Rock throwing is becoming the new favored leisure activity of northern Syrians.

<WHY DO THEY KEEP DELETING THESE THINGS>

How are these not political, whereupon they should require greater consideration of their value; I know that’s not the law, but Twitter claims to be taking this stuff with a newfound seriousness.

They aren’t. The lack of the almighty Blue Check for accounts associated with Rojava is jarring-it is to say, a voice cannot be validated if a state does not approve.

This is America, goddammit.

Whatever. I found a longer. American ingenuity versus mindless corporate practice FTW!

Actually, I just watch a lot of these at this point, so I had one handy.

 

Marciano490

What reactions are you seeing among our NATO allies to Turkey’s aggressions? Are the European countries just sitting back to see how everything plays out, or are there signs of frustration and regret?

What’s the process of booting Turkey from NATO? I know the Russians and Turkeys have historical antipathy (hi Potemkin!), but is there any chance an unNATO’d Turkey allies with Putin?

Reverend

Well, there’s this:

The Guardian:Macron criticised by US and Germany over Nato ‘brain death’ claims

French president says in interview that Europe is in danger of disappearing geopolitically

Emmanuel Macron has said Nato is in the throes of “brain death” and European countries can no longer rely on the US to defend its allies, drawing criticism from both the US and Germany.

“What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of Nato,” the French president told the Economist in an interview. “You have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision-making between the United States and its Nato allies. None. You have an uncoordinated aggressive action by another Nato ally, Turkey, in an area where our interests are at stake.”

Asked whether he still believed in the “collective defence” stipulations of article five of Nato’s founding treaty, under which an attack against one member is considered an attack against all members, Macron answered: “I don’t know.”

Nato “only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as such. I’d argue that we should reassess the reality of what Nato is in the light of the commitment of the United States,” he said.

I hadn’t even thought of this.

Marciano490

Given human history, nevermind European history, that seems bizarrely naive. What would happen if Germany invaded France for a change?

Oh. Oh dear.

Edit: Wait a minute…

Asked whether he still believed in the “collective defence” stipulations of article five of Nato’s founding treaty, under which an attack against one member is considered an attack against all members, Macron answered: “I don’t know.”

“I don’t know.”?????

 

 

This won’t surprise anyone reading this thread.

This stuff is becoming bizarrely predictable.

Of course, weaponizing racism isn’t anything new, now that I think about it.

Yuck.

The leader of the spiritual movement Enes Kanter of the Boston Celtics grew up in is designated a terrorist by Turkey and living in Pennsylvania.

I don’t know much about the movement, but it sounds like John Lennonism. Is there anyone Erdogan doesn’t have a bug up his ass about?

I’ve gotten some responses that keeping track of all the pieces and players is difficult. So feel free to ask any questions, anyone—seriously, I get bored—but more importantly, consider this piece on this flag:

Blog: From Chechnya to Syria: Tracking Russian-speaking Foreign Fighters in Syria

It’s a little detail piece to learn why Ichkeria symbols were showing up in SNA photos, where we meet people who are:

• Chechen
• mujhadeen
• in Syria
• to fight Russia
• as an act of continuing the Chechnyan war.

I wonder if they have their own acronym.

This blog is wild.

General of the SDF appealing to the world community again:

NYTimes: U.S. Envoy in Syria Says Not Enough Was Done to Avert Turkish Attack

In an internal memo, the senior American diplomat in northern Syria

 

Fighting in Manbij

Fighting broken out north of Manbij. Lots of movement near Kobanîe lately so this is maybe not surprising.

<ANOTHER DELETED TWEET>

ANF NEWS: Fierce clashes in villages northwest of Manbij

Attacks of the occupation forces against North and East Syria have intensified.

Maybe it was a mood, but I came across some “alternative” takes on things. Not, like, bad ones. I think they’re fascinating and instructive.

This, for example, reads all to true. It’s funny. But… but.

theOnion: Timeline Of U.S.–Syria Relations

Another Hype Video

Haven’t posted any Rojava propaganda in awhile, but this is a good one, both in terms of seeing how they are appealing to the international community and America specifically, and also in terms of being an up to date albeit partisan description of the situation in the ground.

Like, a lot of the footage is from the fighting at Ain Issa the other day. They’re cutting these pretty fast now as things keep evolving in them.

