Gonna have to rename some aircraft carriers
Saudi Arabia and UAE sending troops to help Kurds in Syria
Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia reach understanding with Russians on handling Hezbollah and Iranian activity, while Saudis plan Afghan peace talks.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/12/saudi-arabia-and-uae-sending-troops-to-help-kurds-in-syria/
^^
From the post:
To begin with, it appears that the Kurds will be getting support from America’s regional allies.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sent military forces to areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG group in north-east Syria, Turkey’s Yenisafak newspaper reported.
The paper said the forces will be stationed with US-led coalition troops and will support its tasks with huge military enforcements as well as heavy and light weapons.
Quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the newspaper reported that a convoy of troops belonging to an Arab Gulf state recently arrived in the contact area between the Kurdish PKK/YPG and Daesh in the Deir Ez-Zor countryside.
This comes at a time when Ankara is preparing to launch an expanded military operation with the Free Syrian Army against the Kurdish PKK group in the northeast of Syria.
^^
And moar:
Furthermore, a Jordanian official reports that Russian forces currently in Syria will take action to restrain Hezbollah and Iranian activity there, according to understandings reached by the U.S., Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The understandings are the product of behind-the-scenes diplomatic talks that were underway prior to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this week to withdraw American forces from Syria.
According to the terms of the understanding, Russia will continue to give Israel the freedom to strike Hezbollah and Iranian targets and weaponry that threaten the “balance of power” in Syria. According to the Jordanian official, it was these understandings between Trump and Putin that paved the way for the U.S. decision to pull its forces from Syria.
Other high-ranking Jordanian officials have confirmed that Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia are working together to contain the threat posed by Iran and Hezbollah’s presence in Syria. Several of them emphasized that U.S. officials had made it clear that U.S. intelligence agencies would increase cooperation with Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, particularly on sharing intelligence, in a joint attempt to counter Iran’s attempt to create a contiguous Shi’ite corridor from Tehran to Beirut.
^^
And this:
Finally, Saudi Arabia is hosting Afghan peace talks, which are slated to take place next month.
US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Wednesday arrived in Kabul from three days of meetings in Abu Dhabi, including the fourth round of a quadrilateral meeting among the US, Afghanistan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The meetings were part of efforts by the US and international partners to promote an intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at ending the conflict in the landlocked country.
Meanwhile, reliable sources said decisions in the UAE centered on an amicable Afghan settlement and the next meeting would take place on January 15, 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps we will see if this regional-power approach is a better match for long-term success in 2019.
Memer skillz much appreciated.
moar sauce FWIW:
Order to Withdraw US Forces from Syria Signed
A US defense official confirmed to CNN that “the execute order for Syria has been signed,” while a second defense official told CNN that outgoing Defense Secretary James Mattis signed it.
https://fox40.com/2018/12/23/order-to-withdraw-us-forces-from-syria-signed/
Brazilians’ optimism over economy shoots up: poll
Brazilians’ optimism that their economy, Latin America’s biggest, will soon improve has shot up dramatically, according to a poll released Sunday just over a week before a new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, takes office.
The Datafolha survey showed 65 percent of respondents believed the economy — which is still limping after a record-busting recession that ended two years ago — would be doing better within months
That was a huge jump over the Brazilian polling firm’s last survey in August, when only 23 percent thought an improvement was coming.
https://www.breitbart.com/news/brazilians-optimism-over-economy-shoots-up-poll/
Very nice!
Wells Fargo May Have Outsourced Hundreds of Americans’ Jobs This Year
Wells Fargo, the world’s third-largest United States bank, may have outsourced hundreds of Americans’ jobs to foreign countries after laying off U.S. workers this year.
Analysis conducted by the Charlotte Observer‘s Deon Roberts reveals how the multinational bank laid off hundreds of American workers while sending their jobs overseas.
Last year, Breitbart News reported that about 650 American workers with Wells Fargo were laid off from their jobs in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington. At the same time, Americans were being laid off, the multinational bank announced it would hire an additional 7,000 workers in the Philippines to add to its 4,000-strong workforce in the country.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/23/wells-fargo-outsourced-hundreds-americans-jobs-year/