Radio War Nerd EP #123 — Interview With A YPG Combat Medic Volunteer (Part 1)

Counterpoint: The USA invasion of Syria is actually a bad thing <a href="https://gowans.wordpress.com/2018/03/11/the-largely-unrecognized-us-occupation-of-syria/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://gowans.wordpress.com/2018/03/11/the-largely-unrecognized-us-occupation-of-syria/</a>

wow i know German and hes a salt

6 nominally "private" corporations hold a monopoly (a real monopoly) on the news media in the US. This monopoly eats out of the hand of the US state department. The pieces are arranged somewhat differently but the end result is the exact same. CNN is to the US what RT & Sputnik are to Russia.

These shitty personal attacks against Patrick depress me to no end—thankfully it's only a few of our subscribers, but really the Nazi monster smear bar is so goddamn low these days, god forbid you should make a stupid facebook joke in your twenties, or spend your days doing anything but telegraphing your virtuous politics, or you're doomed for life in this century. Patrick's war stories are interesting and relevant as hell, and that's why we interviewed him. He's a great narrator about his experiences, as this episode shows and as you'll see again in the next episode. No one who listens to the episode should live in fear that they or others might become infected with the Nazi entryist zombie virus. You really need to learn what a Nazi is ffs. In the next episode (that should go up in a day or two) John and I, and then Patrick, respond to some of these comments. And don't be surprised if some lazy shitty smears against Patrick are deleted.

ISIS is not effective because they are professional. That was a dumb comment. ISIS is effective b/c they were one big poor man's nuclear bomb. Watch some videos of isis fight. They are not pros. They were getting good weapons, they were the most fanatic and the US spent most of the war being their air force.

With all the immense respect due Yasha, Carl, and so many other guests, this was the best and most important episode of RWN thus far. No, a Rightist wouldn't have been my first choice of Rojava volunteer either (although it *would* be at least *one* of my choices), but it's not necessarily the case that any of them can be found easily - if more volunteers of more different ideologies can be found, so much the better (best of all, a Socialist female Kurd, of whom I hear some can be found in Sweden). The SJW haters around here don't seem to understand that Kasprick is a much better Voltairian than them; screw them. You finally got someone from the most important discrete, current event, far less than fully understood even by those Westerners who *are* paying attention; congratulations.

If he’s actually some sort of genuine alt-right believer, and I’m not claiming to know what he believes - I see the same evidence as you all - I’m glad that he’s listening to radio war nerd. John and Mark have ideological views very similar to my own, so if he is finding himself interested in what they have to say, maybe his misguided fascist views can start to be challenged and replaced by something less reactionary. Same goes for any of his buddies that tune in, it might be the first time they are exposed to a left viewpoint that they can sympathize with. Wishful thinking? Probably. But I have a strong belief that a lot of right wingers only ended up where they are because they are upset and anxious about the world (just like the rest of us) and they found a a right wing reactionary ideology before they were ever exposed to (for lack of a better description) the dirtbag left point of view. You gotta make sense of the world somehow...and unfortunately for people in many places in the country, you end up getting a right wing explanation without really encountering a formidable leftist explanation. I don’t think Jonn and Mark erred in having him on for the interview nor do I think they mishandled the interview. I don’t think anyone listening to the interview is going to come away with increased fascist sympathies.

So, my fellow commenters don't "agree" with this guy, huh? Don't agree that he went by a harrowing taxi ride to a safe house in Sulaymaniyah? Don't agree that he was a medic in the battle of Manbij? Don't agree that some guy picking up a cluster bomb with a blanket was a good story, because that "some guy" used to be a param in NI? FFS, this was never meant to be some display of ideological purity (and by god it wasn't), these where war stories, from a contemporary and highly relevant WAR (war in all caps, because it seems like some people mistake it for being a study-group picnicking in the Kurdish mountains). Why not start the interview by scolding his motivation for going to Syria? Right, thats how every conversation on Twitter would start ... and end. Why not scold him for being too fond of US support of YPG/SDF (btw, I can think of at least one reason why someone getting US air support in a fight against IS would be above average fond of the US military involvement in Rojava)? Because the purity and virtue of his opinions (or lack thereof) wasn't the goddamn point.

gotta say he did sound rather salted in.

Can't say I like or agree with the guy on a lot of the stuff he said, but it was interesting hearing about his experience.

What the hell guys. How could you not push back against some of the awful things this dipshit said. Starting off with his whole motivation for joining the YPG, attributed to reading about the war on reddit and a feeling of "somebody has to do something". He tries to come off as non-ideological, as if that gives him more of a right to be there, but between the incessant praise of US soldiers and his barely veiled disdain for socialism and Marxists, it's obvious he's far closer to cowboy adventurer than internationalist revolutionary. The issue of US support for YPG/SDF is wholly unchallenged, and Patrick talks about it as a given and an unequivocal good, not at all like those evil, meddling Russians. The guy is even using State Department language like 'Assad's forces', ’regime’, and 'Free Syrian Army' for fuck's sake. Dude wore an American patch on his YPG uniform and talked about posing for pictures while splashing around in a river with an American flag. And speaking fondly of "General Mattis"! I just about puked. This wannabe army boy is a fucking war tourist, plain and simple. If he was born 10 years earlier, he’d have been in Fallujah. Then there’s that weird story he told about the German ML volunteers who refused to fight the Turks, which he attributes to their cowardice and, bizarrely, reluctance to go against a fellow NATO member nation. What a stunning display of ignorance. Does this thick-headed moron even know what NATO is? Honestly, I’m let down by you two. Mark, the dick bragged about how he wouldn’t speak to Russian media on patriotic principle, and you just let it go. John, he told you his cluster bomb hero former SAS buddy had been in Northern Ireland, and you just let it go. I understand that you value having different perspectives on your show and don’t want to antagonize your guest, but come on. I’m highly sympathetic to the Rojava revolution, and I know not all of their foreign volunteers are like Patty here, but they’re not immune to criticism, and the part that makes me most uncomfortable is the kind of people they’ll take help from. Would have been worth bringing up here. One last thing: He did the Dril "gotta hand it to them" bit about ISIS, but without the apology! What a titanic shithead.

I wonder what happened to PissPigGrandDad? He's the first I knew of that went to Syria.

Thanks, interesting discussion. Can't wait for part 2, I'll listen to anything y'all can get about Rojava/YPG. Also super interested in the podcast he mentioned, the other volunteer guy Bos(?) interviewing people there, if he has website or something by the next time please share :)