By Pie Guevara
Pie Guevara is an unregistered trademark of Engulf and Devour Investments LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walton Industries which, in turn, is wholly owned by David Walton. So there!
I thought it a bit odd that one of the comment contributors to Post Scripts who has frequently and vigorously expressed his hatred and contempt for Christians and Christian values in these pages would grieve over Turkey invading Syria ostensibly to “begin an ethnic cleansing of the Christian Kurds.”
This specious comment and Peggy’s link to an OAN interview of a former officer of the CIA prompted me to look more deeply into the Kurds in northern Syria. (A vid of that interview appears at the bottom of the page and merits a viewing. Thank you again Peggy.)
Some of this I had known before and some of it is new to me. As it turns out the situation is a complex one that involves many bad actors and encompasses not just the past decade or so but hundreds of years of hatred, resentment, animosity, and religious and ethnic tribalism.
Without going into a detailed examination which has been done elsewhere across literally hundreds of articles and much better than I can do here, I will merely list a few of the salient points of interest to me and maybe to you. Those who wish to form a deeper understanding can join me on the web and do further research of their own. There is an abundance of relevant information to be had. Those who wish to engage in a civil opinion and intelligence sharing conversation in the comments section are invited to do so. The gang of two can go pound sand and will be ignored by me. I have had enough of those two witless twits for this month.
1) Before the Syrian Civil War approximately 10% of the Syrian population was Syriac/Assyrian, Armenian or Arab Christian. Together they formed one of the largest Christian minorities in the middle east. Early in the war Christian communities were armed by Syrian and Kurdish governments to defend themselves against sectarian Sunni Islamic rebels. These sectarian Sunni rebels included Wahhabi Sunni jihadists who eventually formed the core of ISIS.
2) Around 2016 Syrian Kurds seeking to establish an autonomous political federation in northern Syria clashed with Assyrian militias in and about Qamishli. At the time Qamishli was primarily controlled by U.S. backed Kurdish Democratic Union Party and their security forces.
So, here in 1 and 2 we have Assyrian forces (including Assyrian Christian militias) battling Kurds (including Christian Kurd militias) in northern Syria and the U.S. siting right in the middle of this mess. Given that Muslims have a long history of killing other Muslims over religion and political power in this region it does not surprise me that Christians (who had a similar history hundreds of years ago) should be killing one another too.
3) The thorn in Turkey’s side for decades has not been Christian Kurds in northern Syria but the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a far left militant and political organization based in Turkey and Iraq. The PKK now has a presence in northern Syria. These are not “Christian Kurds” they are Marxist terrorists.
4) The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by several states and organizations, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union.
5) Question: So why would Ergodan seek to commit genocide of Christian Kurds? The answer he that he is not. He is targeting Kurds seeking autonomy and PKK terrorists which he believes makes Northern Syria an unstable neighbor and a threat to his regime. That northern Syrian Kurds happen to include Christian Kurds is a happy circumstance for this Islamic despot, not a policy for the eradication of Christians. Of course it should go without saying that Ergodan is also flexing his muscles to expand his own power base into Syria under the premise of politically stabilizing the area.
Whether Turkey actually seeks to exterminate Kurds the way it exterminated Armenians is a possibility but not a probability as some would have us believe. If Turkey ends up wiping out the Christian Kurdish population that will just be a happy side effect for Ergodan and Muslims in the region, not the driving force behind his move.
The pulling out of northern Syria by President Trump has been roundly condemned around the world. Why is it that now that the rest of the world has been given an ideal opportunity to show the President how to properly handle Middle East affairs there seem to be no takers? Can it be that the world community of nations is reluctant to spend their treasure and blood in this region and still get nowhere but into a deeper morass of deep seated tribal hatreds and despotic thuggery that goes back hundreds of years?
I understand Trump’s desire to get the U.S. out of this mess and whether or not it will turn into a bigger mess remains to be seen.
Moreover, Ergodan is not immune to the opinions of the rest of the world and the pressures that could be brought to bear if a few nations decide to take up some responsibility for policing peace themselves instead of relying on the U.S. to act as the world’s police force. If the rest of the world so hates us (as the left would have us believe) then why would they want us to act as their police force in the first place? (This is a rhetorical question. I already know the answer to and so should you.)
The loser in all this will likely and ultimately be the hope of any form of Kurdish autonomy in the region. For that I am sad and ambivalent about Trump’s decision.
An intriguing part of this mess is the presence of the Marxist terrorist PKK organization in northern Syria and their ties to … Antifa! This is where Peggy’s link to an OAN interview on Oct. 9, 2019 of a former officer of the CIA provides some invaluable insight —
Some more perspective from someone with far better sources, experience, and insight than any of us here–
http://symbolic-mirage.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-bear-and-friends.html
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I tried to paste in some text, but ran into the “server reset” error again. Hopefully this works.
Such excessive verbiage … when the situation is very simple. The Kurds want political independence, their own nation, and the Turks don’t want to give it to them.
