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Rebuilding Syria – without Syria’s oil

By Pepe Escobar – Posted with permission

Compare US pillaging with Russia-Iran-Turkey’s active involvement in a political solution to normalize Syria

What happened in Geneva this Wednesday, in terms of finally bringing peace to Syria, could not be more significant: the first session of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.

The Syrian Constitutional Committee sprang out of a resolution passed in January 2018 in Sochi, Russia, by a body called the Syrian National Dialogue Congress.

The 150-strong committee breaks down as 50 members of the Syrian opposition, 50 representing the government in Damascus and 50 representatives of civil society. Each group named 15 experts for the meetings in Geneva, held behind closed doors.

This development is a direct consequence of the laborious Astana process – articulated by Russia, Iran and Turkey. Essential initial input came from former UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. Now UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is working as a sort of mediator.

The committee started its deliberations in Geneva in early 2019.

Crucially, there are no senior members of the administration in Damascus nor from the opposition – apart from Ahmed Farouk Arnus, who is a low-ranking diplomat with the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

Among the opposition, predictably, there are no former leaders of weaponized factions. And no “moderate rebels.” The delegates include several former and current parliament members, university rectors and journalists.

After this first round, significantly, the committee’s co-chair, Ahmad Kuzbari, said: “We hope that our next meeting could take place in our native land, in our beloved Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited capital in history.”

Even the opposition, which is part of the committee, hopes that a political deal will be clinched next year. According to co-chair Hadi al-Bahra: “I hope that the 75th anniversary of the United Nations next year will be an opportunity to celebrate another achievement by the universal organization, namely the success of efforts under the auspices of a special envoy for political process, who will bring peace and justice to all Syrians.”

Join the patrol

The committee’s work in Geneva proceeds in parallel to ever-changing facts on the ground. These will certainly force more face-to-face negotiations between Presidents Putin and Erdogan, as Erdogan himself confirmed: “A conversation with Putin can take place any time. Everything depends on the course of events.”

“Events” seem not to be that incandescent, so far, even as Erdogan, predictably, releases the whiff of a threat in the air: “We reserve the right to resume military operation in Syria if terrorists approach at the distance of 30km to Turkey’s borders or continue attacks from any other Syrian area.”

Erdogan also said the de facto safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border could be “expanded,” something that he would have to clear in minute detail with Moscow.

Those threats have already manifested on the ground. On Wednesday, Turkey and allied Islamist factions launched an attack against Tal Tamr, a historic Assyrian Christian enclave 50km deep inside Syrian territory – far beyond the scope of the 10km patrol zone or the 30km “safe” zone.

Poorly-armed Syrian troops pulled out under fierce attack, and with no apparent Russian cover. The Syrian military on the same day issued a public statement calling on the Syrian Democratic Forces to reintegrate under its command. The SDF has said a compromise must be reached first over semi-autonomy for the northeastern region. Thousands of residents in the meantime fled farther south to the more protected city of Hasakeh.

Two facts are absolutely crucial. The Syrian Kurds have completed their pull out ahead of schedule, as confirmed by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. And, this Friday, Russia and Turkey start their joint military patrols to the depth of 7km away from the border, part of the de facto safe zone in northeast Syria.

The devil in the immense details is how Ankara is going to manage the territories that it now actually controls, and to which it plans to relocate as many as 2 million Syrian refugees.

Your oil? Mine

Then there’s the nagging issue that simply won’t go away: the American drive to “secure the oil” (Trump) and “protect” Syrian oilfields (the Pentagon), for all practical purposes from Syria.

In Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – alongside Iran’s Javad Zarif and Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu – could not have been more scathing. Lavrov said Washington’s plan is “arrogant,” and violates international law. The very American presence on Syrian soil is “illegal,” he said.

All across the Global South, especially among countries in the Non-Aligned Movement, this is being interpreted, stripped to the bone, for what it is: the United States government illegally taking possession of natural resources of a third country via a military occupation.

And the Pentagon is warning that anyone attempting to contest it will be shot on sight. It remains to be seen whether the US Deep State would be willing to engage in a hot war with Russia over a few Syrian oilfields.

Under international law, the whole “securing the oil” scam is a euphemism for pillaging, pure and simple. Every single takfiri or jihadi outfit operating across the “Greater Middle East” will converge, perversely, to the same conclusion: US “efforts” across the lands of Islam are all about the oil.

