By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Earlier today, President Trump minced no words in laying a groundwork for his expectations on the terms of withdrawal for U.S. Forces in the Syrian Theater.
While he mentioned he did not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey, the message directed at Turkey’s government was plain: “…[We] Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds.
The full message of President Trump via twitter:
Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions. Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone….
….Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey. Russia, Iran and Syria have been the biggest beneficiaries of the long term U.S. policy of destroying ISIS in Syria – natural enemies. We also benefit but it is now time to bring our troops back home. Stop the ENDLESS WARS!
Certainly the Turks were just as much the intended audience as it was the American Public and various other interested parties. On January the Eighth, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly rebuffed efforts by U.S. National Security Advisor Mr. John Bolton to negotiate for assurances of protection of the Kurds and their anti-jihadist militias operating in Syria after the U.S. exits the conflict. AP News reports
“John Bolton has made a very serious mistake. We cannot make any concessions in this regard,” Erdogan said Tuesday, just before Bolton left the country with tensions between the NATO allies at new highs. He added that Ankara’s preparations for a new military offensive against what the Turkish leader describes as terror groups in Syria are “to a large extent” complete…But Erdogan, for his part, said Bolton had “made a very serious mistake. Whoever thinks this way is also mistaken. We cannot make any concession in this regard and those involved in a terror corridor” in Syria would “receive the necessary punishment”… Turkey insists its military actions are aimed at Kurdish fighters in Syria — the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG — whom it regards as terrorists, and not against the Kurdish people. That has been Ankara longtime position and Turkey has rejected any role for Kurdish fighters in restoring peace to the war-torn region…..”
As I previously mentioned in another article. Turkey has in the past several weeks deployed additional materiel and troops to its Southern border near territory held by Kurdish militias, in some areas U.S. forces began patrolling buffer-zones between the factions. In other areas such as those in the vicinity of the city of Al-Arima a joint base staffed by a conglomeration of Russian Military Police, Syrian Arab Army, and local militias serves as a point of operation for patrol operations to keep the hostilities between the Kurds and the Turkish military in that area, serving at least in appearances to be part of the buffer that President Trump proposes. Fortanga reports a new battalion of Russian military police is to disembark from Ingushetia for Syria.
While this announcement certainly is going to prove a hard pill to swallow for President Erdogan, he really might want to take such statements of President Trump to heart.
The war fought against ISIS by the Kurds took a terrible toll on their society and lands. The Kurdish People deserve a peace brought through a hard-won victory. There is no good in allowing peace to slip away by perpetuating hostilities to keep up appearances.
By Darren Smith
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
Mr Kurtz, Mandarin will be most useful after the West collapses of its contradictions.
Allan, such a narrow gutter format that I could hardly make out what you wrote.
Ask anyone in New York City. Are those in real estate members of the Manhatten Mafia? The answering is Yes! Woodie Guthrie wrote a song about Fred Trump. Like father, like son.
The Donald had abuncha advisors and operatives who kept his businesses sorta going. Of course, there are the casinos, the airline, the university …
I’ll have to stop now.
Do you have your dad’s attitudes in all respects?
Woodie Guthrie wrote a song about Fred Trump.
1. Who gives a damn? You fancy a folk song is an academic biography?
2. Why, in any case, would you trust the view of a Stalinist votary like Woody Guthrie?
3. At the midpoint of Guthrie’s sojourn in New York, Fred Trump was a man in early middle age who earned his keep constructing residential housing in the outer boroughs and points outside NYC. Exactly what sort of lies would a folk singer have to tell to make such a man the subject of a protest song?
Well, you could learn about it. Woodie Guthrie rented from Fred Trump; the song, readily available, is about that experience.
Fred Trump didn’t write songs about his problem tenants. In your addled head, it means he didn’t have any.
Many people don’t like to pay their bills, keep places clean and quite and some are just lousy tenants. Maybe Fred Trump was the injured party and maybe Woodie Guthrie was a jerk.
You draw conclusions in a wierd way. You should never be on a jury.
“Ask anyone in New York City. Are those in real estate members of the Manhatten Mafia? The answering is Yes!”
David, I’ve dabbled a bit in Manhatten real estate and I think what you are saying is ignorant. I have not heard of a serious Manhatten Mafia made up of real estate members. You confuse fact with fiction and comedy.
Songs are not facts. Therefore, one who gets their facts from songs and movies generally doesn’t know what they are talking about.
