The accompanying map does not include India as a country deeply affected by Islam and Islamicate civilization. IMO that is a defect. The terms "Islam," Islamdom," and "Islamicate Civilization." were clarified by the great historian of Islam, Marshell Hodgson.
This is my editorial opinion.
------------
Syria. The US persists in its nonsensical policy of regime change in Syria. McGurk, the State Department lead in Syrian affairs is evidently one of the leaders of this foolishness. The Syrian Government's forces have regained control of most of the country with the help of their Russian, Iranian, Hizbullah, Palestinian and Christian militia allies. In spite of this the US MSM studiously ignores the efforts of the SAA and allies (R+6). They are simply never mentioned. They have been edited out of the US narrative. Whether DJT has a side agreement with Putin over Syria seems not to affect the MSM narrative at all. McGurk's statement that the Syrian government would not be allowed into Raqqa City is an announcement of an extra-legal interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign UN member state. Do we intend to hold Raqqa forever and to what purpose?
Iraq. In Iraq we have for the moment abandoned the interests of the KRG in its evident desire for independence from Baghdad. We have done this in spite of outrage expressed by our foreign policy mentors in Israel. The Israelis are, of course, the chief sponsors of Kurdish statehood. The Israelis follow a consistent pattern of policy of disrupting surrounding states with a view to reducing them to pastoral rug bazaars. Our loyalty to the Baghdad government is amusing because it is virtually inevitable that the Shia run government of Iraq will eventually align itself with Iran and ask the US to withdraw from the country.
Iran. DJT's decision to stop certifying Iranian compliance with JCPOA is merely a reflection of Zionist influence over the president and the hyper-belligerent attitudes of Mattis, and McMaster. They are revealed as more neocon than the organizational neocons and largely in league with them. US abandonment of JCPOA will lead to direct policy conflicts with major European allies and the loss of business for American companies like Boeing. In the end this direction may lead to a US-Iran War as a culmination of Israeli machinations in Washington.
Saudi Arabia. Trump prostrated himself and his country before the Saudis and the leaders of the Islamic World. The Saudis expect that this was more than a symbolic and empty gesture. Saudi Arabia is a weak state in actual capabilities in the world It is a state that the US will not need much longer as a source of petroleum. The feebleness of the Saudi government is demonstrated by the ineffectual nature of its war in Yemen, This genocide is being aided and abetted by the US government as part of its cartoon-like conception of basic social and political structures in Islamdom. The Saudi government grows ever weaker as a result of this war and decline in its monetized assets because of a growing surplus of petroleum in the world. The Saudi princelings are not worth the effort being put into keeping them happy.
Qatar. US military operations in the ME are centered around the command and control facility at Al-Obeid in Qatar as well as the air base itself. The air base is useful but is only one of many used by the US in the ME. By siding with the Saudis DJT has de-stabilized the US relationsip with Qatar and is driving the Qataris in the direction of an pro-Iranian stance. Would the US fight to keep al-Obeid? The Saudis won't do it for the US.
Afghanistan. DJT made a bad decision in deciding to persist in fighting to establish a coherent government in the country. The aggressive and successful efforts of the taliban in the last week demonstrate the weakness of a government that has a negligible GDP and no ability to fund its own armed forces. The defeat of that government is a certainty when the US eventually withdraws it forces. The various Afghan peoples are inherently unsuitable material for the formation of a coherent state. DJT's flawed decision was based on the advice of his national security team. McMaster, Mattis and Dunford are too powerful. The US government is inherently a civilian government. There are too many military men at the top just now.
Try to think past the MIC cult belief and the absurd conception of a US Deep State.
To be continued ...
Both M K Bhadrakumar at Indian Punchline and T Meissan at Voltaire.net are of the opinion that the DJT line on Iran needs to be taken' with a pinch of salt'.
And their arguments are reasoned; not like the MSM rubbish that we are supposed to read.
Thank you Sir for your work on this indespensable blog.
Posted by: ashpool | 21 October 2017 at 03:59 PM
Chaos in the Middle East is US policy.
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=i6jrWZf7B8OP0wKI1YaIDQ&q=brzezinski+arc+of+chaos
Posted by: Phodges | 21 October 2017 at 04:15 PM
"Try to think past the MIC cult belief and the absurd conception of a US Deep State."
That's going to be really hard. The notion that the US is the only country in the world WITHOUT a Deep State, still less a military-industrial complex we were warned against by a sitting US President sixty years ago, is rather challenging.
However, the rest of the recap is spot on.
