The Wall Street Journal reports American Troops to Withdraw From Northern Syria Ahead of Turkish Incursion.
The White House indicated that U.S. forces will withdraw from northern Syria in advance of an expected incursion of Turkish forces in the region that could spark fighting with American-backed Kurds, in what officials believe could be the end of the fight against Islamic State there.
Turkey’s incursion might mean the complete withdrawal of American forces from Syria, a U.S. official said early Monday. Last year, Mr. Trump called for a complete U.S. withdrawal from Syria, but ultimately reversed himself after a backlash from GOP allies and top military officials.
Sunday night’s announcement came as U.S. officials have grown concerned that Turkey would mount a military incursion into northern Syria and set off a battle with Kurdish fighters known as the YPG, a group Turkey considers to be a terrorist affiliate of the Turkey-based PKK. The U.S. considers the Kurds allies in destroying Islamic State’s territorial hold in Syria.
Mr. Erdogan expressed “his frustration over the U.S. military and security bureaucracy’s failure to implement the agreement between their two nations,” and added that “the two leaders agreed to meet in Washington next month, per President Trump’s invitation.” The White House readout didn’t mention the prospective meeting, nor did it refer to the fate of the Kurds.
If Turkey conducts a widespread incursion using heavy arms and forces, the U.S. might have no choice but to pull its more than 1,000 troops out of Syria to avoid a potential conflict with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, officials have said. U.S. officials said they harbor deep misgivings about withdrawing troops from the area and leaving their close Kurdish allies to an uncertain fate.
It remained unclear late Sunday what Turkey’s incursion into northeastern Syria would mean for the thousands of soldiers captured during the fight against Islamic State. The U.S. official said there was no formal agreement with Turkey over custody of the fighters, but if Turkey was to mount a major incursion, the problem would be all theirs, the official said.
There are nearly 2,000 foreign fighters being held in a handful of detention facilities in northern Syria by the SDF; another 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi fighters are being held there. Tens of thousands of family members—as many as 80,000—are also living in special camps set up for them, officials said. During the fight with Islamic State, the fighters were detained, mostly by members of the SDF.
Understanding the Convoluted Mess
- The US is in Syria to fight ISIS. ISIS is a direct result of the US invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
- The Kurds are the only US ally in Syria.
- Turkey, an alleged US NATO ally, is poised to invade Syria to eliminate the Kurds.
- Iran and Turkey have a peaceful relationship and are major trading partners.
- Trump’s sanctions on Iran harm Turkey.
- Turkey recently unleashed a new flood of refugees into Greece with more to come. Last month, the Greek website ekathimerini reported Erdogan Threatens to Flood Europe with Some 5.5 Million Refugees.
- Turkey is holding the refugees in return for a bribe payment from the EU initiated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
- Erdogan wants more money from the EU and for the US to get out of Syria so that it can attack the Kurds.
- Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq are allies of Iran.
- The US invaded Iraq in the first US-Iraq war to support Kuwait.
- Saudi Arabia, Jordan and United Arab Emirates back the US against Iran.
- To the ire of Trump, Turkey recently purchased an S-400 air defense system from Russia and cooperates with Moscow in Syria.
Incirlik Air Base
For icing on the mess, 50 of America’s nuclear weapons are stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, just 70 miles from the Syrian border.
What can possibly go wrong?
Obviously Nothing
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
It took less than a week to find out what transpires after the withdrawal of the partly US forces. The MSM silence is deafening.
The CIA picked a fight with Trump and hes fighting back. Hes finally doing things we hoped he would. It will cost him his presidency but hopefully it helps end the mass slaughter of innocent civilians
Trump Foreign Policy:
From this day forward, America shall govern her foreign policy based on putting America first (and fully expecting every other country shall do the same for itself). Gone are the days where America’s foreign policy shall be driven by efforts to negate the interests of adversaries (whether actual or perceived).
And the Swamp hates it……
The Charter of the UN explicitly guarantees the security of smaller nations/civilians through the UNSC. By allowing Turkey to attack the US allied Kurds, Mr Trump made a mockery of the International Order as we know it. No country aligned to the US would feel safe anymore. Mr Trump has achieved what no other US leader could have achieved within the space of two years-reversing all the gains of the previous administration plus the destruction of US leadership in the most troubled part of the world. The Republican senators should consider this unwise decision the straw that broke Trump’s presidency.
