Craig Murray — Continued American Occupation of the Middle East Does Not Suppress Terrorism, It Causes It

Even the neo-con warmongers’ house journal The Guardian, furious at Trump’s attempts to pull US troops out of Syria, in producing a map to illustrate its point, could only produce one single, uncertain, very short pen stroke to describe the minute strip of territory it claims ISIS still control on the Iraqi border.

Of course, the Guardian produces the argument that continued US military presence is necessary to ensure that ISIS does not spring back to life in Syria. The fallacy of that argument can be easily demonstrated. In Afghanistan, the USA has managed to drag out the long process of humiliating defeat in war even further than it did in Vietnam. It is plain as a pikestaff that the presence of US occupation troops is itself the best recruiting sergeant for resistance. In Sikunder Burnes I trace how the battle lines of tribal alliances there today are precisely the same ones the British faced in 1841. We just attach labels like Taliban to hide the fact that invaders face national resistance.

The secret to ending the strength of ISIS in Syria is not the continued presence of American troops. It is for America’s ever closer allies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf to cut off the major artery of money and arms, which we should never forget in origin and for a long time had a strong US component. The US/Saudi/Israeli alliance against Iran is the most important geo-political factor in the region today. It is high time this alliance stopped both funding ISIS and pretending to fight it; schizophrenia is not a foreign policy stance.... 

The chaos of this incoherent and counterproductive strategy is, peculiarly enough, what the neocons actually want. Perpetual war and destabilisation in the Middle East is their goal. One of the findings I had not expected to discover in writing Sikunder Burnes was that the British had been deliberately exploiting and exacerbating the Shia/Sunni divide as early as 1836 to the Imperial purpose. Today, by keeping Arab populations poor and politically divided, the neo-cons believe that they enhance the security of Israel, and they certainly do facilitate the access of western companies to the oil and gas of the region, as we see in destabilised Iraq and Libya.… 

I have written before that Trump may be a rotten President for Americans, but at least he has not initiated a major war; and I am quite sure Hillary would have done by now. For a non-American, the choice between Hillary and Trump ended up in balancing on one side of the scale the evil of millions more killed and maimed in the Middle East and the launching of a full on, unreserved new Cold War, against on the other side of the scale poorer Americans having very bad healthcare and social provision and America adopting racist immigration policies. I do hope that the neo-con barrage today arguing for more American troops in the Middle East, will help people remember just how very unattractive also is the Hillary side of the equation....

Craig Murray Blog
Continued American Occupation of the Middle East Does Not Suppress Terrorism, It Causes It
Craig Murray, formerly British ambassador to Uzbekistan and Rector of the University of Dundee

Tom Winter — Historic meeting of Intel Chiefs from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and China – But why?

Top security and intelligence officials from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and China held a meeting in Islamabad, where they stressed the need for more active involvement of regional forces in efforts to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.This is reported by TASS.

On Tuesday, a meeting of leaders of the intelligence services of Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan was held in Islamabad, at which measures were discussed to combat the threat of the reunification of ISIS fighters in Afghanistan....

Not stated in any of the news accounts of this meeting is the likely spur that led to it. Last month the Chief of Iranian General Staff Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri accused the US of transferring Daesh terrorists, defeated in Syria and Iraq, into Afghanistan.

Sputnik alike has reported “The US has been accused numerous times of providing various forms of support to Daesh and other terrorist groups, operating in the region....

For Russ

Historic meeting of Intel Chiefs from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and China – But why?

Tom Winter

See also

Geopolitics Alert
5 Times the US Actively Supported ISIS or Similar Groups (Yes, Actively)

Brandon Stout, former member of the petty-bourgeoisie and is now a class traitor living happily in Detroit, Michigan

Update

Fort Russ
German RT — Historic Islamabad Meeting Of Intel Chiefs, Omitting The US, In The German PressIntelligence services of Russia, Iran, China & Pakistan decide to cooperate in Afghanistan - without the USA
Tom Winter

Pepe Escobar — The Syria connection to Iran, Afghanistan and China

Backgrounder. 

It's complicated. The US doesn't do nuance.

Asia Times
The Syria connection to Iran, Afghanistan and China

Pepe Escobar

Barkley Rosser — The End Of The "Islamic State."

Barkley Rosen explained how the US papers of record, the New York Times and the Washington Post, not only got it wrong but also imposed their view on the media echo chamber based on their authoritative position as papers of record.