“Feminist Utopia”

Many people don’t think such a thing could exist-albeit often for very different reasons.

Here’s some neat color on an eco-feminist enclave in northern Syria. It’s an interesting look at the kinds of things that have been going on there, and seeing it show up in a culture mag like this.

Elle: This Women-Only Village Was Built To Be A Feminist Utopia. Now It’s Under Threat.

A spokesman for Jinwar told me that the village is meant to serve “as an example of a solution to women’s issues and as an example of the alternative to a patriarchal system.” Jinwar and the feminist politics espoused by the direct democracy in Rojava are radical by any standard. They’re an example not just for other women in the Middle East, but also for women in the West who are fed up with patriarchy and capitalism, the twin engines that power modern America.

War is uniquely devastating to women. In Syria, ISIS used rape, kidnapping and forced marriage to exert their power. Now that the Islamic State has been pushed underground, the resulting refugee crisis is largely a crisis for women and children—they make up 75 percent of the Syrian refugee population.In Rojava, Jinwar was built as a refuge for them. “In the war conditions that we have been through, every woman suffered,” 30-year-old Fatma Emin told CNN in May. “Every woman was hurt. Every woman was lost, but Jinwar brought them together.”

War Games

EricFeczko

Someone submitted to TripleA an expansion called “middle east combat”

Reverend

Oh, wow, that’s neat. Interesting map, too.

What’s the old line about God blessing the Jews with the only land in the Middle East without oil?

TheStoryofYourRedRightAnkle

It seems basically a mini 100 Years’ War with the Kurds playing the role of the German peasantry.

Reverend

 

 

AXIOS: Top diplomat says U.S. abandoned Kurds to “catastrophic” Turkish assault

Why it matters: The diplomat, deputy U.S. envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition William Roebuck, said the U.S. had abandoned its Kurdish allies to a Turkish onslaught that involved “war crimes and ethnic cleansing.” Those concerns have been widespread in the Pentagon and State Department but not stated publicly by senior officials. Roebuck sent the memo on Oct. 31 to the U.S. envoy for Syria policy, James Jeffrey, and to more than 40 other officials who work on Syria issues.

Key excerpts:

• “Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria, spearheaded by armed Islamist groups on its payroll, represents … what can only be described as war crimes and ethnic cleansing.”
• “One day when the diplomatic history is written people will wonder what happened here and why officials didn’t do more to stop it or at least speak out more forcefully to blame Turkey for its behavior: an unprovoked military operation that has killed some 200 civilians, left well over 100,000 people (and counting) newly displaced and homeless because of its military operation.”
• “The decision to stay is a good one, even if the ‘protection of the oil’ rationale plays into toxic Middle Eastern conspiracy theories that will need to be lanced with careful, sustained messaging reinforcing the truism that Syria’s oil is Syria’s and for the benefit of the Syrian people.”

A story is out of Syria and Russia calling on the international community to put pressure on the US withdraw from Syria.

It’s out in pro-Assad and Syrian outlets, and Russian outlets… And not being picked up by anyone else.

Pro-Assad paper:

AMNNEWS: Russia, Syria call on international community to pressure US to leave Syria for good

Syrian State Media:

SANA: Syria, Russia call upon international community to pressurize Washington to pull its forces out of Syria

Russian news agency:

TASS: Russia, Syria call on international community to pressure US to withdraw troops from Syria

Whatever the Hell Russian Insight is:

Russian Insight sounds like a sick joke for a propaganda machine.

RUSSIAN INSIGHT: Russia, Syria call on international community to pressure US to withdraw troops from Syria

Russian news agency with frankly the greatest troll name of all time:

NewsFront: RUSSIA AND SYRIA CALLED ON THE WORLD COMMUNITY TO OBLIGE THE UNITED STATES TO WITHDRAW TROOPS

Watching it bounce around a bit on Twitter. I guess we see where it goes? Heh. It flashed “Please Share this Post” in big letters and then disappeared before I could screen shot it.

Do ops like this lose their effectiveness if we can watch them unfold in real time?

Updated maps on the Ayn Issa situation that include the final reports of the skirmishes around it.

There are (silly, IMO. Although reliable people have thought so.) rumors going around that the Russian helicopters people saw had been guiding Turkish UAVs and/or using electronic warfare equipment that they are using to help the jihadi militias.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that you can follow them on InstaGram!

(What the serious fuck?)