In my great and unmatched wisdom...

[Crandar]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...32249821388801

Context: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49963649

Say what you want about Donald the Wise, but without him, Backroom would be a wasteland of boredom, full of pedantic discussions about what Hillary indirectly implied in one of her sleepy speeches.

#orgahs4don

[Montmorency]

In July 2019, 22 countries including U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Japan and Australia signed a joint letter to the UN Human Rights Council urging China to close the camps in Xinjiang.[27][111] In reaction to this, 37 countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Sudan, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, DRC, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan and Syria have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC praising China's "remarkable achievements in Xinjiang."[27][31] Chinese press later claimed that 50 total countries signed the letter.[112]

They call it "exit." Welcome to "Third World" America.

[And it looks like we're pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty]

[InsaneApache]

He does indeed have great and unmatched wisdom. After all he is the God Emperor.

All hail the Orange man. Bow before him.

[CrossLOPER]

After all he is the God Emperor.

I never understood this comparison, or why it came up.

[Greyblades]

Because its funny.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I never understood this comparison, or why it came up.

It's the habit for covering everything in gold, I assume.

[Greyblades]

That, the larger than life personality, the legit level of personal achievement, the absurd level of inflation his fans give him, the accusations of xenophobia and more recently the space marines.

It fits enough to be funny, like any other good meme.

[Beskar]

You cannot forgot the 'Golden Throne' either.

[Furunculus]

I never understood this comparison, or why it came up.

warhammer

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20110727213356

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

That, the larger than life personality, the legit level of personal achievement, the absurd level of inflation his fans give him, the accusations of xenophobia and more recently the space marines.

It fits enough to be funny, like any other good meme.

Oh yeah, I forgot Trump's plan to invent ODST.

I mean, SPACE MARINES.

[CrossLOPER]

That, the larger than life personality, the legit level of personal achievement, the absurd level of inflation his fans give him, the accusations of xenophobia and more recently the space marines.

It fits enough to be funny, like any other good meme.

I know about Warhammer 40k, which makes it even more confusing. The Emperor is a soft spoken genius, with an unrivaled human mind, who brought together humanity from its brink of collapse and pushed humanity towards the stars. Trump is the exact opposite. This individual is accomplished in the same way Paris Hilton was accomplished for a while, being famous for being famous.

I would also like to point out that Trump was an anti-vaxxer until recently.

[InsaneApache]

I know about Warhammer 40k, which makes it even more confusing. The Emperor is a soft spoken genius, with an unrivaled human mind, who brought together humanity from its brink of collapse and pushed humanity towards the stars. Trump is the exact opposite. This individual is accomplished in the same way Paris Hilton was accomplished for a while, being famous for being famous.

I would also like to point out that Trump was an anti-vaxxer until recently.

BINGO that's Trump n a nutshell.

[Montmorency]

Trump humor: The Kurds were never our allies because the United States doesn't maintain allies, only subcontractors. We all know how Trump treats his subcontractors...

On Trump's business conflict of interest in Turkey:

“I have a little conflict of interest ’cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump told Bannon during a Breitbart radio show. “It’s a tremendously successful job. It’s called Trump Towers—two towers, instead of one, not the usual one, it’s two.”

Those Trump Towers are a pair of glass buildings in Istanbul that have borne Trump’s name since 2012. Trump doesn’t own the buildings—the situation might be less complicated if he did. Instead, Trump licenses his brand to the building’s actual owner, Turkish business magnate Aydin Dogan, who has been described as the single largest payer of taxes in Turkey. He’s a one-time antagonist of Erdogan who is now in step with the strongman.

The conflict of interest and the way it could affect Trump’s position on important issues—or at least the perception of how it could affect his position—quickly became obvious after Trump made this comment. In June 2016, after Trump said he supported a ban on immigration by people from countries he said were associated with Islamic terrorism—he called them “terror countries”—Erdogan objected, and so did Dogan, and both threatened to remove Trump’s name from the buildings.

That’s no small threat—according to personal financial disclosures filed by Trump, since he launched his bid for the presidency, he has earned somewhere between $3.2 million and $17 million in royalties from the deal. (The amounts are given in ranges; the precise figures are unclear.)

