Turkey Begins Invasion of Syria While China Lies About 'Indisputable Sovereignty'

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Turkey begins its air and ground invasion of Syria’s Afrin
China lies about ‘indisputable sovereignty’ in new confrontation in South China Sea
Summary of major Generational Dynamics predictions

Turkey begins its air and ground invasion of Syria’s Afrin

Map showing Syrian cities of Afrin and Manbij, both Kurdish YPG strongholds, and targets of Turkey’s planned invasions (al-Jazeera)

While we are stuck with suffering through the unbelievably pathetic clown circus going on in Washington, there are actual things going on in other parts of the world.

Turkey’s military operation against Syria’s Afrin region that we described yesterday has begun. Turkish warplanes have conducted hundreds of airstrikes at Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) targets in Afrin. Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) militias are reportedly moving into Afrin to conduct the ground war. The FSA consists of Arabs and Turkmens opposed to the regime of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad.

Russia says that it has moved its 300 or so troops out of Afrin to safety. Russia, which controls the airspace over Afrin, is not stopping Turkey’s airstrikes, indicating that Russia is giving tacit approval to Turkey’s operation.

Turkey’s own troops have not crossed the border into Syria, although there have been reports of trucks carrying Turkish tanks crossing the border to Afrin. Turkey would have no reason to commit its own troops unless the FSA troops started getting bogged down.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that, after Afrin, the next target will be Manbij. Although Manbij is west of the Euphrates River Valley, there are American units in the region, so a clash with Americans would be a possibility, although it is likely that both sides would do everything to avoid it.

In a speech on Saturday, Erdogan said:

The promises made to us over Manbij were not kept. So nobody can object if we do what is necessary.

Later we will, step by step, clear our country up to the Iraqi border from this terror filth that is trying to besiege our country.

This refers to several American promises that were not kept. The Americans promised that the YPG would be armed and trained only until the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) was defeated in Raqqa, but is continuing to arm and train YPG fighters for its Border Security Force (BSF). The Americans promised that they would withdraw as soon as ISIS was defeated, but now are saying that they will stay indefinitely, rather than risk repeating the blunder made with the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq.

Turkey’s ground invasion is highly risky. Both the FSA militias and the YPG militias are battle hardened, and the victory in Afrin may not be as quick as Erdogan is fantasizing. Hurriyet (Ankara) and Al Jazeera and Hurriyet

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China lies about ‘indisputable sovereignty’ in new confrontation in South China Sea

Map showing that the Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal is far from China, but within the Philippines EEZ (Inquirer)

According to Lu Kang, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry:

On the night of January 17, the USS Hopper missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles off China’s Huangyan Dao [i.e., the Philippines’ Scarborough Shoal] without gaining permission from the Chinese government.

…

China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Dao [Scarborough Shoal] and the adjacent waters.

Lu Kang is a serial liar. Whether the subject is Doklam Plateau, the South China Sea, Taiwan, or North Korea, Lu Kang says any nonsense he wants, with no regard for the facts.

China has no sovereignty whatsoever over the Scarborough Shoal. It is within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, as shown by the above map. In 2016, Lu Kang and China were completely humiliated when United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that all of China’s claims in the South China Sea were hoaxes and lies.

Even the word “indisputable” is a lie on its face. Obviously, China’s claims are disputable, have been disputed, and have been shown to be false. Lu Kang is a serial liar.

American naval spokesman Commander Nicole Schwegman responded:

The United States conducts routine and regular FONOPs [Freedom of Navigation Operations], as we have done in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

We have a comprehensive FONOP program under which U.S. forces challenge excessive maritime claims across the globe to demonstrate our commitment to uphold the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law. FONOPs are not about any one country, nor are they about making political statements. FONOPS are designed to comply with international law and not threaten the lawful security interest of coastal States.

That the US simply ignores China’s false claims in the South China Sea is undoubtedly very humiliating to the Chinese, who become infuriated whenever anyone challenges their false claims.

This is the second time this week that the Chinese were humiliated by an American action. The US and Canada co-sponsored an international meeting to discuss the North Korea crisis, and China was totally infuriated that it was not invited to attend. Foreign Ministry of China and Inquirer (Manila) and ABC News

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Summary of major Generational Dynamics predictions

The following is a summary of the major Generational Dynamics predictions that I have posted in the past. None of this is new, except that all of these predictions are listed together in one place. These predictions have been essentially unchanged for over ten years.

First, by way of introduction, although I sometimes call myself the gloomiest person in the world, it is worth noting that there are other forecasts that are gloomier than mine. These include the following:

The view that any nuclear war will kill all humanity, with the possible exception of some scattered small communities that move to sealed underground caves to escape the radiation.
The Biblical end times: Parallels are drawn between today’s events and the visions in Revelations, leading to the prediction that Jesus Christ will return soon.
Albert Einstein: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
A new Dark Age, similar to the Dark Ages of Medieval times, characterized by centuries of ignorance and barbarism will begin.

So my oft-stated Generational Dynamics predictions are these:

There will be a major global financial panic and crisis. As in 1929, there will be a quick recovery from the panic, but the crash will continue over a long period, with stock prices falling 90 percent. However, the trigger and timing of the panic cannot be predicted.
The Mideast is headed for a major regional war, pitting Sunnis versus Shias, Jews versus Arabs, and various ethnic groups against each other.
The world is headed for WW III, a Clash of Civilizations world war, in which the “axis” of China, Pakistan, and the Sunni Muslim countries will be pitted against the “allies,” the US, India, Russia, Iran and the West.
Like WW I and WW II, WW III will last around five years, though there may be regional offshoots that last longer. (Examples: China’s Communist Revolution, India-Pakistan Partition war, and Jew-Arab Mideast war after WW II.)
There will be no Biblical end times outcome. A special mention must be made of Isaiah 17:1-3, which predicts the destruction of Damascus, turning it from a city into “a heap of ruins.” Almost everyone in the Mideast seems to know about this prophecy, so if anyone ever nukes Damascus, it would be with the specific purpose and intent of fulfilling the prophecy, which would make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
By the end of the war, every nuclear weapon in the world will have been used on some target. However, this does not mean that everyone will be killed. The kill range of a nuclear weapon is 10-20 miles, even counting deaths from radiation, so only a tiny fraction of the world’s population will be killed by nuclear weapons.
A total of about 3-4 billion people will be killed by the war, from nuclear weapons, conventional weapons, ground war, marauding gangs, disease, and starvation, leaving around 4 billion people to rebuild the world.
At the end of the war, there will be an international conference in some place like Geneva to come up with a way to guarantee that nothing like this ever happens again. National boundaries will be redrawn as necessary. The United Nations will be restructured.
Technology development will continue as before. Most of the world will be minimally but solidly rebuilt within five years. This will be a typical generational First Turning Recovery Era.
The Singularity will occur around 2030. The future of the human race after that point is uncertain.

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KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria, Afrin, Kurds, People’s Protection Units, YPG, Afrin, Manbij, Border Security Force, BSF, Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, China, Lu Kang, Philippines, Scarborough Shoal, Panatag Shoal, USS Hopper, Nicole Schwegman, South China Sea United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration, North Korea, Generational Dynamics predictions
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