The rebels certainly showed up with a lot of heavy military equipment - tanks as well as artillery - so obviously somebody's been supplying them, and generously. While it's certainly reasonable to suspect Turkey, the Gulf Arabs, and the CIA, is there actually any hard evidence on who handed over all that gear?
Sorry, but the two situations are completely different. Hillary Clinton's "careless" handling was to send classified information via a network that wasn't technically classified, but in reality was more secure than the actual classified information system, which has had multiple breaches.
Snowden actually took classified information and released it publicly; plus, he brought a lot more to where the Russians can try to break encryption at their leisure.
The intent and result of Hillary's actions were to keep classified information in the control of the US government. The intent and result of Snowden's actions were to release some classified information to the public and (possibly) much more to Russia. They are diametrically opposed actions.
The strategy is interesting. If you look at the maps available here: http://syria.liveuamap.com you'll see all the remaining road routes from Turkey to al-Raqqa pass near Manbij. If the operation succeed al-Raqqa will be cut off. The fact that Turkey is squealing about the operation is just more indication they've been helping Daesh, and the fact that YPG/the US have decided to take it shows they know.
The earlier attack towards al-Raqaa might have been mostly a feint. YPG has interior lines on the front right now because Daesh has to go the long way around Lake Assad to get between Manbij and al-Raqaa. Any forces Daesh pulled to al-Raqaa for defense would have to scramble back to Manbij, giving YPG a few days of a big advantage.
Erdogan's Turkey is no longer our ally, treaties notwithstanding. The Kurds are.
Further, there may not be much of a choice to make as Turkey's proxies are getting wiped out in northern Syria, and the only section of the Turkish border they still control is being held with the help of - the Kurds. It seems Turkey is an incompetent rival as well as a non-ally.
You're speaking as if Daesh is made of sophisticated Western sociologists rather than obsessive Koranic textproofers. They don't understand Western politics and sociology well - if they did, they wouldn't be in Daesh. Most likely their thought is that the bombing will provoke a stupid and immoral reaction from the West which it can't sustain, creating more support for the extremists. It worked for 9/11, actually. Hopefully the current leadership won't be as idiotic as Bush was.
The West wants Assad gone. Russia and Iran want a regime sympathetic to them. These are not irreconcilable. It's those who want an extremist Islamic regime - mostly the Gulf Arabs; maybe Turkey - who are not really reconcilable with the others.
The Shite militia may have other goals. The extreme violence and kleptocracy of ISIS is going to turn the population against Islam if they stay in power too long. The Wars of the Reformation created Deism. I don't think the average militiaman will be thinking about this, but Sistani has always acted like he's well aware of the sociology of religious belief. I was impressed at his desire to keep clericism out of the Iraqi government - political power for religions produces theological weakness.
Spain is certainly at risk from desertification, but it's relatively less at risk from sea level rise. Madrid is the only major EU capital which would survive complete melting of the icecap. London, Rome, Berlin, and even Paris would be hopelessly gone. Even for Spain it would be really bad, but they're still less at risk that most.
Very encouraging to see the trends against fossil fuel use even under crooked Conservative leadership.
The rebels certainly showed up with a lot of heavy military equipment - tanks as well as artillery - so obviously somebody's been supplying them, and generously. While it's certainly reasonable to suspect Turkey, the Gulf Arabs, and the CIA, is there actually any hard evidence on who handed over all that gear?
Of course they are. So are most Americans. It's a low bar. They'd probably clear a higher bar too, but certainly that one.
Sorry, but the two situations are completely different. Hillary Clinton's "careless" handling was to send classified information via a network that wasn't technically classified, but in reality was more secure than the actual classified information system, which has had multiple breaches.
Snowden actually took classified information and released it publicly; plus, he brought a lot more to where the Russians can try to break encryption at their leisure.
The intent and result of Hillary's actions were to keep classified information in the control of the US government. The intent and result of Snowden's actions were to release some classified information to the public and (possibly) much more to Russia. They are diametrically opposed actions.
The strategy is interesting. If you look at the maps available here: http://syria.liveuamap.com you'll see all the remaining road routes from Turkey to al-Raqqa pass near Manbij. If the operation succeed al-Raqqa will be cut off. The fact that Turkey is squealing about the operation is just more indication they've been helping Daesh, and the fact that YPG/the US have decided to take it shows they know.
The earlier attack towards al-Raqaa might have been mostly a feint. YPG has interior lines on the front right now because Daesh has to go the long way around Lake Assad to get between Manbij and al-Raqaa. Any forces Daesh pulled to al-Raqaa for defense would have to scramble back to Manbij, giving YPG a few days of a big advantage.
Erdogan's Turkey is no longer our ally, treaties notwithstanding. The Kurds are.
Further, there may not be much of a choice to make as Turkey's proxies are getting wiped out in northern Syria, and the only section of the Turkish border they still control is being held with the help of - the Kurds. It seems Turkey is an incompetent rival as well as a non-ally.
You're speaking as if Daesh is made of sophisticated Western sociologists rather than obsessive Koranic textproofers. They don't understand Western politics and sociology well - if they did, they wouldn't be in Daesh. Most likely their thought is that the bombing will provoke a stupid and immoral reaction from the West which it can't sustain, creating more support for the extremists. It worked for 9/11, actually. Hopefully the current leadership won't be as idiotic as Bush was.
The West wants Assad gone. Russia and Iran want a regime sympathetic to them. These are not irreconcilable. It's those who want an extremist Islamic regime - mostly the Gulf Arabs; maybe Turkey - who are not really reconcilable with the others.
>Turkey is seeking an urgent UNSC meeting over the bombing.
Good luck getting the Security Council to do something over the objections of *both* the US and Russia.
The Shite militia may have other goals. The extreme violence and kleptocracy of ISIS is going to turn the population against Islam if they stay in power too long. The Wars of the Reformation created Deism. I don't think the average militiaman will be thinking about this, but Sistani has always acted like he's well aware of the sociology of religious belief. I was impressed at his desire to keep clericism out of the Iraqi government - political power for religions produces theological weakness.
Spain is certainly at risk from desertification, but it's relatively less at risk from sea level rise. Madrid is the only major EU capital which would survive complete melting of the icecap. London, Rome, Berlin, and even Paris would be hopelessly gone. Even for Spain it would be really bad, but they're still less at risk that most.
Very encouraging to see the trends against fossil fuel use even under crooked Conservative leadership.