Less than a month after the threat to remove his name was made, Trump very publicly voiced support for Erdogan when the Turkish leader faced a coup attempt. And his closeness with Erdogan has continued, even over the objections of some of Trump’s most reliable supporters. For instance, in May 2017, when Erdogan visited Washington, D.C., for a White House visit, Turkish agents violently attacked protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence—shoving past local police officers to do so. Video showed Erdogan calmly watching the attack from his car. Although the House of Representatives, then under GOP control, voted 397-0 to condemn the attacks, Trump refused to do so. A few months later, Trump praised Erdogan, describing him as “a very good friend” and saying he gets “very high marks” for the way he runs Turkey.

On Trump's great and unmatched wisdom, though this sort of thing has been noted before:

On "liberal media":

[Gilrandir]

Laugh as much as you want, but NOBODY on these boards has THREE threads on him. Ergo: Trump IS great.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I know about Warhammer 40k, which makes it even more confusing. The Emperor is a soft spoken genius, with an unrivaled human mind, who brought together humanity from its brink of collapse and pushed humanity towards the stars. Trump is the exact opposite. This individual is accomplished in the same way Paris Hilton was accomplished for a while, being famous for being famous.

I would also like to point out that Trump was an anti-vaxxer until recently.

Well, Trump IS softly spoken:

The Emperor is also an ego-maniacal despot who's belief in his own inherent righteousness leads him to create a brutal totalitarian state where anyone who disagrees with him is executed for HERESY.

Seeing it yet?

[Beskar]

The Emperor is also the Second Coming of the Messiah in Warhammer 40k lore.

There is a book where he ends up in a big discussion with the last believer and he commends Religion for being responsible for brutality, wanton bloodshed and oppression thus he was justified... ... ... he wasn't trying to be ironic either. A very flawed character.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

The Emperor is also the Second Coming of the Messiah in Warhammer 40k lore.

There is a book where he ends up in a big discussion with the last believer and he commends Religion for being responsible for brutality, wanton bloodshed and oppression thus he was justified... ... ... he wasn't trying to be ironic either. A very flawed character.

Actually, he's the Apostle John - the one who was supposedly immortal. He may also have been Mohammed, and Charlemagne, and Hitler (or Goebbels).

In any case, the Emperor's view of religion appears to be his cynical reflection of his view of Mankind.

[Pannonian]

Does anyone read the Cain stories?

[InsaneApache]

[Greyblades]

Actually, he's the Apostle John - the one who was supposedly immortal. He may also have been Mohammed, and Charlemagne, and Hitler (or Goebbels).

In any case, the Emperor's view of religion appears to be his cynical reflection of his view of Mankind.

Empy is one of the few in the universe to have some understanding of the effect of faith on the warp; that being it fuels the creation of/sustains the chaos gods. By eliminating religion from the galaxy he hoped to starve the four gods to the point they became incapable of interfering with his vision of humanity.

Essentially his stated views on religion are excuses to reach a different goal, he doesnt state his real goals because the chaos gods have turned temptation into an art form and for most mortals ignorance is the only defence pre emperor worship.

Also as much as I love Graham McNeil, he's not a theologian, the black library writers dont have the knowledge to properly portray the viewpoint of a person who literally watched christianity from start to finish with his own eyes, if not interfered with its formation outright.

[Tuuvi]

Thanks to Trump's great and unmatched wisdom 750 ISIS affiliates have escaped from detention:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...rkish-shelling

Also, a Kurdish politician and her driver were executed by Turkish backed jihadists and the Turkish media is calling it a "successful operation":

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/...b-00698240af79

[Montmorency]

I'm surprised no one is presenting any obscure details. In that case I'll round up a few highlights of the past week in Syria news.

Trump had the following things to say about our partnership with the Kurds.

The Kurds are fighting for their land, just so you understand, and somebody wrote a very, very powerful article today. They didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy as an example, they mentioned names of different battles. But they're there to help us with their land and that's a different thing. In addition to that we—we have spent tremendous amounts of money on helping the Kurds in terms of ammunition, in terms of weapons, in terms of money, in terms of pay, with all of that being said, we like the Kurds.

He got the Normandy line from this Town Hall piece. Naturally it is common knowledge that the Turks are the ones who helped us, to capture the airfields from the British during the war of 1812.

When asked if this precedent will hinder future US coalition-building: "No. It won't be, It won't be at all. Alliances are very easy."

He also said he wasn't worried about captured ISIS fighters escaping because he expected them all to go to Europe.

