When it comes to Syria we must Oppose All Aspects of US Empire
Opposing US Empire means we oppose direct US unilateral military intervention AND oppose US colonies waging war as our proxy.
I don’t want to see my fellow Anti-Imperialists get duped by this recent move by President Trump.
As I’ve said over and over again, the US Empire is not just the sum of our military might. The US also has many colonies that execute the US Empire’s wishes. There’s no better example of this than our colony of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the quintessential US colony. It provides the US and its markets with oil. It buys massive amounts of weapons from our defense industry. And it endears itself to our political leaders with lavish, wealthy gifts, and uses loopholes, businesses, and NGOs to blatantly enrich US politicians.
I strongly believe that President Trump personally seeks to make Turkey under Erdogan the next great US colony. Erdogan, like Trump, has a cult-like following amongst his supporters. And, like Trump, this base of supporters is fiercely nationalist. Anyone paying attention to Trump’s public comments on nationalism, see for example his recent comments to the United Nations below, will recognize that Trump wants countries to become more nationalist and patriotic.
From the above statement: “The future belongs to patriots.” President Trump in the 9/24/19 speech to the United Nations General Assembly
President Trump is very astute in seizing on an opportunity to expand the US empire and grow it with a new ally that will be uniquely loyal to him. Trump has clearly coordinated with Erdogan to pull troops out of Northern Syria in an attempt to break the Kurdish forces and allow the much larger Turkish army to decimate them. Then Trump would work with Turkey and other close US colonies / allies to further increase US empirical power in the region.
Relevant excerpts from the above White House statement: “…Trump spoke with … Erdogan ... Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria… Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area…”
I also believe that Trump sees his pro-nationalism approach to international relations as a new direction for US empire that he’s eager to prove. It’s easier for him to sit down with another wannabe autocrat and directly negotiate with them instead of using the slow and massive apparatus of the state. Converting Turkey to an “ally” that purchases and uses our weapons and participates in our markets as opposed to Russia, would be a major win for the US empire and would probably convert some establishment anti-Trump hawks to Trump’s worldview.
Turkish Markets Rally on Reports U.S. Made New Offer on Weapons — 9/24/19
But let’s not lose sight of what’s important here for those of us that are anti-imperialist. The fundamental mistake, that I see many hard leftists calling out the Rojava forces for, was relying on US forces at all. My fellow leftists are correct. These forces made a fundamental mistake out of desperation in using and calling for the US intervention.
The only comprehensive anti-imperialist solution here is exactly what my campaign has been calling for. We must use a neutral non-state actor to intervene with peacekeeping forces in Northern Syria. Kurds in the area have repeatedly shown that Turkey is engaging in ethnic cleansing. This alone should be reason enough for a multilateral peacekeeping force to step in.
A very important theme in my campaign is that US unilateral intervention does not work. No country or peoples anywhere should be requesting US military intervention. That’s not to say that there’s never a need for peacekeeping forces to defend a country or race of people from bloodshed, but that intervention must be sought at an international multilateral level such as the UN.
Turkey’s Erdogan is a megalomaniacal nationalist autocrat eager to grow his own regional power with the blessing of the Trump administration. Socialists, Anti-Imperialists, Anti-Colonialists, and Anti-Capitalists like myself should not be blind to how easily Erdogan’s Turkey is becoming a crucial colony of US empire. The Trump administration even went so far as to release a statement (see above White House statement) saying it was looking towards Turkey to continue the war on terror in Northern Syria. Clearly we’re seeing a hand-off of US influence, empire, and interest to Turkey.
The EU and the UN have been far too slow to respond to the situation in Syria. Then when the crisis comes to them in the form of migrants seeking refugees the EU refuses to follow international law and take in their neighbors. Ignoring the crises hasn’t worked and it’s time for the world to stop relying on the US to lead with military intervention. Instead, we need EU member nations to work on a comprehensive resolution in the UN that will bring a permanent and peaceful ending to the crises that others, like the US, seek to extort.
We need to do what we can to stop this immediately. We should seek swift and immediate aid and action from the United Nations Security Council and pressure all council members to do so. And we must urge those seeking freedom, even those who subscribe to socialism, wherever they are to never again look to the United States to act unilaterally to liberate them. The US only seeks to serve its own capitalist and military empire and has no serious interest in human rights.