Econospeak
The End Of The "Islamic State."
J. Barkley Rosser | Professor of Economics and Business Administration James Madison University

Pepe Escobar — Syria war, Sochi peace

Most of what lies ahead hinges on who will control Syria’s oil and gas fields. It’s Pipelineistan all over again; all wars are energy wars. Damascus simply won’t accept an energy bonanza for the US-supported SDF, actually led by the YPG.

And neither would Russia. Apart from Moscow holding on to a strategic eastern Mediterranean base, eventually Gazprom wants to be an investment partner/operator in a newly feasible Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, whose main customer will be the EU. Beyond Sochi, the real – Pipelineistan – war has only just begun.

Asia Times
Syria war, Sochi peace

Pepe Escobar

Zero Hedge In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War

A television interview of a top Qatari official confessing the truth behind the origins of the war in Syria is going viral across Arabic social media during the same week a leaked top secret NSA document was published which confirms that the armed opposition in Syria was under the direct command of foreign governments from the early years of the conflict.

And according to a well-known Syria analyst and economic adviser with close contacts in the Syrian government, the explosive interview constitutes a high level "public admission to collusion and coordination between four countries to destabilize an independent state, [including] possible support for Nusra/al-Qaeda." Importantly, "this admission will help build case for what Damascus sees as an attack on its security & sovereignty. It will form basis for compensation claims."

As the war in Syria continues slowly winding down, it seems new source material comes out on an almost a weekly basis in the form of testimonials of top officials involved in destabilizing Syria, and even occasional leaked emails and documents which further detail covert regime change operations against the Assad government. Though much of this content serves to confirm what has already long been known by those who have never accepted the simplistic propaganda which has dominated mainstream media, details continue to fall in place, providing future historians with a clearer picture of the true nature of the war.

This process of clarity has been aided - as predicted - by the continued infighting among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) former allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with each side accusing the other of funding Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorists (ironically, both true). Increasingly, the world watches as more dirty laundry is aired and the GCC implodes after years of nearly all the gulf monarchies funding jihadist movements in places like Syria, Iraq, and Libya....

"Shocking" refers to the admission rather than the events, which were widely suspected, with some evidence already available.

Now that the war seems to be winding down, the question of who is going to pay to rebuild Syria arises. Syria will be seeking compensation.

Zero Hedge

In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War
Tyler Durden

Moon of Alabama — Syria - U.S. CentCom Declares War On Russia

The U.S. Central Command in the Middle East wants the oil fields in east-Syria under control of its proxy forces to set up and control a U.S. aligned Kurdish mini-state in the area. The Syrian government, allied with Russia, needs the revenues of the oil fields to rebuild the country....

Curiously, Moon doesn't mention the well-known fact that a Kurdistan and Sunnistan separating Syria and Israel from Iran is of the highest priority on the agenda of the Netanyahu government.

Russia, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey are opposed to an independent Kurdistan as a Kurdish state. This is a red line for Turkey, and if there is to be a Sunnistan Turkey wants to be in control it instead of Saudi Arabia. Adding to the complication, Turkey is a nuclear-armed NATO member with national interests diametrically opposed to the US on this matter.

The snake pit has morphed into a powder keg.

Moon of Alabama
Syria - U.S. CentCom Declares War On Russia
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See also

The Vineyard of the Saker
Very dangerous escalation in Syria
The Saker

Zero Hedge — Russia Releases Photos Showing US Special Ops At ISIS Positions In Syria

I guess Zero Hedge is another of those Russkie sites like Drudge.

Zero Hedge

Russia Releases Photos Showing US Special Ops At ISIS Positions In Syria
Tyler Durden

Al Mayadeen — "US-led Coalition jets deliberately bombed our positions to halt our progress against ISIS" - Babylon Battalions leader

Assuming this is true and there seems to be no reason to doubt it, inquiring minds would like to know if is this the military going rogue or US policy?

Fort Russ
"US-led Coalition jets deliberately bombed our positions to halt our progress against ISIS" - Babylon Battalions leader

Al Mayadeen — translated by Samer Hussein

Zero Hedge — US Coalition Attacks ISIS Convoy, Accuses Syria And Russia Of "Terror Transfer"

Calling out US hypocrisy and fake outrage.

Zero Hedge
US Coalition Attacks ISIS Convoy, Accuses Syria And Russia Of "Terror Transfer"

Tyler Durden

See also

AP correctly reports on what Nasrallah said about the deal involving a prisoner exchange, and then muddles it by reporting on "Turkish-backed Syrian forces" that have nothing to do with either Hezbollah or ISIS firing on US troops. 

