Discussion on recent change in U.S. Syrian Policy

I have always been very critical of U.S. foreign policy. Some of you may have noticed that I am an anti-government Leftist, and one of the main reasons I am anti-U.S. government is my critical view of U.S. foreign policy.

That said, I would like to applaud the recent shift in the U.S. policy in Syria.

This week the U.S. shifted their support away from "moderate" Free Syrian Army groups (most of which were still militant Islamists or affiliated with groups like al-qaeda) and instead will be directly arming what they are calling The Syrian Democratic Forces. These will be Arabic groups allied and affiliated to the secular libertarian socialist YPG (the predominantly Kurdish militia that has been fighting ISIS in norther Syria, and embraces feminism, multiculturalism, secularism, religious tolerance, and democracy).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/12/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUSKCN0S60BD20151012


The YPG has already done more than any other group in the region to fight ISIS. They have long talked of spreading their political model of local autonomy, secularism and democracy as a solution for all of Syria. And, as they have taken territory from ISIS, they have been incorporating Arabic, Christian and other communities into their model and their fighting forces.

Now, with increased U.S. support, and under the banner of the national focused Syrian Democratic Forces, they intend to liberate Raqqa (the de facto ISIS capital) in the next few weeks.

The previous policy was supported by Turkey, and the U.S. has been hesitant to support the PYD because it would upset Turkey. But since Turkey is certainly arming al-qaeda and almost certainly also assisting ISIS (and since they are also engaged in a campaign of terrorizing their own Kurdish population, including likely either arranging or permitting terroristic bombings of Peace Rallies that have killed more than a hundred) I say the U.S. is making the right decision by saying f*** Turkey, and instead assisting a group promoting secularism, humanism, feminism and democracy for Syria and the middle east.

I am happy to be able to applaud a move by my country's foreign policy for a change, and here's to hoping this will help mark a major shift for Syria and the Middle East.

 

Yeah, they've saber rallied that they might do just that. And they've been bombing groups allied to the YPG in northern Iraq (and of course the Kurdish groups in Turkey).

If that happens it would be interesting to see how the U.S. and Russia would react. Russia has already been acting threateningly towards Turkey, and the U.S. is ignoring their wishes -- so, I wonder how far Turkey could go before they start facing international repercussions for their actions.

Considering how much they've contributed to the rise of ISIS and al-qaeda in Syria, I think it is long overdue personally.

 

Much like the Kurdish groups we are now supporting, I am a proponent of libertarian socialism - which means I do not think it is a good idea to have a state or a powerful centralized government, and that we should instead have a decentralized society of autonomous communities, as well as community and worker management of society's resources and infrastructure.

Whether you want to call this anti-state or anti-government is a semantic point that I see as a non-issue and would be happy to concede.

 

For the PYD (the largely Syrian Kurdish libertarian socialists the U.S. is now supporting as the central part of their anti-ISIS Syria strategy), while I am not 100% sure (I haven't seen an article talking about that level of detail of their petrol industry), from what I've read about their economy, it would likely be a representative from the council of workers that is operating the oil field in question, or a representative from a confederation of such worker councils.