Category Archives: Uncategorized

So now that some of the boundaries and attendant responsibilities are crystallizing bit, it looks like entities are vying for social and political control. Tel Temir, in particular, appears to be the focus of such efforts. And there seems to be new fighting developments over to the west in the area north of Aleppo, butContinue reading “Dec 14 (1/2): Ground Game: Kinetic Violence & Social Control”

So I there’s been a new development in the war: Bad guys are trying to troll the good guys into submission. Glory be. My stars. As in, I guess, somehow ISIS types a.k.a. Turkish-backed militia and their supporters are going online and “attacking” and “logging” the Twitter accounts of their opposition and, I guess, trollingContinue reading “Dec 13 (2/2): The War on Twitter Continues: Death by Troll!”

Even beyond the scope of the “standard” humanitarian crisis, the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced peoples and refugees, the ethnic cleansing—all of that. Not that that’s not bad; it’s horrible. But it’s something we understand. There’s more. There is an insane humanitarian problem in Rojava the likes of which I don’t recall every havingContinue reading “Dec 13 (1/2): Dealing with ISIS, Dealing with Women & Children”

Since the coalition’s Operation Inherent Resolve stages out of northern Iraq, it’s worth mentioning that there has been steady messaging on the fight against ISIS in Iraqi Kurdistan across the border from Syria, and especially the importance of local allies. The #MoDQK SMC, an elite @modmiliq force, conducted its first partnered #DefeatDaesh mission with #CoalitionContinue reading “Dec 12 (2/2): Iraqi Kurdistan: Business as Usual”

So today is all about the M4 highway and the name of the game is driving around. As per the new usual. But there are some twists here, and there is a definite Storm Brewing vibe going on, especially in the Ain Issa — Kobane region. First, consider the various permutations of driving around RojavaContinue reading “Dec 12 (1/2): Ground Game: The M4”

So it’s well known that Iran has forces in Syria. For that matter, it seems Iran has forces all over the dang place. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen. . . From the point of view of Iran, they still represent the as yet incomplete Islamic Revolution which doesn’t end until everyone joins, I guess. OrContinue reading “Dec 11 (1/1): Iran Wants to Fight. A Lot.”

People are trying to sort out the larger picture of Turkey’s maritime and now apparent regional plans. Seems relevant now that Erdogan has announced that the eastern Mediterranean belongs to Turkey now. Erdogan has been very forthright and, frankly, aggressive about this claim #Turkey President #Erdogan: "Greece, Israel, Egypt and Greek Cyprus can not makeContinue reading “Dec 10 (1/1): Turkey’s Plans to Remake the Middle East”

So let’s take a brief look at what phase of Erdogan’s plan we’re in and how it’s going. We can now see that Erdogan’s proposed safe zone and ethnic cleansing of the Kurds are of apiece. And yet there always appears to be another thing with that guy. But here’s a brief reflection on theContinue reading “Dec 09 (1/1): Erdogan’s Terror Plan for Northern Syria. And Turkey.”

I’m only doing this because the media is pissing me off about it and somebody asked me what they were doing. And I’m going to show all my work including the research in Arabic and I don’t even read Arabic. What’s bothering me it that there’s been these festering sorta spoken-unspoken inferences being drawn fromContinue reading “Dec 08 (2/2): The Saudi Shooter”

I feel like a total poser using the term “SitRep” as it sounds like a term of trade, but it really is a lot shorter than spelling the same thing out in the title and it’s well known that it means a report on a situation. Next I’ll be trying to use jargon. Anyway, theContinue reading “Dec 08 (1/2): SitRep: Rojava”