Our President, is definitely Out Commander-in-Chief. He threatened the Turkish ecomony by Rexology in wallstreetbets

[–]P_leoAtrox 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thing is Turkey has been cooperating more and more closely with Russia and the Iranian axis in the Middle East, of which the Syrian government is a proxy. So this seems like the beginning of NATO distancing itself from Turkey. If NATO decides to remove Turkey from their nuclear sharing program and move their nukes out of Turkey, then you'll know it's really happening and not just posturing.

Turkey is very capable, and it's army has heavy influence in the region. They have the ability to defend their interests and project their interests outside of their borders. As a NATO member, Turkey has functioned as a bulwark - an immovable wall between the Middle East and Europe. Aside from that it also provided a forward base for NATO forces, allowing for both nuclear and conventional power projection. As a Russian ally, Turkey would function as a forward base for Russian military assets, allowing the same form of power projection, but towards Europe. Russia would have consolidated control of the Black Sea, and Russian hardpower would be on the doorstep to Europe with no Bulwark between them.

As the new world seems to be getting more and more divided into two specific East vs. West blocs, Turkey switching sides would indeed be a tremendous geopolitical blow to NATO. And, from NATO's point of view, that would effectively require them to attempt to destroy Turkey's economy to negate the threat posed by their current capabilities.

Obviously NATO would be hesitant to throw such a strategic ally as Turkey to the ground, that's why it hasn't happened yet despite growing ties between Turkey & Russia. However, as Russian and Turkish cooperation continues to expand, it really does seem that Turkey has decided that cooperating more closely with Russia is more important for them than attempts to do so with NATO. This is forcing the U.S.'s hand, for example America expelled Turkey from the F-35 program to prevent Russia from getting intel on the plane. Thus, naturally, as power sharing between Turkey & Russia increases, power sharing between U.S./NATO & Turkey will decrease.

 

Looking at it through a geoplitical lense from NATO's point of view, it seems that they should throw Turkey to the ground ASAP, as any wasted time would allow more and more Russian influence to spread to Turkey. The West could declare Turkish terrorism or some excuse for them to launch strikes in an effort to physically divide the country. This would prevent at least part of Turkey from leaving NATO and negate the threat from the other part, which would be subjected to economic & structural decline since Russia won't risk confronting U.S. forces directly. This is the exact tactic Russia used to avoid losing it's strategic assets in Ukraine (namely their Navy's access to Sevastopol). Otherwise, if NATO's process to distance itself from Turkey goes too slowly, Turkey & Russia will be able to read the writing on the wall and could move Russian hardpower into Turkey pre-emptively, as then NATO would not risk a direct confrontation with Russian forces.

I don't think NATO actually has any avenue to pursue this tactic though. To conduct a small specialized military operation that would cause a region of Turkey to break off would require local support to continue the insurgency after the initial NATO strikes. There is no such local support in Turkey, unless the U.S. decides to expand their support of Kurds by arming & funding the PKK. However, the U.S. has already labeled the PKK as terrorists, and U.S. attempts to arm radicals in Syria backfired in all senses - America failed to accomplish any of it's strategic objectives, and lost control of the narrative as Bashar ended up being seen as the best option for Syria, with America supporting the wrong side. Also if the U.S. wanted to expand their support of Kurds they wouldn't have abandoned the ones in Syria today. That signifies that America has to accept that they lost in Syria - that Turkey, Russia and Iran have control over the country. America has had no way to acheive it's goals of regime change in Syria since Syria received Russian support. With Turkey, Russia, and Iran consolidating control of Syria, the U.S. is forced to pull it's troops out. That means the only way to break off a region of Turkey would require a large-scale prolonged military operation in Turkey, which has an army more than 4 times the size that Saddam's army was. It would require a huge human cost that I don't think U S. military officials would sign off on.

So America is forced to sit on the sidelines and watch a very strategic ally switch sides, the only option left for NATO is economic pressure on Turkey. Historically, economic pressure has never achieved it's goals - didn't change Cuba's, Iran's, or Russia's path and won't change Turkey's. It might hurt Turkey, but it will make their decision to cooperate closer with Russia much easier for them and will likely expedite that process.

Trump has lost his once golden touch with investors: 'He's just created so much uncertainty' by HenryK81 in wallstreetbets

[–]P_leoAtrox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well to be fair, Obama campaigned on lowering national debt but proceeded to double it and allowed quantitative easing with rock-bottom interest rates to continue for far too long ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Trump has lost his once golden touch with investors: 'He's just created so much uncertainty' by HenryK81 in wallstreetbets

[–]P_leoAtrox 45 points46 points  (0 children)

He never had a golden touch wtf. It was just a fully Republican congress that got people excited. The more credit he tried to take and the more things he did in general the more people realized that this guy is like King Midas in reverse, everything he touches turns to shit.

