6/16/2021

gaza

are you following gaza? it's never 'quiet' but it wasn't as intense due to the election that the government of israel held. now the election's over. no surprise, the violence is back. this is from today's morning edition on 'npr:'

LEILA FADEL, HOST: Israel says its fighter jets hit Hamas targets in Gaza earlier this morning. This - these are the first airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip still reeling after an uneasy cease-fire brought an end to an 11-day air war last month. In that violence, at least 250 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes, and at least 13 Israeli residents were killed by rockets that Hamas fired. The latest strikes happened after a march by Israeli nationalists that passed through Palestinian sectors of Jerusalem.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Shouting in non-English language).

FADEL: And all of this just three days into the new Israeli coalition government's term. For more on this, we turn to NPR's Deborah Amos. She's in Jerusalem. Hi, Deb.

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Hello.

FADEL: So what happened today? Is this shaky cease-fire over?

AMOS: Officially, no, but it's very striking. The Israeli military spokesman said this - any scenario is possible, including the resumption of hostilities. And this was after confirming that the airstrikes had happened. Now, a Hamas spokesman also confirmed those strikes. He didn't talk about retaliation. So read that tea leaf and, you know, we may go forward. Part of this may be that the rebuilding of Gaza is still on hold. Neither the Israelis or the Egyptians are willing to let funds into the Gaza Strip. So that may be why, you know, Hamas is holding back. It was a very tough night for Gaza civilians. They are deep into trauma after 11 days of airstrikes. There's still lots of disruption to electricity, to water, still piles of rubble everywhere. Life there for them is very grim.

FADEL: So what prompted this?

AMOS: Well, there was this day, yesterday, of rising tensions. We were out on the streets all day because of this so-called flag march. It's right-wing nationalists. It's been postponed twice. It went ahead yesterday. It was approved by the heads of the new coalition governments. It's this yearly event, and it marks Israel's capture of East Jerusalem more than 50 years ago in 1967. Palestinian leaders see it as a provocation. They called for a day of rage. And Israeli police dispersed Palestinian demonstrators with rubber bullets. They were on horseback. They were using this terrible-smelling water called skunk water.

and here's the latest from 'the electronic intifada.'



 be sure to read ava and c.i.'s 'TV: Moments of Wonder.'  here's 'the gay gaston.'







let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'


 Wednesday, June 16, 2021.  What progress can the Iraqi government claim and look at Ana Kasparian pretending she's a sister who's been harassed.

Yesterday, the Government of Iraq Tweeted:


Cabinet Spokesperson, the Minister of Culture
@HassanNadhem
, holds a press conference in Baghdad to brief the media on today’s Cabinet meeting and developments in Iraq.
Image
1:37 PM · Jun 15, 2021


And how do you think those briefings go?


Our economy is still oil-based and we are in danger of being left behind should other countries seriously commit to renewable energy.  Part of the reason we fail repeatedly to attract foreign investment that would allow us to diversify our economy is due to our well known rampant corruption throughout the government.  The other part?  People are scared to do business with us.  Arresting and imprisoning Australian Robert Pether is not helping us there.  We have provided no real reason to the world for his arrest.  We have made no serious moves to hold a trial.  It appears to the world as though we just arrested him to either force better terms on our existing contract or to void the contract.  When we resort to kidnapping foreign business persons and throwing them in jail, we get a bad image on the stage?


Think it goes like that?  

Yesterday, DessyMac Tweeted:


Aust Eng Robert Pether & Egypt Khalid Zaghloul TRAPPED AND ILLEGALLY ARRESTED 69 days ago in Iraq. EMPLOYEES held as leverage in a CONTRACT DISPUTE. NO charges. IRAQ IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO WORK. #FREEROBERTPETHER #zahahadid
@cbiraq
#iraq #Australia #egypt #Engineer
Image
2:35 AM · Jun 15, 2021





Think they brought up Chatham House's paper, presented tomorrow, about Iraq's "politically sanctioned corruption"?


When they got around to the issue of  security, did it go something like this?


