Re: [Marxism] Syria's Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
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. * Even though Trump is ignorant, his Syria policy did have a certain logic from the standpoint of US imperialism. By giving a green light to the Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria, he aimed to restore relations between Turkey and the US, which had been damaged by the US alliance with the SDF against ISIS. But other sections of the US ruling class had different priorities. They were worried that the defeat of the SDF would allow ISIS to revive. This could destabilise US allies in the Middle East. It could also lead to an increase in terrorism directed at Western targets. If freed ISIS prisoners were to carry out attacks on US embassies etc, there would be a search for someone to blame, and those who encouraged the Turkish invasion would be obvious candidates. The anti-Trump faction was also aware that if the US withdrew the SDF would turn to Russia for help. The conflict between Trump and other sections of the ruling class has resulted in an incoherent policy, where US troops were first withdrawn and then sent back or replaced by new troops. Chris Slee From: Marxism on behalf of mkaradjis . via Marxism Sent: Monday, 4 November 2019 2:20 AM To: Chris Slee Subject: Re: [Marxism] Syria's Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for 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. * The clock isn't right even once a day in this case. yes, Assad is correct that Trump is the best US president for Assad. But not for the reason he gives here. Trump is the best for Assad because Trump just made an abrupt move that allowed the Assad regime tom re-take almost the entire northeast border, which it has been locked out of for 7 years; and it was no accident, he openly said he supported the SDF doing the deal with Assad. He just thanked Assad and Russia for help locating al-Baghdadi, though they both deny having any knowledge of it. He formally cut off whatever funding for the some FSA units that had still remained, even though much of it was largely dormant by late Obama period anyway. He also ended the $200 million program funding civil initiatives in opposition areas in Syria. His government made even clearer than Obama that the only "rebels" who get any US arms were those who don't rebel, ie, agree to only fight ISIS and not Assad. His government gave Assad permission to bomb even these US-backed anti-ISIS rebels, even within a US-protected enclave, when one unit had the gall to *fight back* when attacked by Assadist troops. He dramaticalLy stepped up the bombing of HTS in the early months, killing 57 worshippers in an Idlib mosque (that was around the time that Tulsi Gabbard condemned Trump for not bombing them enough). The US airforce even directly fought alongside Assadist and Russian forces helping them conquer Deir Ezzor from ISIS. So, yes, Trump is the best US president for Assad However, Assad claims he is the best US president because his statement about the US might "keep the oil" shows how transparent he is about US policy. Except it doesn't. Anyone who thinks US policy is to "keep the oil", or that it entered Syria to seize Syria's insignificant amount of destroyed oil wells, has really no idea. Trump made that statement not to be transparent, but because he is a political illiterate. He is good for Assad in that sense because he enables Assad, and a whole lot of leftist and far-right political illiterates, to say "see, it was all a war for oil". Which of course is rubbish; the statement is only Trump being dumb. The entire policy of returning troops, just after they left, using the excuse of "protecting the oil", is a face-saving device for US imperialism, aimed at trying to rescue some of its lost credibility, and keeping some of the links it had made with the SDF, which Trump burnt. US imperialism wants to keep doing what it was doing before October 6, before Trump ripped up 5 years of US work: maintaining an SDF statelet (for the time being, I don't believe long-term), with a number of aims, mostly to keep fighting ISIS, as a buffer to Iran, and to keep a foot in the political process which is otherwise dominated by Russia, Turkey and Iran via the Astana process.. So they are maintaining one, a much smaller one than before. Trump wanted right out. So they
Re: [Marxism] Syria's Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
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. * The clock isn't right even once a day in this case. yes, Assad is correct that Trump is the best US president for Assad. But not for the reason he gives here. Trump is the best for Assad because Trump just made an abrupt move that allowed the Assad regime tom re-take almost the entire northeast border, which it has been locked out of for 7 years; and it was no accident, he openly said he supported the SDF doing the deal with Assad. He just thanked Assad and Russia for help locating al-Baghdadi, though they both deny having any knowledge of it. He formally cut off whatever funding for the some FSA units that had still remained, even though much of it was largely dormant by late Obama period anyway. He also ended the $200 million program funding civil initiatives in opposition areas in Syria. His government made even clearer than Obama that the only "rebels" who get any US arms were those who don't rebel, ie, agree to only fight ISIS and not Assad. His government gave Assad permission to bomb even these US-backed anti-ISIS rebels, even within a US-protected enclave, when one unit had the gall to *fight back* when attacked by Assadist troops. He dramaticalLy stepped up the bombing of HTS in the early months, killing 57 worshippers in an Idlib mosque (that was around the time that Tulsi Gabbard