While the President is touting pulling out 1000 troops from Northern Syria as "bringing them home", I haven't seen confirmation that they're actually leaving Syria - and in the meantime he says we're expanding our footprint in Saudi Arabia by a few thousand (where another tanker, Iranian, blew up just now) as a deterrence to Iran.

Q Mr. President, why are you sending more troops to Saudi Arabia when you just said it’s a mistake to be in the Middle East?

THE PRESIDENT: So we’re sending more troops to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a very good ally, from the standpoint that we get along with them very well — a very important player in the Middle East. The relationship has been very good. And they buy hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise from us, not only military equipment. In military equipment, about $110 billion. It’s millions of jobs.

Now, with that being said, we are sending troops and other things to the Middle East to help Saudi Arabia. But are you ready? Saudi Arabia, at my request, has agreed to pay us for everything we’re doing. That’s a first.

But Saudi Arabia — and other countries, too, now — but Saudi Arabia has agreed to pay us for everything we’re doing to help them. And we appreciate that.

I guess US soldiers really are mercenaries after all.

On Trump's conversation with Erdogan giving the go-ahead (shades of HW and Hussein):

Sources in Turkey have indicated that while Erdoğan was talking big, he thought Trump would restrain him, a U.S. official familiar with the details told Axios' Margaret Talev.

For example, Erdoğan did not expect — or want — a 30-km-deep (18-mile) buffer; that was assumed to be a negotiation aimed at getting something smaller.
Now Erdoğan may be in over his head and facing global condemnation and sanctions, but he got so far extended politically inside Turkey that he has had little choice but to go forward, the official said.

A quote to summarize Anglo-American foreign policy today.

He had no Plan B, other than to leave. The only surprise is how swiftly it all collapsed around the president and his depleted, inexperienced foreign policy team.

Moving on to the Kurds themselves.

U.S. tells Kurds it’s just going out for a pack of cigarettes

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

NORTHERN SYRIA — Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, are still waiting anxiously for the U.S. to return after it left on Monday, saying it was “going out for a pack of smokes.”

Sources say the U.S. ruffled the Kurds’ hair, put on its coat, and looked back wistfully before walking out the front door.

“The U.S. mentioned something about it not being our fault and that we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Dozan Aydogan, a Kurdish SDF commander. “Then the U.S. said it was heading to the PX to get some more cigarettes. It’s funny though, I’ve never seen it smoke.”

“It only dips Copenhagen, pounds Rip-its, and masturbates three or four times a day.”

Sources say the young Kurds stared through a window curiously as the U.S. tossed a large rucksack in the passenger seat of the C-17, adjusted the rearview mirror, and took off, ostensibly for the nearest post exchange. It failed to mention that the nearest base was in Incirlik, Turkey, more than 300 miles away.

The U.S. adopted these Kurdish fighters in 2015 when it taught them to ride bicycles, play catch, and lay the scunion on the Islamic State in Syria. Everything seemed to be going well until the U.S. and NATO’s fair-weather side-piece, Turkey, started making trouble.

“Turkey was all, ‘We’re your NATO ally and they’re terrorists,’ and, ‘If you don’t leave them, you’ll never get my basing and overflight agreements for Iran,’” Aydogan told reporters. “But the U.S. will never leave us, right? We’ve been their faithful partners in Iraq and Syria for years.

“At least they’d help us broker a deal … right?”

Days before Trump announced the withdrawal his administration was still reporting that the situation was stable and Turkey was not expected to be aggressive. You'll recall that to assuage some of Turkey's concerns the US convinced the Kurdish forces in August to dismantle their fortifications along the border. Ouch.

This is apparently the eighth time we've disappointed the Kurds, from the Treaty of Lausanne to the Iraq occupation (might Trump's fakeout withdrawal about one year ago count as a distinct episode?).

Fox News reported an interview with a special forces soldier on the ground who claimed that the Turks were committing atrocities.

“This is insanity,” the concerned U.S. service member said. "I don’t know what they call atrocities, but they are happening.”

That was a few days ago. As of today Kobani is encircled and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

According to the Kurds' Commander in Chief (of the SDF technically), "If We Have to Choose Between Compromise and Genocide, We Will Choose Our People" - i.e. they're inviting Assad's army into northern Syria to fight the Turkish-aligned militias (and maybe the Turkish army?).

We, however, are not asking for American soldiers to be in combat. We know that the United States is not the world police. But we do want the United States to acknowledge its important role in achieving a political solution for Syria. We are sure that Washington has sufficient leverage to mediate a sustainable peace between us and Turkey.

