Messed up Monday Reads: World Salad as Trump upsets the World Order for personal gain
Posted: October 7, 2019 Filed under: morning reads | Tags: Kurds, Syria, Trump, Turkey 40 Comments
Good Morning Sky Dancers
Well, it’s Monday and it wouldn’t be a Messed up Monday morning without the “Human Tornado” doing something completely idiotic and self-serving. I have no idea what’s being said between our NATO allies and our allies in the Middle East but I was not prepared to see what I saw this morning. I assume that they’re trying to figure out if it would do any good to call our idiot Preznit. Last night, a press release came out of some kind of agreement between Erdogan of Turkey and KKKremlin Caligulia. This morning Turkish Troops are on the move into Northern Syria and we’re suddenly outta there.
This is from Michael Weiss at The Daily Beast and the headline says it all: “SHORT-SIGHTED. Trump’s Crazy Syria Move Will Wipe Out America’s Allies and Set Up a Big ISIS Comeback. With Trump’s permission, Turkey will now ethnically cleanse the Syrian Kurds, who fought ISIS on behalf of the U.S., leaving no one to hold off the terror group.”
Turkey is about to invade the part of Syria the U.S. invaded to defeat the so-called Islamic State. Except Turkey is invading it to defeat the Kurdish proxy force the U.S. relied on to defeat ISIS, because Turkey considers that proxy a terrorist group. And U.S. President Donald J. Trump, apparently, is fine with that.
This according to a White House announcement released late Sunday evening that reads as if it were written by someone who wants absolutely nothing to do with a part of a world as fucked up as the Middle East and doesn’t care if the whole place burns to the ground.
The move came after Trump, in yet another decisive phone call that probably will be locked away, spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump’s decision was to have the United States accede to a NATO ally’s invasion of a de facto U.S. protectorate—an invasion which has been long in the making and is expressly designed to gobble up a crucial U.S. ally.
This sounds crazy and it is. But before you turn on your cable news show to find all manner of pundits filtering this Alice-in-Wonderland development through the narrow prism of a domestic news cycle, let me assure you of the following. It has nothing to do with Trump’s manifold domestic crises or the fact that his Twitter feed now resembles that of a homeless man barking at oncoming traffic. What is happening now derives from the inherent contradictions built right into America’s war on terror that are coming to the fore and threatening to precipitate the very thing that the fight against ISIS was meant to reduce.
Since 2014, the Pentagon has disproportionately relied upon one faction of armed Kurdish guerrillas who, in a sticky little turn of fate, have been fighting the Turkish state for over 40 years. Ankara has been none too pleased that America’s preferred battering ram against jihadism has a long history of blowing up Turkish army bases and police stations, albeit on secular marxisant grounds rather than apocalyptic religious ones.
In other words, Trump just stabbed another set of allies in the back and made several Dictators very happy in the process. And of course, the fattest and happiest one is Putin. From CNBC: “Trump handing northern Syria to Turkey is a ‘gift to Russia, Iran, and ISIS,’ former US envoy says” by Natasha Turak.
The Trump administration is facing a torrent of criticism Monday after it unexpectedly announced a full U.S. troop withdrawal from northern Syria to effectively allow a long-planned military operation by Turkey against Kurdish ground forces, who had battled to uproot ISIS.
“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria,” a White House statement late Sunday said, noting that President Donald Trump had spoken to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone. “The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”
Security experts on the region and former U.S. officials are calling the decision harmful and a gift to America’s adversaries, while some members of the Kurdish forces on the ground in Syria are calling it betrayal.
“The WH statement tonight on Syria after Trump spoke with Erdogan demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground,” Brett McGurk, the former U.S. special envoy to the global anti-IS coalition, said Monday on Twitter.
“Trump tonight after one call with a foreign leader provided a gift to Russia, Iran, and ISIS.”
So, here’s some Republican blowback but will they do anything?
And yes, that last guy used to work for the Orange Snot Blob (h/t to BB).
“Donald Trump is not a Commander-in-Chief,” said McGurk, who resigned along with Mattis over Trump’s initial (but later aborted) plan for a full Syria withdrawal. “He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation. He sends military personnel into harm’s way with no backing. He blusters and then leaves our allies exposed when adversaries call his bluff or he confronts a hard phone call.”
McGurk also suggested the people around Trump have no idea what’s going on. He noted that the White House’s statement says the United States will not hold Islamic State fighters and how the decision will save U.S. taxpayer money, but the United States isn’t actually holding those fighters.
U.S. officials have long said these fighters are being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led military force, with U.S. assistance. Despite this, Trump has said before that the United States is “holding thousands of ISIS fighters right now.”
So, ABC reports the immediate response this morning: “Turkey begins mobilizing against Syria; US begins removing forces from area”.
The Turkish move is likely to put the Kurdish forces that helped the U.S. defeat ISIS in peril. Turkey considers the Kurdish forces — the PKK and YPG — terrorist organizations.
The news came late Sunday after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone earlier in the day.
