Grandmaster Putin Beats Uncle Sam at His Own Game

"Hours into Thursday's operation, the Kurdish Regional Security Council said its forces controlled a section of Highway 47, which passes by Sinjar and indirectly links the militants' two biggest strongholds -- Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq -- as a route for goods, weapons and fighters.

"'By controlling Highway 47, which is used by Daesh to transport weapons, fighters, illicit oil and other commodities that fund their operations, the coalition intends to increase pressure ... and isolate their components from each other,' a coalition statement said." ("U.S.-Backed Kurds Launch Offensive To Retake ISIS-Held Iraqi Town Sinja r," Huffington Post)

So they launched a major ground offensive and cut off ISIS vital supply lines?

What a novel idea? Too bad no one in Washington thought about that before wasting the last 18 months blowing up camels in the desert or whatever the hell they were doing. And why has the Pentagon been playing circlejerk for the last year and a half while these freaks raped women, lopped off heads and wreaked havoc across the countryside when they could have pulled the plug on them long ago?

"Why"? Let me explain "why"?

It's because ISIS is Washington's favorite windup toy. They just let these hooligans "do their thing" as long as they advance US geopolitical goals and, when they've served their purpose, they stomp them out like a stag beetle. That's the basic program. That's how it works. Only now that Putin has been mowing down these gobshite takfiris like a combine-harvester slashing through the corn patch, the Obama crew has had to move on to Plan B: Liquidate ISIS and hold-on to those areas that were under ISIS control. That will give Uncle Sam the territory he's going to need to set up his "safe zones" that'll be protected by US air cover and serve as sanctuaries for more troublemaking sociopaths who can be deployed back into Syria to perpetuate the conflict deep into the future. That's the US strategy in a nutshell.

Washington knows now that the war is lost, so it's looking for a way to keep a foothold in Syria for future mischief. The same is true on the Turkish-Syrian border where Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan is conspiring with Obama to set up a buffer zone on Syrian territory. Check this out in Today's Zaman:

"In the run-up to the Nov. 1 election, signals were given that if the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won, Turkey might well start up a land military operation in Syria.

"Looking at statements from top Ankara officials in the days prior to the upcoming G-20 summit in Antalya, it does appear that we'll have action in Syria sometime soon. No matter how often government officials signal Ankara's desire to cooperate in air operations over Syria, the real fact of the matter is, Ankara would like to see Turkish troops enter Syria by land in warfare situation.

"Signals are now coming in fast and furious that Turkey will enter into this war. What's more, the signals are not limited to AKP statements; the assumption is spreading in the West, too, that this will be Ankara's course." ("Is war on the horizon?" Today's Zaman)

Erdogan is a megalomaniac and a menace, which is why Putin had better keep an eye on him. And the same goes for Obama too. Obama may be down, but he's not out just yet. He still has a few more tricks up his sleeve and he's sure to use them before this thing is over. Even so, the advantage definitely goes to Putin at this point. He took on the entire Washington braintrust and beat them at their own game.

Like him or not, you got to tip your hat to a guy like that.