” Like father, like son.”
You are treading on being as stupid as another person on this blog who said something similar. The statement can be said but no causality can be attached.
Everything you have said here makes you sound like you don’t know much about things outside your vocation.
Don’t believe it- Trump promised Erdogan his wet-dream aspirations in that previous phone call and has under-cut Bolton’s efforts to reverse course. Bombast and blather won’t fool anyone. While “Endless War” is senseless, “Cut and Run” is no kind of strategy either.
This is no way to conduct diplomacy with a NATO ally. The Kurds is not one monolithic political entity, and there are militant extremists who Turkey has been working to isolate. Again, these are matters for calm diplomacy, not inscrutable public threats. Getting our foreign policy “voice” back under control of the professionals should be the highest priority of Pompeo, Bolton and Nauert.
NATO is a nonsense configuration and the notion that Turkey is a functional ally is risible. And the smart money says that Erdogan does what he wants except when he’s presented with the prospect of having his hands broken so thoroughly he’d never be able to pick up anything with them again.
Turkey should be removed from NATO. It is now a Fundamentalist Muslim nation. Its history of modernism is over. Kemal Ataturk’s legacy is gone.
Lloyd Miller:
Turkey still provides valuable intelligence and houses American servicemen and servicewomen. Incirlik Air Base is the home of The US tenth Air Wing and also serves as a base for RAF operations. The Turks occupy a strategic site at the intersection of the Black and Aegean Seas (at the Dardanelles) which controls the Turkish Straits. It would be lunacy to abandon that kind of ally based on the current state of its government.
Correction: The US 39th Air Base Wing is stationed at Incirlik. They are attached to the Turkish Tenth Air Wing. Sorry about that.
They’re not an ally. We have about 2,200 billets in Turkey. There are 4 other countries around the Black Sea which might be willing to host those bases, and, unlike Turkey, those governments aren’t sinister. Again, Turkey’s problems with everyone else, like Iran’s, are problems generated by their own exercises of discretion.
TIA x 2:
Turkey’s base served as a staging area for many of our actions against ISIS and houses some tactical nukes. We can’t give up that strategic presence to counter Russian and Islamic hegemony. We have a significant but small presence of soldiers and Marines in Romania, Ukraine and Georgia but nowhere near the capability that we have at Incirlik with modern land-based fighters and fighter/bombers. The 6th Fleet patrols the Black Sea but there are no comparable current Air Force bases in these former Soviet vassal states.
Too many people forget geography and the history of great battles.
Allan:
That’s why they’re repeated so often.
Or rather, never learned it.
David, fortunately you were never involved in the political economy so your lack of geographical understanding didn’t affect your occupation.
Turkey has been attempting to destroy it’s own Kurdish population for decades, including frequent excursions across borders to attack Kurdish populations inside of neighboring countries. Since at least 1990, the Kurds have been our one dependable ally in the region. We have twice abandoned our Kurdish allies in Iraq, despite their steadfast loyalty. Turkey, especially since the rise of Erdogan, is determined to destroy not only their own Kurdish minority but also those in Syria, Iraq, and Iran. There is no one else to speak up in their defense, if the US does not. They have been our loyal allies in Iraq and in Syria, while Turkey has done what they can to block our efforts in both of these areas and in others. Turkey does not treat us as an ally and even if they did, that would not be sufficient cause to allow them to once again commit genocide, especially on a group that has paid so much in blood to support the US.
Very good Sierra Rose. We should remember history and the holocaust the Armenians suffered. 1.5 million people **systematically killed** and still unrecognized by Turkey.
Yes and most people have not heard how Turkey kicked hundreds of thousands of Greeks out of their homes and sent them packing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Turkish_War_(1919%E2%80%931922)#Turkish_massacres_of_Greeks_and_Armenians
The Turks have not only massacred the Armenians– the worst victims– but also Greeks and “Assyrians” who are essentially Arabs who lived in Turkey. Most survivors decamped for — wait for it– yes, SYRIA where they were safe.
The “Kurds” are a valued ally but Turkey is a NATO ally. Oh wait: so is Greece. And Greeks have long memories too.
The pullout from Syria is a very good idea for the USA.
“The pullout from Syria is a very good idea for the USA.”
The pullout is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the strategy behind the pullout.
One of several big worries is that Iran will expand to the Mediterranean and we could have a nuclear war in the Middle East that could extend itself from there. If you don’t think about that in the present then the liklihood of that happening becomes greater.