The White House also confirmed that Turkey will take possession of all captured ISIS fighters from the past two years.
In other news:
Federal judge rules Trump must turn over his tax returns to Manhattan DA, but Trump has appealed — The request for eight years of records relates to the DA’s investigation into hush-money payments during the 2016 election. Bylines by WAPO’s David A. Fahrenthold and Ann E. Marimow
From Nancy Cook at Politico writes that : Impeachment tentacles spread throughout Trump’s team — The tentacles of the Democratic impeachment investigation are extending far beyond the arms of President Donald Trump. — The vice president’s office, acting chief of staff’s office, State Department, Energy Department ..
From David Leonhardt at the New York Times: “The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes Than You ” — Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy. — His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system.
Well, this is like all those memes about upsetting apple carts only this is central to world peace.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Wonder if he’s called Putin yet to slobber all over him.
So he gives Erdogan this gift – then everyone tells him what he’s done – then he issues this insane threat?
All on top of his ridiculous spectacle of an impeachment defense – Rick Perry made me do it!!!!
well, I just repeat that some thing has to be done to stop this man …
have a great day!!!
hug your loved ones both furry and hairy!!!
xoxo
The pictures are hysterical Dak. You could make a huge scrapbook of the looks on people’s faces around him. The Finnish President was so funny the other day.
oooo, i forgot to find that one!!!! It was priceless!!
He’s on with Andrea Mitchell right now.
That he is making life and death decisions is what angers me the most. Children have died because of him. Think of the Kurdish people who’ll die because of him. He’s bloodthirsty – willing to shoot asylum-seekers in the legs (which can kill you dead BTW). Bayonets and alligators! He’s more grotesque than a Marvel comic book villain or anything out of Frank Miller’s lizard brain.
The disgust is just beyond what I’ve ever felt for another human being.
Well, good. But can Congress move fast enough and effectively enough to stop the effects Dump’s disgusting move?
I hope so.
I don’t know. That’s why I was so shocked that all the troops were moving already.
The Turks would never wait a microsecond given a green light like that. They, especially Erdogan, have been desperate to take out the Kurds for a long time.
Lindsey wants to be re-elected badly and I still think there’s some kompromat out there
He was almost sounding sane in his earlier tweet criticizing the results of Trump’s move. Guess it took a few hours before one of Putin’s connections talked with Trump’s connections who then talked with Graham to remind him of that kompromat.
A sudden rash of resignations? Noncoms not re-upping? Very bad morale at the least.
“My great and unmatched wisdom”???????? Have we finally arrived in LaLa Land?
Have we reached the final destination of “around the bend”? Is having and empty and broken brain finding acceptance within the GOP to officially stand up and say “enough!”?
This is pure insanity. No other word to describe it. The man has completely lost the plot!
Call it for what it rightfully is: crazy!
He’s completely nuts.
All hail the mighty emperor who has no clothes but whose great and unmatched wisdom prevents him from seeing this!
He is ludicrous and dangerous.
sorta sounds old testament godish to me …
Woah! Even Moscow Mitch speaks out.
McConnell joins other Republicans in rebuking Trump’s Syria withdrawal
President Trump faced a swift torrent of Republican criticism Monday as lawmakers rebuked his plan to withdraw troops from northeast Syria, a move Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said would undermine U.S. national security and potentially bolster Islamic State terrorists. McConnell (R-Ky.), in a rare public split with Trump, said that a supermajority in the Senate disagreed with the president’s abrupt withdrawal announcement, raising the specter of veto-proof action to oppose the decision. “A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup.”
McConnell’s statement, in which he called on Trump to “exercise American leadership” and reconsider his plan to withdraw troops from Syria’s border with Turkey, echoes the comments of other Republicans who have condemned the president’s decision Monday.
…
“This betrayal of the Kurds will also severely harm our credibility as an ally the world over,” Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) said in a statement. “President Trump should rethink this decision immediately.”
While Democrats also roundly criticized Trump’s decision, the outpouring of opposition from the president’s party stood out.
Yeah. But, will he do ANYTHING?
I don’t know, dak. McConnell is what’s keeping him in office and out of jail. If McConnell says “not a good idea” there’s a chance Agent Orange will listen.
Well, that’s not good
“Got rolled.” But Trump’s the best deal-maker! In his own mind. All Ergodan had to do was butter him up a bit and Trump’d fall in love.
Sounds like Turkey was already preparing to go to war. This does not bode well.
There’s kinds of mixed messages here. US and Russia say not happening.
Both Trump and Putin are fine with the Kurds being bombed. So neither is a trustworthy source on whether they are or not.
I don’t believe either.
Yeah. Sorta the opposite of the Berlin Wall Falling …
Wages in real dollars keep falling, health coverage more limited and more expensive, little power in the workplace, and wealthy paying less taxes than middle class and poorer people. So much winning.
Trump administration tells agencies to restrict unions in the workplace
I think they should prevent the Republicans from knowing who the whistleblower is. His life is at stake.