Now compare that with Russia-Iran-Turkey’s active involvement in a political solution and normalization of Syria – not to mention, behind the scenes, China, which quietly donates rice and aims for widespread investment in a pacified Syria positioned as a key Eastern Mediterranean node of the New Silk Roads.

 

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54 Comments

  1. Remember Operation Iraqi Liberation? This was before they renamed it to something a bit less obvious due to the acronym. The nonsense in Syria is also a prelude to the carve out of the oil producing regions in Khūzestān, Iran.

    • In his interview with al-Sourya and al-Ikhbarya TV, President al-Assad stated that when the SAA takes over a region, it does so when ready to offer full services of the Syrian government. The implication is that the people living in the areas surrounding the oil wells would oppose theft of the oil, too. Obviously, this isn’t going to happen until more progress is made with constitutional revisions, but when all is said and done, would the US try to continue occupying the wells when everybody in the region is opposed to their presence?

      This is the equation missing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hegemon relies on conflict to provide an environment where it can hide behind strife, but when the only conflict is between Hegemon and everybody else …….

    • How many times does one need to hear a lie before he /she can tell its a lie. During WWI while making promises to the Arabs the British and the French were meeting in secret and dividing the Middle East into spheres of influence. After WWI as a result of the secret agreement (Sikes-Picot) Britain took control of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, France took Syria and Lebanon and with it the oil resources. Arabs rebelled when they saw that they were lied to. Britain used Chemical weapons “to spread lively terror “as Churchill called the chemical attacks in Iraq.

      From 1920 to the present Britain and France were joined by USA as imperial powers in the Middle East. Any democracy that demanded self-rule in the Arab world was replaced by US backed regimes which were in most cases a brutal dictatorship.

      So here we are back to Sikes-Picot agreements but now US has joined the other two liars France and Britain to continue the lies which the whole world can see.

  2. All across the Global South, especially among countries in the Non-Aligned Movement, this is being interpreted, stripped to the bone, for what it is: the United States government illegally taking possession of natural resources of a third country via a military occupation.

    Let us never forget that the U.S. is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with veto privileges, and apparently the willfulness to deny foreign visitors to the U.N. headquarters in New York City visas whenever the mood strikes.

    • The Kurds are sadly a people with low intelligence – and a very high birth-rate. Traditionally, they were mercenaries and robbers. They are good at that. They are a mountain people. They don’t belong in civilisation. They have nothing to contribute. They don’t even know their own history. The major countries in the region – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria – would never allow a Kurdish state to exist for obvious reasons. But trying to convince them of that reality is another matter.

      • Alf, such wide-ranging denunciations of an entire people don’t do much good. Perhaps the Kurds have such a history, but that may only be in the eyes of their enemies, for who xenophobic Kurds may hold similar perjorative opinions. I’m sure that Kurds are as diverse a society as most others.

        • And when was the last time a Kurd wrote a decent novel or book of any sort?

          I once knew a Kurd who was the second in command of the Iranian army. He was the chief of the Imperial Guard. He saved the Shah’s life a few times. He was very brave. Tall and imposing. He was in a way my friend. He liked to invite my girlfriend and I to private rooms in famous restaurants – with a private orchestra and belly dancer of course.

          Once we were invited to the Imperial Country club for a big function. A famous Turkish singer performed and he told her to address me in her love song to my great embarrassment. In front of the creme of the Iranian military and their spouses who found it very amusing. I was the only European there. Here is the song and the singer. She was a lot slimmer and prettier in 1978. He gave her a huge diamond necklace.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFMUEALSII

          When the Shah left Iran, this general stayed behind. Once, an huge crowd of protesters – hundreds of thousands of them – came to the Niavaran palace. He went out unarmed and alone to address them and in his uniform. The crowd calmed down. Two of his officers – possibly acting on the orders of the Americans – shot him in the back. Later, when the Revolution succeeded, these officers were executed.

          What I am trying to say is that I am not in any way prejudiced against the Kurds. There are good Kurds and bad Kurds. Almost all of them are brave, but almost all of them are equally unintelligent. They lack cunning. If you like, they are the converse of the Jews.