Iraq continues to maintain a standing army.  Though we have brought the various militias into the military -- guaranteeing a salary for them -- they continue to refuse to recognize the Prime Minister as the Commander and Chief of the military.  At the end of last month, when thug leader Qasim Muslah was arrested, his co-horts responded with threats, they stormed Baghdad and they encircled the Prime Minister's compound.  


#Iraq : Who will win show of force as commander in PMF Qasim Muslah is arrested on suspicion of orchestrating assassination of prominent pro-democracy activist? First top official in Hashd al-Shaabi arrested over wave of killings of activists since October 2019 - #قاسم_مصلح
Image
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1:58 PM · May 26, 2021


Mina al-Oraibi Tweeted earlier this month:


Iraq releases top Iran-backed militia commander Qassim Musleh. Courts claim it was due to lack of evidence, yet thousands of innocent Iraqis languish in prisons for YEARS without trial or evidence. thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/iraq

via

@TheNationalNews


 Adam Tweeted the following:


There is no security&no law to have fair election.Same faces if not worse (militias)will be elected this time. Imagine Qassim Musleh was freed as they provided the Judge with Musleh’s passport that he was in Iran at the time of the killings.They stamped it in the Iranian embassy
10:19 PM · Jun 11, 2021


Musleh’s has 4000 militia members under his control ,at least 100 members in his death squad . He would certainly send his thugs to commit crimes. He was freed for lack of evidence !!
10:19 PM · Jun 11, 2021



Where's the progress that they can note at any weekly meeting?  Just not feeling it.


Elections?


We're due to hold elections in October.  We still don't have basic laws in place though, like how to guarantee security during the election process.  We have, however, disqualified over 135 people from running for Parliament.  We've done little to ensure that Iraq's who have had to leave the country will be able to vote and, honestly, we don't much care about that.  We're really eager that we might be able to just not hold elections since Joe Biden is now US President.  Remember 2010?  We held elections in March of that year.  Nouri al-Maliki refused to step down despite losing.  For over eight months, the government came to a standstill until Joe Biden, then Vice President, oversaw The Erbil Agreement -- a contract that overthrew the election results and just gave Nouri a second term?  We're hoping he does something similar this year but sooner and before we have to hold elections and pay all the costs that will entail.



Over the weekend, THE NATIONAL offered:


Mr Al Kadhimi faces an uphill struggle reining in militias linked to powerful political parties backed by Iran, who gain funds from the Iraqi state and have infiltrated government ministries and the security forces.

These groups, including militias within the state-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), have been working to implement Tehran’s foreign policy in Iraq. These include the ousting of US and other foreign coalition forces invited by the Iraqi government to help fight ISIS.

Iran-backed PMF groups also stand accused of killing hundreds of Iraqi protesters who are demanding an end to Iranian-influence, corruption and poor services

Mr Al Kadhimi’s attempts to hold the groups to account have often stumbled.

In June 2020 the prime minister was pressured to release 14 members of the Kataib Hezbollah militia who were accused of attempting to fire rockets at foreign forces stationed within Baghdad international airport, and had been arrested at the scene by the state's Counter Terrorism Service.

Last week, the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council ordered the release of a PMF commander, Qassem Musleh, who was accused of murdering an activist and running protection rackets.

Militias are using murder and intimidation to force Mr Al Kadhimi into a corner and preserve their powerful role in the Iraqi state.

On June 7, the campaign to undermine his government took a more ominous turn when Col Nebras Shaban, an officer in the intelligence services, was shot dead near his home.


Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been prime minister since May 7, 2020.  As noted earlier, elections are expected to be held this coming October in Iraq.  A month or a couple of months from now, they may have a prime minister.  (2010 holds their longest record for the time between elections and announcing a prime minister-designate -- 2010 saw the process take over eight months due to the political stalemate).  Mustafa has not accomplished much.

His inability to protect the activists or to hold their murderers accountable has led some to say that they will be boycotting the upcoming elections.  Mustafa had a chance to turn it around earlier this month when he ordered the arrest of a militia thug but then the man was released without a trial.

Can he win over the activists -- and the many Iraqis who support the activists -- before the elections take place?  Who knows but Sura Ali (RUDAW) reported:


Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met on Saturday in Nasiriyah with protestors and the families of a number of activists who were killed in the October (Tishreen) 2019 movement, stating violence against activists comes as part of a “battle the state is waging against corruption.”

