Obama’s Syria Plan Teams Up American and Russian Forces

Most Americans inside the CIA, CENTCOM, DoD and the Obama WH do not seem to fully and completely understand the minefield they are stepped into by the open and complete support to their Kurdish YPG/PYG/PKK/SDF proxies....in the coming months.....especially in the coming fight for al Bab WHICH is both Arab Sunni and a main target for the anti Assad forces FSA.....

US defence secretary thanks fighters in Manbij which was a 'a key transit point for ISIL fighters' to Syria and Iraq
http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Rel...tion-of-manbij …

Especially after the Turkish FM issued his not so subtle warning to the US to ensure the YPG pulls back to their original bases east of Manbij.....WHICH the US promised Turkey would happen...

THIS was the verbalization by the FM of the Turkish "red line" it will be interesting to see if the US "understood the message"....??

BTW....the US "also promised" this Arab Sunni town would be governed by a Arab Sunni Council...not a Kurdish one.....let's see if they follow through which is highly doubted in Turkey and inside the Syrian opposition..based on previous US actions....in their total support for the Kurdish YPG.....which is really a cover front for PKK....

JUST when one thinks the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH total lack of a Syrian and IS strategy can get any worse than it already is...NOW the US will and is supporting the Russian AF in their coming "carpet bombings" inside Syria as this bomber cannot do pinpoint bombing and has only been used in the last months for "show strikes against IS" for the home front media consumption....

From an exchange off the Syrian thread from today.....

CrowBat...
I'm watching these photos... and simply can't believe what I see.

The regime in Tehran... the same one that didn't do anything at all for its own air force ever since 1979... the same one that was suspecting the IRIAF as 'disloyal' for most of the last 37 years... the same regime that was arresting and executing various of IRIAF commanders, and forcing so many of its pilots into early retirement...

...but also the same one that strictly forbade basing of foreign troops on own soil (see paragraph 147 of the IRI Constitution)...

...and the IRGC... which did everything possible to dismantle, or at least weaken the IRIAF (if not replace it with its own flying service) - and that to a degree where the latter is de-facto grounded...

...are now in such need of Russian air power, they let the VKS to one of IRIAF's 'holy grails', the TFB.3/Nojeh AB...

They must be beyond 'desperate': so much so, they're not even ashamed of actions of this kind any more.

Some here might wonder over all of this, then most of Westerners think 'Iran + Russia = Allies', at least since 1990s. And I'll admit: understanding what I mean with 'shame' and 'desperate'... indeed, what I mean with absurdity of this development - requires plenty of understanding of the 'Islamic Republic of Iran' too.

That system is supposed to be born out of 'distaste' for 'foreign meddling into Iranian issues' (see the CIA removing Mossadegh, Shah's cooperation with USA), and Iranian insistence on 'can do everything on our own'. And that's 'just for the start'.

That system was also born out of supposed distaste for militarism: right after the (supposedly) 'Islamic Revolution' of 1979, the new regime nearly disbanded the entire military (prior to occupation of the US embassy nobody else but Khomeini's son was negotiating the sale of Iranian F-14s with the UK and Turkey), etc., etc., etc.

It must be understood from the history of Russo-Iranian relations, which is including not only centuries-old antagonism, but also a mass of recent, and very negative Iranian experiences - all of which created a very negative image of Russians in Iranian minds (see the Russians botching-up with construction of reactors in Busher; see the Russians refusing to permit Iranians to move their GOSPs to the Caspian Sea via Russian rivers + channels system; see the Russians pocketing billions for S-300s then not delivering any etc., etc., etc.).

It requires the most basic understanding/knowledge of IRGC's history too - the history of a 'military' service that at least sin ce Kerbala-4 or -5 (back in 1987) was preaching, 'we do not need any air power; can do on our own, with religious zeal and infantry', etc., etc., etc.

Finally, it must be observed from the standpoint of a 'proud Iran', a 2,500-years old 'country of Fars', 'sometimes defeated but never conquered' etc., etc., etc.

But now, after 37 years of Mullah + IRGC rule... Iran not only has next to no air force capable of supporting its military intervention in Syria; on the contrary, it needs Russian air force to 'win' there?

And win what? We are yet to see Russians flying at least one combat sortie in support of IRGC's troops in Aleppo area: so far, their Tu-22s were flying only show strikes against Daesh.