    • I don’t know what the best answer is when it comes to making American forces actually leave. What I do know by now is how my country likes to operate. The assholes orchestrating this would love nothing more than to be met with force. Just the pretext we need to increase forces. Then, of course, it would be only logical that we must increase areas under our control to root out terrorists, act as a buffer, etc. We take an inch and usually we’re already well along to convincing our ignorant masses that we must take a mile. Hell, we’ll probably just arm and fund some group of nuts with grievances and blood lust just to kill a few U.S. soldiers if no one takes the bait. Could probably dupe the Kurds into playing useful idiot one more time. Of course we’ll have ironclad evidence that is was Hezbollah or Putin or Assad, Bozo the clown, Xerxes, whatever works. Backstabbed when all we were trying to do was safeguard Syria’s precious resources for them. That’s us, always looking out for everyone else. Basically, there’s no telling exactly what we’ll cook up. Just think underhanded, psychotic/desperate, with a healvy dose of arrogance, shrouded in unfathomable amounts of dishonesty and you’re probaby on the right page. Our playbook actually only has that one page, so there ya go. I’m American and it drives me nuts, can’t imagine trying to deal with that as a world leader. The fact Putin isn’t cross-eyed, talking gibberish, and wearing a garbage bag around means the man deserves a medal.

  3. Unless Kurds SDF are firmly dealt with…..Turkish supported militants jihadists dealt with and neutralised (note Russia negotiated with Turkey the release of some capgured SAA soldiers though one was killed)…. and maybe Russia supporting militarily much more(though one senses their enhanced actions in Idlib are holding back militants breaking out of Idlib and maybe Putin is not keen to reintroduce troops etc)…..I feel this is going to drag on for many years. Usa still seems to be even more gping back on their statements of withdrawal. Does Iraq need extra impetus to get USA and private contractors etc out of Iraq it might make a difference or are they so firmly entranched?

  4. Sadly, there can not be a happy ending to this travesty until the beast empire who ignited this killing is removed from the land and the area at large, by force if necessary and likely. Calling them arrogant and telling them that what they do is illegal won’t bother them in the least. They don’t care! Negotiating is futile. They don’t negotiate but threaten. Force is the only language they know.
    No matter how one tries to parse these events, Trump is as guilty of war crimes as all those killers who surround him. Long ago he gave his strong conviction that if the U.S. is at war in a country, then they should take the oil. Whatever happened to ‘to the victor go the spoils?’ he asked. This wannabe Cyrus as some have declared him, God’s choice to give a reprieve to America, this self-declared genius is publicly shown to be nothing but a gangster, a pirate.

    • The opposite point of view would say that since the oil had been being taken long before Trump got involved, he was just tipping off the citizens as to what was already occurring. Had he said nothing, no one would know, care, or blame him for trying to “take” it.

  5. “Erdogan also said the de facto safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border could be “expanded,” something that he would have to clear in minute detail with Moscow.

    Those threats have already manifested on the ground. On Wednesday, Turkey and allied Islamist factions launched an attack against Tal Tamr, a historic Assyrian Christian enclave 50km deep inside Syrian territory – far beyond the scope of the 10km patrol zone or the 30km “safe” zone.

    Poorly-armed Syrian troops pulled out under fierce attack, and with no apparent Russian cover. The Syrian military on the same day issued a public statement calling on the Syrian Democratic Forces to reintegrate under its command. The SDF has said a compromise must be reached first over semi-autonomy for the northeastern region. Thousands of residents in the meantime fled farther south to the more protected city of Hasakeh.”

    While America is stealing Syrian oil, Turkey is stealing Syrian land.

    Both of these nations are crime partners in sponsoring and arming the moderate head-choppers and pro-democracy jihadists that have invaded Syria for the past several years.

    While America’s crimes are obvious, Turkey has been given a free pass because it part of the Astana “peace process.”

    Turkey simply cannot be trusted as it is obviously playing a double game by trying to extract concessions for its neo-Ottoman aggressions from both the unipolar USA/Nato bloc and the multipolar Russian-led camp.

    Meanwhile, the Turks are colonizing ever more of Syrian land.

    And Donald Trump, the fake “anti-interventionist” ruler, is openly bankrolling jihadists in the form of the White Helmets.

