Inkwell Institute
Middle East Desk
The battle for the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq and Syria has begun……the US has taken upon itself to step back into the Middle East with both feet. And their proxy in this conflict are the Kurds…..but the question is just how reliable will these players be in the long run?
I have written many posts on what I see as the Kurds end game……for me it is an independent state of their own and that is the direction they will work. Regardless of their words their intentions are not so noble…….
The Kurds….the special elite forces of Iraq, at least for this week…….is it possible that the Kurds are a Janus? A Janus? WTF?
let me explain………Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, and thereby of gates, doors, doorways, passages and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.
That is right….I believe that the Kurds are a Janus….two faced and will only work for their own good……..but after all they have done in the past month why would I say that?
Peshmerga fighters are openly beating Arabs they believe to be ISIS, and it doesn’t take a lot of evidence to convince them of that.
McClatchy reporter Mitchell Prothero reported the Peshmerga cheerfully dragging an Arab out of his car at a checkpoint, roughing him up and throwing him into their trunk. “He’s Arab, talks like he’s from Mosul and had a Qu’ran in his car,” one declared. That’s all it takes
So they have turned on the very people that they look to for their salvation…….they are playing both sides against the middle……….Kurdish analysts are expecting this to pay off big down the road, adding to the autonomous KRG region’s global influence, and making it easier to secede from Iraq in the future.
The Peshmerga, the PKK are still on the terrorist list. although the US is working to have them removed, I do not think the Turks, who have suffered greatly at the hands of the PKK will find it a good idea to arm their enemies.
A noted journalist in the Middle East, Ceylan Ozbudak, writes……….
Realizing the threat of losing the battle in the field of popular media, the PKK decided to change its narrative and started to claim they are a bunch of “communal liberalist” fellows who are simply fighting for an independent Kurdistan. First of all, the expression “communal liberalist” is an oxymoron because being a liberalist means supporting individual freedoms no matter how stark in contrast it is with the prevailing public opinion (as long as they do not limit the freedoms of others) and the word “communal” totally refutes this notion since it favors the well-being of the community at the expense of the individuals. Therefore communal ideologies do not maintain human or minority rights even if they promise as such: Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Enver Hoxha, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il all promised their nations a free and equal world where all citizens are treated with dignity. For this reason, the PKK would never deliver on its promise of a liberal Kurdistan; the moment its borders are secured, the regime will show its true colors and its first target will be the innocent Kurds of the region who oppose communist ideals.
The reason I question our decision to arm the PKK is that we, the US, have a reputation of backing the wrong horse in many of our Middle East adventures……..and I think we will live to regret our decision to lean heavily on the PKK in this time of need.
Kerry will be in the region to try and put together a coalition to fight ISIS…….the problem is that NO one trusts the Kurds, especially Turkey and maybe we should slow down and consider our options before we give too to the PKK….it could very well be a fatal decision on our part.
Good analogy, but everyone works to their own interest, and considering the Kurds history it’d be only natural to think they’ll seize this opportunity. i would. I think you would, too. 100 years later, we now have to sort out the mess left after WW1, and let these people draw their own map.
I will agree to a point…..Kurds can thank Lawrence and Bell for their current status….the problem today is there are Kurds in all the surrounding countries and that will make it a bit untenable soon….
John, have you seen this article?
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/01/5_reasons_to_suspect_that_jesus_never_existed/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
Yeah, its been doing the rounds. It’s actually a pretty weak presentation of the modern (and growing) argument, but its good to see larger news bodies are carrying the idea forward. Richard Carrier is doing some marvelous work in this field and is making some serious dents in the present-day “consensus of convenience” that an itinerant rabbi wandered around Judea in the earth 1st Century. I don’t believe the person ever did exist, rather is an amalgam of numerous messianic figures. I don’t, however, think there was any great conspiracy, rather simple misinterpretation at the hands of the northern diaspora (Jewish refugees) in Syria and Turkey. A few years ago the Acts Seminar (a decade long research effort made by dozens of scholars) concluded, among other things, that there was never an early church in Jerusalem. So, what we have is a church emerging in the diaspora, and once you recognise this, you see how the whole thing unraveled, albeit by mistake. And so, when you get to characters (charlatans) like Eusebius in the 4th Century who realize they’re sitting on a monumental mistake they set out to create an illusion of life where there never was one, tampering with historical documents (Josephus, in particular) and inserting forged entries. The very fact that the church fathers had to plant “evidence” speaks volumes.
I have a hard time with most of the religious dribble that is out there…..thanx for the info…..chuq
The only reason we won’t stay uninvolved in this conflict is the same reason we are involved around the globe where there are oil resources. Our economy has invested too much in fossil fuel energy to sustain itself and thus is forever doomed to protect those reserves wherever they may be, at the expense of human life and and destroying our own image of representing real democracy. Our oil reserves have peaked and what little we do have of the world’s reserves – about 3% – we still consume 25% of the oil that is available out there in foreign lands. We use the terror threat as a rationale for our involvement yet we support those repressive regimes where they cooperate with us meeting our oil energy needs.
Until the American public realizes that all of our military conflicts have an oil connection and the need to end those conflicts revolves around finding other alternative fuels here at home our young men and women will continue to fight in foreign lands for things that essentially enrich Exxon/Mobil and their ilk while keeping us slaves to oil.
well said……..there are those that keep trying to make the people understand that all the fear mongering is just smoke…..oil is the main reason not much more..;..