Corrections:
The Ruling party of Syria is allied with Iran. The majority of the population hates Iran! Let me know if you need more details…
Lebanon is not an ally of Iran. Rather, Hezbollah the strongest militia in Lebanon (stronger than the Lebanese army) is a proxy of Iran! The Lebanese officials have a single option to choose from…
Can’t comment about Kuwait .
The situation in Iraq is dicey with conflicting interests. It noteworthy that the Ottomans in their wisdom administered Iraq as three separate administrative regions for the major population sectors (Kurds, Suni-Arabs, and Shia).
I suspect that it is the other way around.
Bull. You must be assuming that every non-Shia Syrian hates Iran, but history does not bear that out and it makes even less sense given recent events. Since 2011, Sunni radicals (Western-backed, no less!) have run roughshod over the country. Iran-supported Hezbollah fought these radicals and aided minority groups like the Christians.
The Syrians aren’t morons, they know what spawned the ISIS/Daesh guys who have been tormenting them, and it sure isn’t Iran.
“in my great and unmatched wisdom”: laugh of the century! Really a stable genius!
“What can possibly go wrong?”
Not nearly as much as if the US stays longer.
What is likely is that Turkey, which has been working with Russia, will exit from Syria as Syrian forces move in and the Kurds ally with them.
“Mish, I specifically asked in this specific situation. Trump inherited this situation. What would you do if you inherited this situation?”
I would have advised the world I would pull all US troops
Out of Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Japan, Cuba, and the entire rest of the world on a new policy
“The US is no longer the World’s Policeman”
I would have further announced that neither Israel nor Saudi Arabia sets US policy and that we would be neutral towards Israel, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
In regards to Europe, I would have advised the EU that if they feel a need to defend itself from Russia, then Germany and the EU would have to foot the bill, not the US.
If any country specifically asked for US troops they would have to pay for them, and we might not take up the offer.
US troops are better used on the Border with Mexico than in Japan.
I would have announced a date for all this as soon as I was elected. I would have given countries 1 year notice.
That specific enough?
Yes, this is a good answer, thanks!
So, Trump saying: “It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory.” This is good and would match your own policy.
No, his suggestion is a prescription for world war. It is the suggestion of a naif or a complete mad man.
It is worth noting that your policies would most likely lead to your untimely death…
The interrogator clearly and specifically asked what would you do if you inherited the current situation in Syria, which implies that you had already been elected president.
But you couldn’t be elected president in the first place with such a bizarre and unworkable agenda.
Therefore your response makes no sense at all.
Trump’s policy not close to mine.
I would not have blasted Syria with Missiles and I would not let Israel set US policy.
Trump was intimidated by Turkey – That’s what happened
You would left the US troops there to show that you are not intimidated? You can’t have it both ways.
I agree with Latkes, you talk tough but you’d be dead before you could accomplish it.
I agree with you about Israel. They have been setting U.S. policy in the Middle East way to long now. If Trump has made a bad bet about his decision to exit Turkey the downside could be a debacle.
Probably will be anyway but look at the mess Bush and Cheney made in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only cost the U.S. three trillion dollars and climbing and for what?
It’s ridiculous, Trump is bad if he leaves the troops there, but he is also bad if he removes the troops, because he “was intimidated”.
Obama withdrew troops from Iraq and ISIS exploded, seizing iraq cities and injecting large forces into Syria.
You blame Bush 2’s top to bottom foul up, justifiably in my opinion. You criticize Trump’s relatively small move, which also has a down side. Yet you are silent on Obama’s quite dramatic blunder. What is it about the left that renders them incapable of objectivity where he is concerned?
Trump wasn’t intimidated by Turkey. Look how he’s standing up to China and nuclear armed NK. No, one thing the man isn’t is intimidated.
Trump sees Turkey as becoming a bigger problem if he doesn’t give it some carrot and stick. Right now it’s carrot with a security zone. But he has already indicated stick if Turkey goes too far.
And while I’m speculating…
Could it be that the much-maligned and oft-attacked Kurds have been making their own plans since Saddam tried to kill them all?
The Kurds number thirty five million people, comprising 20% of Turkey’s population, 10% of Iraq’s, 10% of Syria’s, etc.