    Trump gives $4.5 million to Syria’s White Helmets, which partnered with jihadists and joined Turkey’s ethnic cleansing
    https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/28/trump-million-syria-jihadist-white-helmets/

  6. I knew this. It was very naive to believe that Americans would not try some dirty tricks.

    What they achieved – the first thing is that they got rid of Kurds and Erdogan, they got rid of Turkish-Kurd problem in Syria.

    Second, they keep oil fields under control and that is pure example of international banditry.

    OK, we will see what is going to happen.

    And all this story about Bagdadi is comedy and fairy tale.

  7. How many of those US criminals occupy the oil fields a few hundred? what has it come to when a few hundred criminals can dictate the agenda in Syria? if they want to die for that oil thats the choice they should be given,otherwise it will end up like Kosovo and the illegal occupation of Kosovo,send a force with Russian air cover to those oil fields NOW,same situation with the Turks,they still occupy part of Cyprus after many decades.

  8. Dunno how long that US occupation of the oil fields can last. Sure, the SAA would be fools to ATTACK them, but there’s no reason the SAA should co-operate with their logistics. Once the general region around them is thoroughly secured and peaceful, blockade ’em until they run out of supplies.

    • There is an article on Zero Hedge to the effect that the US control of only “some” of the oilfields is dependent upon external electrical supply which can be controlled by Syria. Also the oilfields require a workforce, which can be manipulated by Syria. In short the Yankee occupation is simply not practically workable. So there is an obvious non violent solution.

  9. Trump’s plundering the oil rips away the facade that the Beast uses to cover up its exploitation in the 3rd world. Now everyone will see the Beast as it is, not the disguise of Freedom and Democracy. Not only will the takfiris get the message, it is all about the USA plundering resources, but all across the world US exports will drop as civilized people boycott the Evil Empire’s products. Stealing the oil is so illegal and immoral for so many reasons, it shows the US system out of control. Remember AIPAC got 400 Congresspeople to issue a declaration that US would stay in NE Syria and Pentagon in denial about the fact that US ME venture since 2001 has been an utter fiasco.

    • John; Your main point is very important, in my opinion. So much so that we can even claim that the Yankee occupation of the oilfield is actually a good thing. Because it has enormous consciousness raising potential on a global basis. It is a vital educative act on the part of the Borg. Now the whole world sees the ugliness that seeks to hide behind the curtain. It is part of a process of revelation. Mulga mentions that the word Yankee comes from a Dutch word for thief.

    • John Neal Spangler, I think Trump is far more intelligent, than almost anyone gives him credit for. He told the Truth about 9/11 on Day One. It may still be on youtube. He may have retracted it the next day, cos he was well aware of the evil b@stards he was dealing with as a New York property developer.

      You are completely correct re “Trump’s plundering the oil rips away the facade that the Beast uses to cover up its exploitation in the 3rd world. Now everyone will see the Beast as it is”

      I think there is an exceedingly good chance, that he did it on purpose, and knows exactly what he is doing. He knows the Beast extremely well, and to portray The Beast, like it really is, is the only way kill the Beast.

      If you try and fight it, you stand no chance.

      They are all Mafia Dons. It does not mean they actually like each other. They probably hate each other’s guts. Trump is right. Some of the main victims of these ridiculous American wars, are The American people, who used to be so great, but are now dumbed down, de-educated, brainwashed and impoverished.

      Make america great again. It is rapidly becoming a third world sh1t hole

      Tony

    • It just needs the will to do it,what are they waiting for another Camp Bondsteel to be built in Syria? those clowns should have been stopped before they even crossed into Syria,it looks like in their arrogance the US Reich has calculated they can get away with it without punishment.

      • Their arrogance begins in Washington and ends in Tel Aviv, or vice versa…
        it makes clear whom to isolate/boycott/bomb.
        But the idea above of Snow Leopard will somehow work also, however, not bring peace to whole region, not even temporarily.
        How is the saying? You don”t negotiate with terrorists. Never ever! This is an axiom regarding US establishment and zionists too. Please somebody make them suffer and pay for their sins finally!

    • Plus….”MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Two Greek F-16 fighter jets provided an escort to a US B-52 bomber on its way to Syria during its flight over Cyprus on Friday, the Kathimerini newspaper reported.

      The bomber took off from Fairford Royal Air Force Base in Gloucestershire, the United Kingdom, and was joined by the Greek aircraft as it went through Athens’ and Nicosia’s Flight Information Regions, and then continued its flight toward its area of operation in Syria.