Bottom line: Tehran granting permission - even inviting - Russians to deploy their troops in Iran, is the same like if after 9/11 the USA would've requested Mexico to help defend the US airspace.

CrowBat.....BUT WAIT was not the Obama WH Iran Deal designed to help the "moderate" Iranians.......

That must be some kind of "rare bird" in Iran as I do not think they even exist regardless of what the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH keeps telling us......

BREAKING
#RUS war minister Shoigu says Russia in "very active phase of negotiations" on bombing civilians w/ #USA.

Does Obama even get the simple fact that now virtually all rebel forces are so intermingled you cannot tell them apart in their fight against Assad, Iraqi Shia militias, Hezbollah and Iranian IRGC/her mercenaries?????

If in fact this is true then the entire ME Arab Sunni societies will actually now firmly believe the US, Russia and Iran are waging war against them...and then call for more jihadists from around the world which they already have at an average flow rate of 100 per day since the first jihad call went out....

This was being carried by the ANHA News Agency.......

Hopefully CENTCOM, CIA, the entire NSC and the Obama WH have listened to this statement.....this is the US massively supported Kurdish proxy....AND yes they are tied directly to the terror group PKK....this confirms it as nothing else does....from their fighters on the ground....that is the ground reality.....

شبكة الثورة السورية
‏@RevolutionSyria
YPG/PYD/SDF fighters dedicate the "liberation" of #Manbij to the "leader" founder of #PKK terror group.

REMEMBER this was an Arab Sunni town and was never Kurdish and the YPG/SDF "promised" it would be governed as such.....wait and see????

BUT WAIT has not DoS stated a number of times there is no connection between YPG/PYD/SDF to PKK????

Rebranded AQ JFS and other jihadist groups together with FSA units have now started their operation to capture the Assad regime held western Aleppo and by moving into western Aleppo it will restrict Russian air strikes...

While the Obama WH wasted their opportunity in 2012 to have and make some impact in Syria....between the "moderate FSA" and the Salafists and the rebranded AQ JFS......the WH and the West has lost all ability to influence....the final outcome....

What a wasted US FP.......

Abu Saeed Al-Halabi @Saeed__Saeed01
Breaking || The first offensive to liberate #Aleppo city has begun. Multiple fronts opened by JaF. JFS goes for the Cement Factory.

When the cement factory and industrial district including the water facility falls, Assad/IRGC can kiss SW #Aleppo goodbye for good.

Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is tweeting in English now
Shift in communication strategy.
https://twitter.com/JFS_Eng/status/764862621761806336 …

Rebel capture of the #Aleppo Cement Factory would be quite a victory. It has been turned into an Assad fortress
https://twitter.com/NorthernStork/st...63215339700225 …

Sham Legion firing Elephant rockets into the cement plant before storming it #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/DBT6JtzEl1w

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that they killed a "senior Hezbollah leader" in operations against the cement plant

Sham Legion firing rockets into cement plant during the preparation for storming the compound
https://youtu.be/eYmtlRNpixA #Aleppo

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that regime ranks in the cement factory are collapsing extremely quickly. #Aleppo

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng
Breaking
#Aleppo
Mujahideen have just stormed the 'cement factory', 1 of the biggest military compounds of the regime

Breaking. Jaish Al-Fateh's Inghimasi are storming the Cement Factory in S. #Aleppo.

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng · 13m13 minutes ago
Breaking
#Aleppo Mujahideen assume complete control of 'cement factory'. Search and secure underway.

I remember when people argued in Jan 2012 that military action against Assad would make things worse. 5000 had been killed. Now it's 470,000.

This is the perfect example of how doing nothing is actually doing something.

Why is the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH so adamant in protecting the interests of Putin and Russia in the ME?...it appears that way as they truly show their clear intent to allow Putin and the Russian MoD to clearly control the entire ME.....this intent is depicted by their simple but effective method of just remaining "quiet" in the face of war crimes and genocide...almost like the old saying..."hear no evil...see no evil".....

Guess that is what "doing nothing stupid in FP" is all about....remaining largely quiet and simply running out the clock....

A very valid comment.....

LiveUpdatesFromSyria @liveupdatesyria
#ALEPPO: Our hospital & nearby areas were hit at least 16 x this AM! These are WAR CRIMES!

WHY IS THE WORLD SILENT!?

This article is about the core US Syrian Kurdish proxy that in reality the Obama WH has yet to realize what they have gotten themselves into for the mid and long term.......

Really worth reading the long article as this writer knows Syria and the players of the area.......

