demos
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Post by demos on Jul 31, 2020 17:56:58 GMT
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bama beau
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Fish will piss anywhere. They just live in water.
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Post by bama beau on Jul 31, 2020 18:02:11 GMT
Nothing shady about any of that, eh?
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Post by MojoJojo on Jul 31, 2020 19:32:57 GMT
So much for Trump changing anything, at all.
He LIKES the oil, and even talked about protecting it in Syria and taking it from Iraq. Same old, same old in a more ridiculous caricature of a man.
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 4, 2020 21:29:59 GMT
Update: SourceBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA So, they're gonna sell oil to the regime that we want to overthrow and to Al Qaeda; the people we're supposed to be preventing from getting the oil. Awesome. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2020 22:01:52 GMT
Is now a good time to point out for the 100th time ... we're not getting out of Syria?  It's interesting nobody has wanted to engage in an actual conversation about the reasons why I started saying that or what it was that made me realize it. Demos I'm sure you remember the origin for why I started saying it in every one of your threads. But I doubt anyone else remembers. I don't think it has sunk in for people just how systemic this problem is. Our "meddling" in countries like the Middle East are part and parcel of that "liberalized" world order everyone is in high gear propaganda mode defending. There is no separating the two. It's not now, and never has been just a "Republican" thing. It's a "United States government" thing. You want to defend the "liberal world order" that both Democrats and Republicans spend all their time bemoaning in recent years, you're going to have to accept it. We're never getting out of the Middle East and we're never ending these wars. They are *far* too profitable. They are the Roman Empire model of bringing peace, prosperity ... and more importantly ... beneficial commercial deals to the establishment/donor class ... the oligarchy. (In the Roman world it was the senatorial class. Same/same) Demos, you can laugh at the "potentially selling oil to Assad" ... but that's a feature, not a bug. "Its partners include former [Bush the Younger} U.S. ambassador to Denmark James Cain..." You will have better luck fighting the military industrial complex's stranglehold on global politics by joining the Boogaloo movement than voting in our 4 year elections for a temp hire spokesman for the state. Not that I'm advocating for that. That's a statement on futility. The Boogaloo movement isn't going to be successful. Neither is voting for Trump or Biden or any 3rd party candidate or any candidates in 2024 or any candidates in 2028. Or 2032. Or 2036. Welcome to the future. The future is now. Accept it and move on to the important stuff. Like whether or not people with a cervix are women. Queshank |
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 5, 2020 13:58:31 GMT
I don't think it has sunk in for people just how systemic this problem is. Our "meddling" in countries like the Middle East are part and parcel of that "liberalized" world order everyone is in high gear propaganda mode defending. There is no separating the two. It's not now, and never has been just a "Republican" thing. It's a "United States government" thing. That about sums it up. I think Walt laid it out very well in The Hell of Good Intentions. And there is a new book by Patrick Porter that I want to order: The False Promise of Liberal Order. I'm laughing because it just underscores the dysfunction and lack of strategy that characterizes US foreign policy; Syria is a great example of that (lack of clear goals, mission creep, contradictory actions/policies). As pointed out way back in one of the old Syria threads, the Kurds were selling oil to Assad while we were "protecting" the oil from the regime ( this story was from Feb 2019). |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2020 15:43:32 GMT
I don't think it has sunk in for people just how systemic this problem is. Our "meddling" in countries like the Middle East are part and parcel of that "liberalized" world order everyone is in high gear propaganda mode defending. There is no separating the two. It's not now, and never has been just a "Republican" thing. It's a "United States government" thing. That about sums it up. I think Walt laid it out very well in The Hell of Good Intentions. And there is a new book by Patrick Porter that I want to order: The False Promise of Liberal Order. I'm laughing because it just underscores the dysfunction and lack of strategy that characterizes US foreign policy; Syria is a great example of that (lack of clear goals, mission creep, contradictory actions/policies). As pointed out way back in one of the old Syria threads, the Kurds were selling oil to Assad while we were "protecting" the oil from the regime ( this story was from Feb 2019).
But that's what I mean Demos.
The dysfunction and lack of strategy is a feature of our foreign policy, not a bug.
Just go through every single foreign policy decision announcement or rationalization made by our, or any other Western government over <any random period of time> ... and replace "commercial interests" everyplace you see "national interests." It wasn't that long ago that I started to realize they are the same thing with a deliberately obfuscated dividing line in this "liberal world order."
It is the *reason* for the dysfunction.
(It is also the reason for the rebellion against said "liberal world order" across the world.)
Queshank
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 5, 2020 16:24:11 GMT
I think we're in general agreement, although I think there are true believers in the liberal world order, for whom "national interest" isn't just naked "commercial interest" (though US economic hegemony is part of the liberal world order) - hence the dysfunction (e.g., a clash between regime change and benefiting U.S. corporations).
If we had a more restrained foreign policy (a Realist foreign policy imo), we wouldn't have to worry much about whether a U.S. company was drilling and selling oil in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, etc. since we wouldn't be promoting regime change.
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 5, 2020 19:29:17 GMT
More fun with this situation... Source |
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 6, 2020 16:40:29 GMT
SourceIf I'm reading this right (and I like think that I am), DOD, State, etc are using this to appeal to Trump's baser foreign policy instincts (plunder) in order to stay in Syria. Also, we've got sanctions against Assad's regime and its supporters, the Syrian economy is in tatters, the people are suffering, but denying Assad/Russia/Iran access to fields they haven't had access to since at least 2012 (!!) is what's going to starve the regime of money. 
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 7, 2020 14:23:13 GMT
Interesting find by Mutlu Civiroglu: Washington Examiner article from October 2019... Source |
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 10, 2020 21:39:54 GMT
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Post by MojoJojo on Aug 10, 2020 23:01:11 GMT
It's like I went to bed for twenty years and woke up to the same dysfunctional foreign policies (yes, multiple as we don't have any single guiding principal).
We're STILL protecting the oil?
Wow!
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 26, 2020 16:13:32 GMT
WTF are we doing. " U.S. service members were injured after an altercation with Russian forces in northeast Syria this week, according to a draft military statement and a person familiar with the matter.
Four troops have been diagnosed with mild concussion-like symptoms after the incident, according to draft Pentagon statement reviewed by POLITICO. A second U.S. source briefed on the matter confirmed that multiple U.S. troops were injured..." ( Source) To reiterate: WTF are we doing |
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 27, 2020 19:22:55 GMT
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Post by jasmine on Aug 27, 2020 20:22:00 GMT
We should not be having any relations with the enemy, and we certainly shouldn’t have a presence there.
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thor
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Post by thor on Aug 28, 2020 2:14:51 GMT
We should not be having any relations with the enemy, and we certainly shouldn’t have a presence there.  |
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demos
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Post by demos on Aug 30, 2020 14:56:33 GMT
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demos
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Post by demos on Sept 3, 2020 17:20:59 GMT
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demos
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Post by demos on Sept 6, 2020 15:49:34 GMT
SourceSo glad we're dictating who can stay and who gets to keep the resources of a state we are occupying without any kind of legal authorization.
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It's interesting nobody has wanted to engage in an actual conversation about the reasons why I started saying that or what it was that made me realize it. Demos I'm sure you remember the origin for why I started saying it in every one of your threads. But I doubt anyone else remembers.
