Best of the Web:


Heart - Black

Best of the Web: Under fire from a Western-backed Ukraine: The people of the DPR share their stories

Donetsk People's Republic
© Eva BartlettFeature photo | DPR Peoples Militia Platoon Commander Ryka poses for a photo with his rifle.
On September 2, I left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don via minibus heading northwest to the border of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and on into Donetsk. For my first few days there, I rented an inexpensive apartment in the heart of the city. Walking on a long tree-lined and cafe-filled pedestrian walkway, life seemed normal. But I would soon find that for the people living in Donetsk, it is anything but.

I passed a cafe where a former DPR leader and military commander, Alexander Zakharchenko, was assassinated by a remotely detonated bomb in August 2018. He was beloved, and as I stood there, two women stopped to pay respects and pray.

Days later, at a transit hub in Donetsk, I met with Alexey Karpushev, a resident of the northern city of Gorlovka, an area hard-hit by Ukrainian bombing, and whose outskirts continue to be shelled near-daily.

Chess

Best of the Web: Winners and losers in the Turkish attack on Kurds in Syria

manbij russian troops
President Donald Trump has given the orders to begin a "deliberate withdrawal" of his troops and end the occupation of north-east Syria (NES). This is accelerating the race between the Turkish and the Syrian forces to control NES.

Turkey is in a rush to establish its 30-35km wide safe zone on the borders with Syria in the US-occupied north-east territory, currently under the control of the Syrian Kurdish separatists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is aware of the pressure his US ally, President Donald Trump is under for approving this operation, an operation which has made Trump even more unpopular among the US and western élites.

Trump took it upon himself to unilaterally take control of an area in Syria bigger than Switzerland. Uninvited by the central government, he had established over a dozen military and air bases in the country and kept them there notwithstanding the defeat of ISIS. Trump has now agreed to pull back some US troops, allowing Turkey and its Syrian proxies to move into this part of Syrian territory. The US President and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin blocked an EU-drafted resolution condemning the Turkish offensive. Now, the winners in this operation are much more numerous than the losers and it would be a mistake to suppose that only Turkey is gaining from this operation. All winners have their own objectives and perspectives to assess how they can benefit from the Turkish invasion.

By deciding to pull out 1,000 men from NES, Trump is reshuffling the cards, moving the burden away from his administration and dropping it into the hands of Russia, Turkey and Syria (and their allies). There is a serious need for Russia to move fast and bring concerned players around the table to organise a situation that could turn more chaotic and lead to even more confrontation.

The biggest losers are the Kurds: the People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - which were classified as terrorist organisations by the US (since 1997), by the European Union (since 2002), and by NATO, Turkey, and some other countries.

Comment: See also:


Snakes in Suits

Best of the Web: You didn't really think all Russian assets & Kremlin puppets in the US have already been exposed, did you?

Putin and Trump nested dolls
© Global Look Press / Zamir UsmanovA nested doll with the image of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US President Donald Trump
The 2020 presidential election is still more than a year away, but you wouldn't know that to look at all the Russian plots to subvert it breathlessly discussed in US media. Who are these recently exposed Kremlin agents?

Ever since the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016, the US media has been ferreting out the Russian meddlers within the country, as it's their patriotic duty to do. Not even the disappointment of the Mueller report finding no Russian collusion could stop them - they know that Putin must have gotten to Mueller somehow, and Trump will always be a Kremlin puppet in their hearts. Meanwhile, any politician who flinches from the idea that endless war is good and noble is tagged and bagged as a Russian agent.

Tulsi Gabbard, aka: Assad apologist

Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard has served in the US Army National Guard since 2003, but her deployment to Iraq was obviously merely a stunt to provide cover for her real goal of cuddling with baby-eating evil Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and trying to lure the US into abandoning its sacred duty to wage war in the Middle East for as long as possible. The election security bill she introduced in the House last year, which would have forced districts to use paper ballots, was a transparent effort to pry American elections out of the trustworthy hands of the Pentagon. And the 'Stop Arming Terrorists Act'? That's just discrimination!

Megaphone

Best of the Web: Catalonia independence protests escalate over fourth night - Catalan President blames infiltrators for violence

Catalan
© David Borrat/EPACatalan independence supporters protest in Girona.
Barcelona suffered its fourth and worst night of violence on Thursday as pro-independence supporters clashed with police and right-wing groups in running battles well into the small hours of Friday morning.