Million man armies can easily be raised from a united population of that size. Kurds sit astride the northern Iraqi oil fields, providing the means to sustain such armies. Ankara, Baghdad and Damascus may find the Kurds are far more than just another troubled border region…perhaps a nation in waiting armed to the teeth and tired of being stomped, gassed and shot like rats at the West Asia dump.
And I’ll bet the Kurds have enough anti-tank and anti-air weapons to give the Turkey a severe facial laceration.
They predated the Turks by at least 1500 years, and by normal reckoning, have every right to their own nation (the language is somewhat related to Persian [and German] but not Turkish or Arabic. They have suffered only genocide and oppression in recent history. However, it will be very hard to carve out a Kurdistan from Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Especially if the rest of the world keeps acquiescing in the narrative that Kurd=terrorist. This is a narrative started by Israel (Palestinian=terrorist).
“I, in my great and unmatched wisdom…”
I suspect The Donald is tired of his experts disagreeing and is being a bit facetious here, in the vein of President Truman once lamenting his lack of a “one-armed economist,” Trump is finding it impossible to find a one-armed military expert.
Suddenly, in the wake of his taking a clear position, one-armed experts abound, all of whom appear to be adamant that someone else’s son or daughter keep the peace in Syria.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall listening to the military staffs in Moscow, Damascus, and Ankara discussing strategy in the wake of Trump’s move. Atop all their agendas:
1.Trump has declared the Americans out.
2.Who deals, and how, with the 20,000 ISIS wingnuts in the prisoner compounds scattered all over northern Syria?
3.Who pays for it, and how?
That would be self-deprecating humor. Trump don’t do self-deprecating. It’s serious.
It is in Turkey’s interests to keep ISIS going as a disruptive threat in the ME.
If Turkey gains the control of ISIS jails/camps (as Mr Trump seems happy to see it), the first thing Turkey will do is to arm and release them to fight the Kurds. Turkey always arms the Syrian Jihadis to do its fighting. We’ve seen this movie before during the Kobane siege when Turkey was cheer leading the ISIS in 2016 .
It was the US/CIA just as much as the Turks arming al-Qaeda and serving as the IS air force.
As far as the US troops presence in middle-east is concerned, obviously the US Army is not leaving the Syrian area. If we read between the lines, we understand that The US Army is still there now because ISRAEL is nearby and under permanent threats amongst other by IRAN.The TRUMP unilateral reject of the Nuclear treaty with Iran (ISRAEL was strongly opposed to it (and I understand their position)) is one of the proves of ISRAEL new influence on the US administration.
What else can we do. ISRAEL is threatened to be destroyed by all radical muslims whatever the country they live in all around ISRAEL.
As far as US and European inhabitants of non muslim culture are concerned, so far the threat by radicals only (geographycaly remote but it change as they slowly invade their countries) apply ONLY IF they dont convert to ISLAM.
Could be that TRUMP action regarding the invasion of Northern Syria by TURKEY is a warning to some congressman from the democrat side harassing him.
…A new report released by the Department of Defense this week revealed that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been emboldened by the partial removal of U.S. troops from Syria and policy shifts in Iraq.
The report, released by the Pentagon’s inspector general, details how the drawdown of U.S. troops has forced the Trump administration to rely on third-party monitoring of some areas, including a refugee camp set up by U.S.-backed forces….
…The buildup of ISIS forces in Syria and Iraq comes after the Trump administration and U.S.-backed forces had pushed the terror group out of its last major holdings in Syria earlier this year, forcing the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, into hiding and driving the group underground.
Local officials now worry that the group’s ideology is being spread among inhabitants of refugee camps along the Syrian border where families of ISIS fighters and some former fighters themselves now are staying….
Thanks for the tweet reminding us that a trip to the hardware store is required to remedy the “unhinged” situation.
If the in phrase “in my great and unmatched wisdom” doesn’t provoke laughter or bowel spasms, you need to call a doctor.
Everybody forgot that if there are so many ISIS prisoners on the KURDE side of SYRIA it is because they surrendered in mass to that unofficial Syrian army existing only by virtue of the Western countries war support. They even abandoned the northern oil fields to the Kurds by fear of having to be dealt with by the nearby Syrian Army who would have considered them as war criminals (as they were).
Syrian is a country under martial law and most would have been executed so far.
I fear, if left alone, Turkey could send them to the weak European union as kindly educated migrants if they are not satisfied with Europe subsidies.
Let us see what happen, the Kurdes could also make important deals with Syria and their allies in order to block Turkey Northern Syria invasion.
“…pulls troops out of Syria.”
Why can’t you dumb Americans read your own (easy) language?
Where does it say that the troops will actually LEAVE Syria? Nowhere!
The official US policy is that US troops “…will no longer be in the immediate area.”
IMMEDIATE area! Not OUTSIDE of Syria!
What really do you expect the 1000 US troops that may be in the process of fleeing Syria to do? Right now, they are officially turning their backs on their allies.
Is US going to arm Assad’s troops now that they dont want to stay there? You make them defenseless and talk about moral high ground. Why is US ok with turkey attacking kurds, who want to live their own life.
There is an Arab joke about the British which seems to apply:
Q. Is it better to be a friend or an enemy of the British?
A. Enemy, if you are an enemy there is every chance you will be bought. If you are a friend there is the certainty you will be sold.
Sounds like the Arabs are revealing their estimation of their own worth as allies.
Perfidious Albion mate. Perfidious Arabia.
No permanent friends, only permanent interests.
Worrying, what if the Saudis decide Russian hardware is better than American? Erdogan as pied piper?
Provided we use our strategic assets to best effect we have little to worry from Erdogan. He has a strong domestic opposition and as Trump said we can crush Turkey economically. The utility of Russian S-400 is an open question.
Great and unmatched Wisdom
I love it!
Q: Mish, what would you have done in this specific situation if you were the US president?
A: Not get involved in the first place
No war in Iraq
Not sending chemicals to Hussein
Not getting involved in Libya or Yemen
Not going to Syria
Accepted the peace agreement with Iran
Not let Israel set our foreign policy
Mish, I specifically asked “in this specific situation”. Trump inherited this situation. What would you do if you inherited this situaton?
Kudos for saying that. Most people don’t dare.
Absolutely it can be dangerous. The trolls will really be out.
This won’t end well for the United States. Watch Man in the High Castle if you want to see what could happen. I believe at some point it could. Russia, China and others are claiming new territory and trying to undermine governments in South America, the Carribean and elsewhere. Trump is a real estate man and I believe would sell out his own country if he can profit from it. America is for sale.
You should read Peter Zeihan’s newsletter.
all glory is fleeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPiH-LBna5I
This shit sandwich has taken 100 years to assemble, but it appears finally ready to explode. Turkey may not even realize it, but she’s very much in the empire building business. Empires are all alike in always having, “troubled border regions.” Turkey’s is the Kurds. For Russia, it’s the Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, etc.
For those keeping score, you’ll recall Gertrude Bell’s warnings to Churchill about the folly of using a road atlas to carve up the failed Ottoman empire after WWl, ignoring tribal boundaries, ethnic groups like the Kurds, etc., etc.
We are a North American empire. Syria is not our “troubled border region.”
Let’s invade Mexico or Cuba…before they’ve all come here illegally.
Mish, what would you have done in this specific situation if you were the US president?
The USA doesn’t have allies. It has pawns. And pawns are expendable.
A cartoonish view of reality at best.
2bananaofmish
Well, the Kurds (and other minority factions around the world) will know better next time that you can’t trust the US. The US is fickle, and will hang minorities out to dry when it becomes inconvenient to support tehm.
Yes, ‘the next time’ they will ally with their natural partners, the Turks. Or is it the Chinese? Or the Iranians? Or the Iraqis? Or is it the Syrians???
It’s all about oil, gas and pipelines, which you didn’t even mention. We have sufficient energy resources, so why are we there?
This reinforces the fact that those locals who aid the US in their conflicts will be left on the rack after the US gets tired of the game. Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. The Kurds are the ultimate example of this. Think there will chances of blowback?
US troops withdraw from their positions in Northern Syria. Where does it say that they will completely leave the country, and not merely relocated to a different part of Syria?
What other parts of Syria do you think would welcome US troops? Hint–Syria is allied with Iran and Russia.
The US has leveraged its alliances and a limited number of US troops plus air power into control currently of about a third of Syria.