      It has not been established whether the bomber’s flight is a part of NATO operations or solely a US initiative, according to the newspaper.”
      ?????????? Sumpnin happnin?

    • The British did not get on well with the Dutch in the New York area.. The term Yankee is a combination of Yan and cheese. The British called all Dutch men Yan who, according to them only knew how to make cheese. thus the putdown “Yancheese” which over time evolved into “Yankee”

  10. Centcom has called Trump’s bluff. The troops not only stay, but thousands more added and a steady logisitics chain is made necessary to supply and to defend, not just the illegal bases.

    Only a serious loss of life and equipment will change the oil field policy of the Hegemon.

    Thus, the solution is the Houthi tactic of visiting upon the American troops and their tanks and armored fighting vehicles a significant array of armed drones and missiles. Especially, it can come at them from both Syrian and Iraqi positions.

    I am confident that General Soleimani is developing some tactics to cause serious harm to Centcom’s pirating.

    Done right with massive casualties to the American forces, Centcom might have to leave not just Syria but Iraq also.

    Thus, I could enumerate a dozen very experienced militias, PMCs and armies who will be more than willing to launch the drones and missiles at those sitting ducks “guarding the oil fields” Trump and the Pentagon intend to fleece.

  11. I’m still struggling to get my head around the sheer pathological Evil here. Not just target a country for regime change, but send in hordes of jihadist terrorists, use the vile presstitutes to relentlessly smear and lie about Syria, throw multitude sanctions at Syria – Then, Then, after destroying the country….. STEAL its Oil, so denying Syria funds to rebuild its infrastructure.
    And…. threaten anyone who tries to reclaim the oilfields IN Syria…. Including the Syrian Govt. In its OWN territory.
    Has the world finally gone stark raving bonkers?
    Every country that’s not a snivelling vassal state of the Anglo Zionist Empire needs to band together, unify, and and fully oppose the hegemon.
    Perhaps two positives are coming out of this: the work being done to secure a lasting peace by the Syrian constitutional committee, and the fact that the presstitutes have been so blatant and obvious in their vile propaganda, more people are waking up.

    • no, the world has always been bonkers, you are just old enough to notice now. A little history:
      USA allowed itself to be bombed in Pear harbor to have a reason to join WWII.
      USA bombed 2 cities with atomic weapons after the end of WWII just to show off its weapons to the soviet union.
      USA invaded Korea in 1950s based on lies.
      USA invaded Vietnam in the 1960 based on lies
      USA sold weapons to Saddam Hussein so he can fight Iran while US was also selling weapons to Iran(Iran contra affair look irt up)
      USA invaded Iraq in 1990 based on lies.
      USA attacked Serbia in the 990s based on lies
      USA attacked and invaded Afghanistan in 2001 based on lies.
      USA attacked and invaded Iraq for 2nd time in 2003 based on lies
      and so on and so on and so on….

  12. it must be apparent to the whole human race on planet earth that fascism defines the west. is not the anglo-american-franco alliance called the deep state the very evil that is threatening planet earth. is not the nationalist-socialist systems the very future hitler looked to make. yes, the fascist deep state is a clear and present danger to all living beings on planet earth. trump is no different a puppet than the puppets before him, it is just he is dumber, more arrogant and more orange than every other human being. perhaps he is a clone.

  13. Removed – no attacking the author Tal Tamr and the Aleppo – Mosul highway are exactly 30km from the Turkish border and therefore hardly “beyond the scope of the 30 km safe zone.”

  14. “Rebuilding Syria – without Syria’s oil”

    Odd title. Pepe doesn’t claim the israeli’s pindo quislings will be able to hold position indefinitely in the article, as the title implies.

    My own guess is that this was a desperate move by israel’s trump gofer in response to their rout following the Turk incursion. This time, though, it wont be the Turks, the Syrian SAA, the Russians or the Iranians that boot pindo arse from their new “fallback” position. It will be the Kurds. The ones who have dumped their quisling crap and decided Syria is their country.

