#2881
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
Nashville hot chicken YouTube / grow up to be cowboys,
#2882
Post rating: +++++
after all that posturing about how assad has to withdraw to the sochi lines and how we would kick them out if he hasnt done so until the 1st of march, erdoğan today went to moscow to sign a ceasefire deal that not only doesnt require assad to retreat from any territory liberated recently, assad also gets to get more land lol. what an incredible president we got
#2883
Post rating: +


#2884
Post rating: ~
the security corridor wont only run north but south as well. i actually dont understand if the green territory below the southern line will be liberated or not but the corridor would cut the supply lines of the jihadis there so they wont be much of a threat either way. however i dont expect the agreement to hold coz it would be a huge blow to jihadis (like i cant imagine how turkey would manage to get the jihadis out of jisr for example) and SAA would continue to push. i guess erdoğan just wanted to buy some time in order to reinforce idlibistan but most importantly to find foreign support coz his refugee card didnt have the kind of effect he hoped for but it might in the near future
#2885
chickeon
Post rating: ~

sovnarkoman posted:

after all that posturing about how assad has to withdraw to the sochi lines and how we would kick them out if he hasnt done so until the 1st of march, erdoğan today went to moscow to sign a ceasefire deal that not only doesnt require assad to retreat from any territory liberated recently, assad also gets to get more land lol. what an incredible president we got

goddamn i was worried for a bit

#2886
Post rating: ~
#2887
Post rating: +
lolling at the 3 yank and 1 brit scum who got killed in iraq
#2888
Post rating: +
US bombed the PMF again after an unrelated rocket attack hundreds of miles away
#2889
Post rating: +
so assad is trying to make his cousin rami pay more tax, ostensibly because russia is "growing war weary" and have told assad that an anti-corruption drive needs to happen. rami and bashar have been feuding for a while - kinda looks bad when you're prosecuting a war but your dipshit cousin and his idiot son are doing insta posts of themselves rolling up at the club in beirut in platinum Lamborghinis. so rami is now under house arrest and the government are taking his shit.

i'm not really sure how sincere russia is about their "weariness", since 2015 every 6 months or so you hear about how putin has finally had enough and he wants out. the pandemic may well make it different this time tho, who knows.

interestingly, saudi and libyan authorities have both discovered a number of drug trafficking schemes in the last few weeks, and the drugs were all found hidden in trucks and shipments that trace back to a company owned by cousin rami. so i wonder if there is a little more to this feud than we are being told. my guess is rami has been holding out somehow.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200506-haftar-and-assad-accused-of-joint-drug-smuggling-operations/

would be interested in reading more about drug trafficking in syria, i know the pkk charge protection money for smugglers moving across their turf into syria and i've seen the odd suggestion here and there that the YPG and the SAA have cut a few deals in their time too. never gone deep on it tho.

Edited by ghostpinballer ()

#2890
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
Please don't post anti-Syria propaganda from "Middle East Monitor" itt unless you're prepared to analyze and criticize it thanks.
#2891
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
like watch me go:



This article from Middle East Monitor, an anti-Syria propaganda site, lays down some demented Russia conspiracy bullshit as its premise right from the start, and it doesn't really matter how loudly a "news" source criticizes the rape of Palestine if they're just going to parrot anti-Syria propaganda from Tel Aviv.
#2892
Post rating: +

cars posted:

like watch me go:



This article from Middle East Monitor, an anti-Syria propaganda site, lays down some demented Russia conspiracy bullshit as its premise right from the start, and it doesn't really matter how loudly a "news" source criticizes the rape of Palestine if they're just going to parrot anti-Syria propaganda from Tel Aviv.



figured since my thoughts on syria are pretty well established itt you'd know i wasn't endorsing MEM in any way, it was just the article att was the only lengthyish one about the situation so i thought worth a skim. i mean almost every single outlet is anti syria/pro imperialism so i figure sharing a story isn't the same as condoning the framing you know?

#2893
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
Again: please don't use this thread to post anti-Syria "Middle East Monitor" propaganda about the "House of Assad" and then just "wonder" out loud pointlessly about it gossip-column style like it has merit.

the whole point of that line is to get people to characterize the Syrian government as the personal playground of the evil monster dictator totalitarian Assad and his demonic criminal brood, dragging the conversation away from stuff like the topic of this thread, which is HANDS OFF SYRIA

so don't help them.
#2894
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
I'm just saying, the goal of propaganda isn't always to get everyone to voice total support for a position. It can be to get people talking about a frivolous topic that distracts from another topic that reflects poorly on the group that puts out the propaganda. That's generally how the CIA used its Trot-run literati fronts in the West during the Cold War, to try to confuse the issue among left-leaning intellectuals by libeling its targets at home and abroad.

that is definitely the point of Middle East Monitor writing wild speculative pieces about what Assad's family means for divining the influence of the spell-wielding mind-controlling Slav super-menace.

