DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA, BY "B"
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama
Turkey's occupation of some areas in north Iraq is in trouble as is the U.S. occupation of northeast Syria.
Turkey has for some time taken positions inside north Iraq to prevent Kurdish PKK fighters from infiltrating into Turkey. It also uses drones to hit PKK positions. The corrupt leader of the ruling Kurdish clan in north Iraq, Masoud Barzani, has no problem with Turkey hunting his brethren as long as Turkey buys oil from him. But the Iraqi government in Baghdad sees every Turkish intrusion as an attack on Iraq's sovereignty.
Turkey reported today that it 'neutralized 7 PKK terrorists in north Iraq'. That was however not the case:
BAGHDAD -- A Turkish drone strike killed two senior Iraqi security officials, Iraq's military said Tuesday, marking the first time Turkey's operation to root out Kurdish rebels in Iraq's north produced fatalities among high-ranking Iraqi personnel.
The drone targeted a vehicle belonging to the Border Guards in the Bradost area, north of Irbil, the military statement said, causing the deaths of two commanders and the vehicle's driver.
Gen. Mohammed Rushdi, commander of the Border Guards' 2nd Brigade and Brig. Zubair Hali, commander of the 3rd Regiment, were killed in the attack Ihsan Chelebi, the mayor of Bradost, told The Associated Press. He said they had been establishing new posts in the area.
...
The operation drew the ire of Iraqi officials who on two occasions summoned Turkey's ambassador to Baghdad to deliver a protest note. The killing of the high-ranking Iraqi officials is expected to further strain Iraq's relations with Turkey.
This will add another hostile nation to Erdogan's ever growing portfolio of these.
A different situation involving the PKK is the U.S. occupation of northeast Syria between the Turkish boarder and the Euphrates river. The U.S. proxy force are local PKK fighters under Mazloum Kobani Abdi who have renamed themselves Syrian Democratic Forces so that the U.S. can pretend that they are not the enemies of its NATO ally Turkey. Mazloum recently had a meeting with Barzani who the PKK views as a more or less hostile element.
There have recently been additional incidents that put Mazloum and the SDF into a very bad light. Islamic State fighters and their families who are imprisoned in camps guarded by the SDF have been let go by heavily bribed guards. A Sheik of an Arab tribe in east Deir Ezzor governorate has been murdered by SDF members. The tribe has rebelled and set an ultimatum to the SDF to hand over the killers.
Then there is the oil which Trump claims to keep. Mazloum first tried to sell it to an Israeli company. That did not work out but in late July a deal was signed between Mazloum and a small U.S. company. That angered not only Syria and Turkey but has now led to the rejection of Mazloum by the PKK itself.
Today Cemîl Bayik, one of the five founders of the PKK, condemned the oil deal (machine translation):
The PKK's roof structure, KCK's Co-chair Cemil Bayık, regarding the oil agreement signed with the US company in Rojava, said, “Syria is an internationally accepted state. That is why all of Syria's underground and aboveground resources belong to the people, not to anyone. I mean, nobody can do these things.
Speaking to the media close to the PKK, Cemil Bayık said that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) signed an oil agreement with a US company, “We are also following some things from the press. I don't know exactly what is the reality. For example, it is said that an alliance was made through an oil company, and even the Syrian regime said that it did not accept it, it was illegal, it said things like "they are stealing our oil".
Saying that "Syria is an internationally recognized state", Bayık said:
“That is why all of Syria's underground and aboveground resources belong to the people, not to anyone. So nobody can make these things property. We say that the Autonomous Syrian administration, oil, underground and aboveground wealth are all of the Syrian peoples. ..."
Mazloum's oil deal is illegal says the leader of the PKK. It seems that Mazloum has thereby lost his authority.
Also today the Arab tribes of Deir Ezzor held another meeting which ended with a demand to the U.S. and the SDF to leave their areas:
The Al-Akidat tribal leaders demanded, as quoted by the Sputnik Agency, that “the administration of the region be for our people. Arabs exclusively, and the emphasis on the unity and independence of Syria.”
The news agency quoted local sources in the countryside of Deir Ezzor as saying that nearly 5,000 people, including a large number of notables and sheikhs of the Al-Akidat Tribe and other tribes, held an expanded meeting in the house of the tribe’s chief general, Ibrahim Khalil al-Hafl, in the village Dheban and gave the U.S.-led Coalition forces only one month to fulfill the demands that came out of the meeting, the most important of which are the disclosure of the perpetrators of the assassinations, the release of detainees, and the removal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its affiliates.
The reporter added that the tribal meeting condemned the state of security chaos, administrative and military corruption, and the assassinations, the latest of which was the assassination of Sheikh Mutashar Al-Hafil and his relative, Dara Mikhlif Al-Khalaf, for which the Al-Akidat Tribe held the SDF and the U.S. Coalition responsible.
The U.S. troops in Syria and their SDF proxies may soon see a full blown rebellion against their occupation. This while Mazloum's authority over the Kurds of north Syria has been seriously weakened. Trump's instinct to pull the troops out of Syria was right. After he ran into resistance from the Pentagon and hawkish senators he invented the 'keep the oil' excuse to justify his lack of insistence. That will now come back to haunt him. Losing troops in Syria during the campaign season may well cost him votes.