    • Yes, it’s the same old game play of the Deep State, but we must also look to and applaud the great gains that have occurred quite rapidly recently for Syria to reclaim its lands, returning its people to their homelands and forming military specialists to route out the hidden jihadi cells. Putin has, is still, putting a lot of investment into resurrecting Syria towards its full repatriation pre-war status; the game is not over yet.
      The fox/wolf, aka The Deep State, has been cornered and bracing for the fight of its life, snapping and snarling as it knows its doom is nigh. This is, this week, reflected in DC; the whole of the Republican Party, plus two Dems, have put their all behind Trump, the very first time in a long time the Republicans are one in unequivocal support of their President. Even reported on Lame Stream Media!
      Trump trumpets out, “We’ve defeated ISIS,” which any one knowing this is his feeding the Pentagon and MIC’s ego, aka “subterfuge”.
      Look at what’s looming in DC; the long awaited “declass” of the 1,000s of sealed indictments is looming ever nearer. Guantanamo is now fully set up and ready for the Military Tribunals.
      I suggest a read of “The Art of The Deal” to get some insight as to what the Donald is up to and Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” as well.
      Guiliani is about to release his invest of the recent Ukraine saga, not just the recent but all the way back to the Maidan coupe, using data supplied by the new Ukrainian government that they initiated a full investigation of and handed to Guiliani when he arrived; total suprise. Wow!
      Notice how little we’ve hard of the AG since Mueller threw himself under the bus; he’s been very busy traveling the world collecting indictable evidence. He’s back state side preparing not only what he got from his travels but the whole declass release.
      Recall the mystery envelopes given out at that state funeral to Trump’s foes.
      Where is Hillary’s hard drive? Ukraine. Then there’s Uranium One that’s been fully investigated and indictments sealed.
      The FBI clean out.
      CIA Black Sites around the world are almost all shut down including in Iran and NK.
      Trump’s popularity in the US amongst ordinary Americans of 43 states fully behind him. That’s a lot of Americans, one could say they are the majority.
      Voter ID ala Venezuela’s voter registration system is being put in place.
      The Wall is nearing completion!
      Look at China’s dietary protein wipe out from the Swine Flu a country almost totally dependent on pork for dietary protein. The world’s biggest pork consumption but also the largest pig herd, almost 50% wiped out, and it’s raging across the planet. China is begging for America to make up for their pork losses including soy, but American farms have been devastated from Geo Engineering weather manipulation, so Trump handed out $Billions to keep the farmers afloat until they can harvest again and feed China. Check out Mike Morales YT Channel for the latest daily Geo Engineering report, especially sceptics.
      Don’t you think it’s odd that Venezuela has virtually disappeared from MSM? NK as well.
      “The show’s not over until the fat lady sings.”
      The western baby boomers reading my rant will vividly recall that foretelling song,”This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius….Aquarius…” well, fellow boomers, it’s a happenin’!

  15. “Compare US pillaging with Russia-Iran-Turkey’s active involvement in a political solution to normalize Syria”

    Well that very sum up the whole US policies for the last 30 to 40 years.
    Morally corrupt and and negative in real world.

    But worst still, it is defeating policies.
    That smells decadence of a country and civilization.

    Just as US policies after the fall of USSR were morally evil and led to Russian resistance.
    Just as the whole war on terror was based on rotten premises.

    30-40 years later.
    It seems the US did not not learn their lesson yet.

    Only total bankrupcy and punch in the mouth will change their course of actions.

  16. ‘I Like Oil, We’re Keeping the Oil’: Trump Confirms US Wants Syria’s Oil, Not to Patrol Its Borders

    https://sputniknews.com/world/201911021077207222–i-like-oil-were-keeping-the-oil-trump-confirms-us-wants-syrias-oil-not-to-patrol-its-borders/

    “The ceasefire has held very nicely. We’ve kept the oil. We’ve stayed back and kept the oil. Other people can patrol the border of Syria, frankly, and Turkey, let them – they’ve been fighting for a thousand years, let them do the border, we don’t want to do that. We want to bring our soldiers home. But we did leave soldiers because we’re keeping the oil. I like oil. We’re keeping the oil,” Trump said, speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on Friday.”

    IE: “We want to bring our soldiers home. But we did leave soldiers because we’re keeping the oil.”

    Doublespeak, pure and simple. This sort of psywar is the basis of trump’s pr relations with the american people throughout. And the simple pindo minds buy it. The more simple, the more they endorse their “dear leader”.

