A Complete And Total Defeat

Turkey, a nation with a good, but 1970s vintage (maybe 80s vintage) military was able to enter northern Syria as we left, abandoning the Kurds to their fate.  Hence they took what amounts to either a Turkish/Kurdish/Syrian DMZ or what amounts to an expansion of their border south into Syrian Kurdistan thereby retaking a slice of land they last held in 1918.

And now they, the Syrian government, and Russia have entered into an agreement whereby the Russians will patrol the border with Turkey and will "clear" a border region 18 miles deep, with some exceptions, into Syrian Kurdistan.

The implications of this are vast.  It seems to signal the ongoing evolution of Turkey, under its current prime minister, into a rogue state that's increasingly aligned with enemies of the West.  It elevates Russia above its natural status into an increasingly important regional power broker.  And it's the open doorway for Damascus to regain the entire northern Syrian region, given that Syria and Russia are strange bedfellow allies.

As I've repeatedly noted here, I never thought the United States entering the Syrian civil war was a good idea in the first place, and that fact make me seem hypocritical here.  Had I had my way, the natural results of it would have been that Damascus would have won the civil war and be occupying the country all the way to its frontiers right now.  So doesn't this just do what my "If I were President" position would have done?

Not really.

For one thing, this day would have arrived much earlier and with much less bloodshed.  It wouldn't have elevated Syrian Kurdistan into a putative state, as has occurred, with which we allied, and then abandoned.  That latter fact would likely have meant that the incentive for increased YPK violence against Turkey would not have increased, as the Turkish action seems likely to do.  And while Russia would have been involved, as Syria's only ally, the victory wouldn't have elevated Russia's position in the region while decreasing our own, which has now very much occurred.

So the disaster enters a new stage, and not one pleasant to contemplate.  Moscow isn't going to put Russian troops into harms way for charitable purposes and there will be a price to pay for everyone, including Turkey.

All because we were short sighted when we entered, and even more short sighted when we left.