At this point there is nothing Trump can say that anybody in the world would listen to him. Trump is a proven liar.
What a stupid person you are FishWings. You say, in essence, there is no one in the world that would listen to him yet a substantial number of Americans steadily support him through thick and thin. Saying nobody would listen to him is just plain stupid.
Just plain stupid would be the “deplorable” 30% who utterly lack clarity and discernment.
Actomion or Acromion, ( I think it’s the same person is shouldering the same burden in these posts)
I don’t know where you came up with the 30% number; is that an attempt to be humerus?
“…is that an attempt to be humerus?”
Or ulnar, perhaps?
🙂
Actomion what FishWings said didn’t make sense so it was stupid. You seem to want to double down on that attribute. You can call me part of that deplorable group, but why don’t you debate me on the facts. The answer is that your entire mindset is limited by telescopic vision. You don’t or you are unable to look around and see what makes sense and what doesn’t. Without that ability you float around like an amoeba without demonstrating any indication of having a greater amount of common sense.
Darren? Care to upbraid Allan, too?
Anonymous,
Please don’t tell Darren that you saw Kathy and me passing notes in study hall, fink.
I’ll retract the word “fink” if the filter rejects it.😉😀
Anonymous, you are afraid to have a consistent voice by using one alias. Why should anyone lisen to you?
I listen to him and therefore your assertion is false.
Anon, FishWings states these things all the time. I don’t know if he doesn’t think or he just doesn’t understand. This same criticism was leveled at him in the past few days.
Threats of attacking another country economically work when the US is a strong market for those countries. When most US workers have minimum wage jobs and no health care, they are a rapidly declining market without any additional action by government.
Third party countries including Russian Military Police
https://twitter.com/i/status/1084450655262162946
Q for local poster-war mongers: please explain Trump’s over arching foreign relations gestalt to readers. Turkey and the US are NATO members, each sworn to interpret an attack on one as an attack on both. So if the Trump admin attempts to “devastate Turkey economically,” how is that dissimilar from a declaration of war against a NATO ally? If the US acts to destroy Turkey’s economy, should the US attack itself to honor its NATO obligations?
The late General/POTUS Eisenhauer asked why is there such a “…campaign of hatred against us…” in the ME, “…not by the governments but by the people…?” Dwight’s own National Security Council answered Dwight’s Q a couple months prior: “In the eyes of the majority of Arabs the United States appears to be opposed to the realization of the goals of Arab nationalism. They believe that the United States is seeking to protect its interest in Near East oil by supporting the status quo and opposing political or economic progress.” U.S. interests in the area, added the National Security Council, “have led not unnaturally to close U.S. relations with elements in the Arab world whose primary interest lies in the maintenance of relations with the West and the status quo in their countries.”
Americans who still persist in believing that the US “is a force for good in the ME” are naïve, ignorant, or both: https://theintercept.com/2019/01/11/mike-pompeo-speech-cairo/
” So if the Trump admin attempts to “devastate Turkey economically,” how is that dissimilar from a declaration of war against a NATO ally?”
It isn’t a declaration of war. Why don’t you quote the relevant parts of the NATO treaty to demonstrate that is an act of war?
Good in the ME would consist of destroying Islam.
a valid question but keep in mind that the UK and EU member states are in a bitter negotiation but there is no talk of war. So economic and military actions are qualitatively different.
Erdogan needs to go. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao. All on similar feet.
Trump’s statements are meaningless, he changes his mind on a regular basis and is uninformed on most subjects in the first place. No one in the administration can credibly speak for Trump, he doesn’t even credibly speak for himself.
The goal of taking control of all of the planet’s petroleum resources is a self-destructive and grossly obsolete policy. It creates hostility against the US from the rest of the world and demonstrates a lust for greed and power with no regard for humanity.
We need a foreign policy that focuses on helping the most oppressed countries – with technology, infrastructure, health care, and education.
Those who lust for carnag, destruction, and plunder need to engage with each other, and stop attacking cities, families, children, the sick, and elderly.
We must stop glorifying violence in our statuary, national anthem, and sports venues and start glorifying compassion, generosity, and nurturing of others.
“Those who lust for carnag, destruction, and plunder need to engage with each other, and stop attacking cities, families, children, the sick, and elderly”
And then there are internet forums but why go there?
😉
Samantha no other country in the world has “a foreign policy that focuses on helping the most oppressed countries – with technology, infrastructure, health care, and education” than the US. It appears your entire theme is based on a falsehood.