Posted by: Richardstevenhack | 21 October 2017 at 04:22 PM
richardstevenhack
" ... the only country in the world WITHOUT a Deep State, still less a military-industrial complex" you should get out more, go to family picnics, love someone. Does Canada have a Deep State and an MIC? Eisenhower was in many ways an odd man. Marshall should have gotten rid of him before D-Day. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 21 October 2017 at 04:44 PM
Colonel Lang, as ever, you are spot on with your policy review, after this I wonder if you will receive your next pension check.
thank you and have a great one
Posted by: kooshy | 21 October 2017 at 05:44 PM
Kooshy
a country of laws remember? It would take a long involved legal process to do that. This is not Lyttenburgh's beloved USSR. Much easier to throw me off the internet. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 21 October 2017 at 05:47 PM
As the White House press secretary yesterday said:
"if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that's something highly inappropriate."
So whatever the Junta generals in the White House do or say, even when they openly lie, it is "highly inappropriate" to question them.
The next step then is to question if "highly inappropriate" content should be condoned on the internets. It should, maybe, be cut off and prohibited? Together with fake-news and "Russian influence"?
Posted by: b | 21 October 2017 at 06:06 PM
of course I know sir, and you know I am kidding
Posted by: kooshy | 21 October 2017 at 06:10 PM
b
So,you question John Kelly's motives. Why am I not surprised? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 21 October 2017 at 06:27 PM
Iran does not have a deep state, that was quite evident that a man fighting in Syria proceeded to organize the sacking of Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashad - embarrassing and harming the state.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 21 October 2017 at 06:37 PM
Eisenhower was in many ways an odd man. Marshall should have gotten rid of him before D-Day. pl
I would be most interested in hearing more detail regarding this subject. Perhaps a separate post in the near future Colonel? Or, a recommended biography on Ike?
Posted by: Ramojus | 21 October 2017 at 06:56 PM
Colonel Lang,
I was very curious to see if you could expand on your comment re: Marshall and Eisenhower. I would love to hear your views on the matter more fully. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Swamp Yankee
Posted by: Swamp Yankee | 21 October 2017 at 07:16 PM
"The Saudi princelings are not worth the effort being put into keeping them happy."
Agree, but not only is the USA eager to sell them weapons, Russia also wants to ship their wares, knowing perfectly well what that kit will be used for. Money talks, and the arms trade is amoral.
Q: What do you sell to the man who already has everything?
A: A gun, so he can keep everything he has.
Q: What do you sell to the man who already has everything and a gun?
A: A bigger gun, because you just sold some more guns to the other guys down the road... and if you hadn't done that, well, someone else would do.
Posted by: Tel | 21 October 2017 at 07:19 PM
za big thinker.
Posted by: FourthAndLong | 21 October 2017 at 07:30 PM
An interesting angle on the French deciders: "A closer look at the Sarkozy and Lafarge cases," by Serge Marchand: http://www.voltairenet.org/article198468.html
"The quantity of cement that Lafarge produced at Jalabiyeh and sent back to the jihadists is equal to what the German Reich used to build the Seigfried line. ... In 2013, Daesh had still not taken the form of an unrecognized State. The jihadists were divided and dispersed in many groups. However, their military operations were under the de facto coordination of the Nato Land Forces (LandCom) Command Centre at Izmir (Turkey). This meant that they could benefit from advice of Nato engineers to build these installations. Laurent Fabius was evidently an actor in this operation."
More on Fabius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Fabius:
"Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. His mandate had three milestones:
1. he didn't want to negotiate with President Assad to defeat what became ISIL,
2. he supported Syrian rebel groups, and
3. he reckoned that "Al-Nosra was doing a good job".
Fabius parents were from Ashkenazi Jewish families who converted to Catholicism"
Posted by: Anna | 21 October 2017 at 07:32 PM
It is interesting to note that none of the Generals mentioned have ever won a war. The last US General to do that was Norman Schwartzkopf.
Posted by: r whitman | 21 October 2017 at 07:40 PM
Dear Colonel,
Will the Kurds be in part 2? They seem about ready to be F-ed again. McGurk clearly had a sip of the koolaid....The SDF will cede territory - why take on a fight they will lose? They had best be nimble if there is to be any negotiating value....
I have heard that Turkey has started attempting to damage control (to allah) their spawn in Idlib so they cannot make it back to cause mayhem at home.
Re: Abrogating the Iran deal, the main problem IMO, is that it shows the US is not agreement capable. The ramifications of that will be wide and deep.
I hope it does not lead to war that (IMO) will allow to China leap frog the US economy. The implications are scary, but I can easily imagine micro assassin drones (that cannot be easily traced back to their origin) to truly mess with US politics. It also will greatly accelerate the One Belt One Road integration, which already is moving at breakneck speed (and largely ignored in the West).
Posted by: ISL | 21 October 2017 at 08:49 PM
pl
You asked" "Do we intend to hold Raqqa forever and to what purpose?" Let me try to answer.