so sure post that stuff to talk about propaganda, but please don't instead be like "Oh this is so weird and juicy, I wonder what this means" and then speculate based on the article's content as though it's a sound basis for speculation. that's the aim of the propaganda here, to get you to do that.
#2895
Post rating: +
#2896
Post rating: ~
point taken.
#2897
Dont Mess With Sucess
Post rating: +
#2898
[account deactivated]
#2899
[account deactivated]
#2900
Post rating: +
the current official explanation that it was a warehouse of ammonium nitrate fertilizer seems plausible but if we're trying to muddy the waters and make the imperials have to squirm for excuses, then add the fact that the US has been flying spy planes off the lebanese coast constantly for months (my personal suspicion is they're trying to help find Nasrallah's cell phone) and had three out simultaneously the day before the explosion

https://balkans.liveuamap.com/en/2020/3-august-3x-us-navy-p8-poseidon-169002169328ae682e-currently
#2901
Post rating: ~
condolences to yr family, liceo

god, that seems like a really bad place to store a lot of ammonium nitrate. apparently from what little I've read it wasn't really a secret either so everything seems plausible.
#2902
Post rating: +
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/04/16/syria-rebels-defect-maghawir-al-thawra/

A suspected drug smuggler and other former member of the last remaining U.S.-backed rebel group in Syria defected to territory controlled by Bashar al-Assad government in an embarrassing spectacle for the opposition militia and U.S. Special Operations.

According to rebel sources familiar with the matter, Samir Ghannam al-Khidr and several members of the Maghawir al-Thawra militia and their families on Tuesday, April 14 defected to the city of Palmyra from the al-Tanf garrison, which is run by U.S. Army Special Forces in Syria’s eastern desert on the Iraq border.

#2903
Post rating: +


#2904
Post rating: ~
That's a bad omen for Trump's chances in November, unless the curse is on both parties now.
#2905
Post rating: +

trakfactri posted:

That's a bad omen for Trump's chances in November, unless the curse is on both parties now.



I think when both parties are cursed it's like a groundhog day thing where we get 6 more months of COVID

#2906
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~

pogfan1996 posted:



#2907
Online
Post rating: +
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/23/syria-leaks-uk-contractors-opposition-media/

good story on the massively funded PR operation that backed regime change in syria. the motive behind the leaked documents is kinda suspect but im willing to bet they're legit
#2908
Post rating: +
i have unstickied this with the proviso that once biden invades syria i will stick it back up
#2909
Post rating: +

tears posted:

i have unstickied this with the proviso that once biden invades syria i will stick it back up



#2910
Post rating: +
didn't see this mentioned in the last page and feel the need to note it (even if it is unlikely to be news to anyone here) in the context of the "US invading syria": despite the media story around trump withdrawing from syria, this pretty much never happened. "the full withdrawal of all ~1000 US troops" from fall of 2019 was almost immediately changed to a redeployment of 400 troops. best i can tell this lower 400 number was also just PR. recent reporting says that there are "more than 500" US troops in Syria and in september 2020 those 500+ were reinforced with armored vehicles, anti-aircraft systems and an additional 100 troops. the official pentagon position is that there is a "flexible force of 600-900 US troops deployed in Syria" with a larger supporting operation of 3000-5000 troops that rotate through but aren't in syria, instead located on nearby bases or fleets. i haven't followed the detailed deployment contours of the war, but the "redeployment" seems to mean a move to have these troops focus on defending oil fields instead of anti-isis or anti-assad efforts. this would be in line with moves by the US treasury and state departments to give Delta Crescent Energy - a newly formed joint venture between ex-special op troops, former US diplomats, and oil industry folks - approval to operate in syria (around any of the sanctions the US would otherwise hold on such operations)
#2911
lies half the time
Post rating: +
defending oil fields, defending convoys of tanker trucks
#2912
Post rating: +
Taking a vacation on the cheap is tough, no matter who you are, but for military personnel often stuck planning a trip at the last minute (because leave dates weren’t released until two weeks before, naturally) it can break the bank.

Fortunately, there’s at least one place where troops and their families can lounge in style without blowing all their hard-earned cash — and it helps that it’s located at “the happiest place on earth.”

Shades of Green, is a sprawling resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida owned by the Department of Defense. Named for the rolling greens surrounding the the campus, Shades of Green features lodge-style clubhouses, heated pools, restaurants, water slides, a sports bar, a video arcade, a fitness facility, and two PGA championship golf courses — all built to facilitate some decent R&R; within the military community, reports Stars and Stripes.

“Disney is a place where dreams come true,” Shades of Green manager Edward Fagan told Stars and Stripes. “It’s the number-one family tourist destination in the world. In its midst we have a beautiful resort. Every member of the military owns this resort. This is something that is provided by the U.S. military as a thank you for your service.”
#2913
Online
Post rating: +
Obama invented ISIS, and Biden is going to bring it back!
#2914
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~
bidens isis back ribs.... I'll keep working on that one..
#2915
Post rating: +
time to resticky
#2916
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~

pogfan1996 posted:

time to resticky


#2917
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: ~
entertaining an idle fantasy for a few minutes where Moscow just bombs Seattle to cinders in response
#2918
Post rating: ~

cars posted:

entertaining an idle fantasy for a few minutes where Moscow just bombs Seattle to cinders in response



A precision strike to de-escalate the situation

#2919
lies half the time
Post rating: ~
still waiting for any major media outlet to report that the targets of the airstrike were members of a service branch of the iraqi armed forces
#2920
Post rating: +


there's never been a case where empire's clerks have considered reality more important than optics, but they'll still add "probably" there — because, y'know, optics