The End of Trump; the Dawning of the Age of Bolton.

[Fife]

Bolton’s Terrible Ideas for Syria

If Bolton still thinks that carving a new Sunni state out of both Iraq and Syria is the thing to do, that would strongly suggest that he isn’t going to support U.S. withdrawal from Syria. Setting up a new state to serve as “a bulwark against both Mr. Assad and Iran-allied Baghdad” would require a much larger U.S. military and political commitment, and it would also require the U.S. to oppose both the Iraqi and Syrian governments. It’s a terrible plan that would mire the U.S. in new open-ended conflicts for no good reason, but then what else would you expect from Bolton?

The strongest evidence that Bolton thinks the U.S. should keep its forces in Syria indefinitely is that he says so plainly towards the end of the op-ed:

The military operation is not the hardest part of this post-Islamic State vision. It will also require sustained American attention and commitment. We cannot walk away from this situation as we did from Iraq in 2011.

[C-Mag]

Trump needs to stop being a pussy to the MIC. His instincts are right.

As for Bolton................. I celebrate his entire catalog.

Too bad he didn't think of going back to traditional ethnic lines for Iraq in 2003.

[Speaker to Animals]

I thought we were fighting against a new Sunni state carved out of Iraq and Syria. Please advise, John.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Infinite 'rebuilding' projects, and security contracts? It's the ultimate pork-barrel project.
Just have to drink away the faces of dead kids for the rest of your life, but MONEY$$$$ amirite?

[ssu]

Bolton starts pushing out others and getting in his neocons.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, has resigned at the request of new national security adviser John Bolton, an administration official said on Tuesday, marking the latest departure from the White House of a senior adviser.

Mr. Bossert is the first major casualty of John R. Bolton, the president’s new national security adviser, according to current and former officials. They said Mr. Bolton, who took office on Monday, fired him and moved some of his duties directly under the National Security Council

[BjornP]

Hey, why the long faces, America? If the US somehow could succeed knocking down Assad, or "just" carving up a new Sunni state out of Syria, that's at least more contracts for the US military sector. And a vassal Sunni regime is definitely going to open up its market to US products, and I'm sure the new regime could be "persuaded" to sign lots of exclusive trade deals that benefit US companies.

I mean, sure, the invasion of Iraq brought you a slight extra terrorism risk, but has it really done much harm to your quality of life or trade balance?

[Smitty-48]

Er, I would say the Americans are actually carving out a Kurdish state to be their Carter Doctrine base of operations, a quick look at the map will show that the Sunnis are in no man's land outside of the American perimeter.

The Arabs are basically out of the loop, the Americans have pretty much jettisoned them as a going concern.

Never mind Assad, the biggest fear in all the Arab capitals, is American Kurdistan.

The Americans will be sitting right in the middle of it all, with a gigantic air base, protected by a super Peshmerga.

[BjornP]

Er, I would say the Americans are actually carving out a Kurdish state to be their Carter Doctrine base of operations, a quick look at the map will show that the Sunnis are in no man's land outside of the American perimeter.

The Arabs are basically out of the loop, the Americans have pretty much jettisoned them as a going concern.

Never mind Assad, the biggest fear in all the Arab capitals, is American Kurdistan.

In Iraq, you mean? Because that Kurdish wannabe autonomous region in Syria certain seems to be getting crushed by Turkey, atm. Still, you may be right. Could explain why Russia seemed ok with letting the Turkish planes through to bomb in their sector - some sort of convoluted way of helping Assad regain control of all the regions he lost during the civil war, perhaps?

(edit, ah, nvm, your edit cleared that up... )

[Smitty-48]

Er, I would say the Americans are actually carving out a Kurdish state to be their Carter Doctrine base of operations, a quick look at the map will show that the Sunnis are in no man's land outside of the American perimeter.

The Arabs are basically out of the loop, the Americans have pretty much jettisoned them as a going concern.

Never mind Assad, the biggest fear in all the Arab capitals, is American Kurdistan.

In Iraq, you mean? Because that Kurdish wannabe autonomous region in Syria certain seems to be getting crushed by Turkey, atm.

The Turks aren't crushing anything, the last time the Turks rolled in there in force, the Kurds handed them their asses, Turkish Leopard 2's being popped like grapes, with American TOW missiles, the Turks are actually crying to the Americans to rein their Kurdish attack dogs in.

[BjornP]

Uhmm... is this what Turks getting their handed to them by the Kurds looks like?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mide ... SKBN1HH14P

Turkey will continue to take measures in Syria’s Afrin region, from which it drove the Kurdish YPG militia in an offensive this year, until all terror risks there are eliminated, Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Tuesday.