We believe in democracy as a core concept, but in light of the invasion by Turkey and the existential threat its attack poses for our people, we may have to reconsider our alliances. The Russians and the Syrian regime have made proposals that could save the lives of millions of people who live under our protection. We do not trust their promises. To be honest, it is hard to know whom to trust.

We know that we would have to make painful compromises with Moscow and Bashar al-Assad if we go down the road of working with them. But if we have to choose between compromises and the genocide of our people, we will surely choose life for our people

A lot of people are exclaiming that this will ruin US credibility and hamper our ability to cultivate local allies and partners, but they're kind of wrong. There are a lot of desperate and naive people in this world, and the US is expert at taking advantage of them. About allies and betrayals and why the US will never run out of allies to betray so long as it remains an empire: "Under these circumstances, one has to wonder why the Kurds kept putting their faith in the United States. The answer should be clear: The United States is powerful and can afford to be duplicitous, whereas the Kurds are weak and are thus forced to be credulous."


You know, the US has betrayed many people in the past, not least its own citizens, and continues to do so. We're a very careless and callous country. But sanctioning a Turkish invasion of Rojava scans like cold-blooded treachery, almost literally turncoat. Trump didn't give the command to "execute Order 66," but it's not far off.

[Tuuvi]

A lot of people are exclaiming that this will ruin US credibility and hamper our ability to cultivate local allies and partners, but they're kind of wrong. There are a lot of desperate and naive people in this world, and the US is expert at taking advantage of them. About allies and betrayals and why the US will never run out of allies to betray so long as it remains an empire: "Under these circumstances, one has to wonder why the Kurds kept putting their faith in the United States. The answer should be clear: The United States is powerful and can afford to be duplicitous, whereas the Kurds are weak and are thus forced to be credulous."


You know, the US has betrayed many people in the past, not least its own citizens, and continues to do so. We're a very careless and callous country. But sanctioning a Turkish invasion of Rojava scans like cold-blooded treachery, almost literally turncoat. Trump didn't give the command to "execute Order 66," but it's not far off.

Since the YPG/YPJ are leftists I think they always knew the US are imperialist bastards, but the US started aiding them just when they were on the verge of getting destroyed by ISIS so they really had no choice but to accept the help, and afterwards they were reliant on US protection to avoid getting destroyed by Turkey.

I agree that the way Trump pulled out in order to make way for a Turkish invasion right after the SDF had dismantled some of their fortifications was especially treacherous, but it was expected that the US would turn its back on the YPG/YPJ eventually because Turkey is a much more important ally than a leftist militia with ties to a designated terrorist organization (not that I think the YPG/YPJ deserve the "terrorist" label).

The pathetic thing is though, so far it's looking like Trump's withdrawal isn't doing anything to improve US-Turkish relations, so Trump threw the Kurds under the bus for nothing.

[Montmorency]

Since the YPG/YPJ are leftists I think they always knew the US are imperialist bastards, but the US started aiding them just when they were on the verge of getting destroyed by ISIS so they really had no choice but to accept the help, and afterwards they were reliant on US protection to avoid getting destroyed by Turkey.

I agree that the way Trump pulled out in order to make way for a Turkish invasion right after the SDF had dismantled some of their fortifications was especially treacherous, but it was expected that the US would turn its back on the YPG/YPJ eventually because Turkey is a much more important ally than a leftist militia with ties to a designated terrorist organization (not that I think the YPG/YPJ deserve the "terrorist" label).

The pathetic thing is though, so far it's looking like Trump's withdrawal isn't doing anything to improve US-Turkish relations, so Trump threw the Kurds under the bus for nothing.

The current running through American operators' accounts of Kurdish cooperation is striking though, in how they consistently emphasize the fidelity and enthusiasm of the Kurdish partners. It doesn't give the impression of a cynical alliance of convenience at all, but that the Kurds really believed in America, and going by the laudatory language used the American specops community loved them in turn. We know there are a lot of people around the world who, for better or worse, put a lot of stock in America's traditional national virtues.

Meanwhile, as the American detail extricates itself from a fresh warzone toward bases in Northern Iraq, Russians and Syrians are occupying abandoned American outposts (e.g Manbij).

"The Russians are in the American base in Manbij now, they helped escort the Americans out of the area and got their base in return," the SDF official said. "I think the Russians will move into all of the American bases in Syria soon."

https://twitter.com/Kyruer/status/1184018510835568641
https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/stat...49840716996610

Wow, they're even in Raqqa. So long, the Kurdish experiment.