Raqqa is famous for making the best falafel of the world. Since the US is dominated by a powerful falafel lobby it's only natural that the US wants to protect that treasury of global cuisine forever.
But there is a little problem with the famous falafel city of Raqqa: it's landlocked and surrounded by the forces of the vicious "dictators" Assad, Erdogan, Abadi and Khamenei. So the only way for the US to hold the famous falafel city of Raqqa against the immenent attacks of these falafel hating dicators is to fight free a land corridor currently occupied by forces of dicator Assad and his buddies Khamenei and Putin from Raqqa to the US base in Tanf, which is just a little bit less than 200 miles south of Raqqa and close to the border of Jordan. After a short fight against the small forces of Assad, Khamenei and Putin the way would be free for the US to build a highway and a high speed railway from Jordan to Raqqa to please world's falafel lovers, and to supply US troops protecting Raqqa. I could not imagine any better place where the US could build a highway and a high speed railway, if not from Jordan to Raqqa.
That is because having Jordan as a start point for a US LOC to the world's falafel capital of Raqqa would also give the US troops in Jordan a sense. What, if not for saving the start point of an LOC to the world's capital of falafel cuisine Raqqa could be the purpose of US troops in Jordan?
Yes, I know, some people say it's all about resources, but I doubt the famous Jordan sands and rocks are worth the US military efforts there. I think it's all senseless if it's not all about falafel.
Posted by: Bandolero | 21 October 2017 at 08:52 PM
These ARE the interests of the United States, as defined by her representative government and, furthermore, are filly endorsed by her allies in UK and in EU.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 21 October 2017 at 09:50 PM
Good points all. Your last point about DJT's flawed decision being based on too many military men at the top of the government is true. But it is also undeniably true that it was Trump who put them there, another flawed decision on his part IMO.
Just out of curiosity, when and where did McGurk make such a statement regarding Raqqa? Source? I'm not a fan of McGurk, it was his statements against the KRG Referendum that emboldened Baghdad and the Hashd al-Shaabi to react in Kirkuk. But I would like to read the full statement.
By the way, at the risk of being labelled another dippelscheisser, I need to clarify that McGurk is the Presidential Special Envoy for the Global anti-Daesh Coalition whether they (Daeshis) are in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the Maghreb, Afghanistan or wherever - not just Syria.
Posted by: mike | 21 October 2017 at 11:43 PM
Col. Lang,
Is it possible for the US political system to extricate itself from its ME policy dogma which is clearly destructive to US national interests?
Posted by: blue peacock | 22 October 2017 at 01:10 AM
In fairness to b, he didn't say that he "questions John Kelly's motives".
What he pointed out was that Kelly's own spokesman said that nobody is entitled to question the General's motives.
That's an altogether different proposition, and a highly offensive one.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | 22 October 2017 at 01:44 AM
Can you include Bahrain in part 2? Even it is part of Saudi in effect....
Posted by: res | 22 October 2017 at 05:31 AM
Colonel,
Respectfully I would suggest that many mistake the development and manifestation of Organisational Culture and shared Interests with more Hollywood-esque conspiratorial Agendas...
Many I do not think quite consider how many such Organisations Develop a Culture unconciously and all to naturally.
If I may let us start with an Organisation - Eg: Professional Military but many types.
Those whom choose this Occupation will often likely be those predisposed to it (Belief System, Family History, Personal Interests). Coming in to an organisation with their own World View, they have passed the first form of Selection that takes place - Application.
Here on out they are subject to further Environmental Influences - Training, Co Workers, Management, Situational/Experience..
Those whom carry on with this Career likely will be selected for Promotion in part by certain measure of conforming to the Beliefs and Notions expected or acceptance by ones Peers and Superiors.
As often occurs they subsequently either carry on their Career in Management often practicing a similar form of Selection upon new Candidates conciously or not...
If they do not do this often they may indeed take their new found Qualifications and Experience and use it in another Sector (Eg: Media, Educational Institutions, Think Tanks)
Subsequently they can pass on the Institutional Culture and Experience to Audiences whom are still considering that first Stage of Selection - Application or not.
It becomes Cyclic - The Consumers of this Media or Education and somewhat screened by willing consumption to become future Applicants and the Process repeats itself.
That these Worlds Interconnect (Between say Media and Industry 'Professionals' and Political Advocates) confuses many People to think there is some greater conspiracy at place when simple shared Cycles of Production and Consumption of Information and Culture.
I apologize if my Wording is not as clear as I would like..
Posted by: Grazhdanochka | 22 October 2017 at 06:16 AM
Thank you for this concise situation assessment.
I hope someday you write about why you make this statement, and also who you suggest Roosevelt and Churchill should have put in command of Overlord in his stead.Posted by: ex-PFC Chuck | 22 October 2017 at 07:22 AM