I'm not going to say it was stopped dead in it's tracks. Since I'm expecting the US to make yet another move. Perhaps with Israel by it's side? The remake the region agenda has been spoken of for years here at the blog. It’s interesting to me that the Turks and Russians both speak openly about the US plan to remake the region. Assad has also. The 5 eyes msm and alt don't mention it. Save for a handful of individuals. Why might that be?Waybacks- November 2014: Kurd/ ISIS Symbiosis - The Impending Destruction of Turkey.& Pt.2- Kurd/ ISIS Symbiosis- The impending destruction of Turkey Flashbacks: Really Think the US & Turkey Aren’t Fighting One Another in Syria? Think, Again!
The US was beaten in Afrin: Not the PKK
“Turkey spoiled a huge plan with the Afrin operation. It destroyed and negated a multinational scenario, a major map design and the plans to divide four countries at once. This is the first important geopolitical move of the 21st century in terms of Turkey”“What’s most important is that the plans of those who have turned toward Turkey, who are getting ready to open the “Turkey Front,” who are making plans to move the war into Turkey, who are doing this through terrorist organizations, but who are also making total attack plans behind all this, are destroyed.Turkey did not fight against terror in Afrin. It did not fight against a terrorist organization. It wasn’t the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or its Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) that we were facing. We need to comprehend this truth now. We need to know that there is no longer a term as “fighting terror.” We need to know that all this is a war now, that it is a major showdown which includes many states. It wasn’t a terrorist organization fighting against us in Afrin, but the U.S. military forces. It was the U.K. mind. It was the Israeli aggression. It was the stupidity of some Arab countries”
I’m not glossing over the conduit role Turkey played in the very early days of the Syrian destabilization- I will say that was a different time. And a different Turkish reality. Reyhanli. The coup attempt. And the refusal of the US to allow Turkey to play a role in removing ISIS altered allegiances.
"I went to Afrin on the second day: I saw a US-NATO buildup
I saw the tunnels, blockhouses, concrete barriers on the roadsides, at the road entrances. I saw the ammunition depots. I saw millions of bullets, shells and missiles. Weapons, ammunition planned entirely according to NATO standards, made with U.S. engineering are not a terror issue, I saw all this. I already knew, but I saw it with my eyes for once.
Buildup was made to attack Turkey
There was an alliance power against us, a U.S. power and a Western multinational front. These preparations were not to keep the PKK standing nor to defend Afrin. Preparations were made entirely for the attacks that would be launched against Turkey in the future.Someone was sieging Turkey from the south, encircling us from our entire southern border from the Mediterranean to the Iranian border. Once this siege was complete, they were going to plan a new zone on Turkey’s side of the border from the Iranian border to Mersin. That is when the Turkey front was going to be opened. The war was going to be moved into Anatolia"
Turkey’s betrayal has been discussed here since 2014. (See relinks at the top) The planning for this operation began long before that. It began in 03 when Iraq was attacked. The NATO alliance is one of convenience, save for the core 5 eyes members.flashback: A Middle East Game Much Bigger Then Turkey
“The stakes in the Syria, especially its eventual post-war settlement, are immensely higher than the fate of ISIS, the creation (or not) of an autonomous Syrian Kurdish region in a post-war Syria, or the links between the PKK and the YPG. They revolve around two fundamental issues: the balance of power between Russia and the United States in the entire Middle East region; and the potential for war between Iran and Israel”
The fallout between Turkey and the US should be very, very obvious to everyone right about now- NATO’s alliance is faltering.David Ignatius: The Turks have taken Afrin. Let’s not let Manbij fall next.
The United States and its SDF allies have a strong position in northeast Syria, which is useful for three reasons: to check Russia in the great-power competition in Syria; to prevent Iranian hegemony across the “land bridge” from Iran to Beirut; and to maintain leverage for the bargaining in Geneva that will eventually set the framework for a new Syrian state.
That a bigger ‘game’ is afoot has long been apparent. Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria are to be destroyed. It’s long past time to talk about this bigger picture. Which includes impeding Russia's warm water access/denying Black Sea use/Crimea with an eye to eventually, balkanizing Russia. One cannot see the forest by gazing upon just one tree.