Andrew Callaghan of Channel 5, formerly All Gas No Brakes

        • TheLegendaryCarrot23 [he/him]
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          edit-2
          2 years ago

          "US Is occupying Syrias Oil fields for the Kurds " https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/05/kurds-oil-syria-us-troops-trump/ Yeah mhm for the Kurds . (The YPG also occupys some areas where Kurdish separatism is controversial) Read between the lines in this article , the same country along with the EU that imposed the Caesar sanctions, the same one strangling syria and causing a Humanitarian catastrophe is occupying fertile oil and wheat regions of the country.
          From the cradle :
          https://thecradle.co/Article/Investigations/19394 'Stolen Syrian oil: The fuel for Syria’s partition'

          The Sanctions are clearly in conjunction with the YPG/US military occupation (I believe there's still 5 US bases in Syria some right next to rebel proxy's) function as the tools to strangle and submit Syria, which -ever sense its independence- particularly after 67, (along with Syria's allying with the Soviet Union and then Russia particularly under Hafez starting 1970 after the US tried to overthrow its government in the late 60's -William Blums Killing Hope has a whole chapter on it- ) has been a bulwark to US hegemony and a festering sore of Independent nationalism. So to the imperialist it must be crushed and it's spoils divided . Nothing new under the sun lol

            • TheLegendaryCarrot23 [he/him]
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              edit-2
              2 years ago

              I don't really think things in Syria are at an equilibrium right now in the way that you're implying. Syrians are suffering and a major reason for that is the weight of empire on them. Hospitals don't have power/generators / lack of meat / no fuel / homelessness / general lack of commodity's/ opportunitys, all with a war in stale mate which includes those suffering in besieged and bombed out "terrorist" -a terrible word these days- held areas . Less attention partially because the full blown war has gone to a simmer but it's not an equilibrium imo.

              As far as the initial rise to Kurdish insurgency it's not about good guys or bad guys . Kurdish people's have historical grievances in the region , although more so in south eastern Turkey and Syria's history with the Ba'ath party is complex because they were quite supportive of Kurdish movements -Ocalan even had a picture of Hafez Al Assad in his office in Syria- helping fund the PKK (which is de facto the YPG/Rojava in Syria) insurgency in Turkey which is the armed wing of the HDP.
              They are radical and separatist . US proxy war in Syria suffice to say funded both the Islamist and let ISIS rise and funded Kurdish separatism, but these are also all organic movements. It's all very complex I could go on too much . I'll just say this sorry for sectarianism: It ended up having in effect that Ocalans movement sort of has had sense its inception: Chaos , imperialism, bloodshed .

                • TheLegendaryCarrot23 [he/him]
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                  edit-2
                  2 years ago

                  ( yes war reducing in intensity is a good thing of course which is largely due to the Syrian Arab Army , Iran and the Russian Air and support campaign). I get why the Modern Kurdish insurgency in Syria -with it's Anarchist political doctrines laid out by Ocalan that in many ways mirror New Left discourse in it's most utopian visions- along with the birth of ISIS onto the "moderate rebel" scene seemed like the good guys, taking part in armed action before ISIS but most people in the US know them from the PR campaign that begin with the artificial creation of the SDF. Especially after ISIS was wiped from Iraq and only really existed in Syria and Russia and the Syrian Army were making gains against them.
                  Just imo the image of Rojava in many ways masks a more brutal reality on the ground (from prisons , to military bases) where large imperialist are backing pretty much all of the separatist movements in Syria, ready to take any real discontent (the regime is oppressive and even began to put in neoliberal reforms before 2011) or manufacture it if need be to divide and conquer and suck the blood out of the people.

                  I'll add this as the chaos of the war did have a moment where yes even the most ardent anti war activist struggled not justifying US Special Ops , bombings and so on : The ISIS siege of kobani . Yes ISIS and the breakdown of Syria's protest into total war (yes Islamist) insurgency wouldn't have happened without Iraq , the Libyan post 2011 'rat line' , Tymbore Sycamore and so on . But it happened and it's true bombs/US Special Forces/Contractors helped save it [kobani] . Kurdish women were apparently fierce warriors in that battle and killed a lot of ISIS -obviously male- militants .