Trump practically hands Syria to Russia

[Heladys]

Giving a nation in conflict to Putin is a terrible idea, but i guess Trump thinks he's a good guy

Has nothing to do with it. Has everything to do with how Putin is gonna pay Trump for doing it.

[Skroe]

Just goes to show, don't ever fucking trust the US. They'll pull the carpet right out from under you.

The US was the victim of a Russian intelligence operation. It's doubtful anyone in the defense establishment thought this was a good idea.

This almost certainly comes from the Putinists in the White House.

[Shalcker]

The US was the victim of a Russian intelligence operation. It's doubtful anyone in the defense establishment thought this was a good idea.

This almost certainly comes from the Putinists in the White House.

It would seem that McMaster and Mike Pompeo are Putinists then, since "Officials told the Washington Post that Trump made the decision to scrap the CIA program nearly a month ago, after an Oval Office meeting with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and national security adviser H.R. McMaster".

[Vizardlorde]

I feel bad for the Kurds.

[primalmatter]

Kills support for the US among the region's moderates (even outside of Syria,) gives Russia an official uncontested extended sphere of influence, and we lose our ability to tell Turkey to step off which means more advanced weapons going into the hands of the more extreme groups and killing of our Kurdish allies.

Getting into this extended mess to begin with was a blunder by the previous administration but bowing out now in this way sets up the region to be an even bigger disaster. It wouldn't be so bad if there was any inclination of what concessions would be made to benefit the US but we've heard of none.

Basically, this solely benefits Russia at the cost of US support and there's no mention of what would be given to the US in return, if anything. It could be a potentially worthwhile deal or a foreign policy fiasco.

The population already hates us... why not just walk away from a mess rather then see how much of a blunder we could make it.

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Last time we did something like and cut and ran it was too a guy named Osama Bin Laden. This is a bad idea on historic levels of stupidity.

You have no idea what our relationship was to him do you?

[Rukh]

I feel bad for the Kurds.

Fortunately they're used to being betrayed I guess. Mark another ally in the region off our list though.

[Bullettime]

The population already hates us... why not just walk away from a mess rather then see how much of a blunder we could make it.

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You have no idea what our relationship was to him do you?

Because us walking away from the mess in this way turns it into an even bigger shitstorm 5-10 years down the road. It gives Russia an immediate win and regional influence while Turkey who will immediately move into Syria will destabilize it far worse than it already is while killing our Kurdish allies. Something that is going to have ramifications regarding their continued support in other regions.

And speaking of the Kurds, they were already burned by the US/west before and getting their support back was hard enough. This is a shot through their damn heart and is how you make more enemies in a region and create further extremism.

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The US was the victim of a Russian intelligence operation. It's doubtful anyone in the defense establishment thought this was a good idea.

This almost certainly comes from the Putinists in the White House.

There were some pushing for it but with extreme concessions. It was a universal opinion that dropping out alone is a fucking horrible idea. We haven't heard a peep about what those concessions are, if there's any, since the deal was agreed upon. That's the concerning part to me. If we're going to fuck up the region even worse for the sole benefit of an enemy nation, there damn sight better be reasonable concessions.

[Stormdash]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.ba63734bb254

Long story short, in addition to the cease fire agreement, Trump has now ordered the CIA to stop arming anti Assad rebels with weaponry to fight the regime. Given our no boots on the ground policy and Putin's backing of Assad, this is effectively the US pulling itself out of Syria at the request of Moscow with Trump agreeing to set the plan in motion.

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One other concern here is that the CIA's operation was basically controlling who got what weaponry. With that no longer being the case, Turkey can move forward with supplying weapons to who THEY see fit which means more dangerous weapons falling into the hands of the more extremist groups involved in the anti Assad effort. The US has been blocking them for awhile.

So what exactly are we gaining from this? It's a pretty solid blow to the US's standing in the region, loses our support from moderate groups fighting, hands Assad and Putin control of the region, and puts worse weapons in the hands of worse people.

By anti-Assad rebels, of course, one actually means al Qaeda. 99.44% of "anti-Assad rebels" who are actually taking up arms are jihadist nutjobs trying to overthrow the secular dictator, just as we abetted in Libya and Egypt. Assad is scum, but he is the scum that best serves American interests. Get so sick of people talking about Syrian rebels like it's Eddie Redmayne about to burst into song over there.

[Slirith]

Trump and his ilk are retards, news at 11.

[Draco-Onis]

By anti-Assad rebels, of course, one actually means al Qaeda. 99.44% of "anti-Assad rebels" who are actually taking up arms are jihadist nutjobs trying to overthrow the secular dictator, just as we abetted in Libya and Egypt. Assad is scum, but he is the scum that best serves American interests. Get so sick of people talking about Syrian rebels like it's Eddie Redmayne about to burst into song over there.

Assad is now and forever Putin's slave, Russia and the US goals are not exactly aligned.

[Bullettime]

By anti-Assad rebels, of course, one actually means al Qaeda. 99.44% of "anti-Assad rebels" who are actually taking up arms are jihadist nutjobs trying to overthrow the secular dictator, just as we abetted in Libya and Egypt. Assad is scum, but he is the scum that best serves American interests. Get so sick of people talking about Syrian rebels like it's Eddie Redmayne about to burst into song over there.