condemned Trump for not bombing them enough). The US airforce even directly fought alongside Assadist and Russian forces helping them conquer Deir Ezzor from ISIS. So, yes, Trump is the best US president for Assad However, Assad claims he is the best US president because his statement about the US might "keep the oil" shows how transparent he is about US policy. Except it doesn't. Anyone who thinks US policy is to "keep the oil", or that it entered Syria to seize Syria's insignificant amount of destroyed oil wells, has really no idea. Trump made that statement not to be transparent, but because he is a political illiterate. He is good for Assad in that sense because he enables Assad, and a whole lot of leftist and far-right political illiterates, to say "see, it was all a war for oil". Which of course is rubbish; the statement is only Trump being dumb. The entire policy of returning troops, just after they left, using the excuse of "protecting the oil", is a face-saving device for US imperialism, aimed at trying to rescue some of its lost credibility, and keeping some of the links it had made with the SDF, which Trump burnt. US imperialism wants to keep doing what it was doing before October 6, before Trump ripped up 5 years of US work: maintaining an SDF statelet (for the time being, I don't believe long-term), with a number of aims, mostly to keep fighting ISIS, as a buffer to Iran, and to keep a foot in the political process which is otherwise dominated by Russia, Turkey and Iran via the Astana process.. So they are maintaining one, a much smaller one than before. Trump wanted right out. So they said the word "oil" to bullshit him, coz they remembered Trump had this thing about how the US "should have kept Iraq's oil". So a literate guy, Defense Secretary Esper, explains clearly that "We want to make sure that SDF does have access to the resources in order to guard the [IS] prisons, in order to arm their own troops, in order to assist us with the 'defeat ISIS' mission." A logical statement of ruling class interest. Far from the US "keeping the oil", the US is just continuing to protect SDF control of the oil, control the SDF has had since the US helped them seize the oil from ISIS. By protecting the SDF the last 5 years, the US was thereby already protecting its control of the oil. Nothing new at all, except that previously the US was protecting the SDF more extensively. But then Trump makes the completely illiterate statement that the US will be "keeping the oil", an entirely different thing, and one with no relation to reality, or US ruling class intentions. He didn't say that because he is so transparent about US intentions, he said it because he says a lot of dumb things. On Sun, Nov 3, 2019 at 1:39 AM Fred Murphy via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > > Even a stopped clock is right twice a day > > On Sat, Nov 2, 2019 at 8:16 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < > marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > > > > https://www.juancole.com/2019/11/syrias-criminal-president.html > > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Syria's Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
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. * The statement by Assad (and I agree he's right about the "value" of Trump's transparency even though he [Assad] is a mass murderer) does raise an interesting question --- 1) Is Trump --- due both to his idiocy AND to his ultra-nationalism --- an UNWITTING agent of the withdrawal of the US from "the American Empire"?? 2) Think about it -- the policy of the US since the end of World War II (if Larry Shoup is right it began before the US had even entered WW II) has been to secure a WORLD WIDE "empire" (an "empire of so-called free trade" a la the 19th century British version --- in Latin America and elsewhere besides the official colonies) -- initially to protect long term interests against the axis powers in the early years of WW II, then to protect the "free world" from "godless communism [!!]" after WW II and then to keep it expanding and "under control" after WW II --- and TRUMP has explicitly (if not in practice due to the foot-dragging of the residual establishment that still exists up and down the bureaucracy and the government in general) repudiated that BUT HAS HE?Is he SO DUMB that whatever he wants, the American empire keeps chugging along OR has he damaged it enough that --- "objectively" --- he has begun a process that will mean the long run unravelling of the American empire?? AND --- since we want desperately to stave off the domestic fascism that he and his minions are in the process of creating, are we willing to "allow" the restoration of a true American imperialism under whichever candidate (outside of Bernie -- and MAYBE Warren) the Dems put up against him?? THis last question is why the first question if vitally important (I miss Bill Williams -- he had such great insights ) :https://www.juancole.com/2019/11/syrias-criminal-president.html _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Syria's Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
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. * Even a stopped clock is right twice a day On Sat, Nov 2, 2019 at 8:16 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > 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. > * > > https://www.juancole.com/2019/11/syrias-criminal-president.html > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/fred.r.murphy%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Syria's Al-Assad: Trump, Openly Criminal, is the best US President we could Wish for
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. * https://www.juancole.com/2019/11/syrias-criminal-president.html _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