Kadhimi’s media office said the PM met the mother of protestor Omar Sadoun, one of dozens who were killed in the so-called Nasiriyah Massacre that occurred on November 28, 2019, one day after demonstrators torched the Iranian consulate. 

He also met with the family of Anas Malik, who died earlier in June of this year from wounds he sustained in the massacre two years ago. 

In addition, Kadhimi met the mother of a prominent Nasiriyah activist, Sajjad al-Iraqi, who disappeared on the evening of September 20, 2020, after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen. 

"The absence of activists and the assault on them comes as part of a battle waged by the state against corruption and devastation and the expansion of corrupt abusers…..the youth chose their place in the trench of confrontation with these people from the moment they went out to protest for Iraq," Kadhimi said.


Upcoming elections already carry a great deal of back door negotiating.  For example, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr already entered a conditional agreement with Mustafa regarding possible partnership and now Moqtada's attempting to seal a similar agreement with the Kurds.  Of elections in Iraq, Guy Burton (INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST)  observes:


There the connection between leaders and society has become weaker. Despite the presence of many political parties and electoral competition, many voters feel disconnected from the political process. The negotiations which take place to form governments after elections provide little space for the public while Iraq’s post-2003 governments have been perceived as distant and unrepresentative. That contributed to growing frustrations in society in relation to the lack of economic opportunities and income, poor public services, and growing public insecurity and disorder. This culminated in an outburst of protests during 2019 and 2020. As a result, when Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi came to power last year, he proposed to bring elections forward.


On the topic of upcoming elections in Iraq, Xofran el-Radi (JNHA WOMEN'S NEWS AGENCY)  reports:


Women were removed from all fields, from politics to social life, from art to economy for centuries. But women have reentered these fields after struggling for their rights all around the world. One of these fields is politics. Women have been struggling to be effective in this field. Women have been removed from this field in many countries. In many countries, women have been actively working in this field by participating in politics with the gender quota system.

In a world where women are murdered, subjected to violence, and to all kinds of injustice, women’s participation in politics is very important. Women’s participation in politics means that more laws will be enacted on issues such as violence against women, femicide, sexual abuse, suspicious deaths of women, and punishment of perpetrators. Last year, the Baghdadi government decided to hold a snap election and announced that the Iraqi parliamentary elections would be held on June 6 but were delayed as the Independent High Electoral Commission asked for more time to organize the elections. Iraqi women activists and members of the media have been carrying out awareness campaigns for the upcoming elections.


Women deal with real issue every day and around the world.  So I'm just not in the mood for bitches.  I'm less and less in the mood for bitches.  In fact, see February's "DUMB BITCHES or SISTERHOOD IS NO EXCUSE FOR PRAISING A BAD BOOK.''


Feminism is not your excuse for doing a sorry ass job.  Feminism is not a cloak that protects you from criticism.


I'm referring to the hideous Ana Kasparian who suffers from toxic masculinity but is now trying to cry and moan that she's been harassed by Jimmy Dore.  It was years ago but poor Ana didn't have the strength to speak up until now. Shudder, cry, sniffle, bad Jimmy, noted that her skirt was so short you could see her thong!  Oh the horror, oh the outrage.  It was like, Ana needs you to know, being raped.


So many ways to reply.  First off, dumb bitch, we aren't as stupid as you hope we are.


Bulls**t.  Thats the call to your claim.  You wore an outfit that was inappropriate.  Not the first time.  You wore it in the workplace.


Ana, you dress like a slut.  That assessment came from one of your co-workers years ago.  I've never spoken to Jimmy Dore, I don't know him.  But I am friends with a woman you worked with.  And you were an embarrassment.  "Slutting around"?  I use that term from time and that friend -- I'm sure you know which woman I'm talking about -- taught me that term and applied it to you.


You came in day after day, while she and other women were trying to get a toe-in at TYT and you'd be dressing like a slut, "goodies on display," as she said and flirting with men, hanging all over them.


That's you, Ana.


And you be you.  But don't turn around and whine that someone made a joke about your outfit. 


It was a pattern with you.


