Article

2014-11-19 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Beavis 2014-11-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 It is being reported today that an ISIS unit was told they were going to Kobane. 9 members of the unit deserted and fled across the border to Turkey.

Posted by Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-11-19 00:24|| 2014-11-19 00:24|| Front Page Top

#2 Kurds need the Kurdish areas in Turkey incorporated into their territory. And that's what has Erdogan pissing his harem pants. a large minority of Turkey's population is Kurdish, including a majority in the SE part of the country.

Posted by OldSpook 2014-11-19 02:32|| 2014-11-19 02:32|| Front Page Top

#3 I think that the Turks are fanning these flames with a long view to a reestablishment of an Ottoman type state encompassing parts of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. What happens to the Kurds then???

Of course Obola probably sees himself taking over the Sultan's role.

Posted by AlanC 2014-11-19 08:43|| 2014-11-19 08:43|| Front Page Top

#4 a large minority of Turkey's population is Kurdish, including a majority in the SE part of the country.

About a quarter of the national population, as I recall, but the quarter with double the birthrate of the rest of the country, ie. well above replacement instead of below replacement. All they need do is wait a generation or so, and they'll be the majority. That is what has Erdogan, etc.

Posted by trailing wife 2014-11-19 10:05|| 2014-11-19 10:05|| Front Page Top

#5 What happens to the Kurds when Turkey re-establishes the empire?

Why, what happens to every minority in an empire. Fit in or else.

The Hapbsburgs, the French, the Hohenzollerns, the Russians, and so on ran empires that way. There was a vested interest in ensuring that minorities headed the rule of the Czar/Kaiser/King, and the King has a vested interest in ensuring that all the minorities managed tolerably.

That's what would happen if the Turks reestablished the borders of the late Ottoman Empire -- say to include most of Lebanon, Syria and upper Iraq. A 21st century Empire can't oppress too badly, especially close to Europe (note Putin's cunning and calculation here). But it will have ways to ensure that the minorities behave or else.

Posted by Steve White 2014-11-19 10:59|| 2014-11-19 10:59|| Front Page Top

#6 Doc Steve, in theodern era, the conform or else doesn't work against such a large number and large segment of a society, especially if the have support over a border in a sanctuary area like Iraq Kurdistan. Also the Kurds are long established as a rebel or revolutionary force, well organized. The turks cannot stop them short of Saddam style nerve gas and genocide actions.

The Kurds themselves are already planning for the Turks. Not saying much more than mountainous terrain is very helpful for hiding stockpiles etc

Posted by OldSpook 2014-11-19 11:48|| 2014-11-19 11:48|| Front Page Top

#7 The turks cannot stop them short of Saddam style nerve gas and genocide actions.
Genocide is a long-established method of asserting Turkish rule. One of the "fit in or else" rules.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-11-19 13:55|| 2014-11-19 13:55|| Front Page Top

#8 On the other hand, the vast number of Han Chinese have a historically vested interest in seeing that Middle Kingdom minorities kowtow to the Dragon Throne. Tens of millions of Han Chinese have perished miserably when that interest was not asserted properly, and they do remember. It's not all about oligarchies.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-11-19 13:58|| 2014-11-19 13:58|| Front Page Top

#9 They rise from the mud, too. The newest generation of Kurds, are young men and women, fearless, armed and smiling all the way to liberty or death.

A young woman shot in the abdomen in Kobane who was taken to a recovery location across the border in Turkey said "the hills around Kobane are liberated. If I survive I will return to fight and die in Kobane." She died of her wounds the next day.

Posted by Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-11-19 14:25|| 2014-11-19 14:25|| Front Page Top

#10 are young men and women, fearless, armed and smiling all the way to liberty or death.

Could use more of that spirit in the U.S.

Thanks so much for your postings Ebbomosh Hupemp2664!

Posted by JohnQC 2014-11-19 15:44|| 2014-11-19 15:44|| Front Page Top

#11 Thank you JohnQC.

For the women in that area, it is either, fight, die, or become a slave.

Posted by Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-11-19 17:10|| 2014-11-19 17:10|| Front Page Top

22:03 Charles
21:54 Mystic
21:53 Thumper Unemble7307
21:45 Frank G
21:15 Alaska Paul
20:46 Pappy
20:42 Silentbrick
20:04 Old Patriot
19:27 DarthVader
19:21 Injun Grumble7123
19:10 49 Pan
18:56 JohnQC
18:52 OldSpook
18:52 charger
18:43 BrerRabbit
18:33 Abu Uluque
18:32 Abu Uluque
18:28 JohnQC
18:05 Capsu78
17:52 CrazyFool
17:50 badanov
17:48 CrazyFool
17:47 Steve White
17:32 swksvolFF