The authors of the Clingendael report are not very reliable. They make careless mistakes. For example, in Annex 1, there is a list of 9 documents supposedly obtained from regime defectors. Three of them are described as follows:
3 From: Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad To: The General Manager of the Syrian Petroleum Company 27 January 2012, Rumeilan This document refers to the request for exemption for the YPG to tender for contracts pertaining to the protection of petroleum installations belonging to the Directorate of Hasaka fields (areas: Kratchouk – Suwaidiyyat – Saida – Zaria – Alyan and Babasi) 4 From: Representative of the YPG, Mohammad Ibrahim Ibrahim To: The General Manager of the Syrian Petroleum Company Damascus 30 January 2021, Rumeilan This document requests an exemption for the YPG to have to tender for contracts to protect petroleum installations belonging to the Directorate of Hasaka fields, i.e. to enable single-sourcing. It also provides the names of the contracting persons with whom contracts will be concluded by mutual consent. 5 From: Dr. Ghassan Hassan, Commercial Affairs Director at the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals To: The Director General of the same Ministry Referring to letters of 29 January and 27 February 2012 Referring to the submission of Mohammad Ibrahim Ibrahim regarding his request to exempt YPG representatives from having to follow regular procurement procedure (e.g. paying bid bonds). He forwards the correspondence to the Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources. Document no. 3 is said to be dated 27 January, 2012. It refers to the YPG. But the YPG did not exist in January 2012. A small precursor organisation, the YXG, did exist, but it seems unlikely that the Assad regime would hand over protection of the oilfields in Hasaka province to a tiny illegal armed group. (Hasaka was NOT one of the areas from which the regime withdrew in July 2012) Document no. 4 is said to be dated 30 January 2021. This is a bit more plausible - at least the YPG existed on that date. However, Document no. 5 reverts back to the year 2012. If the documents are genuine, they might have been written in 2021, but definitely not in 2012. If the documents are genuine, why would the YPG be talking about the protection of the oilfields with the Assad regime at all? We need to look at the context. Turkey had invaded Afrin in January 2018. It then invaded the area between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn in October 2019. There are ongoing attacks and the threat of a further major invasion. Faced with this threat, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria tried to improve relations with the Assad regime, in the hope that the latter might help to deter yet another Turkish invasion. The documents (if genuine) would have been written in that context. **** The report published by Clingendael, a pro-imperialist think tank, is useful in explaining the thinking of the imperialists, even if it is not reliable as a source of factual information. It explains the US policy of trying to separate the Syrian Democratic Forces from the PKK. The US is cooperating with the SDF against ISIS, while at the same time supporting Turkey's war against the PKK. Up to now, the imperialists have not been successful in this "divide and rule" tactic. Chris Slee ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Louis Proyect <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, 12 May 2021 4:09 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [marxmail] The YPG/PYD during the Syrian conflict | Clingendael This report analyses the role of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the associated Democratic Union Party (PYD) during the Syrian civil war. The purpose of our research is to obtain a better understanding of the nature, objectives and methods of the YPG/ PYD as a combined paramilitary and rebel force that is involved in a quasi-statebuilding project during an internationalised civil war. We start by examining the critical factors that enabled the swift rise of the YPG: informal arrangements with the Assad regime, support from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and a pragmatic partnership with the US against Islamic State. This sets the scene for an inquiry into how core YPG strategies to maintain its dominance once it was established – coercive, deal-making, identity and basic service strategies – both shape the group’s behavior and result from its current organization. Finally, we dissect a number of major challenges to future YPG rule, such as its relation with the PKK, intra-Kurdish reconciliation, the US presence in northeast Syria and its interaction with the Arab populations over which it rules. https://www.clingendael.org/publication/ypgpyd-during-syrian-conflict -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8531): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8531 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82753377/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
