Syrian Kurds are about to be screwed over

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/04/2019 - 1:27pm

When Syria’s foreign ministry labeled the Syrian Democratic Forces as “separatist terrorist militias” three weeks ago, you knew something was up.
When the UN committee tasked with writing a Syrian constitution excluded the Kurds, you could feel the betrayal approaching.
Now we can see what form this betrayal will take.

U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that Turkey soon will mount a major incursion into northern Syria and trigger a clash with Kurdish fighters, a move likely to prompt the Trump administration to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria to avoid a conflict.
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Turkey wants to resettle up to two million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey in Syrian border towns that would be cleared of Kurdish forces known as the YPG, a group Turkey considers to be a terrorist affiliate of the Turkey-based PKK.
But while Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, views the Kurdish military organization as a terrorist group, U.S. officials credit Kurdish fighters with eliminating Islamic State’s territorial hold in Syria.

Turkey intends to ethnically cleanse northern Syria.

On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey told parliament’s opening session that his country had no choice but to act unilaterally to create a safe zone in northern Syria.
“We have not achieved any of the results we desired,” Mr. Erdogan said. “Turkey cannot lose even a single day on this issue. There is no other choice but to act on our own.”

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say "ethnic cleansing". Turkey has already done just that in Afrin, Syria.
No one seemed to care (or even notice) about Afrin, so why not do it again, but on a larger scale?

By January of 2019, one year after the operation began, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that over 300,000 people had been displaced from Afrin.
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Based on these figures, it is not an exaggeration to say that Operation Olive Branch displaced nearly all of Afrin’s original population, and almost completely replaced that population through forced population transfers. This displacement explicitly targeted Kurds for removal, and the individuals moved to the city were predominantly Arabs.

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Submitted by edg on Fri, 10/04/2019 - 2:36pm

Kurds are the Charlie Brown of the Middle East

They keep hoping Lucy won't yank the football away at the last minute, and they keep ending up flat on their backs crying "Aaugh!"

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/04/2019 - 2:45pm

The world according to Henry Kissinger

@edg link

The Kurds succumbed to the spin, believing Washington was finally supporting their right to self-determination. In reality, the United States was using the Kurdish rebels to sap the resources of the Iraqi regime and coerce them into a settlement.
That settlement came at the 1975 OPEC summit, at which time the United States promised Iraq that support for the Kurds would be immediately withdrawn. As Iraq subsequently wiped out the Kurdish rebels, Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani sent a message to Kissinger. It read in part:

“Our movement and people are being destroyed in an unbelievable way, with silence from everyone. We feel, your excellency, that the United States has a moral and political responsibility towards our people, who have committed themselves to your country’s policy.”

One can easily imagine Kissinger getting off on being called “your excellency,” while cringing at the concept of moral responsibility, but he did not directly reply to Barzani. Instead, he instructed a staff member: “Promise them anything, give them what they get, and fuck them if they can’t take a joke.”

When asked to explain America’s duplicity towards the Kurds, Kissinger delivered a one-liner that effectively sums up the perpetual purpose of phallocentric, necrophilic U.S. foreign policy: “Covert action should not be confused with missionary work.”

Submitted by The Wizard on Fri, 10/04/2019 - 3:04pm

An impossible conundrum

Turkey does not want to allow Kurds anywhere near the Turkish border with Syria. The US is allied with the Kurds and has worked with them in the past against ISIS. The US will not work with the Syrian government and is still trying hard to destroy it by inflicting unconscionable pain on the Syrian people, who are trying to recover from a situation caused by Saudi Arabia, the US, Israel and initially Turkey recruiting, training and arming armed militants. The cruelty here is immense. The Syrian government, with the help of Russia, could work out a political arrangement with the Syrian Kurds. But the US has inserted itself and will work with no one. Meanwhile, Turkey is a member of NATO in name only. The US continues to inflict cruel pain on the Syrian people through economic sanctions and refusing to participate in reconstruction. The friggin EU is once again going along with the US. Don't they understand that they are enablers of US cruelty? Oh wait a second, they are the originators of Western European imperial cruelty, the US is just the latest revision. Oh, and ignore the White Helmuts, they are the propaganda arm of Western imperialism in this sad saga.

Strange how the US inserts itself everywhere in the world making sure that no political settlements take place. Therefore guarantying that the US military is necessary in a politically unstable situation. This is true for Japan, Korea, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America and pretty much everywhere on the globe. It's a nasty, expensive protection racket, securing "client" states for the hegemon.

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 10/04/2019 - 3:31pm

The Kurds had to cut a deal with Damascus

@The Wizard

The Syrian government, with the help of Russia, could work out a political arrangement with the Syrian Kurds. But the US has inserted itself and will work with no one.

Instead they stood by and let/helped the U.S. prevent the Syrian government get to the oil fields around Deir Ezzor.
Now I think the window has closed for the Syrian Kurds.

Now they are waiting for Turkey to invade the north, which will draw away the Kurdish forces to fight the invading Turks, so then Damascus will take back the oil fields.
The Kurds needed a local ally in Damascus.

The Syrian government has decried the safe zone deal between Turkey and the United States, calling both countries occupiers, since they operate in Syria without Damascus' authorization.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia was closely following Ankara's statements about the possibility of launching a military operation against Syria's Kurds, and it believes that while Turkey has the right to defend itself, Syria's sovereignty should be respected.

Submitted by p cook on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 11:28pm

(No subject)

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 10/04/2019 - 9:15pm

The poor Kurds...

The Kurds have been kicked around the desert for longer than the Jews were (one of my best friends says that was just because they were looking for good Chinese takeout). Ever since WWI and again after WWII they used friggin latitude and longitude lines to delineate countries with complete and total disregard for historical tribal territories. The Yazidi too have been kicked around and abused to no end. But we helped screw the Kurds with the Saddam thing... we owe them big time. And won't do a thing. Because creating problems is our specialty, not solving them. The Kurds deserve their own land somewhere! So do the Yazidi.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein