More on Syria

[paddy no 11]

What are the rooskies up to here? Flooding Europe with refugees, rise of the right, total takeover? Bleak

[Galfon]

Still trying to distance Turkey from NATO, despite uncomfortable situation in Idlib with Assad trying to clear the area Erdogan hoped to use for returning refugees.
At least Turkey's impressive drone-army set their sights on Syrian forces only thus far...but doesn't seem to have changed much apart from sentiments back home.

[Sandydragon]

I think Erdogan is about to get a harsh lesson in geo-politics in the not too distant future.

[Galfon]

He's off to Brussels tomorrow for talks on the migrant impasse, apparently.Greece has closed their border and there are reports of vigilante groups around the islands, searching out anyone there illegally and keeping NGO activity to a minimum.( the locals appear to have had enough - 'send them elsewhere!' is the cry from over the water.) It looks as if the 2016 deal with EU did not pan out as expected.

[Zhivago]

Aleppo has fallen/been liberated

[paddy no 11]

The yanks arming fundamentalist jihadis has never gone wrong before......right!

Not that there's any merit in the al assad/putin regime

[paddy no 11]

Women are not allowed to talk in public spaces in Afghanistan anymore

[Mellsblue]

At least we know Greg Wallace’s whereabouts.

[Zhivago]

The yanks arming fundamentalist jihadis has never gone wrong before......right!

Not that there's any merit in the al assad/putin regime

HTS is not funded by USA. Turkey and Qatar fund them.

[paddy no 11]

The yanks arming fundamentalist jihadis has never gone wrong before......right!

Not that there's any merit in the al assad/putin regime

HTS is not funded by USA. Turkey and Qatar fund them.

Thanks, not sure where I got that misinformation from. Why are turkey and the uae involved here? What's in it for them?

[Zhivago]

The yanks arming fundamentalist jihadis has never gone wrong before......right!

Not that there's any merit in the al assad/putin regime

HTS is not funded by USA. Turkey and Qatar fund them.

Thanks, not sure where I got that misinformation from. Why are turkey and the uae involved here? What's in it for them?

As I said years ago, probably they want to build a gas pipeline through Syria

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar%E ... y_pipeline

[paddy no 11]

HTS is not funded by USA. Turkey and Qatar fund them.

Thanks, not sure where I got that misinformation from. Why are turkey and the uae involved here? What's in it for them?

As I said years ago, probably they want to build a gas pipeline through Syria

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar%E ... y_pipeline

As your informing me

UAE are in Sudan too and this is mineral driven too? No ideology just wealth driven?

I'll correct wealth to greed

[Which Tyler]

The yanks arming fundamentalist jihadis has never gone wrong before......right!

Not that there's any merit in the al assad/putin regime

HTS is not funded by USA. Turkey and Qatar fund them.

SDF is the US supplied one, isn't it?

[Zhivago]

Thanks, not sure where I got that misinformation from. Why are turkey and the uae involved here? What's in it for them?

As I said years ago, probably they want to build a gas pipeline through Syria

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar%E ... y_pipeline

As your informing me

UAE are in Sudan too and this is mineral driven too? No ideology just wealth driven?

I'll correct wealth to greed

UAE is not Qatar

[Zhivago]

The yanks arming fundamentalist jihadis has never gone wrong before......right!

Not that there's any merit in the al assad/putin regime

HTS is not funded by USA. Turkey and Qatar fund them.

SDF is the US supplied one, isn't it?

I think so

[paddy no 11]

Homs gone now.

[Sandydragon]

Latest reports suggest that Assad has fled/is dead and Damascus has fallen. Not sure how reliable they are but the Syrian army seems very uninterested in fighting without massive Russian support.

God alone knows what happens to Syria now. The new owners of Damascus aren’t exactly liberal and I can’t see the other factions, especially the Kurds just disarming.

It does mean embarrassment for Russia who now will almost certainly lose its strategically important naval and SigInt bases unless Russia strikes a new deal (unlikely). It’s a good day for turkey though.

[Zhivago]

Latest reports suggest that Assad has fled/is dead and Damascus has fallen. Not sure how reliable they are but the Syrian army seems very uninterested in fighting without massive Russian support.

God alone knows what happens to Syria now. The new owners of Damascus aren’t exactly liberal and I can’t see the other factions, especially the Kurds just disarming.

It does mean embarrassment for Russia who now will almost certainly lose its strategically important naval and SigInt bases unless Russia strikes a new deal (unlikely). It’s a good day for turkey though.