” start glorifying compassion, generosity, and nurturing of others.”
I will take your check and give it to the poor for education, food, and health. Give us your address and I can send you some people in need to fill your living room couch and any spare rooms you may have.
Not surprised to see sarcasm from “Allan” in response to Samantha’s positive aspirations.
“Not surprised to see sarcasm from “Allan” in response to Samantha’s ”
The problem Samantha or Actomion is that what I said was absolutely correct.Tell me of another nation that has spent so much money on foreign nations. I believe you will walk away and shut up because you can’t.
Additionally don’t tell me how generous you are with other people’s money. Tell me how generous you are with your own money. You will walk away from there as well.
It is understandable that you like to feel good about yourself but making false statements and acting generous with other people’s money doesn’t equate oneself to being a good person.
The U.S. gives 50 billion tax payer dollars in foreign aid yearly, how much of that really gets to where it’s needed. Isn’t that enough glorifying?
Well written, Darren Smith.
Is Withdrawal From Syria A Favor To Putin?
TRUMP FAILS TO ANSWER JEANINE PIRRO
WHEN SHE ASKS IF HE EVER WORKED FOR RUSSIA
Trump surprised his aides by deciding, with just a few hours’ notice, to call in to Jeanine Pirro’s show on Fox News on Saturday night to push back against coverage of his presidency on multiple fronts, particularly published reports about his approach toward Russia.
Even then, the president avoided directly answering when Pirro asked whether he currently is or has ever worked for Russia. The question came after The New York Times reported that law enforcement officials began investigating, in 2017, whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against U.S. interests. The newspaper said the investigation came after the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.
‘‘I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked,’’ Trump told Pirro, a personal friend. ‘‘I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written, and if you read the article you’ll see that they found absolutely nothing.’’
Trump went on to assert that no president has taken a harder stance against Russia than he has.
‘‘If you ask the folks in Russia, I’ve been tougher on Russia than anybody else, any other … probably any other president, period, but certainly the last three or four presidents,’’ he said.
White House aides expressed regret that the president did not more clearly and forcefully deny being a Russian agent when asked by the usually friendly Fox News host, according to three White House aides and Republicans close to the White House. The three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations.
Edited from: “Trump Dodges Question On Whether He Has Worked For Russia”
THE BOSTON GLOBE 1/13/19
Re. Withdrawal From Syria..
WAS BOLTON UNDERMINING TRUMP?
OR DID TRUMP UNDERMINE BOLTON?
Bolton’s trip to Israel, and a subsequent stop in Turkey, was supposed to smooth out any still-ruffled feathers. Instead, he ignited a new controversy.
U.S. forces will remain in Syria until they are no longer needed and until Washington is assured that Kurdish allies are safe, Bolton said in Jerusalem. He assured Netanyahu that the United States sees the Iranian threat the same way he does.
Erdogan was enraged, however, by Bolton’s statement that one condition of withdrawal was a guarantee that Turkey would not harm “the Kurds” and that he had warned Turkey off military action not cleared with the United States.
Bolton intended to refer to Syrian Kurdish rebels fighting alongside the United States against the Islamic State, but struck a nerve by using imprecise language and appearing to dictate to Erdogan, U.S. and Turkish officials said.
The remarks immediately upended negotiations in Ankara between Turkish officials and Trump’s new special envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, James Jeffrey, who was angered by the misstep, according to three people familiar with the negotiations.
Erdogan said that Bolton made a “serious mistake,” and his pro-government English-language paper, Daily Sabah, said Bolton was orchestrating a “soft coup against Trump” from inside his administration. “It was probably a bad idea for Bolton to go rogue and try to impose conditions on the United States withdrawal from Syria,” the paper said.
The Turkish leader refused to meet with Bolton, who returned early to Washington, and told others that he does not believe the U.S. national security adviser speaks for the Trump administration, a person familiar with his comments said.
Bolton did see other Turkish officials in what one official familiar with the trip described as an effort to “get Trump’s ill-considered leap to withdraw from Syria into a better place — a slower pace of withdrawal with assurances from Turkey not to target” the fighters.
Bolton’s trip was “entirely unfortunate,” said one adviser to Trump, who along with U.S. officials, former officials and international diplomats requested anonymity to describe the chaotic process more freely.
“They screwed this whole thing up, and it didn’t have to be this way,” the adviser said. “It could have been a defensible decision, done thoughtfully.”