…..and I think to myself…..WHAT A WONDERFUL WOOOORLD…. technologized , informatized,monetized, globalized, and probably many other ‘ izeds’ ….except CIVILIZED…… 10K years later we remain just as primitive underneath a thin veneer that would disappear in a jiffy if necessary … ANIMALS we are…. the worst, most perverse and destructive kind on the planet ……must be our ‘intelligence’ …
You’re on the right track, just need to add the Gaussian curve of intelligence distribution. Just around the inflection point is the population segment that you can teach reasonable comprehension. You have to go to the very right segment where you find the thinkers and inventors – an anomaly. If not for this unfortunate anomaly, there would be around one million sapiens living a happy cave life. The planet would be much better for it.
You tell us we are ‘the worst, perverse animals’, yet we have hospitals and schools and we help other nations after natural disasters. We have made mistakes, we are not perfect, no one would suggest otherwise. But for someone who is no doubt living off the fat of the land as you are, to pontificate from behind all the safeguards and protective structures of society about how rotten society is, is simply ridiculous, callow and fatuous.
wait for the unsustainable debt driven economic bonanza we ve been enjoying for more than half a century to fall apart …. IT WILL !
What did men do before the advent of affluence? We muddled miserably through, mostly as decent people with some notable exceptions.
More to be feared than loss of wealth I fear is loss of cultural cohesion, exacerbated by politicians playing a divisive game of identity politics for selfish reasons.
We can’t get along with foreign powers, how do you think we’ll behave when we are set at each others throats by politicians who are telling us we are being oppressed by our next door neighbor because he happens to be of a different identity group from our own?
“1. The US is in Syria to fight ISIS. ISIS is a direct result of the US invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.”
No, Mish. The US is in Syria to control the Conoco oil fields and deny this fuel to the Syrian government. Our “withdrawal” from Syria is really a reposition from the Turkish frontier to the Euphrates, in case the Syrian government forces attempt to retake their oil fields as the Kurdish YPG moves northward. And ISIS is a direct result of the CIA, not the overthrow of Saddam. Geez, there are 10 years between Saddam’s overthrow and the appearance of ISIS. In fact — and I do emphasize FACT — ISIS was formed at a well-photographed meeting of McCain in Syria in 2013 with the conspirators al-Baghdadi, the founder of ISIS, the criminal kidnapper Mohamed Nour, and Abu Ibrahim, the liver-eating cannibal of al-Qaeda. Snopes and the NYT worked overtime debunking tales of that crucial meeting, because that’s what they’re paid to do.
Isis formation progenitors little publicized. I don’t understand what the problem with the Kurds is. No mention of this in the media or what the implications are of abandoning them. Didn’t Bush 41 leave them high and dry when he shelved plans to invade Iraq. If I remember he slaughtered them after the war.
I think most of us, even if we supported the Iraq war (I did), can agree that these wars have proven to be a mistake. Getting out is the right choice. I hope we do the same in Afghanistan and then avoid more of the Libya type debacles also.
“I hope we do the same in Afghanistan and then avoid more of the Libya type debacles also.”
That is not what the elites want. It’s part of why they want to get rid of Trump. Tulsi Gabbard is anti war and she has been rabidly attacked for it by late night talk show host Robert Colbert, among others.
1 addition/correction:
The U.S. is ISIS. The U.S, or it’s allies like racist Nazi Israel, Saudi Arabia, and others, fund ISIS and various mercenaries to regime change Syria.
Sometimes the only way to get peace is to have a war. I’ve always felt that way about the middle east. The current setup is untenable. Too many adversaries in one place. I think the west should pull out of the middle east and let them have at it. And whatever consequences occur, everyone has to live with. If the Sunni’s want war with the Shiite’s, let them have it. If they all want to battle Israel, go at it. I suspect we’ll discover there’s a lot more bark than bite among the ME nations.
A long time ago I would have said the same, in fact I do remember thinking they ought to just build a giant wall around the whole ME and let them settle each other’s scores, but now that nuclear weapons are in the mix I think that is a disastrous idea.
Religion and nuclear fallout, two very unpleasant things that cannot be contained. One could deal with the other but once done would lead to poisoning the planet for a long time.
A nuclear war is very unlikely. I think Israel is the only country in the ME that has them and I doubt they would need to use them.
Its funny how people who don’t even know difference between middle east and south-asia want to comment about the region.
everything was OK in the Middle East with Sadam Hussein, Khadaffi, Assad etc in place ….Tribal nations NEED dictators..
KH please elaborate, because what you wrote strangely sounds like “to save the village you have to kill the village” (Vietnam war quote)
Think of it like Europe prior to WW2, Lots of wars between nations. WW2 happened and was really bad. Bad enough for the nations to realize it’s better to find a way to live together. Since then, there have been no wars in Europe, Maybe some small ones involving former Yugoslavia. But nothing big.
About those so-called interminable wars: Sunna and Shia last clashed in 680 in war. Just another MSM myth to justify Western interference. The last 30 years has seen the disappearance of many groups that had survived up to 3000 years, all thanks to the great benefits of modern civilization with its vaunted human rights, etc. The West has been screwing the situation up for more than 100 years now. Left to their own devices, Iran would probably be more secular and democratic, Saudi Arabia would not exist, and be part of some secular socialist Arabic country. Note that Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria were all (modern) socialist secular countries before uncle Sam showed up and sent them back to the stone age. Americans prefer Gulf state theocracies with a clear “owner”.
The USA is in Syria for different reasons. Mainly to weaken Syria, its leader and its people. If it were just about ISIS, the USA would have worked together with Assad. In reality, the USA allowed ISIS and Al Qaeda to thrive by never criticizing Turkey for supporting those organisations, and even now supporting their save haven in Idlib.
No doubt. We’re not in Syria to fight ISIS. Quite the contrary. We’re aiding ISIS against Assad.
You seem to have forgotten that when Obama pulled troops out of Iraq, ISIS was able to capture all the cities except Baghdad and capture a mountain of US arms, which fed the conflict in Syria. This was an unintended consequence of pulling out troops from Iraq, but Obama was warned that something like that could happen. Trump has to contend not only with US enemies, like ISIS but also ‘friends’ like Turkey with its own imperial pretensions, as well as the US government itself which has its own agenda and sees Trump as an interloper.
“The USA is in Syria for different reasons. Mainly to weaken Syria, its leader and its people.”
Gee, and I thought it was to do the bidding of the paymasters who have nearly ever member of Congress on their payroll.
Not really 4-D chess just playing hardball.
What can Trump do but pull out?
Oh … and brag about it
Of course, we had no business there or in Iraq in the first place
Well, he does get to withdraw the US from Syria and the swamp can’t really do or say too much about it. They at least haven’t become deranged enough yet to think the US should go looking for military trouble with Turkey
I think Erdogan is playing America and the EU, he has come to the conclusion that Turkey is never going to be allowed into the EU and after the events of the last few years probably doesn’t want to join anyway, so he has been getting cozier and cozier with Putin over the last few years. His arms purchases from Russia are still rankling in NATO circles. And this is Syria we are talking about, he could not invade and do his genocide against the Kurds without permission from Putin and his Syrian puppet.
I think Putin at this point realizes that Trump is in a slow motion impeachment disaster and will be removed from office in spite of promises to the contrary by Moscow Mitch. Even if he is the GOP nominee next year and somehow survives till November he is going to be a gigantic millstone around the GOP’s neck as long as he remains in office at this point.
To some extent this will be sold as the Kurds having brought it upon themselves for their violent independence movement inside Turkey, watch for marketing of that aspect within the next few months, possibly a false flag attack in Istanbul or Ankara to get Kurds to the top of the news cycle closer to the time of invasion.
Did you see that Trump lost his court battle to keep his tax returns secret from the state of New York? Appeals will take another couple months I think, but the legal ruling appears solid so eventually those are going to become public domain.
People who think the impeachment business is a tempest in a teacup are not dealing with reality, this is getting bigger and messier and darker for the White House by the day.
Then there is the investigation of the investigation, by the DOJ.
That could be the big trump card in Trump’s favor. Corruption runs deep in Washington.
People who think the impeachment business is a tempest in a teacup are not dealing with reality, this is getting bigger and messier and darker for the White House by the day.
For the Dems, does anyone sane without terminal TDS think asking the Ukaraine about Biden corruption is illegal in any form or manner. Its common sense and everyone who isn’t a democrat sycophant would agree. Its ok for all the corrupt Ukraine connenctions the dems had during the 16 election. Justice would e served if all those involved went to prison expecially Obama, Clinton and Brennan. If the dems didn’t have double standards they would have none at all.
Trump shouldn’t abandon the Kurds but he is extricating the US from a bad spot. His action in this case is not dissimilar from Obama’s pull out from Iraq which no one criticizes.
Both are major blunders but the political price each has to pay is completely different. Trump has enemies on both flanks. That puts him in the center, which in politics is the best place to be if you want to capture a majority and win an election.
Despite being attacked from both political directions, Trump too has cards to play in the domestic political arena. There is no doubt that DNC media obfuscation is blinding a lot of people to the treasonous and self-serving behavior of top Democrats.
The impeachment, which is not a foregone conclusion, doesn’t have to lead to the conviction as we know so, since Trump’s popularity in the face of unprecedented unrelenting betrayal and lies is simply phenomenal, he will be reelected.
Trump has been hampered from before his inauguration by a sham Mueller investigation based on the spurious Steele dossier and illegitimate FISA warrants. Those chickens will come home to roost in the form of the guillotine for lots of DNC and Deep State malefactors as well asTrump’s reelection or there will be a lot of sore people out in the streets. And I’m not talking about pussywillow Antifa either.
If there is a take away from this entire mess, the Kurds were idiots for taking the Americans as allies, since, and this is not the first time, the Americans have deserted their allies. Many many kurds are about the pay the ultimate price. You can bet your ass, that stuff will not be on MSNBC or FOX or CNN
Even absent being “deserted”, the last thing anyone needs in The Middle East, are friends as dysfunctional and universally destructive as the current West.
Over here, there is still enough seedcorn left to throw on the bonfire, to keep the ever dimming light glowing for another generation or two. Over there, things are serious enough, that institutionalized idiotics have more immediate real consequences.
2banana says “If there was any fairness – you should be forced to live it in it instead of infecting more sane areas with your political foolishness.”
That was in response to me leaving Illinois
Asinine comment of the year – and obviously false too
I support reduced government and government spending. Trump ought to try it.
I am against public unions and have been all my life. Never once voted for a union candidate which makes 2banana a liar.
Trump did nothing on that score. Nor did he propose bankruptcy reform which easily would have passed.
For that, 2banana exposes his anti-Mish bias to the nth degree.
He is clearly a delusional “Trump can do no wrong kind of idiot” hiding behind a TDS accusing mask.
And on top of it, he proposes a policy that amounts to once you are born in a blue state you cannot leave it.
2banana you are really pathetic.
Thanks for exposing yourself
Note: copying this to all new posts until I am sure he has seen it.
No response in the next three more posts counting this and he is gone
“Other than Wagner and his many Tesla-obsessed aliases, 2banana is probably the biggest troll here. He’s not an idiot, he knows how corrupt the Fed and the bankers are, but for some reason is determined to be a partisan jackass anyway. The last few times I called him out he didn’t even respond.”
Would not surprise me in the least if they were the same person.
Mish have you finally blocked 2banana — cause I don’t see any of his unhinged comments? If you did, good for you, and for your blog which is excellent – especially because I certainly don’t always agree, and you force me to think….thanks man!
If anyone’s playing 4D chess in this scenario, it’s Erdogan. I didn’t think much of him for a long time but he’s played the game well in recent years. His attacks on the House of Saud were particularly impressive.
Last year Trump made noise about getting out of Syria entirely, now we’re dragging our feet on leaving only the north. So much for ending the wars, peace breaking out, and the rest of the Q-Anon delusion!
“If anyone’s playing 4D chess in this scenario, it’s Erdogan”
You don’t get to the, nor stay on, top for long in that powderkeg, unless you have pretty darned good political instincts and intuition.
Much more concerning, especially for Europe, is that Erdogan isn’t engaging in any of this posturing for fun. Instead, he’s fighting, as top honchos always are in that region, for his very survival. Doing his best to stay ahead of unfolding events, by attempting to play as many potential challengers against each other as he can. Once he fails, and he eventually will, Turkey will be the first major nominal realignment demonstrating The West is shrinking and being rolled back, with Middle Eastern norms and sensibilities filling in the vacuum. Then it’s onwards, westwards…..