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
As IS is pushed out of Manbij, a look at the allies the West has deputized to take over, in theory and in practice

https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/...tarian-legacy/

The West’s Kurdish Allies in Syria Can’t Escape Their Authoritarian Legacy

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on August 13, 2016

Quote:

The Islamic State (IS) was driven from the city of Manbij yesterday, a key supply route to the Turkish border in northern Syria, the conclusion of an operation launched on 1 June by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a front-group for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), represented in Syria by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). The SDF was backed by U.S. airstrikes. It is difficult not to see the defeat of IS as a positive development. It is, however, worth more closely examining the forces that are being enabled by Western power to fasten their rule across northern Syria, whose vision is deeply problematic—even in narrow terms of the fight against IS.

The PKK in Syria

The constitution for the Rojava-Northern Syria Democratic Federal System—to which we can be sure Manbij will be added—passed on 1 July 2016 and declares Qamishli its capital. The Federal System is controlled by Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM), which is a political coalition dominated by the PYD.

The PYD was founded in 2003 as the Syrian wing of the PKK. There remain those who deny that this is what the PYD is, the State Department among them, no doubt for reasons to do with the PKK’s presence on the list of foreign terrorist organizations. But the evidence—available in this report and these articles—is clear. The public admission by the U.S. Defence Secretary of at least “substantial ties” between the PYD and the PKK provided additional evidence, as did the reported death of Fehman Hussein (Bahoz Erdal) inside Syria on 9 July.

Hussein is reported dead semi-regularly, and supposedly denied his demise this time to Al-Jazeera. What is important here is that while Abdullah Ocalan remains the formal head of the PKK from his Turkish prison cell on Imrali Island, the day-to-day control of the organization is in the hands of three men: Hussein, Murat Karayilan (Cemal), and Cemil Bayik (Cuma).

Hussein, a Syrian Kurd from Kobani, was reported to be inside Syria as early as the summer of 2012 and to be leading the military side of the PYD/YPG, while the more political aspects were left in the hands of Saleh Muslim Muhammad, who is himself close to Karayilan. Hussein is also believed to be the commander of the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a cut-out for the PKK that has claimed some of the more atrocious, civilian-focused terrorist attacks of late.

Just as Jabhat al-Nusra—or Jabhat Fatah al-Sham—is no less al-Qaeda for having a local focus, there can be no doubt that the PYD/YPG is fully subordinate to the PKK’s leadership in the Qandil Mountains. The PYD/YPG is led on the ground by the PKK’s military commanders and includes a not-insignificant number of PKK troops from and elsewhere. The PYD/YPG—and thus the SDF, whose Arab detachments are clearly subordinate and intended to stay that way—is also a totally integrated part of the PKK’s transnational political structure, the so-called Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK).

Democratic Confederalism

Even when it is conceded that the U.S.-led Coalition is supporting the PKK in Syria, an argument has been made that the organization has undergone a transformation away from the Stalinist-chauvinist cocktail of its founding. At the time of the March declaration of the Federal System, a spokesman for the TEV-DEM said it would be based on “Democratic Confederalism“. This ideology is the brainchild of Abdullah Ocalan, who is also known as “Apo” (hence the PKK’s ideology has been called “Apoism”).

The PKK at its founding in November 1978 was a Marxist-Leninist organization, even if this ideology was “secondary to the PKK’s nationalist drive” (p. 244) and the cult of its leader. By the 1990s Ocalan was said to have already showing signs of looking beyond Bolshevism and nationalism after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In prison, Ocalan’s evolution accelerated and Apoism formally abandoned outright separatism—indeed abandons the demand for a state at all—and adopts a hodgepodge vision of environmentalism, anarchism, and radical democracy.

Ocalan was arrested in Kenya on 15 February 1999, soon after being kicked out of Syria, and quickly demonstrated (p. 286-88) how firmly in control he remained on the ground. At the Seventh Conference in January 2000, the PKK formally renounced separatism, a bitter blow for many of the PKK old guard, and a number quit altogether and sought asylum in Europe.

In a book written in prison and published in 2011—originally submitted as part of an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and then adopted as a manifesto at the 2002 Congress—Ocalan distanced himself from Communism and offered ideological self-criticisms (“The PKK’s founding manifesto reflected the Zeitgeist of the time … [but] did not … allow for a realistic approach … Real socialism has collapsed and the democratic civilization has proved its advantages”) and even some practical ones, conceding that the PKK ignored “signs coming from the Turkish authorities that a solution could be reached,” and fought on believing it was a “virtue to resist … compromise”. What began as self-defence ended as an “offensive” by the PKK, says Ocalan, “where we killed the best of our own comrades” and plunged into a “dirty, brutal war”. And for all that the status quo still held.