AP News
The Latest: Hezbollah defends transfer of IS militants

Moon of Alabama — Syria Summary - Towards The End Of The Caliphate

What is left of ISIS, probably some 10,000 fighters in total, is now confined to east Syria and west Iraq. No more replenishment is coming forward. No new fighters are willing to join the losing project. Its resources are dwindling by the day. The U.S. is extracting its assets within the organization. The Euphrates valley west and east of Deir Ezzor will become the last defensible territory it holds. Six month from now it will be defeated. Its Caliphate will be gone.

The other Jihadi project in Syria is run under the various names of al-Qaeda in Syria. It is now mainly confined to Idleb province. The estimated strength is some 9,000 fighters with some 12,000 auxiliary forces of local "rebels". Like ISIS, al-Qaeda in Syria is now isolated and no one is willing to come to its help. Its local helpers will give up and reconcile as soon as the Syrian army will move in on them. The hard-core militants will be killed.

The U.S. has told its proxy "rebels" to give up on their political project. Jordan is sending peace signals towards Damascus. The Syrian President Assad will not be removed and the country will stay under the protection of Russia and Iran. The U.S. still supports the Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria's north-east. But its relation with its NATO member Turkey will always be more important than any national Kurdish project. In the end the Kurds, like others, will have to accept the condition Damascus will set for them.

Moon of Alabama
Syria Summary - Towards The End Of The Caliphate
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Tony Cartalucci — Facing Defeat in Syria, ISIS Inexplicably Expands Globally

Tony Cartalucci asks the "follow the money" and "cui bono" questions about the spread of ISIS.

Throughout human history, when a military force and its economic center has been defeated, it contracts, then collapses. For the first time in human history, the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (ISIS), has managed to reverse this fundamental aspect of reality – but not without help.

Facing defeat in Syria as government forces backed by its Russian and Iranian allies close in on the terrorist organization, stripping it of territory it seized, it has managed to spread far beyond Syria’s borders, establishing itself in Libya, Afghanistan, and even as far as Southeast Asia where it has seized an entire city in the Philippines’ south, and carried out attacks and conducting activities everywhere from Indonesia and Malaysia to allegedly Thailand’s deep south.

It should be remembered, according to Western governments and their media, the territory ISIS holds in Syria is allegedly providing it with the summation of its financial resources and thus the source of its fighting capacity. According to official statements, the US and its European allies allege that ISIS fuels its fighting capacity with “taxes” and extortion as well as black market oil sales – all of which are derived from territory it holds in Syria....
With this territory quickly shrinking and the intensity of fighting against what remains of ISIS in Syria and Iraq expanding, it is seemingly inexplicable as to how ISIS is expanding globally, instead of contracting and collapsing.…

For ISIS – fueled by resources found only within the boundaries of its meager and shrinking territorial holdings in Syria and Iraq – to be simultaneously fighting the national armies of Syria and Iraq, backed by Iran, Russia, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and allegedly a US-led coalition including dozens of countries, all while expanding its reach worldwide, including full-scale military operations in Southeast Asia, begs belief.

ISIS doing all of this with multi-billion dollar multinational state sponsorship, not only makes much more sense, it is the only explanation....

NEO
Facing Defeat in Syria, ISIS Inexplicably Expands Globally
Tony Cartalucci

Moon of Alabama — Mosul Is Liberated! My Congrats To Iraq

Some good news in the Middle East.

Moon of Alabama
Mosul Is Liberated! My Congrats To Iraq

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Russia goes along with a U.S. proposed ceasefire in Syria? Putin wants to have good relations in the worst way.

First of all I thought we were fighting ISIS? So it's a ceasefire against who? Against ISIS?

I can't believe Putin fell for this. This is just a ploy. The U.S. will use this, as they have used other ceasefires, to re-arm the rebels.

Putin evidently wants good relations with the U.S. in the worst possible way. Sad. This won't end well. Russia will be double-crossed by the U.S. once again.

Ricky Twisdale — BOMBSHELL: Trump told Saudis to stop funding terror

Game-changer?

The real purpose of my being there, was to make sure these countries do not fund terror any longer.….

Earlier in his address, Trump had strongly reiterated his campaign rhetoric decrying the havoc caused by decades of US military intervention:

Our country has spent $6 trillion in the middle east – wasted. And the lives, the lives…thousands and thousands and thousands of lives. We started 16 years ago, and it’s in far worse shape than it was 16 years ago. So we spent all of this money, all of these lives…and let me tell you, I came in and took over a very, very difficult hand. But we’re going to get it fixed – that’s what you put me here for.

