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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Here's where Washington's focus will shift to after Syria

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:10 UTC
navy
© Global Look Press / US Navy
Much to Washington's dismay, China is gaining further momentum in the Indo-Pacific region. As the US president pretends to deploy a hands-off approach to the Middle East, expect China's gains to fare in the news more often.

The reason the US might be (at least, on the face of it) caring less about the Middle East and the situation in Syria is that Washington has a new priority theater it is allocating its time and resources to focus on: the Indo Pacific. In that vein, you may start to notice that China and its relationship to the Pacific region is starting to make headlines again.

The latest outcry appears to be another kink in a longer chain regarding Beijing's actions in the Pacific and the wider question of the future of Taiwan. According to reports, China has agreed to fund a multi-million-dollar stadium in the Solomon Islands for the 2023 Pacific Games in its capital, Honiara. Unfortunately, Taiwan had previously made a commitment to providing the funds for the sports complex, but that has all but fallen through. Just recently, the Solomon Islands cut ties with Taiwan in exchange for funding from Beijing ($730 million according to some reports). Kiribati followed suit shortly after, leaving Taiwan with just 15 full diplomatic allies. One would have to think that, given Beijing's mounting influence and the sorts of packages being offered, that perhaps Tuvalu and the other remaining three Pacific states would not be far behind.

Comment: See also:

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Pirates

Best of the Web: Purpose of US-brokered ceasefire revealed? EU govts want to REPATRIATE ISIS terrorists from northeastern Syria

Martin Chulov & Michael Safi
The Guardian
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:16 UTC
EU repatriate ISIS belgium
Believe it or not, this one is NOT fake news
Belgium and other European states are preparing to evacuate citizens accused of having links to Islamic State from detention camps in north-eastern Syria through a newly declared safe zone being carved out by Turkish forces along the border.


Comment: So, that's why they wanted a ceasefire; to save ISIS, not 'the Kurds'. No doubt these are the fighters Belgium trained in its forests earlier this decade before sending them to topple Assad.


Belgian officials informed family members of detainees held in two camps on Friday that they would attempt to take advantage of a five-day ceasefire to retrieve nationals allegedly tied to the terror group. The Guardian has learned that other European states, including France and Germany, are also looking at ways to take advantage of the window declared by US vice-president Mike Pence on Thursday to repatriate women and children.

Whether Britain is willing to re-examine its policy of largely ignoring its 30 or so nationals detained in Syria remains unclear, but the decision by allies to move quickly is likely to increase pressure on Whitehall to do the same. What to do with accused ISIS fighters and their families has been a pressing global security concern in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to suddenly withdraw all US forces from Syria, with fears that an ensuing vacuum could lead to a collapse of security at the four main camps.

Comment: The French minister is right. It really is a no-brainer. Yet his and other EU govts are planning to repatriate what remains of ISIS. Will they get extra benefits like Sweden did for its ISIS terrorists?

Seriously? Sweden wants to welcome terrorists home from Syria with free driver's license, housing & tax perks

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Wine n Glass

Best of the Web: Whining bigly: Israel supporters are flipping out over Trump's Syria withdrawal

Philip Weiss
MondoWeiss
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:49 UTC
trump israel
© Ariel Schalit / Reuters
Donald Trump's decision to abandon former Kurdish allies in Syria last week has been a shock to Israel and its US lobby. Israel thought it had a very special place in Trump's worldview, but the withdrawal appears to gives Iran far more leeway in the Middle East. We are on our own against Iran, several Israeli officials and Israel supporters have concluded fearfully.


Comment: Break out the Champagne!


Not surprisingly, Israel's interest in U.S. Syria policy was on display in American politics this week. For the first time Congressional Republicans broke with Trump over the move; and 129 Republicans voted to condemn the decision when the House voted by 354-60 on that resolution Wednesday.

Israel featured in Congressional debate of Trump's move. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said Trump's move endangers Israel.

Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida said the decision forces the Kurds into the Iranian camp, and Israel is the loser:
Our Kurdish friends were betrayed and slaughtered and are now forced to align with Syrian forces backed by Iran creating an even bigger threat to our friend Israel.
Israel came up for the first time in four Democratic debates this week because of the Syria decision, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar saying, "This is an outrageous thing that happened here.... Think about our other allies, Israel. How do they feel right now? Donald Trump is not true to his word when they are a beacon of democracy in the Mideast."

Comment: Translation: Trump made the right choice. Just read the response from the American Jewish Congress: Every once in a while there is good news. Thank G-d!

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Map

Best of the Web: Russia and the United States: The Forgotten History of a Brotherhood

Cynthia Chung
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:52 UTC
battle of spotsylvania
© PixabayBattle of Spotsylvania Court House
"A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it". - Frederick Douglass (former slave who would later become a great American statesman and diplomat)

It has always been an utmost necessity to exercise caution when reading the historical accounts of great periods that threatened to change the course of the world. As is widely recognized though not reflected upon enough, 'history is written by the victors', and if this be indeed the truth, than we must be aware of what lens we are looking through.

It is a sad reality that most Americans have forgotten that the Russians were their brothers during the American Civil War, a union that was not only based from a geopolitical stratagem but much more importantly was based on a common view of humankind; that slavery's degradation could no longer be tolerated and that industrial growth was an absolute precondition to free man. Historians today largely dismiss this as a fairy tale, they spew their vitriolic commentaries, and try to destroy the memories of great people from the past that truly did believe and fight for something noble. These historians would erase our heroes or otherwise would have us believe that they were nothing but small, bitter men that cared nothing for the world. For if we have no memory of such heroes, we have no memory of the fight that was left unfinished...

Since these revisionist historians would have this, let us not be led by such false guides into the dark forest of history, but rather let us focus on the actions and the words of the very men who shaped the world stage as proof of their mettle.
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Eye 1

Best of the Web: The US has backed 21 of the 28 'crazy' militias leading Turkey's brutal invasion of northern Syria

Max Blumenthal
The Greyzone
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:30 UTC
ohn McCain with then-FSA chief Salim Idriss
Left: John McCain with then-FSA chief Salim Idriss (right) in 2013; Right: Salim Idriss (center) in October, announcing the establishment of the National Front for Liberation, the Turkish mercenary army that has invaded northern Syria.
Footage showing members of Turkey's mercenary "national army" executing Kurdish captives as they led the Turkish invasion of northern Syria touched off a national outrage, provoking US government officials, pundits and major politicians to rage against their brutality.

In the Washington Post, a US official condemned the militias as a "crazy and unreliable." Another official called them "thugs and bandits and pirates that should be wiped off the face of the earth." Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the scene as a "sickening horror," blaming President Donald Trump exclusively for the atrocities.

But the fighters involved in the atrocities in northern Syria were not just random tribesmen assembled into an ad hoc army. In fact, many were former members of the Free Syrian Army, the force once armed by the CIA and Pentagon and branded as "moderate rebels." This disturbing context was conveniently omitted from the breathless denunciations of US officials and Western pundits.
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Caesar

Best of the Web: Is Putin the new 'King' of the Middle East?

Patrick J. Buchanan
Buchanan.org
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:00 UTC
putin
© PixaBayIf Putin wants to be king of this, and it is OK with Assad, how does that imperil the United States of America, 6,000 miles away?
"Russia Assumes Mantle of Supreme Power Broker in the Middle East," proclaimed Britain's Telegraph. The article began:

"Russia's status as the undisputed power-broker in the Middle East was cemented as Vladimir Putin continued a triumphant tour of capitals traditionally allied to the US."

"Donald Trump Has Handed Putin the Middle East on a Plate" was the title of a Telegraph column. "Putin Seizes on Trump's Syria Retreat to Cement Middle East Role," said the Financial Times.

The U.S. press parroted the British: Putin is now the new master of the Mideast. And woe is us.

Comment: See also:

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Heart - Black

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

Eva Bartlett
MintPress News
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:00 UTC
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.
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Chess

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

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:44 UTC
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:

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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?

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:40 UTC
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!
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Megaphone

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

Sam Jones
The Guardian
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 00:39 UTC
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

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