The final theoretical break of Apoism from the tyrannical Stalinism of its inception came in 2005, when Ocalan announced his conversion to an eco-anarchist form of direct democracy, inspired by Murray Bookchin (1921-2006), an American author whose youthful Communism had given way to “libertarian socialism”—a version of communitarian anarchism.

After reading a number of Bookchin’s books, Ocalan and Bookchin began corresponding in 2004 and in March 2005 Ocalan issued his formal declaration abandoning Marxism-Leninism in favour of Democratic Confederalism and renouncing the idea of creating a Kurdish state:

The only way out of this situation is to establish a democratic confederal system … Democratic confederalism of Kurdistan is not a state system, but a democratic system of the people without a state. … It is based on the freedoms of political, social, economic, cultural, sexual and ethnic rights.

Ocalan called for the establishment of a Koma Komalên Kurdistan (KKK), a prototype for the KCK that would be formed in 2007.

Expanding on this, Ocalan published a short book simply called Democratic Confederalism (2011). Ocalan rejects the nation-state entirely as an instrument representing the “national governor of the worldwide capitalist system,” rather than the common people, and which provides pressure toward homogenization that “leads into assimilation and genocide.”

It is rather notable that Ocalan situates himself away from rationalism, and instead takes up a position at the point where religion and New Age dogma intersect, rejecting “positivist science” and secularism as forms of superstition divorced from the spiritual needs of the people.

Ocalan situates his struggle within anti-capitalism rather than nationalism. “Without opposition against the capitalist modernity there will be no place for the liberation of the peoples. This is why the founding of a Kurdish nation-state is not an option for me,” Ocalan writes. Democratic Confederalism is an “anti-nationalist” concept that aims to proceed “without questioning the existing political borders,” since only “the ruling class or the interests of the bourgeoisie” desire a Kurdish nation-state.

In defining Democratic Confederalism, Ocalan says it is a “non-state social paradigm” that is in practice “a democracy without a state,” which is “multi-cultural, anti-monopolistic and consensus-oriented,” is opposed to centralization and hierarchy, based on community and grassroots democracy, and has “ecology and feminism [as] central pillars.” Still, Ocalan does conclude that “overcoming the … nation-state, is a long process,” and a “total rejection” of the state in the short-term is unwise.

This structure, according to Ocalan, could begin with a federation of the four Kurdish-majority zones—in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran—and then democratize the entire Middle East. Indeed, “global confederalism is not excluded”.

The PYD has used exactly this argument to contend that its Federal System can be expanded to allow local, democratic rule across all of Syria. This has naturally met with some scepticism given how the PYD has actually behaved.

The PKK in Practice

While Ocalan gives every indication of having undergone a genuine intellectual evolution and having formally imposed this on the PKK, the PKK in practice has shown itself bound by its founding. “Nothing much changed when the [Bashar al-Assad] regime withdrew … and the PYD took over,” a local resident of Efrin told Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila al-Shami in their book Burning Country. Kurdish journalist Hussein Omer compared the PYD’s rule, in its seizure of the various branches of society, to the Ba’ath Party’s.

Continued........

In prison, the PKK's leader seems to have genuinely transitioned away from Stalinism. Different on the ground.

"The #1 place [an al-Qaeda leader] is safe...is inside #Iran"
— @thomasjoscelyn on @batchelorshow [5.25 - 11:00]
https://audioboom.com/boos/4860758-a...elyn-followfdd

Insane number of Russian airstrikes on #Idlib today, no less than 30-40 airstrikes targeted over 15 villages/towns, many civilian casualties.

"Our silence is shaming"
@guardian on #Assad's continued blatant use of chlorine in #Syria
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...P=share_btn_tw …

Appears that the US is openly supporting their Kurdish YPG/PKK/SDF proxies in connecting all Syrian cantons along the Turkish border into a single Kurdish state WHICH is directly counter to what the Turks have repeatedly stated they will not allow....PLUS a large number of the towns/villages taken by the YPG/PKK/SDF are in fact Arab Sunni areas....NOT Kurdish areas.....and have been for over 1500 years.

