I found a reference to this “The Grayzone” article by Ben Norton this morning. The article was written back on 5 November 2019 and updated on 25 January 2021. The original article detailed the revised CSIS plan for regime change in Syria. I say revised because the original plan of arming and training jihadis to take down Damascus failed miserably.
The January update to this article consisted entirely of noting that “The Joe Biden administration has selected diplomat Dana Stroul as the top Pentagon official for Middle East Policy, Al-Monitor reported.” That’s it! Nothing more. The creator of this ghoulish four point strategy is now officially in charge of implementing that policy. The subtitle of the revised Grayzone article says it so succinctly that it’s worth repeating.
The head of Middle East policy for President Biden’s Pentagon boasted that the US military “owned” 1/3rd of Syrian territory, including its oil/wheat-rich “economic powerhouse,” outlining a sadistic US strategy to prevent reconstruction of the “rubble.”
How the hell did we get here? The simple answer is that we are still addicted to doing Israel’s bidding. It is the monkey on our back. It was the addiction that animated our policy of trying to use jihadis to overthrow the Damascus government and it’s the addiction that’s driven us to try to use the Rojava Kurds to destroy the rest of Syria. And the Rojava Kurds can’t see we are using them, even after we readily abandoned Rojava proper to Erdogan and his jihadis in 2019.
Our support of the YPG started out on a high note. When the YPG was reduced to holding Kobane against near certain extermination at the hands of the IS jihadis in 2014, the US came to the rescue by bombing the dog shit out of the jihadis. Our air support and resupply missions took off from there. Remember the uproar about the two dozen Green Berets working with the YPG? I do and I couldn’t have been prouder.
So where did we go wrong? Our policy of arming jihadis was going to hell in a hand basket. The R+5 was steadily grinding up the both the IS jihadis and our jihadis. We needed some other way to topple Damascus. So we decided to use the YPG and their SDF Syrian Arab allies rather than assisting them in their fight against the jihadis. The 22nd of October 2017 was a critical day in Syria‘s war. That day the YPG/SDF, with US air support captured the Al-Omar oil field from IS jihadis before the Syrian Army was able to get there. This one incident is arguably responsible for much of the economic challenges facing Damascus today.
But there was a way out. Trump didn’t buy into the regime change crap and saw no upside to continued US presence in Syria. In a moment of bold brilliance, he called for a complete withdrawal from Syrian territory. The Borg panicked. They devised a plan to convince Trump to stay. Like a Grima Wormtongue, they put it in economic terms, a cost-benefit analysis. They played the President. On 21 October 2019 Trump said “We want to keep the oil. Maybe we’ll have one of our big oil companies to go in and do it properly.” On 23 October Trump reiterated “We’ve secured the oil and therefore a small number of US troops will remain in the area where they have the oil and we’re going to be protecting it. And we’ll be deciding what we’re going to do with it in the future.” On 27 October 2019, Trump commented that “We own the oil fields.” Robert O’Brien reinforced those words the same day. The regime change plan was saved.
Now under Biden, the oil profit charade is no longer needed. By putting Dana Stroul, one of the architects of the new version of the Syrian regime change plan, in charge of the Pentagon office responsible for implementing that plan, Biden has clearly demonstrated that he bought into that plan. If he ever waivers, all the Borg has to do is to whisper Russia into Joe’s ear.
The only way to break this addiction is to perform an intervention. Iran appears to be doing just that with the attacks on the supply convoys in Iraq as Larry Johnson reported yesterday. It’s a classic resistance strategy. I expect more of this. I gather Biden has no real interest in staying in Iraq. And if leaving Iraq is the price to pay for reviving the JCPOA, I think Biden may be willing to pay. If we leave Iraq, staying in Syria will be problematic. That may be Teheran’s ultimate aim. Will the Borg let that happen? I don’t know.
Another possible way to beak the addiction is through diplomatic and public pressure. Russia and China can do this at the UN and through raising the issue to the US public. You know… an influence operation.
“As I underscored at the UN today, the U.S. stands with the Syrian people and the international community in calling for a nationwide ceasefire and humanitarian access to Syrians in need. The U.S. is the single largest humanitarian donor to the Syrian people.”
