World Peace
Trump Orders U.S. Forces to Withdraw From Northern Syria
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Orders U.S. Forces to Withdraw From Northern Syria
The U.S. military is evacuating its roughly 1,000 troops from northern Syria at the direction of President Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, removing a last impediment to Turkey’s expanding incursion into Syria and marking an accelerated U.S. pullback from the international anti-Islamic State campaign.
Amid rapidly changing dynamics, the U.S. military said in a revised assessment on Sunday that Turkish artillery deliberately targeted areas within hundreds of feet of American troops on Friday. Hundreds of relatives of imprisoned Islamic State fighters fled refugee camps after Kurdish security personnel fled Turkish shelling.
Within Syria, there are few places where troops can move southward to reach the Iraqi border. In areas like those around the city of Deir ez Zour, Russia and Syrian troops are camped out, defense officials said. Officials said they are assessing whether they can expand their footprint into eastern Syria.
Mr. Esper, calling it “a very terrible situation,” said he spoke to Mr. Trump on Saturday evening. “After discussions with the rest of the national-security team…[the president] directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria,” Mr. Esper told CBS on Sunday.
Otherwise, U.S. troops would be “likely caught between opposing advancing armies,” as Russian-backed units advance northward and Turkey expands its incursion southward, Mr. Esper said.
Sanctions Ready to Go
Bloomberg reports Trump Says ‘Ready to Go’ on Turkey Sanctions as Troops Leave
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “ready to go” with more sanctions on Turkey in response to its incursion into Syria, after his defense secretary said the president ordered a deliberate withdrawal of troops from northern Syria to keep them out of harm’s way.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said the U.S has full authority to impose sanctions quickly on Turkey that could include shutting down all U.S. dollar transactions with the country’s entire government — which is a step the administration may take.
Asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” about videos circulating that appear to show the execution of some Kurds, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said if true, they “would be war crimes” — raising questions about whether talk of imposing economic sanctions may be coming too late.
Esper said the U.S. learned in the past 24 hours that Turkey is likely to attack further south and to the west in Syria, and that Kurdish forces are looking to cut a deal with Syria and Russia to counterattack against the Turks in the north.
There are roughly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria, Esper said on CBS. He made it clear that if U.S. forces are attacked they will be able to respond because “we had the right of self-defense and we will execute it if necessary.”
“We may want a war over; we may even declare it over,” Mattis said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “You can pull your troops out — as President Obama learned the hard way, out of Iraq — but the ‘enemy gets the vote,’ we say in the military.”
Turkish Lira Bears May Go All In
Bloomberg reports Trump’s Sanction Threat May Give Lira Bears License to Go All In
The lira’s worst week since March may pale in comparison to what could happen when markets reopen on Monday.
Bearishness on the currency — as measured by one-month risk reversals — rose by the most since March last week on the prospect of more U.S. sanctions after Turkey started a military operation in Syria. Those bets are likely to soar after President Donald Trump said on Twitter that the U.S. “Treasury is ready to go” if additional sanctions are needed.
His comments came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Washington could shut down all dollar business with Turkey.
Bring All the Troops Home
Trump only is pulling Troops out of Northern Syria because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informed Trump that Turkey was sending in troops.
“Others may want to come in and fight for one side or the other. Let them! We are monitoring the situation closely. Endless Wars!” Tweeted Trump.
On the same grounds we should pull all US troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Germany, Turkey, and everywhere else.
Bring all the troops home from everywhere. The US cannot afford to be the world’s policeman, nor should we try even if we could.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Mish * ? How does blocking turkey from using us dollars work, when they have a massive dollar debt… ?…Do they just DEfault on those loans / to who. ?
Fake News: https://youtu.be/ikI6kjBDru4
“We may want a war over; we may even declare it over,” Mattis said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “You can pull your troops out — as President Obama learned the hard way, out of Iraq — but the ‘enemy gets the vote,’ we say in the military.”
Mattis left out the other half- learning the hard way about putting troops in, in the first place. The Middle East is a mess as a result of wars that had nothing to do with 9/11. Turning the Middle East into a mess has created a mess in the EU. Apparently, 1 in 4 Swedish women are afraid to leave their home.
ooooooooh the Kurds: ‘ethnic cleansing, slaughtered, exterminated, annihilated, wiped out…. CNN and msm dramatic reporting…. HYPOCRISY ! The US murdered MILLIONS of innocent people during its decades long crusade against….rrmmm….TERRORISM…. they called it! LOL ! HYPOCRITS !
GREAT ! Turkey can then default on its massive dollar debt (government and corporates) ….will be good for our banks, european ones in particular and for many private investors like me … All a consequence of stupid, clueless, random, megalomaniac policy by the world’s policeman ! Btw, it is not Turkey that messed up the Middle East, Turkey’s actions are a consequence of Western scheming and manipulation in tribal nations in NEED of dictatorships in order to keep things under control ! Turkey accommodates 3,5 million refugees it wants to get rid of,who wouldn t ? WHAT A MESS ! Thank you, US !
I’m sure the Turkish PM would gladly nationalize Trump’s two hotel properties in Turkey.
“Bring all the troops home from everywhere.”
Agree with that Mish. Note that non-involvement in other countries’ wars was implicit policy of the US from its founding to Wilson. No one talks about that 120+ year tradition anymore. It is forgotten, especially by conservatives. They prefer to hold up WW2 as proof of the glory of the US fighting and winning a war. Hey there’s even a new Hollywood movie coming out about Midway or something. The CGI looks sick, and sound effects gonna be rad.
