Syrians Re-Capture Palmyra from Isis thugs.

[Minimalist]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/world ... ss&emc=rss

Syrian government forces recaptured the desert oasis city of Palmyra on Sunday, the state news agency and a monitoring group reported, after driving out Islamic State fighters who had occupied the city for the better part of a year, summarily executed residents and dynamited ancient ruins.

[kbs2244]

A symbolic victory.
But an important one in a war of symbolic battles.

The World Trade Center towers where of zero strategic value.
But they symbolized “Western” free trade.
Brussels is an important port, but more important as the center of NATO, the World Court, and un-told other Western organizations.

I had to laugh when I had to take off my shoes at the Boise, ID airport.
I doubt they even know it exists.

But I feel sorry for those that live near the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, etc.
Those are the targets in this war of minds.

[uniface]

Meanwhile,

Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the 5-year-old civil war.

The fighting has intensified over the last two months as CIA-armed units and Pentagon-armed ones have repeatedly shot at each other while maneuvering through contested territory on the northern outskirts of Aleppo, U.S. officials and rebel leaders have confirmed.

[kbs2244]

Somehow that brought up an image of a chess board athe both the Pentagon and CIA headquarters.
"If they move here, then we can move here"
Who is loser?

[Minimalist]

I suspect that chess is beyond both groups.

Maybe 3-card Monte?