The disturbances followed a now familiar pattern as a large demonstration called earlier in the evening dispersed and groups of protesters clashed with police in the city centre who say that a clothing shop was set on fire and a bank was vandalised.

In the early hours groups of protesters fought with police, throwing stones and at least one petrol bomb in an apparent attempt to reach the seat of the Spanish government in the city.

One pro-independence protester was badly beaten by a group of right-wing supporters while once again the streets were acrid with the smell of bonfires of burning rubbish. Numerous injuries were reported.

Comment: RT reports:
Unrest continues to grip Barcelona after Spain jails pro-independence Catalan leaders

Catalan
© Reuters / Rafael MarchanteA Spanish unity supporter jumps on Estelada (Catalan flag) during a demonstration after days of pro-independence protests in Barcelona, October 17, 2019
Protests gripped the Catalan capital on Thursday, continuing the week's unrest. During the day, striking students hit the streets, and in the evening, crowds of protesters gathered in central Barcelona.

In most places the crowds were peaceful, even turning the demonstration into a giant game of volleyball. However, more hardcore pro-independence protesters soon began erecting barricades in the streets and setting things on fire.

Tensions rose even higher where groups of unionists counter-protesters, some covering their faces or draped in the Spanish flag, began shouting slogans and making Nazi salutes.

There were multiple reports from Catalan sympathizers on social media of nationalist gangs beating up pro-independence demonstrators, some claiming the police were turning a blind eye to the violence.

The unrest, however, has not reached the levels seen on Wednesday night, when some 100 people were injured in clashes between pro-independence activists and police.

According to official figures, some 400 dumpsters were burned on Wednesday alone and the city has already sustained property damage of more than €1 million.

The ongoing protest was sparked by the Spanish Supreme Court's ruling sentencing nine pro-independence leaders to lengthy jail terms - ranging from nine to 13 years - over their roles in the failed 2017 independence bid.

Furthermore, Spain issued a new European arrest warrant for the former Catalan President Carlos Puigdemont, who managed to slip through Madrid's hands back in 2017 and is now living in exile in Belgium.





And some footage from today:


See also: 'Catalonia Separatists Bad, Hong Kong Pro-democracy Protesters Good' - Western Media Treating Orwell's 1984 as User Manual


Yellow Vest

Best of the Web: Finally, a rebellion against Extinction Rebellion: Londoners take matters into their own hands

XR protests tube
The police won't deal with the extremists so... into the vacuum step ordinary working people.
The people are rising up against the elites. No, I don't mean Extinction Rebellion. I mean the Rebellion against Extinction Rebellion. Today's clashes on the Tube between the commuting working classes and the time-rich, bourgeois fearmongers of the XR cult is a wonderful illustration of the elitist nature of eco-politics and of rising public fury with the eco-agenda.

For more than a week now the XR elitists have been disrupting everyday life. They've stopped flights from taking off, preventing people from going on well-earned holidays or visiting loved ones abroad. They've clogged up roads in city centres, irritating cab drivers and people on buses. And they've stormed Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate fish market - smug middle-class vegans lecturing hard-working traders about the correct way to think and live.

But today their sneering campaigning went too far. Today they disrupted the Tube. Yes, this mass, largely electric public-transport system used by millions of people is the latest target of these arrogant disrupters of the masses' lives. And people got pissed off. Really pissed off.


Comment: This is going to start becoming a lot more common as people begin to fully grok that the whole climate deal is both real AND an attempt to scam the people. Those who are vocal "faces" of different movements that are soon to be perceived as "at fault" will be the main targets, not the string-pullers behind them.

Things just may get very ugly very fast.


Binoculars

Best of the Web: Turkish Invasion of Syria, Day 9: Erdogan Trashes Trump's 'Don't be a Fool!' Letter - UPDATE: Ceasefire Deal Reached! Turkey to Halt Op For 5 Days

trump erdogan
© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make a deal with the Syrian Kurds in a letter, warning history will condemn him as "the devil" and the US will destroy Turkey's economy if he refuses.

"You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy - and I will," Trump threatened in the letter, dated October 9.

The US president implores Erdogan to "make a great deal" with the Syrian Democratic Forces, noting Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani Abdi is "willing to make concessions that they never would have made in the past."
Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!
"History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way," Trump promises, accompanying that carrot with another stick. "It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen."