It is VERY GOOD that #SDF fully liberated #Manbij from #ISIS today.
But when I read "next goal is to connect cantons", I expect more war crimes.

No, I did not forget that #YPG forces captured around 20 towns with #Russian air cover und #Iranian ground support.
And so should the world.

More (drone) #footage
Syrians protest to recapture #TelRifaat and other towns from the #YPG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKW4-Ws0wNA …

Each of the #YPG-occupied towns has its own history..namely Arab and Sunni...not Kurdish....

News
Syrian IDPs&locals north of #Aleppo demand the #FSA to forcefully retake illegally occupied areas by the #YPG

WHAT this is signaling is that the anti Assad forces including the rebranded AQ are on a roll and after Aleppo will focus then on the towns and villages taken by the US supported Kurdish proxy YPG/PKK/SDF which took over 20 Arab Sunni villages and towns WITH Assad regime troop support and CAS from the Russians.....

REFERENCE the coming clash between the US Kurdish proxies...THREE of them and one is a terrorist group that the US directly supports.....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton

Wrote about the "Syrian Arab Coalition" last October: gives US deniability with PYD/PKK.
http://bit.ly/1NDQ1pR

.@OIRSpox confirms to me: "The loss of #Manbij to the SAC and SDF will be strategically significant to Da'esh"

The US-led Coalition continues to be the only one who uses the term SAC "Syrian Arab Coalition"

Just another day in the life of the Syrian genocide and war crimes that the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH has accepted as the best US FP for their "do nothing stupid" approach to FP....

The #FSA hit a T-72 tank at the South end of the humanitarian corridor to #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9YODMtLfWQ …

Nonstop #Russian Su-34 air strikes on densely populated areas N of #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l-SViMC2cE …

Daraya W of #Damascus today.
Countless #Assad bombs from helicopters hit the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbbNVMx7MA …

More (drone) #footage
Syrians protest to recapture #TelRifaat and other towns from the #YPG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKW4-Ws0wNA …

A Syrian rebel ATGM destroys a regime 23 mm gun in the Al-Assad suburb of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P_BNZI1qGI …

BreakingFootage
Brutal #Russian air strikes on #AlJeineh in the western #Aleppo countryside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6imJ...ature=youtu.be …

1 civilians killed & 10 wounded in air strike on #school in #Maarata (#Idlib prov.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJzO6ZbMV8k …

Syrian rebels (Ahrar a-Sham) shot down a #RussianArmy Orlan-10 UAV in #Homs province today.

LIFE returns to E #Aleppo as AID reaches the city through the REBEL humanitarian corridor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62whHpLuPV8 …

Just another child,killed in air strikes on #Talbisah mins ago.

Notice that it has gone extremely quiet on the Obama/Kerry proposed joint venture with the Russians....after a lot of drumbeating and spin.....and extremely quiet on the so called Geneva meetings that were to be held in August...as announced by both the US/Russia...

Wonder why??

Maybe due to this.......

The world watches Russia and Assad as these kind of gross violations continue to go unpunished
https://youtu.be/b3ME6K5J3lU
GRAPHIC

Take 3 mins to watch this.
SaveSyria
Produced by @HolocaustMuseum
https://youtu.be/vkto2QxKhvA

THEN explain to me again just what is the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry FP in Syria for the last five long years....?????

Certainly not defeating either IS nor throwing out Assad which are and were the stated so called goals....THAT was before the full tilt to Iran and Putin ........

Taken from a comment on the Syrian thread today from CrowBat......

Another 'ah yes' post... Namely, since most of US-Americans I happen to know are so firmly convinced it's the 'al-Qaida' that's running this counter-offensive against 'Loyalist' (see: IRGC/Hezbollah) forces in Aleppo area, I would recommend them - and everybody else with similar standpoints - to take a closer look at the following link.

List of names of 242 (84 from Idlib province) rebel militants killed during their offensive in south Aleppo 31/07/2016 – 09/08/2016

Namely, somebody was so kind to summarize all the reports about JAF's (Jaysh al-Fateh; a coalition of JAN-cum-JFS, Ahrar ash-Sham, Faylaq ash-Sham and several FSyA units) casualties in Aleppo area, from 31 July (start of the offensive) until 9 August. And that on name-by-name basis.

