[Peace] [Peace-discuss] Fwd: Reactions To Trump’s Syria Withdrawal Plan Say More Than The Plan Itself

Thu Dec 20 20:58:08 UTC 2018

Ted Lieu and Ro Khanna have praised Trump's announcement.

Khanna:

https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1075570933237202944

Lieu was first. We did a petition in support of Lieu's statement yesterday.

Stand w @TedLieu: Back @POTUS move to end unconstitutional Syria war, bring
troops home
https://www.change.org/p/stand-w-tedlieu-back-potus-move-to-end-unconstitutional-syria-war-bring-troops-home

===

Robert Reuel Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1

On Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 2:02 PM C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss <
peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From: *Caitlin Johnstone <donotreply at wordpress.com>
> *Subject: **[New post] Reactions To Trump’s Syria Withdrawal Plan Say
> More Than The Plan Itself*
> *Date: *December 20, 2018 at 8:26:15 AM CST
> *To: *cgestabrook at gmail.com
>
> New post on *Caitlin Johnstone*
> <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2> Reactions To Trump’s Syria
> Withdrawal Plan Say More Than The Plan Itself
> <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/12/20/reactions-to-trumps-syria-withdrawal-plan-say-more-than-the-plan-itself/>
> by Caitlin Johnstone <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2>
>
> President Trump has ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, which
> is reportedly expected to take 60-100
> <https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/19/us-wants-to-pull-troops-from-syria-as-trump-declares-victory-over-isis.html>
>  days or 30 days
> <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/trump-syria-turkey-troop-withdrawal.html>
>  depending on who you ask. According to Kurdish forces in eastern Syria
> the withdrawal of American as well as French
> <https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/kurdish-forces-confirm-us-and-french-forces-began-withdrawal-from-east-syria/>
>  troops is already underway, though France is saying it's staying
> <https://www.dawn.com/news/1452578>. The number of troops to be withdrawn
> which keeps getting repeated in the news is 2,000, but there've been
> reports
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/world/syria/us-troops-in-syria/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8a053c8a5664>that
> the actual number of US ground troops in Syria is closer to 4,000. The
> US-led airstrike campaign against Islamic State will reportedly continue
> <http://archive.is/Oi4gM#selection-1375.0-1375.303>.
>
> Trump says
> <https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1075528854402256896> the
> withdrawal is because ISIS has been defeated in Syria, but others are
> pointing to the conspicuous timing of his recent chat with Turkey's
> President Tayyip Erdoğan, who has announced a coming military operation
> <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey/erdogan-says-trump-positive-on-turkish-military-plan-to-push-east-in-syria-idUSKBN1OG16T>
>  against Kurdish forces in Syria east of the Euphrates in the near
> future, as the more likely reason. An anonymous senior US official has
> told *Reuters*
> <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-syria-official/trump-did-not-discuss-syria-pullout-with-erdogan-in-advance-u-s-official-idUSKCN1OI2JE>
>  that the two leaders didn't discuss a US withdrawal from Syria, but the
> timing of the conversation as well as a recent $3.5 billion arms deal
> <https://thedefensepost.com/2018/12/19/us-approves-patriot-turkey-sale/> with
> Turkey indicates the the US withdrawal and Erdoğan's planned military
> assault could very well be related. The Kurds put all their eggs in the
> basket of US support out of a desire to create their own nation, and a US
> withdrawal means they'll be forced to either court an alliance with
> Damascus, as some analysts
> <https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1075459919871139840> believe
> will happen, or risk being trapped between hostile Turkish forces and
> hostile Syrian coalition forces as the Assad government races to reclaim
> Syrian territory
> <https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/12/report-us-to-leave-syria-immediately.html#more>
> .
>
> Beyond that, it's hard to tell what's actually happening. I'll be
> astonished if there is an actual US withdrawal from Syria without any
> residual or proxy forces left behind, and it remains extremely possible
> that US troops won't leave at all, especially if another conveniently timed
> "chemical weapons attack" gets attributed to Damascus. This administration
> has been going back and forth and back and forth about what its Syria
> policy actually is ever since Trump took office, and it won't be the least
> bit surprising if we end up seeing very little change in US military
> presence. Things could very well just get shuffled around a bit and then