Comment: Erdogan reportedly threw the letter into the trash:
The treatment of the missive, which sparked quite an uproar both in the US and Turkey, was reported by what the BBC described as "Turkish presidential sources."

"President Erdogan received the letter, thoroughly rejected it and put it in the bin," sources were cited as saying.

A similar account was reported by the Middle East Eye, which cited anonymous Turkish officials. Some Turkish journalists reported the letter being treated in that fashion.
Two Russian officials commented on the letter:
The Senator from Perm Krai Aleksey Pushkov has called the contents of Trump's letter to Erdogan 'weird', adding that the inauguration procedure in the US, the publication of letters from world leaders, and former Vice-President Biden's demands to remove the Prosecutor General of Ukraine from office show that "the US administration cannot deal with its own problems, let alone with the global ones."

Earlier today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the language of US President Donald Trump's letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shortly before Turkey's operation in Syria was "unusual."

"Such a language is rarely found in the correspondence of state leaders. A very unusual letter," Peskov told reporters.
Turkish troops (and their jihadist mercenaries) are already behaving like barbarians. Here they are executing two unarmed prisoners on the side of a road. (Here are some Turkish soldiers beheading some Kurdish fighters sometime within the last 2 years.) This is the same sort of behavior the "moderate rebels" have been guilty of for the entirety of the Syrian war. But only now are the Western MSM taking notice, "because Trump." Better late than never. Maybe their hatred of Trump can cause them to muster some support for the Syrians and Russians, who have been fighting these crazies for years. They're the ones "protecting the Kurds" now, after all. Moon of Alabama comments:
Turkey still insists on a corridor of some 20 kilometers depth to prevent a PKK build up in the area near its border. At that depth Turkey would occupy the M4 highway which is a main economic corridor in the northern area. Under the Adana agreement from 1998 Turkey is allowed to make temporary incursions at the border up to a depth of 5 kilometer to fight any PKK concentration. Anything beyond that infringes on Syria's sovereignty and can not be tolerated.

Under the same treaty Syria is obligated to prevent any PKK camps or training areas in Syria. The U.S built 'Syrian Democratic Forces' are nothing but the PKK with a few drafted Arabs mixed in. The SNC will soon be dissolved into the Syrian Arab Army and the autonomous Kurdish administration will be removed. All that will alleviate the Turkish concerns and remove its justification for any occupation of Syrian land.

The mainstream borg is up in arms that Turkey uses Jihadis to attack their beloved anarcho-marxist PKK terrorists group. They have conveniently forgotten the history of the U.S. war on Syria, its arming of those Jihadis and its pampering of al-Qaeda.

The U.S. did not betray the Kurds any more than it betrayed Turkey and the Jihadis which the Obama administration armed throughout the war. Those were also U.S. 'allies' that were left hanging. Raina Khalek made a good video narrative that debunks much of the false Syria narrative the main stream media is now using.
Here are the Turks moving some jihadis from Idlib to southeast:


Trump again promised "devastating" sanctions if the meeting with Pence isn't successful: "I think they will have a successful meeting. If they don't, the sanctions and tariffs and other things that we're going, we will do and are doing to Turkey, will be devastating to Turkey's economy," Trump stated. Turkey says they will respond reciprocally to any sanctions: "We see that Trump, under the pressure of domestic factors, undertakes certain steps against us. No sanctions and no threats are acceptable. We will undertake reciprocal steps in response to these sanctions, we will respond," Cavusoglu said in an address to the Turkish parliament.

The thing is, Trump is not wrong in what he's been saying and doing:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday downplayed the escalating tensions in the Middle East in the aftermath of his abrupt withdrawal of American troops from northeastern Syria, referring to the area as "not our border" and to Kurdish forces as "no angels."

"If Turkey goes into Syria, that's between Turkey and Syria," he said to reporters in the Oval Office. "It's not between Turkey and the United States, like a lot of stupid people would like us to — would like you to believe."


...
"If Russia wants to get involved with Syria, that's really up to them," Trump said. "They have a problem with Turkey. They have a problem at a border. It's not our border. We shouldn't be losing lives over it."
...
"No, President Erdogan's decision didn't surprise me because he's wanted to do that for a long time. He's been building up troops on the border with Syria for a long time, as you know," Trump said to reporters.