Needless to say, Trump’s rhetoric is at odds with Pentagon policy, which seems to have changed little since the turnover in administrations. There is clearly a discrepency between the US president’s views and the deep state’s demands....

The Duran
BOMBSHELL: Trump told Saudis to stop funding terror
Ricky Twisdale

Pepe Escobar — Fear and Loathing on the Afghan Silk Road

It is a categorical imperative for Beijing to expand BRI [Belt and Road Initiative] across the Levant, linking China to the Mediterranean overland just like the Ancient Silk Road did. And yet that clashes frontally with the crucial fact admitted on record by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn himself: that the Obama administration made a “willful decision” to let Islamic State fester, with the objective of arriving at a “Sunnistan” across “Syraq” as a means to accelerate regime change in Damascus. Translation: let ISIS break up the BRI in the Levant.

Counterpunch
Fear and Loathing on the Afghan Silk Road

Pepe Escobar

Moon of Alabama — U.S. Torture, A Saudi Coup And ISIS Crimes - "By, With And Through Allies"

The U.S. military and/or the CIA outsourced parts of their ongoing torture campaign in Yemen to the United Arab Emirates, reports AP. Some "interrogations" are done in the presence of U.S. personal and on U.S. ships:

The thuggery and war crimes continue. Much more in the post.

Moon of Alabama
U.S. Torture, A Saudi Coup And ISIS Crimes - "By, With And Through Allies"

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Paul Robinson — Strategy-free time

The strategy-free wars the US is fighting.

If you’re a conspiracy theorist, you could say that this is all part of a cunning plan to spread chaos. This, however, ignores the fact that the costs in both blood and treasure are enormous and far outweigh any benefits the USA might theoretically derive from such chaos. It’s also pretty obvious that people like Mattis really want to win all these wars.

Their problem is that they’ve got themselves deep into situations they don’t understand and can’t control, but they can’t extricate themselves without looking bad. So, they just keep digging themselves in deeper and spreading the list of enemies in the hope that they can find a solution by going in a different direction.

As I’ve mentioned before, the first principle of war is selection and maintenance of the aim. If Mattis wants a strategy, he needs to select and maintain a single, clear objective. So far, the United States hasn’t....

There are also political constraints. The American public is tired of foreign adventurism with no lasting results, so now US politicians are reluctant to write the generals a blank check without an exit strategy.

Both war on terror, the war on drugs and the war on poverty have failed because it is impossible to make war on a concept. Such wars end up being strategy-free and with no exit strategy, endless.

Irrussianality
Strategy-free time
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Moon of Alabama — "The GCC States Led By Saudi Arabia Will Collapse Into Oblivion"

Backgrounder on goings-on in the snake pit.

Moon of Alabama
"The GCC States Led By Saudi Arabia Will Collapse Into Oblivion"

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See also

Asia Times
Qatar’s US$1 billion deal with Iran that broke the camel’s back

Asia Unhedged

Alstair Crooke on Saudi Arabia, ISIS and Wahhabism

In this two part series, Alstair Crooke provides the background for understanding Saudi Arabia and ISIS in terms of Wahhabism.

The World Post
You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia

Middle East Time Bomb: The Real Aim of ISIS Is to Replace the Saud Family as the New Emirs of Arabia

Alstair Crooke

See also

The article cites a hadith (traditional saying attributed to Muhammad).

Its ironic that Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali seemed to warn against the rise of extremism in Kitab Al Fitan – a compilation of hadiths (Islamic tradition) relating to the end of times, put together by prominent scholar Nuyam bin Hammad in 229 AH.
In it Imam Ali recalled the Prophet saying:

“If you see the black flags, then hold your ground and do not move your hands or your feet. A people will come forth who are weak and have no capability, their hearts are like blocks of iron. They are the people of the State (literally the people of Al Dawla), they do not keep a promise or a treaty.

"They call to the truth but they are not its people. Their names are (nicknames like Abu Mohammed) and their last names (are the names of town and cities, like Al Halabi [and now al-Baghdadi]) and their hair is loose like women’s hair. (Leave them) until they fight among themselves, then Allah will bring the truth from whoever He wills.”

The Telegraph
What is Wahhabism? The reactionary branch of Islam from Saudi Arabia said to be 'the main source of global terrorism'