The place is a mess, and it does complicate China’s life for them to have to deal with it. My only concern is for the Kurds. But maybe they can cut a deal with Assad. And it is worth noting that Erdogan will be limited in his military ambitions by the need for maintenance of his NATO equipment.
[Mid-morning update]
The fate of the Kurds.
They really deserve their own country, but that never seems to be in the cards. Ignoring the Marxist PKK, they’re the only real allies, other than Israel, in the region.
All the options are bad. Is this course the least worst? I don’t know and it stings to leave people who fought with us hanging.
As if I had a choice, I’ll have to wait and see how he carries through on protecting the Kurds. And what will I do if he doesn’t? Not a chance I’ll vote for one of the clowns.
So many times we have seen the media not report something important and twist Trump’s words and positions into something they are not, would it be surprising if that isn’t what is happening here? Sure, this could be the first time they reported a story straight with but…
Yes, the situation in Syria is a mess. So? In the last 18 months, our situation has changed. A lot. For most of my life, we had to care what happened in the opec nations. Not now. Not for the near future. Iran knocked out half of Saudi oil production for a while, and we didn’t care. A bump of 5 dollars in the price of oil, then after a few days it dropped lower than before the attacks. We will not overthrow the Assad regime, we will no longer lose large numbers of soldiers protecting the flow of oil from the middle-east to the west. But something much more important happened in the last year or so. Israel no longer needs oil from their enemies. Since Israel was founded in 1948 or so, they have been oil-dependent just like the US. So when their enemies attacked and Israel fought back, when the Arabs had enough, they threatened to withhold oil shipments, and the war ended. But now Israel is a net exporter of oil, and so is the United States. The middle-east political power structure has been re-arranged. What will happen? Beats me. But I like what I see so far.
Yep. Filled up for $2.199 yesterday, won’t be surprised to see it below $2.00.
Um. I thought we were not into nation building? Drawing lines on a map didn’t work so well for the Brits either. Now if Trump had been successful in buying Greenland, the Kurds would have a homeland. Ergo I blame the Danes.