> re-settle as power struggles are sorted out within an administration that
> is endlessly in conflict with itself.
>
> Everything I've just typed is basically a jumbled information salad of
> possibilities and speculation; it's just me saying "Here's what little we
> know, now we wait and see" and then shrugging. The real information that we
> can look at right now is the absolutely bizarre bipartisan response that
> Trump's announcement has elicited.
>
> Trump gave Putin a big Christmas present this year: Syria.
>
> — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 19, 2018
> <https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/1075486341037731845?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
>
> As soon as Trump announced via Twitter his intent to withdraw troops from
> Syria, everyone has been losing their minds. Virtually every liberal media
> outlet has reacted hysterically, with the *New York Times* editorial board
>  condemning the decision <http://archive.is/nhPJV>, along with multiple
> CNN and MSNBC releases and Rachel Maddow going full Rachel Maddow
> <https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1075583466807410689> but with
> Turkey this time. Senators Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Jeanne Shaheen, Tom
> Cotton, Angus King and Joni Ernst wrote Trump a bipartisan letter warning
> that a US withdrawal "may embolden Bashar al Assad to take further actions
> to solidify his power" inside the country he is the president of. Hollywood
> celebrities like Bette Midler
> <https://twitter.com/BetteMidler/status/1075492089046163457>, Mia Farrow
> <https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow/status/1075411021165150208> and Cher
> <https://twitter.com/cher/status/1075634548442984449> burst out of their
> dust pods of irrelevance to scream at everyone that limitless US military
> expansionism is glorious and desirable. Max Boot, the legendary Man Who Is
> Always Wrong About Everything, declared
> <https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/1075484246318505984> that Trump is
> giving a "gift to Iran, Russia, ISIS, and Assad" by exiting.
>
> That word "gift" appeared again and again and again and again. The *New
> York Times*editorial board declared "An American withdrawal would also be
> a gift to Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, who has been working hard to
> supplant American influence in the region, as well as to Iran, which has
> also expanded its regional footprint." Victoria Nuland in the Washington
> Post declared
> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-a-single-tweet-trump-destroys-us-policy-in-the-middle-east/2018/12/19/eb423434-03da-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html?utm_term=.3af9aa857013>
>  that "With his decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria,
> President Trump hands a huge New Year’s gift to President Bashar al-Assad,
> the Islamic State, the Kremlin and Tehran." The *New York Times*' Bret
> Stephens called it
> <https://twitter.com/BretStephensNYT/status/1075413215067168768> "A gift
> to Iran, Hezbollah, and Putin."
>
> And all the rank-and-file consumers of mass media are now parroting that
> talking point at every opportunity. Do a Twitter search for the words
> "gift" and "Syria" together as of this publishing and you'll come across
> not just blue-checkmarked establishment mouthpieces teaching that slogan to
> their followers, but countless ordinary people regurgitating it as well.
> Not because they believe in endless US military expansionism, not because
> they truly understand what's going on and take issue with it, but because
> they hate Trump and they were taught to repeat a specific line in order to
> criticize him.
>
> Trump's Syria strategy as a house sale:
>
> "Great, we are negotiating our departure from the house in hopes of
> protecting our interests in the neighborhood. Ok, the house is yours. We
> are moving out. Once we are gone, we'll start negotiating price."
>
> Art of the Idiotic Deal.
>
> — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 19, 2018
> <https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1075528248723935234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
>
> The thing about this "gift" idea, and really with all the criticisms that
> are being leveled against Trump's supposed troop withdrawal, is that they
> all have as their premise the assumption that Syria belongs to America.
> #Resistance pundit and tentacle porn aficionado Kurt Eichenwald even compared
> the withdrawal to a homeowner
> <https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1075528248723935234> giving
> away their home without negotiating a price first. All across the board in
> these criticisms there is this one bizarre assumption that is going
> completely unquestioned: that Syria is America's property, and ceasing to
> treat it as such would be giving that property away to someone else,
> whether it be Russia, Iran, or Syria's own government.