Certainly enough, such research is nothing in comparison to all the authoritative reporting about '2000 KIA' by Assad/Putler-fans, published on Twitter. But, sigh, it might be worth some attention. Especially because there are so few JFS-Jihadists listed: on the contrary, majority of casualties are Syrians fighting for various insurgent- and not Jihadist-groups. 84 of them were from Idlib.

Who knows, perhaps the story with 'al-Qaida-linked, US-supported, NATO-terrorists' might be wrong, after all...

Obama/Kerry's new found Russian friend Putin just keeps on bombing hospitals as it there is not a single international law on the protection of hospitals and a number of UNSC Resolutions on the same exact subject.....

With a friend like Putin...the US FP can go along way these days...towards creating even more destruction.......

BreakingReport
Opposition media reports the destruction of the #KafrHamra children's hospital by #Russian jets.

Appears the current US FP on the protection of those who commit genocide and war crimes is working fine.....

Side comment on this commenter.....he as @bellingcat opened the eyes of social media to the open source analysis abilities of social media and in the process literally destroyed the six Russian myths of why they did not shot down MH17....and just as has @bellingcat proven the use by the RuAF of incendiary cluster munitions WHEN the US intel community and the WH could not figure out if they were even being used and by WHOM?

All by the way without a single input from the US intel community.....

Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
Shame even when the OPCW says chlorine is dropped from helicopters in Syria nothing is done anyway https://twitter.com/P4HR/status/763843096568172545 …

AND that Obama "red line" on the use of CWs against civilians.....?????

He was actually as well the very first one analyzing the use by Assad of barrel bombs years ago and he did a thorough analysis of the Assad CW attack which killed over 1400 WHEN the US first could not figure out if even CWs had been actually used.....go back and check the US responses when the first social media reporting hit the net.....

BTW.....
Syria: Fresh chemical attack on Aleppo a war crime | Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/08/syria-fresh-chemical-att… …

UN: Chlorine bombs in Syria would be a 'war crime'
http://dw.com/p/1Jgqo?tw via @dwnews
Make that another war crime.

Former Ambassador to Syria.....
Robert Ford ‏@fordrs58
The Obama administration and its apologists would say that at least these were not Sarin bombs this time.

The ME especially Syria is relatively easy to understand if one understands this.....

“If my daughter is being gang-raped in front of me, I would prefer the person taking revenge to wear a Green Beret, but am I going to object if he instead arrives in a long black beard?”

Why does the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry think that the ME especially Syria is difficult to fully and truly understand.....it really is not.

It just takes a little courage and self motivation to sit down and read and listen.

What is it these doctors "get" that the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH does not "get"?

'Last doctors of Aleppo' write letter to Obama: 'We need action'
http://read.bi/2aNavQG

Well worth reading this well known Syrian SME.....we do not hear much from in the US MSM and in DC......

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
During the Iraq invasion, #Assad sent thousands of jihadis to IS's predecessor. Nusra/JFS leader seems to be one.

Did Assad Recruit the Leader of Al-Qaeda in Syria?
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/...qaeda-in-syria …

From another well known Syrian SME .....we do not hear much from in the US MSM.....and in DC.....

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
“Prove that you are the friend of #Syria”
15 doctors in #Aleppo condemn US inaction in preventing siege:

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
#Obama admin response via @clarissaward:
“The US repeatedly condemned indiscriminate bombing…”
[That’s not enough]

"Silence, apathy, indifference & inaction aren’t going to make it go away”
#Syria #Aleppo
http://nyti.ms/2bkxGn9

Just now M-2 hospital in besieged #Aleppo is targeted by #Russian/Assad airstrikes. Chaotic scenes unfolding

Russia just keeps on air striking hospital after hospital....in full violation of international humanitarian law and UNSC Resolutions....AND the entire West says not a single word.....

Khaled Omar, @SyriaCivilDef #Aleppo Hero, who only yesterday was saving #Chlorine attack victims, reported #KIA 2day

NOTE...killed during a Russian in an air strike conducted during the "so called Russian ceasefire period" Which Russia themselves openly and evidently willingly violated...

BUT WAIT...not even the USAF and the entire US intel community can verify if Russia was even flying a single jet in violation of their own Russian "ceasefire"......

SO Russia was lying all along ....again....again....and again it seems YET the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH seems to think Putin is this "great partner"???

SO now it appears as if the Kerry/Obama purposed joint intel/bombing effort with the Russians HAS actually morphed into the joint Turkish/Russian intel/bombing....WAS this by accident or planned?????

