ANDRE VLTCHEK—Lebanon’s elites are shamelessly corrupt. Only such countries like Indonesia are able to compete with the Lebanese troglodyte clans, when it comes to stripping the entire nation of its riches. Almost nothing is clean, or pure in Lebanon, and that is also why there aren’t any statistics available.
SYRIA & LEBANON
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Banditry in the open: “We Want To Keep The Oil”
25 minutes readCAITLIN JOHNSTONE—“We want to keep the oil,” Trump said in a cabinet meeting a few days earlier. “Maybe we’ll have one of our big oil companies to go in and do it properly.” “A purpose of those [US] forces, working with the SDF, is to deny access to those oil fields by ISIS and others who may benefit from revenues that could be earned,” said Defense Secretary Mark Esper. As Grayzone‘s Ben Norton accurately explains, “and others” necessarily means the Syrian government; preventing Assad from accessing Syrian oil is standing US military policy.
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Putin and Erdogan Make Progress in Meeting re Syria, While U.S. Angrily Tells Kurds Not to Deal with Assad or Russia
19 minutes readNATYLIE BALDWIN—After long and difficult talks on Tuesday in Sochi, Putin and Turkish president Erdogan reached an agreement (memorandum of understanding) with respect to the situation in northeast Syria that will require the Kurds to retreat approximately 20 miles back from the Turkish-Syrian border. Both leaders spoke at a press conference after the negotiations. According to the Kremlin website, Putin reiterated support for Turkey protecting its legitimate national security interests near its border, but that ultimately all countries had to respect Syria’s sovereignty as well as the rights of Kurds:
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PEPE ESCOBAR—For all the cliffhangers in Sochi, there was not a peep about an absolutely key element: who’s in control of Syria’s oilfields, especially after President Trump’s now-notorious tweet stating, “the US has secured the oil.” No one knows which oil. If he meant Syrian oil, that would be against international law. Not to mention Washington has no mandate – from the UN or anyone else – to occupy Syrian territory.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, after marathon six-hour talks with his Turkish counterpart, secured an agreement to halt a Turkish invasion of the border area – instead offering joint patrols with his forces in specific border towns.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu acknowledged the joint patrols would not apply to the Syrian city of Qamishli, where Syria’s armed forces have maintained an airbase throughout the war.