Turkey US Relations hit new lows- As long, long mentioned here- Total nosedive and take particular note of the time this breakdown began in earnest? 2013. Lines up so very nicely with information I’ve posted here for years and years now. Then the new "Lawrence of Kurdistan" How very fitting! Hollywood will undoubtedly make great heroic movies about this struggle.. Don’t you just love when Hollywood give us our history? An insanely repetitive, lie filled, history playing out in real time, right before our eyes Reyhanli bombing- Inflaming Turks against Syrians First the Turkish/US Nosedive- The elephant in the room that most people have failed to see..
Turkey's relations with the United States, which took a nosedive in May 2013, (Reyhanli bombing was a US message to Turkey) have been unable to recover in recent months. If anything, the situation is getting worse every day. Ankara started having second thoughts about Washington's reliability when former U.S. President Barack Obama's administration failed to show due interest in Ankara's security concerns, including the YPG's land grab in northern Syria and the need for an air defense system.
Yup, YPG/PKK just keep on grabbin' Syrian territory
Erdogan's highly anticipated meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump apparently did not meet Turkish expectations either, as the incoming administration rubber-stamped U.S. Central Command's (CENTCOM) plans to enlist the YPG's services as a proxy. For some reason, U.S. officials did not seem to think that empowering the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, which Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization, was a betrayal of Ankara's friendship even though the group clearly poses an existential threat to Turkey.
US Officials KNEW arming PKK/YPG was a betrayal of Turkey and threat. They actively encouraged this double cross. Since I don't get paid and think my own thoughts I can't take this man's diplospeak with anything but a grain of salt.
In other words, it has been some time since Washington decided to let Turkey take care of itself, which is why its opposition to the S-400 purchase, citing Turkey's alliance with the U.S., does not really make sense.
The PKK/YPG land grab. Annexing Syria. None of the 5 eyes media talks about. ALT or Main stream? Why oh why is that? The US policy of chopping up Syria . Creating Greater Kurdistan aka Israel 2.0 has been at play for a long time now- The US knew that finally Turkey’s hand would be forced on Syria. It was the plan. It’s what they wanted.
To be clear, Ankara approached Washington with a number of plans to fight Daesh terrorists, including an alternative proposal to liberate Raqqa.
Covered those offers here on multiple ocassions- rejected every time by the US
“But the fallout between Turkey and the United States was ultimately caused by Washington's failure to develop a coherent Syria policy since the civil war started. Although the Trump administration made it clear that it wants to contain and isolate Iran, the truth is that stopping the Iranian-backed Shiite militias without deploying more U.S. troops to Syria would be impossible. Nor is it easy for Trump to counterbalance Russia's influence in the conflict zone provided that his predecessor single-handedly turned Moscow into a game changer in Syria. At this point, alienating Turkey and pushing Ankara toward Russia and Iran will not help Washington's cause to regain control over Syria. The Trump administration, simply put, has reached an impasse”Whether Washington decides to use the Obama play book or take a step forward to strike regime forces under the pretext of preparations for a chemical attack, the facts on the ground remain the same. If Trump opts for a decisive, long-term Syria plan, there is a good chance he will fuel fears that the U.S. military is being pulled into war again. It is no secret that Washington policymakers see military confrontation with Iran or Russia as a doomsday scenario.The second implication of the most recent developments is that a new equilibrium emerges in Syria. Washington's short-sighted Syria policy not only consolidates the Russian-Iranian front, but also compels Ankara to work more closely with Moscow. At a time when Mattis describes his country's partnership with the YPG as a temporary necessity, Ankara can come up with a much longer list of things that justify its policy decisions, which is why the S-400 negotiations and a potential military intervention in Afrin do not necessarily signal broader change. Quite the contrary, the situation that began to emerge during Obama's presidency is becoming clearer at a faster rate under Trump. Moving forward, Ankara should be expected to take steps that Washington's new definition of partnership compels them to.
Yawn, as stated repeatedly, the US has forced Turkey's hand. Hence Operation Euphrates and what looks to be the impending move on PKK in North west Syria.Lawrence of Kurdistan: Brett McGurk
It is no surprise that the Turkish government sees McGurk as an active official working to provide Kurdish autonomy in Syria, effectively under the control of the PKK, after the defeat of ISIL. That would amount to something even more sizable than the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq after the Iraqi Kurds’ collaboration with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Erdogan said boldly last week that trying to sooth Ankara by promising to take back arms delivered to the YPG would was useless, claiming that supplying the weapons was against NATO agreements.In the eyes of some angry Turkish officials, McGurk’s role in all this somewhat resembles the role of TS Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia, 100 years ago. Some see McGurk as a kind of “Lawrence of Kurdistan.”
Before becoming a world renowned British spy and operative, Lawrence was an archeologist with a particular interest in Arab affairs. When the First World War broke out in 1914, he was busy with excavations in Jarablus, now on the Turkey-Syria border.In 1915 the British government decided to set up an Arab bureau in Cairo, mainly a military intelligence center under brigadier general Gilbert Clayton. The center was due to coordinate the fight against the Ottoman army in the oil-rich Arabian peninsula and Mesopotamia, still under Ottoman rule. It was Clayton’s idea to agitate, organize and team up with Arab tribes against the Turks.
Lawrence was one of the first civilians he recruited for the military intelligence operations, having an excellent capacity to communicate with tribal chiefs, especially the Emir of Mecca, Sharif Hussein, who was also an influential figure in the Wahhabi movement. Gertrude Bell was another person, also an archeologist, linguist and adventurer, who Clayton recruited together with Lawrence and who also had superb qualities and links within the Arab tribes. Clayton also had a strong office staff, including Lieutenant Colonel Mark Sykes, one of two men behind the Sykes-Picot Agreement to divide Ottoman territory between the U.K., France and Russia.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while actually expecting a different result! The region is being remade before our eyes