CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—The US is an invading, occupying force that is in Syria without the permission of its government, yet it is claiming that the air strike was an act of “self-defense” against an “unprovoked attack” upon the US-backed SDF, a mostly Kurdish militia which had occupied an area of Syrian land. No Americans suffered any injuries or deaths in the attack. The SDF suffered a single reported injury. It’s a bit like saying you broke into someone’s house and strangled them from behind with a garrote in self-defense.
SYRIA
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CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—As noted by Max Abrams, “Assad has strong incentives not to use chemical weapons again whereas regime change supporters have every incentive to say he did.” The leverage he’d be giving people like Nikki Haley to draw the wrath of the world down upon his head by committing internationally reviled war crimes would make it nonsensical for him to use an inefficient weapon like chlorine gas. It would be strategically disastrous, it wouldn’t profit him any, bombs work much better, and his consistent denial of using those weapons (both inside Syria and outside) would invalidate any small advantage he might get from sending a scary message to his enemies.
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Now let’s not forget that Turkey is a NATO member and that it houses the Incirlik airbase. However, unlike back in 1955 when Turkey was desperate to join NATO in fear of the “Communist peril”, America and NATO now need Turkey much more than Turkey needs NATO. To Erdogan, if he had to choose between the potential risks of losing Turkey’s NATO membership as against having a Kurdish state south of his border, he would choose the former.
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TONY CARTALUCCI—While the outcome of Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch is uncertain, as is the reactions of respective nations involved in the Syrian conflict, what is certain is that the US has once again demonstrated its willingness to use and then betray its allies – namely the Kurds.
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APPENDIX 1 Pentagon Lied Claiming Its “Partners” in Syria Not Supplied with MANPADS by…