"And I say: 'Why are we protecting Syria's land?' Assad's not a friend of ours. Why are we protecting their land?' And Syria also has a relationship with the Kurds, who by the way, are no angels."
...
"By the way, everybody hates ISIS," Trump said. "Some were released just for effect to make it look like, 'Oh gee, we gotta get back in there,'" he added, making light of reports that some ISIS members had escaped from captivity.
...
In response to Trump's comments Wednesday morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of Trump's closest allies in Washington who has also emerged as an outspoken critics of his Syria decision, said that the move could be "a complete and utter national security disaster in the making."

Trump later addressed Graham's criticism at a press conference, telling reporters that Graham "would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years," and applauding himself for not caving to party pressure, noting that it was "probably just politically better for me" to leave U.S. troops in Syria.

Trump boiled it all down to keeping his 2016 campaign promise.

"I campaigned on bringing our soldiers back home, and that's what I am doing," he explained.
This is rich:
Democrats and 129 of the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to pass a non-binding resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump's pullout of US troops from Syria - never authorized by Congress to be there.

The House Joint Resolution 77 describes the presence of US troops in northeastern Syria as "certain... efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces," and formally voices opposition to their withdrawal, but does not offer an alternative. Instead, it demands the White House present a "clear and specific plan for the enduring defeat" of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).
...
The House resolution asks the White House to continue providing "humanitarian support" to the Kurds and ensure that Turkey "acts with restraint," while also demanding of Ankara to stop its "unilateral military action" in Syria.
...
Congress has never voted to authorize the US troop presence in Syria, which is not sanctioned under international law and is based only tenuously on old resolutions allowing military action against Al-Qaeda terrorists following the 9/11 attacks. Damascus considers the US presence a violation of its sovereignty, unlike the Russian force that was invited back in 2015.


While the resolution does little to change the situation in Syria, the fact that so many Republicans chose to back Democrats against the sitting president from their party is being held up as a possible barometer for the Democrat-led impeachment process, even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly refused to hold an actual floor vote on the matter.
Here's footage of the Syrian army entering Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), thus blocking the Turks from occupying the city:


French troops are at risk of being surrounded. As pointed out yesterday, the Americans made a hasty retreat. The following videos are quite the treat:


The Russians have moved in to take over the bases abandoned by the Americans:




More from MoA:
Everyone involved recognizes that this is a win-win-win-win situation. Erdogan could show that he was fighting against the PKK terrorists and prevented their attempts to become a proto-state. Trump could hold his campaign promise of removing U.S. troops from useless foreign interventions. Syria regained its northeast and the important economic resources of that area. Russia gained global prestige and additional influence in the Middle East.

Everyone is happy but the PKK Kurds. They are the biggest losers of this game but only in the sense that they are back to where they started. They had entered into a cooperation with the U.S. to eliminate ISIS. When that was done they got greedy and tried to rule over Arab land. It was always an unsustainable situation. After the defeat of ISIS the U.S. had no strategic reason to further pamper them. Only some wannabe imperialists in Washington DC and in Israel were urging to continue the relation.
For more analysis and commentary, see: For all previous updates, see: UPDATE 20:30 CET

VP Pence says Turkey and the U.S. have reached an agreement:
Turkey has agreed to temporarily halt its military operation against Syria's Kurdish-led militias, allowing them to withdraw from the country's border, US Vice President Mike Pence said during a visit to Ankara.

"Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria," Pence said during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The ceasefire between the Turkish military backed by affiliated militants and the Kurdish-led fighters is set to last 120 hours, according to Pence. This time will be spent on the withdrawal of the Kurdish forces from the 20-mile strip along the Syrian border, where Turkey wants to set up a "safe zone."

The agreed stop of hostilities has been described as a "temporary" one. When a "permanent" one comes in place, US President Trump will cancel the executive sanctions against Ankara, VP explained.

The process of the Kurdish militias withdrawal will be "facilitated" by the US, Pence stated without elaborating.
Trump is pretty pleased with himself:

A ceasefire is one thing, but Syrian, Turkish, Russian, American and French troops - and irregular forces allied with or against them - are all on the move. We'll just have to wait and see who's left without a chair when the music stops...


Binoculars

Best of the Web: Syria Sit-Rep: 16 October - SAA and Syrian Kurds Join Forces to Repel Turkish Incursion

syria war map south front october 2019
© South Front
On October 16, units of the Syrian Army entered the city of Raqqah, currently controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, for the first time since 2014, Russia's RIA Novosti reported, citing a local military source.

