Summary of the devilish details:
- Despite the (alleged) attempted coup, Erdogan’s loyalties are still unclear
- With Kurds, US is “nation building” and more likely to intervene (further evidence that Trump is a faux populist President – he said he would NOT do those things)
- Seducing and arming the Kurds implies that ME proxy wars will continue
‘b’ at MoonofAlamaba.org decries Kurdish alignment with USA-KSA, saying:
…The Kurds, which for while looked like the sole winner of the war, have just thrown away their gains.
The U.S. supported Kurdish forces of the YPG made the lunatic error of openly asking for support from Saudi Arabia. The anarcho-marxists of the YPG, always proudly showing off their feminism, are suddenly bowing down in front of the medieval Wahhabi nutters. They thus ruined their appearance of being a progressive leftist force. This move will reinforce Turkish and Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian animosity and hostility against them. All political advances they made during the war by staying mostly neutral between “rebels” and the Syrian government is now in jeopardy. The move is crazy. The Kurdish held area is completely surrounded by more or less hostile forces. U.S. or Saudi support for the land-locked and encircled Kurdish enclave is not sustainable over any longer time-frame. The Kurds have thus again demonstrated that they are their own worst enemies in their striving for a (semi-)sovereign Kurdish state. They will be thrown back into their original areas and again be folded up into the Syrian state.
However, this realignment has long been in the works. USA and KSA recognize that Kurds, fighting for their dignity and independence, have become an extremely capable fighting force. KSA has the money to finance them and USA can guaranty Statehood at some future date (conditioned upon …?). And it is well-known that US Special Forces have been working with the Kurds.
USA and Israel were already aligned with the Iraqi Kurds who are led by the corrupt Masoud Barzani. Bringing their Syrian cousins on board took some doing as they are wary of Barzani and Turkey (a USA NATO ally). A key part of that effort was convincing the Syrian Kurds that the USA sided with them over Turkey, their perennial enemy.
2016 Anti-Erdogan Coup Attempt Works to West’s
Advantage
Many believe that Turkish anger at USA
support for Kurds led to USA backing a Turkish coup. But if the
coup against Turkey had succeeded in toppling strong-man Erdogan,
would the Kurds need USA any longer? I think not.
Dictators (whether real or wanna-be) ALWAYS need an outside enemy to
scapegoat. Getting rid of Erdogan would’ve only taken pressure
off of the Kurds. Furthermore, if Erdogan was wary of Western
plots to get rid of him, he would be very incentivized to work with
Russia to ensure that Kurds did not slip into the Western fold.
Erdogan’s continued antagonizing of the Kurds helped to drive them to
the West.
Looking back, a FAILED COUP that made Erdogan stronger helped the ‘Assad must go’ Coalition much more than if the coup had succeeded.
There are many that have questioned the veracity of the attempted coup against Erdogan. Too much doesn’t add up:
- How could a coup that had allegedly sought and obtained NATO approval fail so badly (within 24 hours)?
- Key CIA people were discovered to have been in Turkey at the time country
- Erdogan’s plane was not attacked by pilots loyal to the coup plotters
- Despite his stated belief that US was behind the coup, Erdogan doesn’t seem particularly anti-US.
- The failed coup essentially strengthened a leader who had been a key member of the ‘Assad must go’ Coalition – where does his loyalties really lie?
Supposed US-Turkish animosity has allowed for “push-pull” opportunitiess where the US can appear to standup for the Kurds against Turkey. And US willingness to arm the Kurds with ‘heavy weapons’ has also, no doubt, helped to win them over.
KSA-USA
Planning for Kurds
As much as the Kurds may deserve a
State of their own, Trump Administration backing for the
Kurds (with KSA help) is very likely to be another nation-building
exercise – something that Trump said he would NOT do (see my “faux
populist President” postings). And while USA could not
intervene to help ISIS, one could well imagine that USA would
intervene to help a fledgling ally – especially given how much
Western media loves the Kurd’s women fighters.
Cover Photo: “A Raid by Kurds”. Vintage original old photo postcard. Life in Russia (Caucasus) II