US war in Afghanistan has now been going for 18 years and 6 days. Quick check of icasualties says that still rarely a week goes by without a US soldier casualty. And there’s many many more who return from duty but their lives ruined.
My step sibling’s son was on a roof in Iraq many years ago when he triggered an IED. Lost a hand, and they couldn’t get all of the dozens of fragments out of his body, ever. Lived in chronic pain and with an opioid addiction, which ended the usual way. His memorial was this July.
He had enlisted as a Marine at 18 in part because he looked up to my grandpa, a proud WW2 vet Marine. Grampa thoroughly hated war, though, and would not talk about what he saw and did in the South Pacific. When the US went into Iraq under W he’d say “We’ve got no business going in there, we can’t help those people!”
In any case, withdrawals from immoral military entanglements need to be done in such a way that they minimize the throwing of innocents to the wolves. Unfortunately each case is messy/impossible and there are no great options. Such is the cost of the initial mistake of interventionism.
And so why arent we raging about deploying troops to Saudi Arabia. This is only adding fuel to another fire. Very bad mistake on the part of Trump and long term may cause a lot more collateral damage.
Trump needs to understand the situation he’s in. He wants the US to avoid new wars, but other countries have grown so sick of our warmongering that they’re desperate to break our unipolar hegemony.
Trump’s two options are to either continue our neocon-inspired post 9/11 policy or stop the wars and allow a new Russia/China/Iran/Turkey/Pakistan axis to solidify. Trump wants to have his cake and eat it too with no wars and a continuation of the US playing world policeman, but this is unrealistic.
I hope he chooses peace, but he has to understand that global hegemony is over, which is a good thing for all of us whether he realizes it or not.
The Turkish have ALWAYS been bullies and abused many of their neighbors, especially Christans in Armenia and Eastern Europe. They have not changed today. I wish Trump didn’t rush to leave Syria. The country is a mess. Call me whatever you want, I dont care, but the THRUTH is that wherever there are Muslims, there is war and violence, and the worst of them is that they really believe to be better than everybody else wishing to export their religion. Their religion and hate toward Christians and Jews and other Muslims as well make them blinded.
Whatever. I dated a Turkish woman from Istanbul and used to know tons of Turks, they’re like everyone else. I had no problems with them and none of them (including my ex) cared that I wasn’t Muslim. My ex also visited Israel and liked it, probably much more than I would have.
I’ve known Armenians and gotten along with them fine too, most recently my long time dentist before I moved was from Yerevan. People are people, although I have to question the sanity of any country that keeps inviting the Kardashians to state ceremonies.
Maybe you should get out of Iowa once in a while!
“but the THRUTH is that wherever there are Muslims, there is war and violence,”
Not that true, at least since the 8th and 9th centuries. Especially during the Ottoman dynasty, the Muslim world has been fairly peaceful.
Of course, after the creation of the state of Israel, and Western attraction to the mid-east’s oil, militant Islam has become a thing.
I’d say wherever there are Americans, there is war and violence.
Let the creators of Sykes-Picot line step in. Oh, but they can’t; they have to fight the enemies within whom they invited with open arms as self-imposed champions of all human, animal and plant rights. And still more are lining up for the same treatment. It must be a localized brain virus.
The British and the French are with the US in the region. But the US has assumed the dominant role. Trump is trying to thread the needle and I applaud him if he can get us out of Syria without a bloodbath.
I respectfully disagree with Mish that we should withdraw all troops from everywhere. As good as it would feel in the short term, long term we would pay dearly.
I respectfully disagree with Mish on his contention that we should withdraw from
No surprise here: 10K-s refugees (100K-200K reportedly), war crimes by the Turks and ethical cleansing.
Turkey still ruling the Kurd dominated regions in Asia minor is archaic, a left over from the Ottoman empire. Kurds self rule is long overdue.
And yet, the US isn’t the worlds policeman.
Seems as “damn if you do damn if you don’t” situation.
Turkey basically threatened the EU with the release of as many as 5 million refugees if the EU criticizes Erdogan, you do not need to be a paragon of morality to see that as beyond despicable. Basically holding millions of people hostage in case they are needed as weapons against the Turkish leader. This will spiral out of control.
Yes, ethnic cleansing was the point of the invasion. That was obvious from the start. For some people, who cares, it’s not our business, so let them die. For others, abandoning the Kurds was the wrong thing to do.
France and Germany have decided to halt weapon exports to Turkey. A little late given the friction there was already but a start at least.
Turkey in NATO and had the largest standing army with US nukes in territory and German personnel.
My suspicion is Russia and Turkey are working together and a conflict between Russian backed Syrian forces and Turks is unlikely.
Perhaps it’s time for the EU to commit personnel on the front line in their back garden to confront Turkey and Russia? Where are Macron and Merkel?
400M Europeans should be able to get things done, they have nukes too & the French were in Syria in recent past.
For better or worse the world is changing, responsibilities shifting, and the weight needs to be borne by those closest that have the biggest incentive. That’s not the USA is it, nor GB?
Why should the EU confront Turkey and Russia ? Turkey is stopping millions of refugees coming our way and now wants to send them back to Syria. Good! As for confronting Russia ; we NEVER had one single problem with Russia till the US armtwisted us into having one ! It was the US that wanted corrupt basket case Ukraine to become a EU member asap and consequently yet another NATO member buying US arms. Putin merely drew a red line on the meddling in his backyard, GOOD !