And it's not sexism.  It's you not knowing how to dress appropriately in the work place and not knowing how to keep your hands off men -- including Cenk.


Long before I could even put a face to your lousy name, I knew all about you.  And that was based on the opinion of women, actual feminists, who knew you and who worked with you.


Jimmy made a joke about your inappropriate outfit.  Get over yourself.


And stop pretending you're a feminist.  Your work demonstrates that you are not.


Women deal with real issues every day and you and TYT ignore that.  You offer smutty grabage not real issues and you do nothing for women so just drop the pretense.


Jimmy, a comedian, made a joke.  Get over yourself.


ADDED at 1:32 PM 6/16/21: And, Ana, your use of the term "f*g" not so long ago in the work place is also well known by people who worked with you -- as are your 'jokes' that speak of homophobia, so keep pulling at that strand and see where it lands you.


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6/15/2021

glenn greenwald and the gay gaston

 

i love chase rice's 'bedroom.'

now this is from glenn greenwald's latest:


On the fifth anniversary of the PULSE nightclub massacre in Orlando, numerous senators, politicians and activist groups commemorated that tragic event by propagating an absolute falsehood: namely, that the shooter, Omar Mateen, was motivated by anti-LGBT animus. The evidence is definitive and conclusive that this is false — Mateen, like so many others who committed similar acts of violence, was motivated by rage over President Obama's bombing campaigns in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and chose PULSE at random without even knowing it was a gay club — yet this media-consecrated lie continues to fester.

On Saturday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) falsely described the massacre as an "unspeakable act of hate toward the LGBTQ+ community.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) went even further, claiming “the LGBTQ+ community was targeted and killed—all because they dared to live their lives.” Her fellow Illinois Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, claimed forty-nine lives were lost due to “anti-LGBTQ hate” (he forgot the +). These false claims were compiled by the gay socialist activist Matt Thomas, who correctly objected: “the shooter literally picked PULSE at random from Google after security was too tight at the mall he went to first,” adding that while LGBT groups “are hopeless of course,” too much money and power is at stake for them to give up this self-serving fiction. But he asked, “Shouldn’t the bar be a little higher for senators?”

In the immediate aftermath of that horrific crime, it may have been reasonable for the public to speculate that Mateen, given his professed support for ISIS, chose PULSE because it was a gay club. That belief also neatly played into a liberal political agenda of highlighting anti-LGBT hate crimes, and also comported with the dual stereotypes of the gay-hating Muslim and the closeted gay man who harbors self-hatred that ends up directed at other gay people. This storyline was instantly consecrated when politicians and LGBT groups quickly seized on this claim and ratified it as unquestionably true.


now here's 'the gay gaston.'







 let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'


Tuesday, June 15, 2021.  The AMUF may be repealed so it's time for more fakery, Amnesty International warns about crackdowns in Kurdistan, and much more


CNN's Jeremy Herb reports: 

The House is voting this week on a bill to repeal the 2002 US war authorization in Iraq, with Democrats hopeful that the White House's backing will give them newfound momentum to finally revoke the nearly 20-year-old authorization.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget on Monday issued a statement supporting the House's legislation, a move that's likely to boost the prospects that the Senate will also take action to repeal the authorization for use of military force, which was passed in the months before the George W. Bush administration invaded Iraq in 2003. The House will vote on the rule for the legislation Monday evening ahead of the final vote, which is expected to occur on Thursday. The Biden administration said in a statement of administration policy Monday that it supports the House's legislation because "the United States has no ongoing military activities that rely solely on the 2002 AUMF as a domestic legal basis, and repeal of the 2002 AUMF would likely have minimal impact on current military operations."

