see, this is what happens when a communist experiment needs to rely on the imperialist hegemon for protection.

at least their autonomous self-discipline should make them good slaves as oil exporters in the petro-empire. and, i'm sure there will be some oil produced for local use....for a few months.

i'm sorry that i'm just not naive; it's not that i didn't want to believe in the possibility of an autonomous socialist kurdish state, it's just that it doesn't make sense at such a subregional level, and the ramifications of cooperation with the americans were simply impossible to evade. when you accept help from america, you become it's client.

is this legal? no. but, the united states seems to have carved an enclave out of the country by sheer force, and it's probably not wise to try to dislodge them. assad may have won the war, but he seems to have lost the northeast, perhaps for good.

all of this is better than open warfare, and it does remain true that building strong interconnected economic foundations remains the key to building peace in the region (which is what america has constantly tried to prevent, until recently).

as i'm a climate activist, i don't assign the middle east the same tactical value as other regions in the world. the united states is even producing it's own oil, right now. it doesn't seem worth it. so, my prime concern is the conflict halting (so long as the crazies are suppressed), and really my biggest opposition to the outcome is the exact commodity being traded. leave the oil in the ground....

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/03/delta-crescent-energy-syrian-oil-391033