>
> But Syria is not America's property, and the US has never had any right to
> be there at all. Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, unlike the US, are in Syria at
> the invitation of the nation's only legitimate government. They are there
> fighting back the extremist forces which had captured large territories with
> the backing of the US and its allies
> <https://consortiumnews.com/2018/02/28/resisting-calls-to-do-something-about-syria/>
>  in an attempted regime change intervention which was planned long before
> violence erupted in 2011
> <https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-us-empire-has-been-trying-to-regime-change-syria-since-long-before-2011-40d4e6648d54>.
> All these pundits pontificating from their armchairs about retaining
> control of Syrian land in order to "counter the influence" of Iran or
> Russia are claiming that an invading, occupying force should retain control
> of a third of Syria
> <https://twitter.com/jwcglaser/status/1074014374241689604> in order to
> control what a sovereign nation does with its own allies.
>
> And that just says so much about the mentality of the American elite class
> and its lackeys. For the thought leaders of the US global order, and for
> the unthinking human livestock who follow their decrees, America is the
> only sovereign nation on earth. If China invaded the US and occupied a
> third of its territory in order to counter Canadian and British influence
> we'd be looking at World War Three that very day, but doing exactly that in
> a disobedient Middle Eastern country is looked at as so normal and routine
> that any apparent deviation from that strategy is regarded with shock and
> outrage. And the only thing that keeps this obvious discrepancy from being
> treated like the ridiculous power-serving double standard that it is is a
> claim to moral authority by a government which literally armed terrorists
> in Syria.
>
> Syria is not a "gift" that can be "given" to Putin, despite the blinkered
> American political climate which places everything in that asinine context.
> It's a country over which the United States has no legal authority, and
> never did, despite years of casualties and billions spent
> pic.twitter.com/7WztDNedt5 <https://t.co/7WztDNedt5>
>
> — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) December 19, 2018
> <https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1075465760368193543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
>
> So while the jumble of information and speculation about Trump's possible
> Syria maneuverings doesn't necessarily tell us a whole lot, the reaction to
> it tells us why the world looks the way it looks. The most powerful
> military force in the history of civilization inflicts violence and
> domination with total impunity and total disregard for national
> sovereignty, demanding total respect for its own borders and total
> compliance from all nations outside its borders. Nations which obey are
> absorbed into an alliance that is so tight and streamlined it can
> effectively be called an empire, while nations which disobey are invaded,
> occupied, disrupted and destroyed.
>
> I write about the United States so much partly for the same reason I'd
> keep an eye on a guy at the bar who was always walking around knocking
> people off their chairs and drinking their beer, and partly because a
> conscious relationship with the concept of sovereignty is so very, very
> important if we're to learn to survive the troubles we're facing as a
> species. Sovereignty is what personal, political, and societal problems all
> ultimately boil down to. Becoming conscious of all the myriad ways we
> extend beyond our own sovereign boundaries and intrude into the sovereignty
> of others, be they personal, ideological, national, or ecosystemic, is the
> path toward creating a world wherein we can all collaborate with each other
> and with our environment in the interests of the greater good.
>
> We've got to evolve beyond this mentality of intrusive domination which is
> so aggressively promoted as normal by the mass media. The idea that it's
> okay for a powerful nation to insert its military force into a weaker
> nation in order to manipulate geopolitical dynamics to its advantage is a
> sickness, and we need to heal it.
>
> ______________________
>
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> *Caitlin Johnstone <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2>* | December
> 20, 2018 at 2:25 pm | Tags: #Trump
> <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=trump>, government
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> <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=media>, Politics
> <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=politics>, Syria
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> <https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=withdrawal> |
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