These are the words of Tony Blinken who spoke at the UN a few days ago on the subject of Syria. What he failed to point out is that the bulk, if not all, of that US humanitarian aid goes only to the US/SDF controlled area of Syria. It’s all part of the plan… regime change in Damascus. What Russia and China should do is point out how hollow Blinken’s words are. And do it loudly and repeatedly. Articles like Larry’s help, too. The American people need to know.
TTG
Yes, an impressive display of rank stupidity to be sure.
Following on the heels of the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani, guest of the Iraqi government, trying to get the US out of where they were no longer wanted by anyone besides Israel, the convoy attacks (apparently pretty restrained thus far) show what is going to be gradually ramped up in that regard.
Seemingly, the US military disregards the fact that Russia has a formal alliance with Syria, and their patience (remarkable in the context of the deliberate killing of Russian military contractors by western coalition aircraft, oh and there was that shoot down of a real Russian military plane a while back, too) regarding the aggression against the internationally recognized government of Syria must be fraying.
And then NATO seems to be prodding the Ukrainian regime toward large scale attacks on the breakaway Russian ethnic provinces.
The Russian military seems to be prepositioning forces just over the border should NATO’s potstirring yield results.
And this little item should be helpful in restraining the NeoBanderites:
https://www.rt.com/russia/519708-general-world-war-disgust/
Yeah, go ahead, poke the Bear, nothing bad will happen.
And as usual, good information from Colonel Cassed on moving more Russian forces into Crimea: https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/6670334.html
Seems to be some messaging here…
TTG,
Do you really see any difference between the biden regime and the Borg? This is not a rhetorical question.
Ishmael Zechariah
There’s a lot of overlap between the Borg and all post-WWII administrations and even quite a few before that. Biden veers from the Borg in his willingness to confront the Saudis and their war in Yemen and in his willingness to normalize relations with Iran by reviving the JCPOA. Beyond that, pretty much in step with the Borg. He confrontational with both China and Russia and places value in the Western alliance. And he’s still far too cozy with Israel. What administration has strayed from the Borg orthodoxy to any great extent?
TTG,
re: What administration has strayed from the Borg orthodoxy to any great extent?
Given the full court psyops performed in the open over the past four years, which president do you think the Borg prefers, Trump or biden?
For me and my colleagues the value of the Trump administration was in its de-masking of the Borg. The (mis)conduct of Borg sycophants, “elites?”, might have set the fuse which we hope will blow up the Borg. Time will tell.
It is thanks to Trump that the kagans, nulands, psakis, strouls, blinkens, and the media whores they control now have to openly suppress facts, cancel honorable people, foment riots, brag about falsifying troop numbers, surround the US Capitol with a wire fence in a manner worthy of the worst banana republic… the list goes on and on… These actions provided the ammo for FMs Lavrov and Yi to deliver identical messages to borrell and blinken: 去他妈的 ! And they had no answer except to squirm. Yes, I am grateful to Trump…
Another four years of Trump might have caused more grief for the Borg. I am sorry he lost.
Ishmael Zechariah
The misconduct of Borg sycophants was known long before Trump came on the scene. He did little to stop their continued misconduct around the world even against Russia. He talked a good game or I should say a belligerent game, but his administration’s actions were still guided by Borg orthodoxy. On the plus side, Trump popularized the forgotten notion of avoiding entangling alliances. However, he adhered to the core Borg alliance with Israel and was building towards a more virulent strain of Borg by expanding that dark alliance to Riyadh and to other Gulf states with Iran as the forever enemy.
Those fences surrounding the Capitol went up under Trump’s leadership as did the more formidable walls and fencing around the White House. The symbolism of those barriers are indeed worthy of the worst banana republics. We’ll have to wait to see if they will endure.
I don’t see what we would have gained on the foreign policy front with four more years of Trump leadership. That growing US-Israeli-Saudi alliance scared the bejeezus out of me. Nothing good could have come out of that.
TTG
The Borg (the foreign policy establishment) grew out of all those administrations.
“…if leaving Iraq is the price to pay for reviving the JCPOA…”
Throw in a Nobel Peace Prize, then Biden will have something Trump doesn’t have.