Edited from: “They Screwed This Whole Thing Up: Inside The Attempt To Derail Trump’s Erratic Syria Withdrawal”
THE WASHINGTON POST, 1/13/19
Bolton’s mouth went rogue
here is a far better article than the Wapo garbage
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-13/embarrassing-speeches-signs-dying-empire
“Trump Dodges Question On Whether He Has Worked For Russia”
This is what the scum of the earth repeat. I hadn’t listened to the interview but decided to listen to it once Peter decided to play in his typical scummy fashion. The headline has nothing to do with what was said. The President was very strong in denial.
“…have you ever worked for Russia…” was the question
Trump responded very strongly: “‘‘I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked. I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written, and if you read the article you’ll see that they found absolutely nothing.’’
…“The headline of that article its called the failing NYTimes for a reason.” (The President discussed this question with regard to the NYTimes where it was originally written).
…“the whole Russia thing is a hoax…total hoax…everybody knows there was no collusion..
All of this is a rehash of garbage nonsense with “dirty players”
Take note how it is unnamed annonymous sources “White House aides expressed regret”. One can always find someone that has some type of regret and the news media can create a story off of nothing. Who cares what anyone says. They can walk in the halls and get opinions from all sorts of aids that haven’t even finished their educations.
The discussion should be listened to by everyone. Trump’s responses to Pirro should garner him respect and or praise unless one is nothing more than a bit of scum in the pond. Is that what you are, Peter?
.
Allan, to me that reply is New York Mafia speak for “they got nothing on me”; an evasion, not a denial.
But maybe I have watched too many movies.
David, make it simple. That denial was as strong a denial as possible and the cr-p posted by Peter (dodged…) was a lie based on anonymous talk that likely didn’t arise from anyone with knowledge if anyone actually existed. There are a lot of government employees that hate Trump and are willing to say anything anonymously. Additionally, if you actually listened to the President’s interview you would hear the words directly and totally understand it was a denial of something that was an outright lie. Start listening to Pirro so that you can hear what people actually say on her program.
Did you hear the interview?
Can you name the people that made their comment?
Almost all these words “aides expressed regret that the president did not more clearly and forcefully deny being a Russian agent when asked by the usually friendly Fox News host” are clearly a setup by the The NYTimes. This is not even debateable except by freaks who think or promote such garbage.
The NY Times finally got in on the act and propaganda triumverate of CNN, WaPo and NYT is coimplete. MSNBC… They bark when CNN and the others snap their fingers
Allan, BBC News has a direct disclaimer quote in today’s story.
” BBC News has a direct disclaimer quote in today’s story.”
Bravo for BBC News. The Boston Globe, WaPo and NYSlimes stories were all trying to set a phony stage with their headlines and initial sentences. That is the type of news Peter Shill loves to read. He doesn’t bother with the actual statements made nor does he care when he is sucked into a lie.
Allan, checking in The Guardian, he didn’t say it until today, Monday. What was reported about Saturday stands.
He said it on Saturday to Pirro but used different words. Did you listen to the interview? I thought not. He was very clear.
yes it was puerile
LATE4DINNER FAILS TO ANSWER, WHEN ASKED IF SHE IS, OR HAS BEEN, A COMMIE.
JUST MINUTES AGO, ON TODAY’S THREAD ABOUT COHEN’S UPCOMING CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY, LATE4DINNER DODGES QUESTION ABOUT HER CURRENT OR PAST COMMIE TIES.
Tom, she sounds like a person brought up in a Stalinist home that became part of the New Left because the former generation of leftists was too embarrassing.
As far as Michael Cohen goes, what does a liar do? He lies for personal advantage. Can anything said by Michael Cohen be considered true? No. He can only lead them to the alleys and they have to go from there.
Funny joke, Tom. But certain parties on this thread are still obsessed with communists. So I wouldn’t doubt if someone asked that.
they aren’t called Communists anymore. International socialists will do or just plain secular regressive socialist liberals the only other choice of which they have some are national socialists. What they don’t have are Constitutionalists and USA citizens.
Actually, I think the Communist Party is still the 2nd largest political party in Russia.
I don’t know how “hard-line” they are today, but anyway, they’re still around.
Peter, you think the ideas behind fascism and collectivism have disappeared. You better start reading a bit more then just those that appologize for their lack of appreciation of the words in the Declaration of Independence.
