Turkish troops launch offensive into northern Syria, says Erdogan

[Shadowferal]

The only one happy is Russia.

[ParanoiD84]

The only one happy is Russia.

Israel too.

[Shadowferal]

Israel too.

No...they're not.

[Kuntantee]

@Shalker

What is Russia's stance on East of Euphrates? SAA is intending to shield YPG. We could decimate them if it wasn't for Russian backing. Do you think Russia will leave East to Turkey, up to 35km? I feel like otherwise will lead to greater conflict.

[Gaidax]

Israel too.

You kidding? Israel is one of the losing sides in this arrangement, allies reliability issues aside - Assad is going to get a huge chunk of Syria back and a good infusion of fresh blood into his ranks. Aside from Iran, Assad's Syria is like the biggest pain in the ass for Israel.

[Kuntantee]

Turkish backed troops acting like isis and now also releasing isis members, good stuff lmao who honestly didnt see this coming? i hope syria backs the kurds and engage turkey if needs be, then maby russia jumps on turkey too and later iran as they dont like erdogan one bit.

Stop repeating brianless propaganda you are fed on twitter here. Let informed people discuss.

[Edge-]

I'm going entirely off TV/movies here but IIRC the executive branch (white house) has superiority over the legislative branch (congress) regarding matters of war.

We need some Americans to finish work early and explain it to us lol.

They have no control over the military (short of authorizing US entry into a war), but they do control the purse strings and have some other tools. I don't think they have the authority to, say, withdraw troops abroad directly, but I think they still have authority to de-facto do so via other avenues (moving funding around etc.)

TV/movies are a bad place to learn about the function of the US government though, I wouldn't treat them remotely seriously.

[Breccia]

Says that congress can go against a presidents veto with 2/3

It does, but Trump didn't veto anything. He just got a phone call from Erdogan and suddenly decided "time to move troops to Saudi oil fields".

[ParanoiD84]

Stop repeating brianless propaganda you are fed on twitter here. Let informed people discuss.

Hah i dont think so. You deny what turkish backed troops are doing there? garbage troops for garbage Erdogan.

- - - Updated - - -

You kidding? Israel is one of the losing sides in this arrangement, allies reliability issues aside - Assad is going to get a huge chunk of Syria back and a good infusion of fresh blood into his ranks. Aside from Iran, Assad's Syria is like the biggest pain in the ass for Israel.

Ah right forgot that syria and israel hate eachother good call, guess israel can just sit back and watch this incoming slaughter though.

[telygroar]

Annnd syrian regime start to ally with kurd vs turks.

[Kreuger]

It does, but Trump didn't veto anything. He just got a phone call from Erdogan and suddenly decided "time to move troops to Saudi oil fields".

just saw this:

But wouldnt a order from the president to pull out be similar to a veto in the sense that congress would be able to reverse it?

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/break...n-immediately/

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA on Monday announced that she and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) agreed to “a bipartisan, bicameral joint resolution to overturn the President’s dangerous decision in Syria immediately.”"

[ParanoiD84]

No...they're not.

Yes.... they do haha just kidding yeah messed up my nations there in this madness.

[Shadowferal]

US cedes Syrian city to Russia

[Rasulis]

I was listening to NPR interview with a Marine Raider based at Camp Pendleton this morning. He was providing training to the Kurds. He was trying to be diplomatic, but he definitely was not happy getting pulled out of Syria.

[Edge-]

I was listening to NPR interview with a Marine Raider based in Camp Pendleton this morning. He was providing training to the Kurds. He was trying to be diplomatic, but he definitely was not happy getting pulled out of Syria.

From what I've heard, most troops deployed to help train the Kurds have a similar view, and some aren't afraid of sharing that view more vocally. And they're right, because they have a sense of responsibility and loyalty to our allies they were helping on the ground.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...b63_story.html

JERUSALEM — The abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and subsequent Turkish attacks on Kurdish fighters have badly rattled Israel’s national security experts, who decried President Trump’s action as a betrayal of loyal allies and evidence that Israel’s most vital supporter is a fickle friend at best.

Israeli officials reportedly had no warning of the withdrawal, which the White House announced Sunday after a call between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Other than expressing support for the Kurds, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said little publicly about Trump’s move, which came just as Israel was marking the anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. But Israeli media have been dominated by critics from all parts of Israel’s fractious political spectrum worried that American dependability is cracking at a volatile moment in the region.

Not much going on, just Trump damaging our strong relationships with allies.

[ParanoiD84]

Think most Kurds there respect the US soldiers/special forces soldiers they have been fighting with and been trained by are only pissed with trump and the other decision makers.

Here is one example of a kurdish soldier that's been fighting isis (pussies) since he was 16. As you can see he wears the US flags as a sign of respect for them, doubt they change their minds because of what that idiot trump does.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryPor...fighting_isis/
https://i.redd.it/9ikkgt5986r31.jpg
And i think alot of us soldiers would be more then happy to help them there, must be frustrating as fuck.

James Mattis also predicted all this way back, the reason he left was also the US desition to leave syria or ithdraw troops, he also always said that they should help/protect their allies there. He must also be mad as hell or frustrated.

[Thekri]

just saw this:

But wouldnt a order from the president to pull out be similar to a veto in the sense that congress would be able to reverse it?

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/break...n-immediately/

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA on Monday announced that she and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) agreed to “a bipartisan, bicameral joint resolution to overturn the President’s dangerous decision in Syria immediately.”"

This is just sanctions. Which do fuck all to help in this situation. It doesn't overturn anything.

I don't know how it would even work to do the withdrawal order, military decision making has always belonged in the executive branch because military operations don't typically have the luxury of waiting around while congressional committees scrape together a bill that allows them to take their next move. If, theoretically speaking, Congress could pass a bill preventing Trump from ordering the military out of Syria, what would that leave the Troops to do? Their tactical situation has collapsed, and their positions are increasingly untenable, an order to stay could easily just result in them getting killed.

As much as I would love one, there just isn't an undo button on this sort of disaster. Once the President committed to it we were completely screwed, and there is no longer a way out. We don't have the leverage to stop Turkey, short of open warfare anyway, and we no longer have the trust of the Kurds.

[ati87]

Is it really a conspiracy to say his motive is resettlement?

You mean of the Syrian refugees or the Kurdish forces who won the area from ISIS? Regardless though you can speculate about his motives but then you could come up with a dozen other reasons.

Personally I think that he has been in power for way to long but if you are going top criticize somebody do it based around facts. His self-dealing or his changing of laws to keep himself in power.

Currently the Right-wing warmongers are opposed to Turkey, Netanyahu and the likes of Saudi Arabia. If they are your opposition than you are doing something right.

[Shadowferal]

Trump confirmed that the small number of U.S. troops at a base in southern Syria will remain there.

-----------------

Maybe that little talk with Graham didn't go well.

[Gamevizier]

One problematic issue with Kurds is that they have always sought foreign support to help them gain autonomy and that has earned the ire of the regional powers who then use the Kurd's relations with the west as sign of Kurds being "western agents" who want to sow chaos and insecurity in the region. And in many cases that's a good enough excuse to gather internal support to start a military campaign against the Kurds.

Kurds need to find a regional ally and align themselves with that power instead of relying on distant powers like America to help them out. Because the US will one day lose interest in the Middle East (many argue that they already have) and once they leave, the regional powers will try to fill the vacuum, and guess who they go after first: the factions that relied on the US. We've seen it happen in Afghanistan with the Taliban, and we saw it in Iraq when Iraqi forces rolled into the Kurdistan region and now we're seeing it in Syria.