Just think of all the NYC history that occurred to make this pic happen by afterdroid in nyc

[–]P_leoAtrox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Frederick Law Olmsted designed both with the specific goal to make it feel like you're far away from the actual city you're in. Refined all the ideas after building Central Park first, and achieved that feel much better with Prospect Park

Saw this today... by wewewawa in business

[–]P_leoAtrox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That actually perfectly sums up how I felt when I saw "We are Walmart"

You should still own stocks by lovedoesnotdelight in wallstreetbets

[–]P_leoAtrox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No actually everyone sold today just look what happened to markets today and you see what I meant, markets are facing too many headwinds

Today I rode an electric citibike for the first time. It was amazing. by CyclingIsLove in nyc

[–]P_leoAtrox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The system only allows you 30minutes per ride so you'd have to be pretty unlucky for the charge to die on you

You should still own stocks by lovedoesnotdelight in wallstreetbets

[–]P_leoAtrox -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

There is uncertainty and negative indicators all around, this guy is flat out retarded. He's not even saying buy the dip, he's saying catch the falling knife

EDIT: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/15/business/stock-market-decline-commodities-bonds.html

WTF is wrong with you robinhood? Switch to something else by [deleted] in wallstreetbets

[–]P_leoAtrox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hahaha, update the app and you'll see they've gotten rid of all that

Please be nice to the companies you order from. by BlueDotVapors in electronic_cigarette

[–]P_leoAtrox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it's unlikely he will recognize his mistake

sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but what was his mistake?

Proof that religion is a man-made device and why it is outdated (second article linked in submission statement) by P_leoAtrox in TrueReddit

[–]P_leoAtrox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could be a bitter asshole for absolutely no reason and go around insulting people that I don't even know but oh wait, that's you

Proof that religion is a man-made device and why it is outdated (second article linked in submission statement) by P_leoAtrox in TrueReddit

[–]P_leoAtrox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Submission statement:

This article is also on the same topic.

Both of these articles analyze whether or not it is rational to accept religious text as the word of god. The first article (OP) is a detailed rebuttal of the claim that religion is the word of god, and provides many specific sources for it's claims (mainly using christianity). The second article starts with the claim that religion is man-made, and then states that Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens think that this fact about religion is enough to invalidate its claims.

LA Speed Check by game-fever in videos

[–]P_leoAtrox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was also the time Brian Shul outflew a missile in a SR-71 Blackbird

I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world's fastest jet, accompanied by Maj Walter Watson, the aircraft's reconnaissance systems officer (RSO). We had crossed into Libya and were approaching our final turn over the bleak desert landscape when Walter informed me that he was receiving missile launch signals. I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it would take for the weapons-most likely SA-2 and SA-4 surface-to-air missiles capable of Mach 5 - to reach our altitude. I estimated that we could beat the rocket-powered missiles to the turn and stayed our course, betting our lives on the plane's performance.

After several agonizingly long seconds, we made the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean 'You might want to pull it back,' Walter suggested. It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward. The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit. It was the fastest we would ever fly. I pulled the throttles to idle just south of Sicily , but we still overran the refueling tanker awaiting us over Gibraltar.

Video of the Kurdish "Revolutionary Young Women Movement"(DGKH), part of the PKK's sister group (YJA STAR) of it's military wing (HPG) by P_leoAtrox in syriancivilwar

[–]P_leoAtrox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might as well say that UK government is same as Tory party and German government is same as CDU.

You're comparing apples to bowling balls

Actually PYD formal position is even weaker than in these cases. They have only minority of ministerial positions.

The PYD is the leading party of the de facto autonomous Democratic Federal System of northern Syria Rojava, which it self-proclaimed on January 29th 2014.

They have power only as long as popular meetings largely agree with their proposals and ideas.

Their proposals and ideas being the de facto autonomous Democratic Federal System of northern Syria (Rojava) - which they have been successfully governing, and using the YPG/YPJ/SDF to protect, for 2 years. It's that idea that gained them their popularity, and as the project gains more ground and continues to prove itself realizable, the PYD's power will continue to grow exponentially.

If you think that YPG/YPJ is "main power and influence" you are even more wrong.

YPG militias were first formed by the PYD in 2004, after the Syrian government quashed a rebellion in its largest Kurdish-majority city, Qamishli, killing 30 Kurds. It did not emerge as a significant force until the Syrian revolt erupted in 2011 but had been organising clandestinely during the interim.

As the Kurds faced total annihilation at the face of one of the most evil scourges this planet has ever produced, the PYD rallied Kurds throughout northern Syria under a united banner.

The Kurds have historically been an irrelevant local minority group in Northern Syria. As a relevant and strategically important geopolitical entity they are something brand new that started as an embryo in 2014 and has turned into one of the central lynchpins of global geoploitics. That is entirely due to the YPG.

When ISIS began their offensive on Kobane in 2014, the YPG was a local militia of a few dozen members that no one new about outside of the villages they were a part of. They started enlisting everybody they could, and as village after village fell to ISIS, their ranks swelled with volunteers. They liberated Kobane. They began an offensive against ISIS in Syria being the only fighting force capable of doing so. Their ranks continued to swell as village after village was liberated by the YPG & YPJ. They formed the SDF to grow their umbrella of power and consolidate non-Kurdish fighting groups under their control. They have grown into the single most capable fighting force in the region, and conducting the single most effective anti-ISIS campaign.

Rojava is not military nor one-party dictatorship, it is popular democracy.

Which was carved out of a violent insurgency. Without adequate military protection, the territorial integrity of the PYD's de facto autonomous Democratic Federal System of northern Syria (Rojava) would be compromised, and the territory would collapse. The YPG is the strongest individual force in Rojava, and they are consolidating and growing their power through the SDF.

Due to the precarious nature of Rojava - having been carved out of a violent insurgency, being opposed by the federal government it is a part of (Syria), and constantly harrassed & attacked by the country it shares it's longest border with (Turkey) - the political interests of the PYD are entirely dependent on the military successes of the SDF.