The Question to Contemplate for the New Year

One wonders what quid pro quo Lindsey Graham delivered to the White House this Sunday past that prompted Trump's pullback on his announced troop pullout in Syria. The timetable has shifted from 30 days to a full four months. But who can even say at this point? As Eric Schmitt and Maggie Haberman note in "Trump to Allow Months for Troop Withdrawal in Syria, Officials Say":

Nevertheless, Mr. Trump’s latest plan left open the question of whether an orderly pullout from Syria would happen. Military planners say they need about 120 days, or four months, to carry out a withdrawal that allows time to decide which equipment to move elsewhere in the region, leave behind with allies or disable to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Syrian government or Russia or Iran.

Jason Ditz points out -- "Trump’s Slowing Syria Pullout Raises New Questions About Policy" -- that a slowdown puts conflict with Turkey back on center stage. It was exasperation with the Great Game -- Turkey's threat to invade Rojava -- that motivated Trump's announcement that the U.S. would leave Syria.

So, basically, nothing has changed, besides Syrian forces being closer to the Turkish border and Turkey's proxy Free Syrian Army being massed near Manbij.

The question to contemplate for the new year is the same as in years prior: Will the zombie plod on or will there be a halt to our perpetual-war-cum-market-orthodoxy monoculture?

The Brexit vote in parliament should provide some early insight. Corbyn is waiting for May's withdrawal agreement to go down the week of January 14 before he requests a confidence vote with snap elections to follow. The results of those snap elections will tell us much about the zombie's mobility.