    • I think those statements should be used in the UN and international court to condemn US actions and prosecute for war crimes.

      Like they have “conflicts diamonds” illegal, “conflict oil” should be illegal as well.

      Just by looking at a map, I would say the oil is likely going to Iraq for processing. Maybe through Iraq to Saudi Arabia. So I think best solution is political and with Iraq. Russia, Syria negotiate with Iraq to get them to close routes to US. Iraq is already working to try to rid themselves of US presence, they need more help from like minded countries to do so.

  17. Larchmonter445 offers “Centcom has called Trump’s bluff.” – Maybe, but it is also possible that Trump has trapped CentCom into bluffing. Just an idea. Pepe’s article goes in this direction, likewise some intriguing ideas from Meyssan: https://www.voltairenet.org/article208020.html, https://www.voltairenet.org/article208196.html.

    Circling around the target for the sake of clarity, Centcom and assorted old-thinking holdovers such as Lindsey Graham apparently believe that Trump’s “policy” is to remove or draw down US troops in Syria, perhaps even Iraq, perhaps even Afghanistan, so they want to oppose that supposed policy (“dumbest idea I ever heard” – Graham). The “policy” would be a bluff if Trump doesn’t have the cards in hand to pull it off. If, however, pulling troops out is not Trump’s policy (nor, of course, it is his policy to keep them there), but it is merely one step or one move in a far more comprehensive plan, Centcom is put in the position of playing the only game they think they know how to play, summarily characterized by Meyssan over years as the “Rumsfeld/Cebrowski strategy,” i.e., to destroy state structures in order to exert colonial control over resources.

    If the overall strategy has been shattered, which is indeed the case (thanks to Syria, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah… China), trying to hold onto a few oil fields is no plan and is simply stupid. Since the state structure in Syria is not destroyed, there is no way to accomplish that sine qua non of the plan by sitting around on oil fields. Pepe says, “It remains to be seen whether the US Deep State would be willing to engage in a hot war with Russia over a few Syrian oilfields.” That issue would be near the top of an escalation ladder, and since Trump is president, at that level they do not call the shots (nor did they call the shots in Iran) but there is no need to dream up scenarios far below that level of escalation which will be sufficient to call Centcom’s bluff. War against NK doesn’t work, war against Iran doesn’t work,… war over Syrian oil fields doesn’t work.

    This indicated pattern is a lousy foundation upon which to build an evaluation that Trump doesn’t know what he is doing. So he advertises openly what the ploy is: Centcom as an empowerment arm for Exxon-Mobil. How to recognize a trolling president? – Let Exxon-Mobil pay for Centcom, for the US, they are a money-losing operation. What a joke, but many prefer to feign moral outrage rather than laugh. Who is going to pay for Centcom when they screw up, as they surely will and surely do? (There was a funny article last week in the US, “CentCom looking for a strategy after troop withdrawal”, as if CentCom could recognize the difference between a strategy and a hole in the ground.)

    Let everyone recognize what the alternative is to Trump’s actual policy, and assemble their collective wits to defeat it. Metaphorically, it is akin to the “toxic dollar” (Patruchev): It will explode anyway, so the coalition-of-sanity has been warned and has time to get its ducks in a row for when it blows. In other words, Trump is betting that he is not at all alone in fighting the Deep State.

    • And if he becomes aware of this…if he realises this is wrong… if this is what his advisors are getting him into trouble with…..then he has reason to prosecute everyone giving him such advise both civil and military …… and clear the whole dang lot out… .the chances?

  18. By seizing the oil, the natural resource possession of a foreign state,the u.s.has openly confirmed itself a rogue nation. This is pure neo-con ideology in action, totally uncontrolled arrogance. This arrogance has blinded the u.s. it has made the number one mistake in military strategy, underestimating your enemy.
    It is a huge measure of brainless arrogance to believe that Syria and its allies are going to accept this thievery of the u.s. especially when they have fought so successfully against the terrorist proxy army of the thief.
    The u.s has placed itself in an unsustainable position one which, over a short time, the cretinous
    msm will find insupportable.
    Assad must assert Syria’s rights with or without u.n. backing and Putin and his military will no way allow this doomed u.s strategy thievery to revitalise the constant, regime change.
    When the u.s. does, inevitably, totally exits Syria it is, again, gonna be doing it with its arse in its hands.

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