And the US pulling out means those same nutjobs are being backed and armed by Turkey who the US has been fighting with since the initiative began since Turkey wants to move in and give them heavy artillery and fucking MANPADS. The US being involved allowed a more controlled way of delivering arms and avoiding the most extreme of the anti Assad groups while also keeping the Kurds in the fight.

Stopping this initiative means we're also throwing the Kurds to the wolves. They're not going to stay in the fight if Turkey is ready to move in, arm everyone with even more extreme shit, and kill THEM in the process even though they're supposed to be on the same side.

Assad doesn't serve our interests at all. The rebels technically didn't either and us getting involved to this degree was a mistake, But now the game board has been set and we've been playing it for a few years now. Suddenly up and quitting is going to be pretty disastrous unless we get something of real value in return to offset this.

This is how you create another Al'Qaeda.

That's why even the anti involvement members working in our state, intelligence, and defense departments haven't been pushing for us to withdraw yet unless we get something super valuable back.

[Stormdash]

Assad is now and forever Putin's slave, Russia and the US goals are not exactly aligned.

You and your worst enemy can both be at the same traffic light going in different directions, it's still in both of your best interests that the traffic light function.

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And the US pulling out means those same nutjobs are being backed and armed by Turkey who the US has been fighting with since the initiative began since Turkey wants to move in and give them heavy artillery and fucking MANPADS. The US being involved allowed a more controlled way of delivering arms and avoiding the most extreme of the anti Assad groups while also keeping the Kurds in the fight.

Stopping this initiative means we're also throwing the Kurds to the wolves. They're not going to stay in the fight if Turkey is ready to move in, arm everyone with even more extreme shit, and kill THEM in the process even though they're supposed to be on the same side.

Assad doesn't serve our interests at all. The rebels technically didn't either and us getting involved to this degree was a mistake, But now the game board has been set and we've been playing it for a few years now. Suddenly up and quitting is going to be pretty disastrous unless we get something of real value in return to offset this.

This is how you create another Al'Qaeda.

The Kurds already saw the wolf-throwing coming, they've mostly suspended offensive operations and turtled up because they know, always should have known, the US was never going to have their back on keeping any lands gained. We are pretty dirty hands in all of this, meaning the US, I have no problem saying so.

Assad is a moot point. He's not going anywhere. Not unless NATO wants to take a swipe at conventional-edition World War III. There are two roads, both of them end with Assad still in power in Syria; one of them ends with a whole lot of Islamist scum dead and ISIS wiped out. I like that one more.

[Bullettime]

You and your worst enemy can both be at the same traffic light going in different directions, it's still in both of your best interests that the traffic light function.

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The Kurds already saw the wolf-throwing coming, they've mostly suspended offensive operations and turtled up because they know, always should have known, the US was never going to have their back on keeping any lands gained. We are pretty dirty hands in all of this, meaning the US, I have no problem saying so.

Assad is a moot point. He's not going anywhere. Not unless NATO wants to take a swipe at conventional-edition World War III. There are two roads, both of them end with Assad still in power in Syria; one of them ends with a whole lot of Islamist scum dead and ISIS wiped out. I like that one more.

And you're ignoring the severe consequences that come with Turkey moving into the region and our CIA operation being the only reason we've been able to keep them out.

[Stormdash]

And you're ignoring the severe consequences that come with Turkey moving into the region and our CIA operation being the only reason we've been able to keep them out.

I don't ignore them, I simply concede that there is nothing we can do about it that's worth it's weight in American blood and treasure. Erdogan is barely better than Assad, if at all, but he is our Happy Friendly (comically over-expanded) NATO Ally, after all.

[AkundaMrdal]

Good, the day US and others stop messing with sovereign countries world will be safer. Nothing good ever came by arming terrorists and rebels. You created chaos on the ME and now Europe is paying price.

[Bullettime]

Good, the day US and others stop messing with sovereign countries world will be safer. Nothing good ever came by arming terrorists and rebels. You created chaos on the ME and now Europe is paying price.

Except Turkey is already planning on moving in and doing far worse for stability AND still want to kill all the Kurds.

The US was keeping them out and trying to maintain a controlled chaos. Wait until Erdogan is sending the most extreme of the rebel parties MANPADS and even artillery. It's not like he hadn't been trying.

[Deleted]

Laughing my ass off at the bunch of peaceful (haha) liberals here, and on various other comment sections, who suddenly become pro-interventionism because of "Muh Russia". Fun times we're living in!

[Xeones]

I feel bad for the Kurds.

We've turned our backs on them time and time again yet they have remained our best allies in the region.

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Laughing my ass off at the bunch of peaceful (haha) liberals here, and on various other comment sections, who suddenly become pro-interventionism because of "Muh Russia". Fun times we're living in!

I like how people post garbage like this while refusing to wonder why they might think the way they do.

[MoanaLisa]

The move to stop supporting Syrian rebels isn't exactly intuitive with his earlier bombing of that Syrian airfield. The obvious answer is that he has new orders from elsewhere. It will be pretty interesting to see how elected Republicans in the House and Senate react to this. I know that Graham is already steamed about it. See if anyone else is.

It seems as if it's still pretty dangerous to be a D.C. elected Republican who is in outright opposition to the President.

[Celista]

There's also no clear sign of what the US is getting in exchange.

Oh I can think of something that Trump got in exchange. Might rhyme with "erection".