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Featured Replies

Just now, Anastasis said:

Granted. I think it's gonna be interesting to watch play out. Hopefully it's not salafi mujahideen two electric boogaloo. 

probably will be. And the danger is from there is spreads in all directions.

Just now, InkaUtexas said:

probably will be. And the danger is from there is spreads in all directions.

 

I fear that tbh, but think that this just devolves into sectarian violence. And devolves isn't quite the right word, maybe just a difference rebalance on the scales. But in terms of the risk for blowback directly to the US, salafism is a greater threat imo. Again, just based on the priors.  

3 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

 

I fear that tbh, but think that this just devolves into sectarian violence. And devolves isn't quite the right word, maybe just a difference rebalance on the scales. But in terms of the risk for blowback directly to the US, salafism is a greater threat imo. Again, just based on the priors.  

Nah, the Arab states don't want it either.

Well not yet. When we stop being the big dog they won't care.

If you mean a rebalance, expect a massive war. A mean one. Dubai will still dubai.

This has more of a chance of going to WW3 than Ukraine does.

2 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

This has more of a chance of going to WW3 than Ukraine does.

Only regional nuclear power is Israel. 

 

Oh fuck. 

2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Only regional nuclear power is Israel. 

 

Oh fuck. 

KSA? Iran? And there might be others. Don't need to be a ICBM.

  • 6 months later...

Love to see former American CIA directors chucking it up with Al Qaeda terrorists. Might as well be spitting on the graves of American soldiers.  

Edited by Anastasis

  • Author
1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

Love to see former American CIA directors chucking it up with Al Qaeda terrorists. Might as well be spitting on the graves of American soldiers.  

Be glad we didn't invite the Taliban to Camp David.

14 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Be glad we didn't invite the Taliban to Camp David.

What a world. 

So, I mean....realpolitik question.  How are we supposed to engage with the nation state of Syria today?  

They have the leadership that they have.  That leadership is not Assad.  Will that be an improvement?  Time will tell.  But is disengagement preferable to engagement?  Because those are the two options.  International relations rarely offer clean and easy choices.  Yet they require choices.

Hell, I don't know what the right answer is, although I'd lean heavily towards "cautious engagement," with some simple carrots and sticks shown and used as needed.

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I mean....realpolitik question.  How are we supposed to engage with the nation state of Syria today?  

They have the leadership that they have.  That leadership is not Assad.  Will that be an improvement?  Time will tell.  But is disengagement preferable to engagement?  Because those are the two options.  International relations rarely offer clean and easy choices.  Yet they require choices.

Hell, I don't know what the right answer is, although I'd lean heavily towards "cautious engagement," with some simple carrots and sticks shown and used as needed.

I don't know, but it was a Syrian that first introduced me to Levantine cuisine, and for that I will be forever grateful. 

On 9/23/2025 at 9:56 PM, Brisketexan said:

So, I mean....realpolitik question.  How are we supposed to engage with the nation state of Syria today?  

They have the leadership that they have.  That leadership is not Assad.  Will that be an improvement?  Time will tell.  But is disengagement preferable to engagement?  Because those are the two options.  International relations rarely offer clean and easy choices.  Yet they require choices.

Hell, I don't know what the right answer is, although I'd lean heavily towards "cautious engagement," with some simple carrots and sticks shown and used as needed.

Watch the east of the country. Syria may get divided. And we are pulling further out of Iraq while still building places for US Troops in Syria. Again, the east. Oil. 

The start of the drawdown in Iraq comes just months after the Trump administration also decided to withdraw about 600 troops from Syria, leaving fewer than 1,000 to work with Kurdish allies to counter the Islamic State there. The militant group still carries out deadly attacks in both countries, and worries remain about IS following upheaval in Syria and wider turmoil in the Middle East.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-us-military-withdrawal-7110ec28de2fc8fcb620d86da104de06

  • 2 weeks later...
10 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

 

Not saying the West should kowtow, bend the knee, or whatever to Syria, but what are we doing to coax them closer to us now that Assad is gone so the Russians lose rights, leases, or access to their bases there?

  • 4 weeks later...

We’re hosting an Al Qaeda terrorist that use to have a $10mm bounty on his head at the WH today. A few weeks ago he was shooting hoops with American generals in Syria while a systematic genocide of Syrian Christians plays out. The absurdity just insists upon itself. 

13 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

We’re hosting an Al Qaeda terrorist that use to have a $10mm bounty on his head at the WH today. A few weeks ago he was shooting hoops with American generals in Syria while a systematic genocide of Syrian Christians plays out. The absurdity just insists upon itself. 

And full relations and an aid package. 

Just now, InkaUtexas said:

And full relations and an aid package. 

Amazing. 

27 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Amazing. 

Oh, and they promise to join the coalition to defeat ISIS. Which our president said he already destroyed. 

Edited by InkaUtexas

11 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Oh, and they promise to join the coalition to defeat ISIS. Which are president said he already destroyed. 

They are ISIS. Jfc we just refuse to learn from the history of our engagement in the region.  

5 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

They are ISIS. Jfc we just refuse to learn from the history of our engagement in the region.  

Not really, but understand your perspective on this. He sure as fuck is not a friend of the Kurds. 

 

Not really, but understand your perspective on this. He sure as fuck is not a friend of the Kurds. 
 

All true.
And the alternative is?
Just now, Brisketexan said:


All true.
And the alternative is?

None really. They are the power in Syria for now. We still back the Kurds in the east, and the Turks control the Northern Border. 

If you want to rebuild the region, well shit, here yah go. Cost estimates to rebuild Syria dwarf Gaza. So go figure. 

4 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

None really. They are the power in Syria for now. We still back the Kurds in the east, and the Turks control the Northern Border. 

If you want to rebuild the region, well shit, here yah go. Cost estimates to rebuild Syria dwarf Gaza. So go figure. 

Dude, it is critical we beat ISIS. For humanity. 

  • 1 month later...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two U.S. service members and one American civilian have been killed and three other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the U.S. Central Command said.

The attack on U.S. troops in Iraq is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a year ago.

 

https://apnews.com/article/syria-us-military-attack-palmyra-is-22f67e54c1a15fcc643de2672b83aacb

  • Author
6 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two U.S. service members and one American civilian have been killed and three other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the U.S. Central Command said.

The attack on U.S. troops in Iraq is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a year ago.

 

https://apnews.com/article/syria-us-military-attack-palmyra-is-22f67e54c1a15fcc643de2672b83aacb

Updates on attack in Syria today against US and partner forces:

- The two soldiers killed in Syria today were members of the Iowa National Guard, according to a US official. The civilian was an interpreter.

- They were killed during a Key Leader Engagement in Palmyra, according to the US official and official close to the Syrian government.

- The shooter was a member of the Ministry of Interior’s security forces, according to the two officials. He was already “under investigation for his ties to ISIS,” and was being “kicked out” of the interior ministry, said the US official, who called him a “rogue member.” The official close to the Syrian government says he was “about to be arrested.”

7 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Updates on attack in Syria today against US and partner forces:

- The two soldiers killed in Syria today were members of the Iowa National Guard, according to a US official. The civilian was an interpreter.

- They were killed during a Key Leader Engagement in Palmyra, according to the US official and official close to the Syrian government.

- The shooter was a member of the Ministry of Interior’s security forces, according to the two officials. He was already “under investigation for his ties to ISIS,” and was being “kicked out” of the interior ministry, said the US official, who called him a “rogue member.” The official close to the Syrian government says he was “about to be arrested.”

Gracia. 

 

But where is the BRRRRPPPPPPPP

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