BREAKING: Turkey offers Russia joint operations against #ISIS in Syria: foreign minister - AFP

So Erdogan just managed to do what CIA/FSB/NASA/MSM never could: Find the moderate opposition in #Syria

Turkey will inform #Russia about the locations of civilians&moderate opposition groups in #Syria

Actually it was #Lavrov talking more about #Syria's moderate opposition than anyone else.

SO again the elephant in the room question...."has in fact the joint Kerry/Putin plan now become the joint Erdogan/Putin plan"?

Would actually agree with this social media comment coming out of Ukraine today after the Russian escalation over a so called terror attack that turns out to be a badly done false flag attack.....

Putin has given up on Trump presidency. He wants to negotiate now over Ukraine with a weak Obama and before a hawkish Hilary comes in

This is the first indication that evidently the purposed joint venture with the Russians as proposed by Kerry and company is not going anywhere fast and verified from the Russian side.

Russian Mission UN
✔ @RussiaUN #Ryabkov on the cooperation between US-led coalition with the Syrian opposition forces @Interaffairs

He basically states openly..."give us the information on all the anti Assad forces, who leads them and where are they located SO we can talk to them....AND THEN we can work closer together"....if my Russian is correct......

APPEARS Russia is setting preconditions on Kerry before they even state talking about the so called joint venture Kerry is pushing....

The old style Russian FP tactic of "two stepping"....IF ...THEN....and nothing happens....

It is just not in Syria that the Obama FP has completely failed...it has failed badly as well in eastern Ukraine.....for those that think Putin has not linked eastern Ukraine and Syria together should think again.

Putin sounds as if declaring war against Ukraine yesterday:

In Russian....
Life | Новости Verified account 
‏@lifenews_ru
Путин: В Крыму будут приняты дополнительные меры безопасности
https://life.ru/889117
Putin has threatened that the alleged-Ukrainian incursion will not - "go unanswered."

Vladimir Putin said today that “Ukraine is choosing terror.” He is clearly preparing for war w Ukraine.
Putin I setting the classical information warfare stage for things that are coming.....always has been Putin's style if one follows him since 2008....

Re Putin's press conference on Ukrainian incursion in Crimea today: Listen to Hitler's original on Gleiwitz in 1939!
https://youtu.be/28cbwWvsM2M

On Russian assertion of Ukrainian attack, U.S. State Dep spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau referred questions to the government in Kiev. Really?

This is exactly the kind of signal Moscow is looking for to proceed. Spectacular incompetence.

Russia's intention of military aggression in Ukraine is all too clear. The West needs to react within 3 days, strong and hard.

Anders Aslund ‏@anders_aslund
My assement of Russia's actions on Ukraine: Is Putin Preparing a New Attack on Ukraine.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...ack-on-ukraine …

Common perception in Syria: While the West dithers, "the extremists...can...get things done".
http://thebea.st/2b8tcEs

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton So much in Syria and well beyond depends on the West being a better partner to the population than al-Qaeda.

We're failing, obviously

This is the Russia that somehow the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH seems to think they can work with in Syria....the very same Russia that has massively escalated the fighting in eastern Ukraine.....and all the Obama WH does it talk...as if talking will take them to November 2016...without having to take any form of military action either in eastern Ukraine and or Syria...it is now all about the image of their legacy....

Graphic!
5 hrs after #Russia's announcement of more "ceasefires" for #Aleppo, it orders GAS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l2HKxACHm8 …

Rama, 6 years old, 1 of the chlorine attack victims. Came 2 the hospital screaming "I cant breathe"

AND again the entire West says not a single word....second Assad/Putin chlorine CW attack inside one week largely against civilians.....BUT WAIT Obama had a "red line" on the use and employment of CWs against civilians????

From the Assad chlorine gas barrel bomb attack in Zubaidia in #Aleppo a little while ago
https://youtu.be/1l2HKxACHm8

Footage
@SyriaCivilDef working at the aftermath of the #Assad/#Putin #CW attack on #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bHvZBVuTSI …

1 woman & her child killed & 20 suffocation cases reported in an Assad barrel bomb chlorine gas attack in the Zubaidia area in #Aleppo

There is a ceasefire for #Aleppo & the rest of #Syria since almost 6 months.
Russia just acknowledges it ignores it.

