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| The Grand Turk |
| Honor is Whatever You Can Still Betray |
| 2015-07-28 |
| Everything old eventually becomes new again. Time Magazine [1] begins its description of the "no fly zone" the Obama administration will implement over Syria by recalling how the same concept was implemented over Iraq from 1991 to 2003. Wikipedia [2] notes "the Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones (NFZs), and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect the Kurds in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south." Though Time doesn't mention it, readers may recall another "no-fly-zone" declared over Libya [3], ostensibly to "protect civilians" and to implement an "arms embargo". Retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, "who oversaw the Iraqi no-fly zones as chief of U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000″ thinks the nomenclature in this instance is inaccurate. "It's not a no-fly zone--it's a bombing campaign," Zinni said. Patrick Cockburn of the Independent [4] actually believes its the Kurds who are about who's going to get bombed by the Turks for the most part. "Whatever America was hoping for, initial signs are that the Turkish government may be more interested in moving against the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq than it is in attacking Isis. Ankara has previously said that it considers both the PKK and Isis to be 'terrorists'." And indeed, not just the PKK but the YPG Turks complain they are now feeling the lash of Turkish might. The BBC [5] reports: "the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) say Turkish tanks shelled their fighters near Kobane in northern Syria". ...Just a coincidence. Happenstance or not, it's clear that Turkey effectively gets a piece of former Syrian territory, albeit under the control of proxies in the process of carving out its "safe zones". A team from the New York Times [7] describes what is known about the plan, which appears to extend Turkish control over Syrian territory being fought over by Assad and ISIS. Kurds always get shafted |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |