“On Sunday, the US-led coalition said it was working with its Syrian militia allies, the mainly Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to set up a new 30,000-strong border force. The force would operate along the borders with Turkey and Iraq, as well as within Syria along the Euphrates River, which separates most SDF territory from that held by the government.”
For further specific details, see this article. The American-led coalition is described here. See also here for history of the latest US intervention in Syria. read on...
Obama declared that the Afghanistan War was over, but Trump has renewed it. For the past 4 years, Trump made all sorts of strong unambiguous statements against being in this war. He favored hitting the exits and getting out of it. He’s now changed his mind, which seems to be a president’s typical habit concerning war-making. He’s sending many thousands more American soldiers to Afghanistan and into this 16-year old war.
Trump has embraced the concept of a “war on terror.” He’s working from that concept. The results will be as bad as they already have been in the first 16 years of this “war.” read on...
Eleven years ago, this essay argued against hate-crime laws. One argument read “People can eventually be accused of hate crimes when they use hateful speech. Hate crimes laws are a seed that can sprout in new directions.” This has now come to pass, I am sorry to say. This week, the Congress passed S. J. Res. 49, and President Trump signed it, making it part of the U.S. legal code.
The law rejects “White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups…” But why? Because of their ideas? Because of their expression of these ideas? No government that stands for freedom and free speech, whose charge is to protect rights, should be singling out specific groups by name and by law declaring them as outlaws or threats because of their philosophies. If they have committed a crime, such as defamation of character or incitement to riot or riot itself, then charge them and try them. But American government has no legitimate authority to single out some of its citizens in this way. This, furthermore, is an exceedingly bad precedent. Who’s next? read on...
At Trump’s command, the US military is adding forces and use of force everywhere: Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and Korea. Victory is ill-defined in all these places, but the question remains. Will Trump win? read on...
The Syrian military strategy of President Assad is well-known. It is explained here, and here. This strategy has succeeded. The Assad coalition of forces is defeating his opponents. They are continuing steadily to clear remaining opposition forces from Syria.
Raqqa has not been central to Assad. Neither has Manjib. They remain to be “cleaned up”, but they were not of strategic importance to Assad and still aren’t. read on...
Unlike the impetuous and immature US leaders with itchy trigger fingers and an agenda of expansion that I do not have, I’ve been waiting to find out whether or not Russia invaded Crimea. We cannot know this with more certainty without learning more about the deal between Crimea and Russia, the back and forth between their governments, the view that Russia holds regarding the Kiev interim government, and the identities of the armed forces now in Crimea and also their relationships (are they fighting? killing? wounding?). Russia has leased bases in Crimea and does already have a right to a substantial armed force there.
This CNN article is helpful, and we get two conflicting views between Ukraine and Russia.
As far as I can tell right now, the following are factual. read on...
The warmongers clearly have been seeding the press and politics in order to get their war against Syria. This began by planting a propaganda report that Syria was not complying with the timetable for removing chemical weapons. Then it went on to planting a report with renewed accusations of Syrian torture. read on...
Libya is a mess, we are told, worse than when Gaddafi was around. Who was instrumental in attacking Libya in an outright aggression? Hillary Clinton. One headline at the time read “Clinton credited with key role in success of NATO airstrikes, Libyan rebels”.
In that article, we learn that Hillary Clinton patched up a rift in NATO, got backing from Arab countries, and advised rebels.
She boasted “…we set into motion a policy that was on the right side of history, on the right side of our values, on the right side of our strategic interests in the region.” read on...
Wendy Sherman is Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and the senior U.S. representative in the P5+1 nuclear talks with Iran.
She told the U.S. Senate about the Iranians: “We know that deception is part of the DNA.” For that alone, she should be fired. There is absolutely no place for a person who is leading negotiations with Iran to insult the Iranian side and Iran’s people with such a despicable slur, akin to what a Nazi might utter. read on...