And of course, more Trump comments:

Why are we protecting Syria's land? Assad's not a friend of ours. Why are we protecting their land? And Syria also has a relationship with the Kurds, who by the way are no angels. OK? Who is an angel? There aren't too many around

"That has nothing to do with us," Mr. Trump said. "They've got a lot of sand over there ... There's a lot of sand they can play with."

[CrossLOPER]

"That has nothing to do with us," Mr. Trump said. "They've got a lot of sand over there ... There's a lot of sand they can play with."

At least it's not glass.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Any military folk of my acquaintance were always complimentary in their mentions of Kurds as fellow combatants. Their comments about other partners such as Iraqis and Afghanis was....less than glowing.

Trump is playing to a chunk of his base here, the ones with the old-style USA "isolationist" mentality. That part of his base would like us out of NATO, out of the UN, and more or less take the stance of bringing all military forces back to US sovereign territory. They tend to think that the rest of the world should be allowed to 'muck' off on its own. Not sure what Trump's personal thoughts are on this issue, but then again I think the cornerstone of his view of foreign policy is that he, the great deal maker, can solve anything -- even though he doesn't know crap over shinola about it.

[Montmorency]

Any military folk of my acquaintance were always complimentary in their mentions of Kurds as fellow combatants. Their comments about other partners such as Iraqis and Afghanis was....less than glowing.

Trump is playing to a chunk of his base here, the ones with the old-style USA "isolationist" mentality. That part of his base would like us out of NATO, out of the UN, and more or less take the stance of bringing all military forces back to US sovereign territory. They tend to think that the rest of the world should be allowed to 'muck' off on its own. Not sure what Trump's personal thoughts are on this issue, but then again I think the cornerstone of his view of foreign policy is that he, the great deal maker, can solve anything -- even though he doesn't know crap over shinola about it.

If it were playing to the named base he wouldn't be sending more troops to Saudi Arabia than he is removing from Syria (and who aren't even coming back stateside yet, just redeploying to Iraq).

Smart money maintains that Trump is not playing to anyone because he has no coherent strategy, he's either a stupid coward who got played by Erdogan or he's a stupid venal coward who got played by Erdogan to keep the checks from his Istanbul towers flowing.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Agree as to no coherent strategy.

Troops to Saudi are easy. The media is not interested so Trump can prop up the Saud family even more than the last three occupants.


If incompetence at foreign policy were impeachable, he'd have been out of office for a year or more already.

[Montmorency]

If incompetence at foreign policy were impeachable, he'd have been out of office for a year or more already.

By that theory nothing Trump does is impeachable so long as he is not in fact impeached!

That's some catch there.


EDIT: Holy crap, the US today gave Turkey everything it wanted and is enabling it to ethnically cleanse Northern Syria in peace (almost verbatim from Trump's words). My pop culture reference stock fails me, but this is diabolical.

What Turkey is getting now is they are not going to have to kill millions of people.

The infamous letter he had sent to "tough man" Erdogan the previous day to achieve peace in our time.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Montmorency]

Agree as to no coherent strategy.

Troops to Saudi are easy. The media is not interested so Trump can prop up the Saud family even more than the last three occupants.


If incompetence at foreign policy were impeachable, he'd have been out of office for a year or more already.

As I thought, it is confirmed that US troops withdrew from Syria only to be redeployed to Iraq to "continue operations against the Islamic State group" and "to protect the oil fields."

Meanwhile, an update on the reinforcements to Saudi Arabia:

"Secretary Esper informed Saudi Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Muhammad bin Salman this morning of the additional troop deployment to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia," Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathon Hoffman said in a statement Friday. "Taken together with other deployments, this constitutes an additional 3,000 forces that have been extended or authorized within the last month."
The US has increased the deployment of forces in the region by 14,000 since May.

So in light of a deliberate decision to withhold available protection from Kurdish allies while abandoning US outposts built with taxpayer money to the Syrians and Russians, this Syrian business is indeed "Top 10 Anime Betrayals"-tier. All those who protested that Trump could not yet be the worst president in American history because he had not instigated a foreign policy catastrophe on par with the Iraq War will be monitoring the geopolitical consequences of this move for years ahead I'm sure.

Videos on Kurds not liking Americans so much anymore.