Did you know that Kurdish territory in Turkey is just crammed with fossil fuels?
It could be said that to side with the Turks in this is to side with George III, way back when. But it seems to be real prevalent with today’s Americans … that they thing their privileges are ONLY for THEM.
Just saying.
Libby, this is about age old grievances that predate oil and besides that, we are talking about Trump’s actions, not Turkey’s. His actions are essentially the same as Obama’s and we feel both are flawed. Our focus now is on the human carnage his actions will cause. Innocent lives are the primary cause for our concern second only to concerns for our national security. If ISIS makes a comeback in Syria it’s bad news for everybody. Both the Dems and GOP leadership understand this and not one person on either side of the isle have raised the issue you have. I thought for a moment that we might have agreement on this, but I guess that’s too much to expect.
“Libby, this is about age old grievances that predate oil ….”
Bull. You want to make it about religious persecution … cause YOU have this Islamophobic thing going.
AND you are being willfully obtuse. If the Kurds have been our proxy in Syria, against ISIS, why are we letting the Turks go after the Kurds? Don’t make no sense.
UNLESS, the Turks are out to defeat an effective Kurdish fighting force, that we have armed and trained, so it cannot, eventually, assert Kurdish political independence back in Turkey … and YOUR President thinks this is a good idea.
The unhappy fact is that YOUR President cannot, on any given day, tell his ass from his elbow. But he has the power to upheave and destroy the lives of many thousands … BECAUSE YOU GAVE IT TO HIM !!!!!
How you can live with this is beyond me. Actually, no. You demonstrate the technique frequently … my King of Denial.
Oh, God …
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/10/lindsey-graham-trump-hoax-call-043991
Please … no more … I can’t take any more …
Until I hear more I can’t see where anything bad was said or even anything secret. Graham and everybody else thinks the Kurdish YPG are acting as terrorists and this can’t be condoned. They represent a tiny fraction of the Kurds and it would be wrong to wipe our a whole village of Kurds because two or three YPG reside there.
His actions are essentially the same as Obama’s and we feel both are flawed.
No, it isn’t. Obama left Iraq on a preset timetable that was in place before he was even in office. He tried to negotiate a stay but failed because the Iraqis didn’t want us there (Of course Obama still took credit for bringing the troops home, and he deserves criticism for that). We prepared for the withdrawal for years.
Contrast that with Trump’s troop withdrawal, which stunned the Kurds and our other allies, and which did not even seem to involve consulting the Pentagon (just like Trump’s implementation of the travel ban or his announced ban on transgender soldiers). In no way is that “the same thing” as what Obama did.
Chris, you are correct, Bush had negotiated a time table for withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Obama enforced it. Shortly after the withdrawal the Iraqi army fell apart, ISIS almost captured the country and would have done so had it not been for Iran and the USA, an odd pairing for sure. Fast forward to Syria…Trump’s withdrawal was almost without any sort of warning and it was against the best advice of his military advisers. However, Trump overruled his advisory staff, because he is brilliant and knows more than anyone else about everything. So in his infinite wisdom he thru the Kurds to the wolves! Sure the Kurds were our allies against Saddam. Sure they often bore the brunt of casualties fighting Saddam and later ISIS. And yes we fought side by side with them many times to defeat terrorists from Iraq to Syria, but that really didn’t mean much in the final analysis, except maybe to our war veterans, our military leaders, our GOP and Dem leaders, our state dept., our Ambassadors, our policy advisors and lets not forget our global intelligence community… eh, what do they know compared to the guy who knows everything, right?
So the Kurds face extermination in Syria and in the process they are going to release thousands of hardcore ISIS fighters from Kurdish run prisoner camps. All this doesn’t mean a thing…until we get hit with another 9-11.
Glad we see eye to eye on this, Jack.
Pie Here: My apologies Lippy, I wasn’t thinking of you when I wrote it. In the future I’ll consider writing to your Dick and Jane level of comprehension and attention span.
Just saying.
Why can’t you just say it? You deserve your nation-state, but the Kurds don’t. It’s a bigoted and cruel position to take, which is probably why you won’t own it, in public … but come on … just release your Inner-Trump !!!
… and have you SEEN the mugshots of Giuliani’s arrested henchmen??
My lord. Aren’t they just the most stereotypical looking Trump operatives you ever saw?
I really think it’s possible that Rudy Giuliani may end up in prison just like Michael Cohen. Trump will get off scot-free, aside from the impeachment that’s looking more likely the more support it gets from the American people (51% of Americans! 25% of Republicans!). But that might be for the best; imprisoning a former American president, even one who’s ordered and committed crimes, would be pretty bad for the country.
Oh, I like to think that this interminable, and probably fictional, IRS audit will come to be for real … and bear fat and juicy fruit.
I don’t need to see Trump jailed … impoverished will do.
Don’t hold your breath on this Libby.
If Mr. Clinton’s speaking fees are any indication, I would have to say this is sensible advice. But what do you want to put such a crimp into my fantasy life for?