Posted by b on August 11, 2020 at 18:32 UTC | Permalink
The oil in Syria is not the US's to give. It is not even the Kurds', as there is only one well in Kurdish territory. That means that any contract signed is to export illegally produced oil. Not surprisingly, only small companies are willing to take the risk.
Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 11 2020 19:30 utc | 2
Cemîl Bayik’s comments suggest full recognition of Syrian sovereignty in “Rojava”. Is that the PKK’s official position?
Posted by: David G | Aug 11 2020 19:34 utc | 3
Trump didn't invent the "keep the oil" excuse because of resistance from Generals, Trump said he would "keep the oil" several times during the 2016 campaign. He's ALWAYS been a "keep the oil" guy - covered with a veneer of reluctance. Because EVERY PRESIDENT pretends to be peace-loving.
And Trump's instincts are horrible in general.
<> <> <> <> <>
Trump's instinct is to "keep the oil" ... and starve Syria of resources.
Trump's instinct is to surround himself with chickenhawks and suck-ups.
Trump's instinct is to fellate Netanyahu via every possible concession.
Trump's instinct is to blame China for his Administration's inept response to the pandemic.
Trump's instinct is to use racial dog whistles to advance his political interests.
Trump's instinct is to con others and stroke his ego while doings so.
Trump's instinct is to bully: assassinate; overthrow (color revolution); conduct a Cold War arms race; militarize space; steal resources/assets of other nations (Syrian oil, Venezuelan embassies and oil company, Chinese internet company, etc.); impose sanctions that kill the people he says USA supports !!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 11 2020 19:37 utc | 4
Wow. I must admit, i am stunned.
Sadly we likely will never know what REALLY goes on inside the Kurdish PKK/Rojava political strucutres.
But if true, this, and the incompetence and arrogance of the PKK Kurds may well bring the end to the occupation.
Should Rojava be returned to Assad control, then even the Turks will feel pressure on their occupation.
Sadly the are now in a much better position than the Kurds can ever be, and even better than the SAA.
We will see.
Posted by: DontBelieveEitherPr | Aug 11 2020 19:46 utc | 5
Laguerre: The US oil company kicked off early in 2019, and I suspect it was put together specifically for Syrian oil. I have not found who owns it though. "Delta Crescent Energy LLC, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Delaware"
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 11 2020 19:51 utc | 6
@David G | 3
Could Bayik's comments be preparation for negotiations with the Syrian Government? With the US agreement, SDF/PKK whatever you call them, are in a stronger negotiating position than before, without doubt. But that would of course depend on US cooperation, of course
Recently, a Turkish paper / site suggested that the SDF's agreement to US's oil deal was a strategic one in order to block any potential Turkish attempt to persuade Russia to manage oil fields. (Turkey was looking for financial support from Russia for such a project earlier this year.)
Posted by: AtaBrit | Aug 11 2020 19:54 utc | 7
Mazloum's oil deal is illegal says the leader of the PKK.
Leaders of PKK should watch their back.
It seems that this Kurd politician (a woman) was made an example of last fall when some Kurds began talking with the Syrian government after USA pulled back so Turkey could enter Syria's northeast: Kurdish politician slain in Syria wanted to unite the country in peace, says friend
Turkey-backed Syrian rebels kill Kurdish politician, execute prisoners !!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 11 2020 20:09 utc | 9
Meanwhile Chris Hedges on the dying corpse of failing empire:https://scheerpost.com/2020/08/10/chris-hedges-americas-death-march/
''When I walked through Montgomery, Alabama, a city where half of the population is African-American, with the civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson a few years ago, he pointed out the numerous Confederate memorials, noting that most had been put up in the last decade. This,” I told him, “is exactly what happened in Yugoslavia.”
A hyper-nationalism always infects a dying civilization. It feeds the collective self-worship. This hyper-nationalism celebrates the supposedly unique virtues of the race or the national group. It strips all who are outside the closed circle of worth and humanity. The world instantly becomes understandable, a black and white tableau of them and us. These tragic moments in history see people fall into collective insanity. They suspend thought, especially self-critical thought. None of this is going away in November, in fact it will get worse.
Joe Biden, a shallow, political hack devoid of fixed beliefs or intellectual depth, is an expression of the nostalgia of a ruling class that yearns to return to the pantomime of democracy. They want to restore the decorum and civic religion that makes the presidency a form of monarchy and sacralizes the organs of state power. Donald Trump’s vulgarity and ineptitude is an embarrassment to the architects of empire. He has ripped back the veil that covered our failed democracy. But no matter how hard the elites try this veil cannot be restored. The mask is off. The façade is gone. Biden cannot bring it back.''
Posted by: Augustin L | Aug 11 2020 20:11 utc | 10
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"b" is Moon of Alabama's founding (and chief) editor. This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community. Bernhard )"b") started and still runs the site. Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators. You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA@aol.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Perhaps. But the only political space Biden and the Democrats are likely to occupy is that Trump has been ineffective in getting rid of Assad, that he should have been intervening more and better in Syria all along. (That is already the Dem stance on Venezuela: Trump is bad at coups; we’ll do better at offing/kidnapping Maduro.)
So while they’ll certainly blame Trump for any U.S. casualties, the Dems won’t pull very many Trump supporters disappointed in him not living up to his 2016 promises of getting out of the wars.
Posted by: David G | Aug 11 2020 19:24 utc | 1