Ted Kopan (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) words it this way:
 

President Biden on Monday formally endorsed a bill from Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee to repeal the bill that authorized the U.S. invasion of Iraq, marking a sea change in politics on the issue of military engagement. The East Bay Democrat’s bill to terminate the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force is set for a vote in the House later this week.
In a statement of administration policy, the vehicle through which presidents telegraph their position on legislation under consideration in Congress, the White House supported the bill’s passage in the House, saying it would not 
jeopardize any current military operations because none is solely based on that authorization. “Repeal of the 2002 AUMF would likely have minimal impact on current military operations,” the statement said. “Furthermore, the President is committed to working with the Congress to ensure that outdated authorizations for the use of military force are replaced with a narrow and specific framework appropriate to ensure that we can continue to protect Americans from terrorist threats.”
Lee has been at the vanguard of the movement to end what are referred to in politics as “endless wars” — military engagements by the U.S. abroad that have no clear endpoint. She was the only member of Congress to vote in 2001 against green-lighting the U.S. war on terror just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, a stand that earned her death threats at the time and respect from her colleagues in hindsight. 


At the vanguard? Maybe of fake assery. She swore this, she swore that. She's a worthless fake ass. "Next year, if we're not out of Afghanistan . . ." she'd promise each year of Barack Obama's eight year presidency, she'd do something. She never did anything but flap her gums.


Bernie Sanders revealed himself to be a sheep dog to steer voters into the Democratic Party and that's bad but Barbara Less's worse. She lulls people into believing that there's real opposition to war in the party and there's none. That's why we still have US troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan. That's why the repeal is only possible at this moment because a sitting president has pronounced it unnecessary. 


It might get repealed. I don't know that it will but I don't know that that's the most pressing issue this week -- or even the most pressing issue regarding the AUMF. I'd love to see all the Democrats who claimed they were tricked or that they didn't vote for war to have a microphone shoved in their face and asked on live TV, "If you weren't voting for war, why does the AMUF need to be repealed?" 


They were voting for war. And they did so knowingly and willingly. And they did so because that's what they believed in. Senator Bob Grahm urged others in Congress -- including Hillary Clinton -- to go and look at what was being offered as evidence. They were 'too busy' to look or think, but they had plenty of time to vote to start a war that has killed over a million people -- Iraqis, US troops and support personnel, people from the United Kingdom and elsewhere.


And they've skirted responsibility and presented themselves as the victim. It's the Joe Biden playbook, after all. Insist that the mean old Bully Boy Bush tricked you. Admit that you're such a moron that the global village idiot could trick you. 


ALJAZEERA quotes US House Rep Jim McGovern:

“The idea that they have not been repealed or ended just doesn’t make any sense,” said Representative Jim McGovern, a leading Democrat.
“It’s either that we just haven’t done our due diligence, or we are not keeping a close watch on these things,” McGovern said on Monday.


You think? And it's not either/or, it's both. Congress did not do due diligence and they are not keeping a close watch on these things. They have no idea what's going on in Iraq. They don't even pretend to be interested in, for example, corruption in Iraq anymore -- this despite the fact that millions of US tax dollars continue to be handed over to the government of Iraq. There is no oversight. 

The office of the Special Investigator over reconstruction in Iraq was forced on Bully Boy Bush. Who shut it down? Donald Trump? No, Barack Obama. And he shut it down over loud objections. Maybe it was just a little too effective in highlighting waste or, maybe as two senators told me, the office embarrassed Barack by revealing that the police academy Americans spent a ton of money building was not wanted by the government of Iraq and they did not plan to use it. That went into not just a report but to testimony before the House and Senate. Barack's reaction was to shut down the office and the press reaction was to look the other way and pretend like he was about openness and transparency. 


Who's pretending these days?


Maybe the US Congress and the US media who refuse to own the amount of money wasted on an illegal war. The amount of money still being wasted.


You won't hear Babsy Lee talk about that. Just like you won't hear her defend Palestinians. The reality of Barbara Lee is far less inspiring that the media image that was long ago created. 

 

On the issue of Iraq, Amnesty International issued the following:


Arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearance of dozens in the past year 

Crackdown intensified after protests against corruption and poor public services  

‘Many of those detained were tried on fabricated charges’ - Lynn Maalouf

The authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have launched a chilling crackdown on journalists and activists in the past year amid a “growing atmosphere of fear” in the region, said Amnesty International today.

The crackdown began in March 2020, intensifying after widespread protests in August demanding an end to corruption and better public services. 

In the governorate of Duhok alone, Kurdish security forces arrested more than 100 people between March 2020 and April 2021. Most were later released but at least 30 remain in detention. 

