Things I didn't know: English reading; troops in Syria; Canadian oligarchy; and we have our very own wankpuffin!

In the category of "things I didn't know":

First, isn't this interesting:

Next, I found out today that the United States still has hundreds, maybe thousands, of soldiers at bases sprinkled around the Middle East including military now active in Syria:

Significant strikes by the U.S. in Syria: https://t.co/b2SoSHOstp

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) December 8, 2024

More info from Ken Klippenstein

Assad Flees, U.S. Stays

Secret U.S. forces remain in Syria. Here’s who and where

...yesterday, the U.S. carried out a spree of strikes on supposed ISIS positions, including dozens of airstrikes on over 75 targets. The closest thing we got to an explanation for the volley came from Gen. Erik Kurilla, U.S. military commander for the Middle East, who made clear that whatever changes were taking place in Damascus, the U.S. military’s role would be more of the same. “There should be no doubt … we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,” Kurilla said in a press release.

What there seems to be plenty of doubt about is what U.S. personnel are even in Syria and where. The U.S. government hates talking about its military footprint throughout the Middle East. When three U.S. troops were killed in Jordan earlier this year, many Americans were surprised that there was even a base near the Syrian border. The U.S. government had never before officially acknowledged the base, nor the mission. Secrecy over American military deployments is out of control and prevents the American public from meaningfully participating in discussion of our foreign policy.

...The Pentagon acknowledges about 900 troops based in Syria, but the actual number is nearly double that, according to well-placed military sources and documents we’ve reviewed..

The clandestine forces operate from at least ten bases and outposts, according to documents we’ve reviewed. CENTCOM, the command responsible for the Middle East, publicly acknowledges six bases:

-At Tanf Garrison (FOB ATG),

-Mission Support Site Conoco,

-Mission Support Site Euphrates,

-Mission Support Site Green Village,

-Patrol Base al-Shaddadi, and

-Rumalyn Landing Zone (FOB RLZ).

Four additional bases — Abu Hajar, Malikiyah, Robariye, and Tall Baydar — have been mentioned in documents as currently hosting U.S. personnel. There are additional bases just outside Syria (such as Tower 22 in Jordan, where the attack killing three U.S. troops occurred) that directly support U.S. military forces located in Syria.

Operations in Syria against ISIS generally fall under Operation Inherent Resolve, the 25-nation coalition that has ground forces in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait. Fighter and bomber aircraft supporting the Syria mission are based in the same four countries, plus Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.

There are additional U.S.-only organizations and operations that focus on specific and restricted operations, as well as counter-Russia, counter-Iran and counter-terrorism tasks outside the ISIS mandate:

Combined Joint Interagency Task Force Syria in Qatar, focused on vetting operations for yet another group of opposition Syrian soldiers on the U.S. payroll;

Special Operations Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (SOJTF-OIR) in Kuwait, that oversees the special operations;

Joint Special Operations Task Force Levant, headquartered in Kuwait, that has shadowy missions separate from Operation Inherent Resolve;

The SOCOM-led Gallant Phoenix operation, focused on tracking and assessing foreign fighters in Syria, with headquartered in Jordan;

Operation Spartan Shield, an operation headquartered in Kuwait that is focused on Iran and Iran-backed militias and hosts the largest U.S. ground contingent; and Other clandestine and intelligence operations have been mentioned relating to Syria, including Nomad Shadow in Turkey, Project 3HN, Talon Anvil, and Iron Echo, according to documents we’ve reviewed.

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and National Guard troops have been stationed in Syria during 2024.

Cobalt Spear, a counter-WMD operation focused on Syria’s chemical (and possibly biological) weapons.

And Canada is a partner in anti-ISIS operations too, contributing several hundred troops.

Next, I had no idea Canada is apparently a world leader in oligarchy:

The Canadian national identity involves a lot of sneering at the US, but when it comes to oligarchy, Canada makes America look positively amateurish.

1/ pic.twitter.com/icnMvGiJb7

— Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK (@doctorow) December 5, 2024

Here's the blog text:

Cory Doctorow / Pluralistic 

Denise Hearn and Vass Bednar's "The Big Fix"

...Canada's monopolists may be big fish in a small pond, but holy moly are they big, compared to the size of that pond. In their new book, The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians, Denise Hearn and Vass Bednar lay bare the price-gouging, policy-corrupting ripoff machines that run the Great White North.

From telecoms to groceries to pharmacies to the resource sector, Canada is a playground for a handful of supremely powerful men from dynastic families, who have bought their way to dominance, consuming small businesses by the hundreds and periodically merging with one another.

Hearn and Bednar tell this story and explain all the ways that Canadian firms use their market power to reduce quality, raise prices, abuse workers and starve suppliers, even as they capture the government and the regulators who are supposed to be overseeing them.

...Canada's Competition Bureau is underfunded and underpowered. In its entire history, the agency has never prevented a merger – not even once. This set the stage for Canada's dominant businesses to become many-tentacled conglomerates, like Canadian Tire, which owns Mark's Work Warehouse, Helly Hansen, SportChek, Nevada Bob's Golf, The Fitness Source, Party City, and, of course, a bank.

A surprising number of Canadian conglomerates end up turning into banks: Loblaw has a bank. So does Rogers. Why do these corrupt, price-gouging companies all go into "financial services?" As Hearn and Bednar explain, owning a bank is the key to financialization, with the company's finances disappearing into a black box that absorbs taxation attempts and liabilities like a black hole eating a solar system.

Of course, the neat packaging up of vast swathes of Canada's economy into these financialized and inscrutable mega-firms makes them awfully convenient acquisition targets for US and offshore private equity firms. When the Competition Bureau (inevitably) fails to block those acquisitions, whole chunks of the Canadian economy disappear into foreign hands.

...Hearn and Bednar note that Canadians and their elected reps are getting sick of this shit, and a bill to substantially beefed up Canadian competition law passed Parliament unanimously last year.

This is part of a wave of antitrust fever that's sweeping the world's governments ...

Finally, I just have to share this new word:

This is Pierre Poilievre pic.twitter.com/fIlrqslwZj

— Nancy Crouse (@Nancy_Crouse) November 29, 2024