BREAKING: Russian Defense Ministry says three-hour per day Aleppo ceasefire for aid convoys will start Aug. 11

MASSACRES!
#Assad & #Putin let their killers fly dozens of attacks on civilians in #Idlib.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osVIl5lbeTg …

Markets, #mosques and residential areas targeted by #Russia ind #Idlib city.
https://www.facebook.com/ShaamNetwor...type=2&theater …

Also in #Ariha, the Russian jet targeted a roundabout and the #market around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkaRtKqYJU4 …

Fatima lost her arm, 4 kids and 6 adults killed and 40 others injured in today's heavy airstrikes on Idlib city.

REMEMBER this is the same Russia that announced THREE humanitarian corridors into eastern Aleppo and then OPENED none of them AND the same Russia that faked Russia today videos of rebels/civilians THEN leaving eastern Aleppo.

BUT WAIT...humanitarian aid has been flowing into eastern Aleppo even in the face of extremely heavy Russian air strikes.....

Al-Maqalaat
‏@Al_Maqalaat_Ps
Convoys of food and aid are entered Aleppo city regularly now after the Mujahideen broke the siege Al Hamdulilaah.

THIS is the same exact Russia Obama/Rhodes/Kerry honestly believes they can "trust".....

Is the Russian use of incendiary cluster munitions on civilian targets the now approved Obama/Rhodes/Kerry FP for Syria as it sure does appear to be as not a single word on it's use against civilians comes out of the Obama WH....

Footage from Kafr Da'el shortly ago.
#Putin burns the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW9mzoJZS0E …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36...26243&z=15&m=b …

Also the western suburbs of #Aleppo are under #Russian attack right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz3JihEMgGM …

Another Russian incendiary attack on Kafr Da'el in west rural #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/JW9mzoJZS0E

Footage of the Russia incendiary attack on Rashidain & 1070 housing project in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/sz3JihEMgGM

Reports now that Russian jets are targeting the Ramouseh area in #Aleppo with incendiary munitions

Just another horrific day in #Assad-besieged and bombed #Daraya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOli81XOMis …

Pro-regime sources claimed Shia Iraqi militias sent reinforcements to Aleppo

Imagine how much would be the uproar if these were "Sunni foreign Jihadis" arriving from Turkey to aid rebels

5 years into the 'Revolution' & people still incapable of comprehending the fact that Syria is 74% Sunni

That's the reason why butcher Assad needs Shia fighters from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Russians

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
The Aleppo offensive helped normalize and embed al-Qaeda after the rebranding, regardless of the outcome.
http://bit.ly/2b5qxuW

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan 7. Aug.
Syrian war enters a new phase as factions realign
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/co...ctions-realign …
New on how Aleppo is helping Fateh al-Sham kick off its new phase

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Here are my latest comments on the battle for #Aleppo & its broader implications for #Syria, US, #Russia etc:

Key point in my @MotherJones interview: #Syria’s opposition is united in opposing US-#Russia strikes on JFS:

My interview w. @MotherJones: "Meet the Terrorist Group Playing the Long Game in #Syria”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...-battle-aleppo …

There were 43 attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria in July - more than one attack every day,": @SAMSGlobalR

AND the UNSC and Obama take no actions even though the Russians and Assad are violating two UNSC Resolutions to not bomb medical facilities...why is that????

This is Russia that Obama/Kerry think they can work with and not with those Syrians who have for now five years demanded Assad leave....who BTW unleashed IS against the West.....

REMEMBER this is the same Obama WH who cannot figure out who is dropping cluster, incendiary and thermobaric weapons on civilians, and destroyed over 16 hospitals in the last two weeks.....

whitehelmets - idlib ‏@whitehelmets_sy
Russian airplanes are bombing the city of Idlib by phosphorus .

For the first time #RuAF dropped incendiary munitions on #Idlib.

RBK-500 ZAB-2,5SM incendiary (thermite) cluster bomb remains found at Idlib bombing site (via @BeyondTheLevant)

Russia isn't targeting military positions in #Idlib, they're targeting civilian areas, women, children here

"The world abandoned Aleppo; the jihadis came to the rescue. Al-Qaida’s rebranding could hardly have asked for more" http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/06/syria-rebels-unite-break-a… …

Now the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry Ukrainian FP is collapsing.......

From the Russian Spetsnaz officer who participated in the takeover of Crimea and led the Russian mercenaries into eastern Ukraine....

Girkin: "Putin realized his Ukraine plan won't work, and now prepares full-scale military intervention this fall"
https://vk.com/wall347260249_23648 …