If that’s what it takes to buck the Borg, I’m all for it.
I won’t be surprised if our recent commitment to advise & train troops in Mozambique
to aid in their fight against al Shabaab (ISIS) results in more of a build up with our
Africon forces. Yes, it’s troubling to view more expansion/foreign intervention, however
it may be necessary as who else is stepping up in any meaningful manner?
Elaine,
“who else is stepping up in any meaningful manner”
The Russians have done a number on the jihadis in Syria, but then TTG covert their motives well. The Turks, well he covers them too. As to Africa who on the continent has the capabilities? Outside of that there’s the Chinese, who have growing interests in the old fashioned imperialistic drive for resources.
but then TTG covert their motives well.
Knot in my brain wires that prevents me from translating this into something this nitwit understands. Would you please paraphrase?
One of the problems are when ‘The Borg’ is mentioned, Mom % Pop America have no idea who they are. The Borg need to be id’d for the putrid trash that they are by listing them by name, IE CSIS, etc. Give Mom % Pop America something to sink their teeth in to.
Just a thought.
J
Mom and Pop America do not read this blog and never will.
Colonel Lang,
I second J’s opinion with one modification: a good analysis of the Borg might be more useful to us Turcopoles than Mom and Pop America. In particular, a history of Borg’s transformation over the decades into an apparently anti-American entity would be valuable in defining a common base for discussions here.
Ishmael Zechariah
The Borg have been fairly consistent over the decades. They have always been pro-Israeli and have always been willing to throw our weight around to achieve our objectives. Have you forgotten containment and rollback? The world has changed, but the Borg have not. And therein lies their problem. They have not adapted.
TTG – The UK put a surprisingly large amount of money into regime change in Syria. I had earlier thought that UK destabilisation work in Syria had been the province of a few, ex-professionals from that half world on the fringes of the Intelligence community who were undertaking the more squalid work on a nod and a wink basis. Not so. This was a generously funded operation on a far larger scale. There is little hard information as far as I have seen on where that money ended up or what the people it ended up with were doing. But there’s a heavy investment there.
I assume that a project on that scale is difficult to pull out of. It would take a bold official to say that all that money had been wasted and now had to be written off. Such projects surely have their own inertia and are surely therefore continuing. Is it permissible to wonder whether Washington is under pressure from the UK to continue throwing good money after bad in this long attempt to wreck Syria? It would not be the first time the tail has wagged the dog.
EO
A lot of USAID money was put in the pot for you all to use as well.
“all that money had been wasted and now had to be written off. ”
It is a sunk cost. It is the future monies promised that are hard to give up.
If it weren’t so creepy it would be worthy of one of your satirical pieces, Fred. You saw the recent UK defence review. Cut the regular forces to hell – again – and then we spend hundreds of millions on this sort of rubbish.
Empire’s Cities
New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv,
Cities of the empire ,
In no hurry to leave
Her strangling embrace.
Resting in her coils
Is an easy thing to do
Especially when she whispers
“You don’t have to be so blue
Just follow your desires;
Your dreams will all come true!”
We’ll show you what to want;
Then how to go get it,
Then we’ll fan the flames
To such a pitch
You’ll almost forget
The mammal joys you sought!
We are not innocent;
We’re knowers of the world;
We have a past of what we do
A fate to be fulfilled;
As we strut and preen
Before the crowd.
We’re cities of the empire.
We have our lovers, yeah!
Presidents and kings,
Paupers and queens,
Men, women in the millions,
Treasure in the trillions—
But pray kind sir,
Where is on offer
Oil for our lamps?
We’re just cities of the empire
Used to her embrace,
We are not innocent;
In no hurry to leave,
Just cities of the empire.
Brother Blue Iconoclast
There is an article by Rick Sterling at the website Antiwar.com. The article is ” Two Ambassadors with Wildly Different Analysis” The article contrasts the realistic analysis by Britains former Syrian ambassodor Peter Ford with the former US ambassador Robert Ford who whitewashes the US destructive policies in Syria.
Fred, I don’t think any particular gov in Africa has the capabilities.
LeaNder, I suspect Fred just made a typo & meant to say “covers” rather than “covert.”
It’s no big deal.