It won't happen, but there should be a Kurdish state

[Sandydragon]

Latest reports suggest that Assad has fled/is dead and Damascus has fallen. Not sure how reliable they are but the Syrian army seems very uninterested in fighting without massive Russian support.

God alone knows what happens to Syria now. The new owners of Damascus aren’t exactly liberal and I can’t see the other factions, especially the Kurds just disarming.

It does mean embarrassment for Russia who now will almost certainly lose its strategically important naval and SigInt bases unless Russia strikes a new deal (unlikely). It’s a good day for turkey though.

It won't happen, but there should be a Kurdish state

Agreed, but Turkey really won’t want that.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Latest reports suggest that Assad has fled/is dead and Damascus has fallen. Not sure how reliable they are but the Syrian army seems very uninterested in fighting without massive Russian support.

God alone knows what happens to Syria now. The new owners of Damascus aren’t exactly liberal and I can’t see the other factions, especially the Kurds just disarming.

It does mean embarrassment for Russia who now will almost certainly lose its strategically important naval and SigInt bases unless Russia strikes a new deal (unlikely). It’s a good day for turkey though.

It won't happen, but there should be a Kurdish state

Agreed, but Turkey really won’t want that.

True but it would be nice if the Kurds can hold that big chunk of the North of Syria they have. It's a start. In a fair world they'd have a bit of Syria, a bit of Iraq and a bit of Turkey. Basically where the Kurds live.

[Sandydragon]

It won't happen, but there should be a Kurdish state

Agreed, but Turkey really won’t want that.

True but it would be nice if the Kurds can hold that big chunk of the North of Syria they have. It's a start. In a fair world they'd have a bit of Syria, a bit of Iraq and a bit of Turkey. Basically where the Kurds live.

I agree. But having a viable Kurdish state on its border will provoke Turkey. I expect they will have some demands for their support which will include ensuring that doesn’t happen.

[Puja]

Agreed, but Turkey really won’t want that.

True but it would be nice if the Kurds can hold that big chunk of the North of Syria they have. It's a start. In a fair world they'd have a bit of Syria, a bit of Iraq and a bit of Turkey. Basically where the Kurds live.

I agree. But having a viable Kurdish state on its border will provoke Turkey. I expect they will have some demands for their support which will include ensuring that doesn’t happen.

I don't really understand the Turkish position here. I can absolutely understand why they don't want Kurdistan within their borders or carved out of their land, but surely this is the ideal opportunity to set one up out of part of Syria and say to all the Kurdish nationalists, "Here you go, you want a homeland, it's over there, kindly fuck off in that direction" without it really costing them anything?

Can someone explain why they're they so against that?

Puja

[paddy no 11]

True but it would be nice if the Kurds can hold that big chunk of the North of Syria they have. It's a start. In a fair world they'd have a bit of Syria, a bit of Iraq and a bit of Turkey. Basically where the Kurds live.

I agree. But having a viable Kurdish state on its border will provoke Turkey. I expect they will have some demands for their support which will include ensuring that doesn’t happen.

I don't really understand the Turkish position here. I can absolutely understand why they don't want Kurdistan within their borders or carved out of their land, but surely this is the ideal opportunity to set one up out of part of Syria and say to all the Kurdish nationalists, "Here you go, you want a homeland, it's over there, kindly fuck off in that direction" without it really costing them anything?

Can someone explain why they're they so against that?

Puja

There's a wiki page that answers this

Turkey does not recognise kurdish in any aspect there all turkmen. Erdoğan will double down on this - international community would have zero chance to influence I'd say

[Puja]

I agree. But having a viable Kurdish state on its border will provoke Turkey. I expect they will have some demands for their support which will include ensuring that doesn’t happen.

I don't really understand the Turkish position here. I can absolutely understand why they don't want Kurdistan within their borders or carved out of their land, but surely this is the ideal opportunity to set one up out of part of Syria and say to all the Kurdish nationalists, "Here you go, you want a homeland, it's over there, kindly fuck off in that direction" without it really costing them anything?

Can someone explain why they're they so against that?

Puja

There's a wiki page that answers this

Turkey does not recognise kurdish in any aspect there all turkmen. Erdoğan will double down on this - international community would have zero chance to influence I'd say

Ah. So the issue isn't that Turkey are determined that they own the land, it's that they're determined that they own the people? The latter belief seems substantially more difficult to enforce than the former, but I guess logic never did come into these things.

Thanks for the explanation.

Puja

[Sandydragon]

Plus would a a Kurdish homeland over the border not want the land in Turkey currently occupied by Kurds? Forcibly moving out a entire group of people is pretty much ethnic cleansing, so unlikely to win too many friends.