You don’t seem to accept or understand the meaning behind the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Nor do you seem to understand the meaning behind the First Amendment or a few of the others. You are a total dupe.
I think certain people on this thread are obsessed with Russians, as much as some were obsessed with finding Communists everywhere and anywhere.
I don’t watch Pirro, but given that she was laughing, and asked “are you now or have you”, I think she was spoofing the old line “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?”
I contacted a lawyer once for an issue ( civil matter) that might require some action beyond letter writing.
Given that the city was relatively small, I wanted to be fairly sure that there was no conflict in case he might have a client “on the other side” of the issue.
It was a situation where he would not have necessarily known if a conflict existed, since he probably would not know if a particular client had a relationship with company I was at odds with.
So I rattled of a list of about a dozen names, asking if there might be any potential conflicts.
( I had, and have, a strong belief in this guy’s integrity, so if there might be a conflict, he would have let me know).
After rattling off the string of “do you represent or have you represented” questions were done, I impusively threw in the “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party” question as a joke.
He didn’t know me very well, gave me kind of a quizzical look for several seconds, then started to chuckle when he realized that I was pulling his leg with that final ” question”.
i have watched her a couple times. she’s hot. hard to believe she’s 67. really hot for a lawyer, too. wowser
i am reading an important historical work by a communist sympathizer that is very well written and enjoyable by edgar snow. I find Mao Zedong and enigmatic figure and really like learning about the history
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-over-China-Communism-ebook/dp/B005012G0G
i may follow up with the book by Frank Diktotter about the Great Famine they caused the deaths of tens of millions in China
I think I am obsessed not with communists per se but with communitarian political movements in history all the way back to Sparta
Good for you.
biékèqi. i am also studying mandarin.
Easy to translate Commie is short for Communist which is international socialist which also begat progessive liberals aka secular progressive. To be a member one has to reject thei rUSA citizenship and any oaths of office to the Constitution and pledge allegiance to ….. the foreign ideology just described.
Another offshoot is national socialism an offshoot or the right wing of the left where the center moves from the dash between Marx and Engels to the ‘and’ between Adolf/Benito and Marx/Lenin.
For recent examples see Comrade Ocasio four lies when taking the oath of Office. OR Comrade Pelosi’s failure to not let Comrade Ocasio take the oath and eject her.
The rest is just window trimming and Comrade bloody chuck the former Jew turned islamic Jihadist Supporter.
All are anti Kurdish.
And here I thought that Teddy Roosevelt was the first progressive. 🙁
mike this business of equating communism with german national socialism and italian fascism is an erroneous and at best superficial political analysis in many ways. it comes mostly from leonard peikoff ayn rand’s disciple who wrote a book about it, many decades ago. i forget the name. the meme goes forward strongly today however flawed
a better book is roger griffin’s Fascism
here is an article that says trump is not fascist either and explains why
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/12/10/9886152/donald-trump-fascism
another interesting theoretical work besides roger griffin is baron julius evola’s book “fascism viewed from the right” but they call him a fascist so lol wth
The Donald doesn’t have the intelligence to be a fascist. He is a member of the mafia, Manhattan branch.
David, he has succeeded in business and President. That is a lot more than you have to show so I don’t think he lacks intelligence. Further it doesn’t take a lot of intelligence to be a fascist, just look at the fascist left and some of them on this blog and you will see they aren’t that intelligent.
Can you offer proof Trump is a member of the “mafia, Manhattan branch”? Of course not and that type of statement makes you look foolish and forces people to ask you for a citation which you won’t provide.
preposterous
it doesnt take much sense to see that the answer was NO
Good column.
Mr. Erdogan is a bully boy who loves to push the west; hitting the Kurds would serve that purpose and weaken a despised minority.
But. The Turkish economy is weak – recent actions by the U.S. have demonstrated just how fragile it is. Add the risk is a global recession 2019 and the Turks are potentially dangling in the wind.
Plus a lot of Middle Eastern powers such Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia (ironical) would like to see Mr. Erdogan taken down a peg or two.
This would be a good time for Mr. Erdogan to not say/do anything. That is what a smart man would do.
What are the odds of that?
That would work in a Consitutional Reupublic but not in a country that has a handful of black robed rogue dictators where one man rule rules unless we get one more on the bench and somehow they Supremes get control of their employees.
he is pretty damned smart alright and a hell of a survivor
I don’t like him nor care much for the turks but he’s an impressive chieftain