Turkey Invades Syria: Total Mess — Pence Goes to Turkey for Possible Ceasefire

Before Turkish Invasion of Northern Syria

Turkish advance into Syria

(Goal: Wipe out Kurds)

Major Update: Here from the BBC:

Turkey agreed to suspend an offensive for five days to allow the Kurds to retreat from the area. Now both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire. Ankara views the Kurdish forces as terrorists and wants to create a “safe zone buffer inside Syria.”

Despite the temporary ceasefire, some sporadic violence has continued - particularly around the border town of Ras Al-Ain.

What exactly did Erdogan say?

Speaking at a televised event in the central Turkish province of Kayseri, Erdogan said that if Kurdish fighters did not withdraw by Tuesday evening (Oct 22) – as agreed to in the ceasefire – that “We will start where we left off and continue to crush the terrorists' heads.”

He is due to hold talks next week with Putin. He stressed that if those talks did not produce a solution, Turkey would “implement its own plans.”

Original Post (Oct 13, 2019):

Short video intro from CBS News on the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria:

Shortly after the initial U.S. pullback, Turkey began its onslaught, attacking the northern part of Syria. On the fourth day of the offensive, Turkish forces captured a key border town from the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), and ISIS prisoners were also able to escape imprisonment when Turkish artillery hit a prison compound. 

This overall move by the U.S. is seen as a gift to Turkish President Erdogan, but many others see this as a stark betrayal of the Kurds who fought alongside U.S. forces for years to defeat ISIS in Northern Syria (where Trump claimed victory). Now? Who knows?

Those Kurds, some former U.S. officials, and a handful of senior Republicans have warned that the U.S. pullout from that northern region could and would give ISIS room to rebuild.

Most-importantly, it sends a message to other close allies in that region and world-wide allies in fact, that the U.S. is willing to abandon you when if and when the political winds shift.

My 2 cents: U.S. prestige just fell 99.9% thanks to wishy-washy Trump poor decision making and worse, showing favoritism to Russia by just leaving that region – which is part of what Putin has wanted for years: A warm all-year round sea port in the Med Sea next to Syria … 

Also, if Putin is now in good standing with Erdogan maybe Russia will build a super highway from Moscow down through Turkey into Syria with Russian eyes on the entire ME? Then what, join with Iran? 

That would not surprise me one bit. 

Preview of World’s Newest Tripartite

(Huge grin, so-so grin, slight grin)

New world threat, ghosts of WWII when Germany, Italy, and Japan formed the Tripartite Pact (AKA: The Axis alliance). 

Finally, I image a note from Putin to Trump forthcoming: Short and sweet: “Спасибо дональд (Thank you, Donald). Ваша победа в 2020 году теперь точно (Your 2020 win is certain). Рад, что помог (Glad to have helped).”

Thanks for stopping by.