Amnesty investigated in detail the cases of 14 people from Badinan, in Duhok governorate, who were arbitrarily arrested between March and October 2020 by Asayish (Kurdistan Regional Government security and intelligence) and Parastin forces (Kurdistan Democratic Party intelligence) in connection with their participation in protests, criticism of the local authorities or for their journalistic work. 

All of the 14 were held incommunicado for up to five months and at least six were forcibly disappeared for periods of up to three months. Eight of the detainees said they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated during their detention. On 16 February, five were sentenced to six years in prison based on “confessions” extracted under duress.

The Kurdistan authorities have used three specific laws to arrest and prosecute the activists - Law no.21 on matters of national security, a defamation law and a law on the misuse of electronics, all of which contain vague and overly-broad definitions of crimes not recognised under international law.

Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Deputy Director, said: 

“The authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have launched a chilling crackdown in their efforts to silence critics over the past year. 

“They have rounded up activists and journalists, prosecuting them on trumped-up charges in unfair trials and harassing or intimidating family members who were kept in the dark about the status of their loved ones. 

“Many of those detained were tried on fabricated charges and some of those who have been released have fled the region, amidst a growing atmosphere of fear that has even seen family members of activists, journalists and protesters threatened and harassed.

"The Kurdistan Region of Iraq authorities must end the crackdown and immediately release all of those who have been arbitrarily detained.”



On the topic of Kurdistan, MENA's Maria Fantappie weighs in with a Twitter feed:

While fighting the PKK, Turkey’s military incursions in Iraq, have major, often unnoticed, multi-layered implications for the US and NAT0. This is why: A THREAD 1/11


2/10– Unlike previous operations in Syria, these incursions attracted relatively low media attention, occurring over several months in remote areas, utilizing drones technology that enables gaining control over tough terrain, causing displacement & ecological damage.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021



3/10 Ankara is also gaining influence in Iraqi Kurdistan & Baghdad, leveraging on a mix of threats owing to its military superiority & incentives, winning Iraqi and Kurdish leaders’ acquiesce re: incursions in return for support in their domestic struggles.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021



4/10 In Iraqi Kurdistan the ops pushed PKK out of its traditional stronghold, induced Peshmerga-PKK violent incidents, leading prominent KDP figures to openly side with Ankara against PKK and leverage on Turkey’s support to get more powerful within KRI.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021


5/10– In Baghdad, PM Mustafa al-Kadimi have also offered Turkey nearly carte blanche on ops, prioritizing good relations with Ankara & KDP’s support to counterbalance Iran and pro-Iranian forces in national politics ahead of the elections.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021


6/10 Baghdad’s acquiescence and Turkey invoking national security concerns re: PKK presence in Iraq, persuaded allied nations to refrain from criticism & preserve NATO unity. Yet, operations in Iraq risk harming NATO/US strategic interests:
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021



7/10–Turkey conducting unilateral operations while being a NATO member, places the NATO mission in Iraq— which has ambitious plans to expand— into a controversial position, inviting more criticisms and attacks from pro-Iranian forces.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021


8/10 Ops feed vicious trends: empower politicians betting on escalation (KDP-PKK; Iraqi gov. Vs PMF), disempower others supportive of Iraq’s sovereignty & Turkey’s peace process, making Iraq an arena to settle scores among external powers (Turkey Vs Iran; US Vs Iran).
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021


9/10– Ops feed Turkey-Iran feud over northern Iraq that splits Iraqi forces in competing camps (PMF& pro-PKK forces Vs ISF), create opportunities for more PMF deployments, more Turkish incursions (as we saw in Sinjar) & favorable conditions for a potential resurgence of ISIS.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021



10/10 Attacks on PKK indirectly impacts US interests in Syria: shrink space for SDF to build strategic autonomy from PKK, corners the US into a choice between SDF &Turkey, offering the latter leverage to play US and Russia against each others in Syria and elsewhere.
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021


11/11 The longer operations continue, the more their humanitarian, ecological and political impact may become apparent, deepening US-Turkey tensions & undermining the strategic relevance and credibility of the Atlantic Alliance. END
4:20 AM · Jun 14, 2021



We'll wind down with this from MS. MAGAZINE:

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