The report says that the Syrian Army has already established observation posts in the area of the city.

Elsewhere, the U.S.-led coalition has withdrawn from the Kharab Ashk military base in the eastern Aleppo countryside.

According to the Hawar News Agency (ANHA), the coalition destroyed the large base after completing the withdrawal process.

"Coalition forces destroyed the base after moving as much as it could equipment out of it," the agency's report reads.

The agency, which is affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), released a video showing the withdrawal process. The footage shows black smoke rising from the base, which was located inside the Lafarge cement factory.


Comment: And so, finally, the reunification of Syria is taking place. All it took was for the US to get out of the way...


Bullseye

Best of the Web: I am a trans woman - but I think this woke world has gone too far

pride parade
© Getty Images / Diego Diaz / Icon Sportswire
Trans people have lost the plot. Every day, an increasing amount of absurdity floods in as they do more harm than good. They scream for acceptance without realizing that the ones damaging their image aren't bigots, but themselves.

From anger directed at celebrities for the rational belief that parents shouldn't decide whether their three-year-old is trans, to a culture of outrage that freaks out at the most minor of offenses, transgender activists have become detrimental to my, and others', very existence.

Not helping matters is the fact that these people are laying bombs within our language in the hope they trigger, so they themselves can become triggered. Saying 'transgendered' instead of 'transgender' can see you labeled as transphobic, as can saying 'transwomen' instead of 'trans (notice the space) women.' This is a linguistic minefield with the sole intent of catching people off guard. And those who are caught in its blast are branded as bigots.

This concept is nonsensical, as it's one thing to correct someone who made a grammatical mistake, but another thing altogether to get outright offended when someone makes a simple error, and that's what is occurring. A turn of events which only pushes people away as no one wants to associate with a group of people who become so easily upset.

Sheriff

Best of the Web: Die or ask the Syrian government to take them in: The Kurdish militias simply have no other options

Syrian army
© Reuters / SANALocals greet Syrian army soldiers in the town of Ain Issa, Syria.
Tensions in eastern Syria are flaring, after Turkey launched its military operation in the country's north-east. As Turks and their proxies advance, Kurds retreat, defending themselves - possibly right into the arms of Damascus.

The state of play

Turkish forces are targeting two areas, Ras al-Ayn and Tel Abyad. They have inched forward 10-15 km into Syrian territory towards Ras al-Ayn and are up to 30 km inside Syria on the way to Tel Abyad. They have even set up a foothold mid-way. The Turkish army wants to block the strategic M4 highway along the Turkish border, which links Syria's economic capital Aleppo with its administrative center, Al-Hasakah, in the country's north-east.

Turkey has deployed commandos, special ops forces, tanks and artillery. Its forces on the ground, all part of Operation Peace Spring, include 14,000 troops, 120 tanks, 230 armored combat vehicles and 240 artillery pieces.

Comment: See also:


Yellow Vest

Best of the Web: Spain's suppression of independence movement backfires as Catalan leaders pledge new referendum - Protests rage in Barcelona for second night

barcelona protests
Catalans blockade streets by setting dumpsters alight to prevent riot police forces loyal to Madrid from navigating Barcelona and other cities.
Catalan political leaders said on Tuesday that the long prison terms handed to nine politicians for their role in the 2017 independence referendum had strengthened their determination to force the region's secession from Spain.

Quim Torra, the president of Catalonia, said: "We will never give up on the right to self-determination."

"The intention is to prevent us from doing it again, but we will do it again because holding a referendum is not a crime," he declared.

His defiance came as demonstrators blocked a train station and several motorways in Catalonia on Tuesday, a second day of protests over Monday's jailing of nine separatists by the supreme court over their role in the failed secession bid.

Police intervened to remove the protesters, while a rally in central Barcelona closed a main thoroughfare to traffic and pro-independence leaders vowed to keep pushing for a new referendum.

Comment: But when it's Hong Kong on fire, it's very much the EU's business! And when it comes to taxation and anti-austerity measures, it's definitely the EU's business! Useless jobsworths...

As for the 'internal' Spanish govt; what the hell did they think would happen if they jailed the organizers of the 2017 referendum??

The footage coming out of Barcelona this evening is even more intense than yesterday's: