Thread by @Charles_Lister

It’s extraordinary just how much BS gets created in people’s minds.

I never once expressed “support” for #Turkey’s #Afrin operation.

- Did I say it was inevitable? Yes.
- Did I observe it & comment on its advance vis-a-vis broader #Syria dynamics (i.e. my job)? Yes.

https://twitter.com/MinhajAkreyi/status/1005149855092600833

My critique has always been about the imbalance/s created in northern #Syria by U.S. counter-#ISIS policy.

The #YPG was/is the #PKK - all U.S. officials admit that in private. That didn’t necessarily have to preclude working with them, but ignoring it caused big, big problems.

#pt: As an analyst of terrorist groups, I did see a certain irony & short-sightedness in the words of one top, serving U.S. official, “allying with a terrorist group (#PKK) to fight another terrorist group (#ISIS).”

It’s got nothing to do with any position on #Kurds, whatsoever.

#pts: For more on where I’m coming from on all of this (#YPG, #PKK, #Turkey, U.S. counter-#ISIS strategy etc.), see this thread:

https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1005094793763082240

Unless you're violently anti-#Turkey & glorify the #PKK’s sociopolitical vision as an ideal for all to aim towards, one somehow acquires the “anti-#Kurd” label.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Critiquing a relationship with #YPG is *not* in any way being anti-#Kurdish.

For the record - from the #PYD’s own website (deleted in '13):

- “The #PYD declares… the KONGRA GEL" as the supreme legislative authority of the people of #Kurdistan. [The #PYD] incorporates into the… #KCK…”

(#KCK = the #PKK’s political umbrella]

web.archive.org/web/2013011912…

There you have it - the #YPG/#PYD/#SDF’s political front, the Syrian Democratic Council, has said it’s ready for “unconditional” talks with the #Assad regime.

dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-Ea…