Moon didn't fire him. There is also a trail of corruption associated with Yoon's wife and in laws that is unmistakable.
I'm amazed that even persons who should know better accept press characterizations of Lee Jae-myung as some sort of corrupt character whose position as democratic party leader undermines the party. Some of the smug obviously intelligent people lament Lee "posing as a moral leader." The media preying on the gullibility of people is so effective.
語必忠信 行必正直
Pretty much since Vietnam
the point of US military exercises has been -- besides the bringing of chaos to the world a la Shock Doctrine -- as a cash cow for the corporations whose accounts are fattened through their funding.
"Winning," therefore, is optional for the warmongers in DC regardless of which regime is in power. Vietnam was the pivot because, with "strategy" plotted by William Westmoreland out of no consideration for the facts on the ground, the US command had more or less made everyone into the enemy and was therefore completely incapable of knowing if it was accomplishing anything. Westmoreland's primary critic as regards strategy was John Paul Vann, but Vann never got what he wanted from Westmoreland. Neil Sheehan's biography of John Paul Vann, A Bright Shining Lie, is one of the better Big Books of Vietnam.
Since Vietnam, then, American foreign policy has been to piss a few people off and fight pointless wars to enrich the likes of Raytheon. There have been two main exceptions: George W. Bush, who pissed lots of people off with Iraq, and the team nominally headed by Joe Biden, whose Earth-shaking importance will be in pissing off so many people that US global economic/ military power will be significantly reduced when Biden is finished with the White House. (But like four more years y'know because Trump is worse or something.)
'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill