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Syria 2.0: US Starts Sending Arms To Kurdish Fighters
While Einstein defined insanity as repeating the same behavior and expecting different results, it appears President Obama's administration defines that action as US foreign policy. Just as they did in Syria (where the US 'trained' moderate Al Qaeda terrorists, instead of "sending troops" - ensuring no 'boots on the ground' blowback), AP reports that the US is sending arms to the Kurds as their new proxy mercenary force in Northern Iraq. We are sure the result will be different this time?
Until now, the U.S. had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks. As AP reports,
The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday.
The officials wouldn't say which U.S. agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but one official said it isn't the Pentagon. The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations.
The move to directly aid the Kurds underscores the level of U.S. concern about the Islamic State militants' gains in the north, and reflects the persistent administration view that the Iraqis must take the necessary steps to solve their own security problems.
A senior State Department official would only say that the Kurds are "getting arms from various sources. They are being rearmed."
...
In recent days, the U.S. military has been helping facilitate weapons deliveries from the Iraqis to the Kurds, providing logistic assistance and transportation to the north.
Meanwhile the coup and political chaos in Baghdad leaves the US floundering in who is their man...
At the same time, the administration is watching carefully as a political crisis brews in Baghdad, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iraq's embattled prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to maintain calm among the upheaval.
"We believe that the government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in Iraq," Kerry said. "And our hope is that Mr. Maliki will not stir those waters."
Speaking in Australia on Monday, Kerry said there should be no use of force by political factions as Iraq struggles form a government. He said the people of Iraq have made clear their desire for change and that the country's new president is acting appropriately despite claims of malfeasance by al-Maliki.
Maliki is resisting calls to step down and says he'll file a complaint against the president for not naming him prime minister.
* * *
Of course, none of this matters because as stocks are tellung us - everything's fixed...
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LOOOOOOOL
Forwar!
Nobel Peace Prize!
IB4 they Kurds invade Turkey.
US Starts Sending Arms To Kurdish Fighters
A little late.....but yeah.....let's do that. Those cats are the only friends we've got.
...St Louis Missouri Civilians need some of those Military Arms to defend themselves vs the Local Terrorist Police Force.
Back from the future I see.
Take five Marty McFly while we work on repairing the flux capacitor.
OBAMA: ARMING TERRORISTS AND DISARMING AMERICANS!
They can't find mine. However, I will bring them and a "blade of grass" to them one day.
doubleplusgood
“I Got An Obama Gun!”
Agreed, but the foreign policy report card is dismal - unless the outcome was planned all along.
First start an illegitimate war and destabilize the region.
Then create a kleptocratic puppet regime with a "democray made in the USA" label.
Then patiently watch the muslim fanatics sprout like mushrooms and spread like wildfire.
In the mean time start arming your puppet to the hilt.
Then observe the fanatics take over all that military hardware as your puppet army deflates like a balloon.
Then arm all the endangered neighbours with US weapons too.
Sit back and enjoy the mayhem while military stocks go through the roof.
Did you know that "schatzi" when capitalized "Schatzi" is a pet name for a loved one in German? For example, I call my GF Schatzi, and her mom calls her Schatzi. Its similar to sweetheart in the English language.
Yeah I do. A reason I chose the name as it also is a combination of the 1y German treasury and the i- put on every piece of Apple crap. That's where I see the German treasuries going for guaranteeing all of Europe's debt. Away from something that was solid and reliable to something that becomes a throwaway fad.
It actually MIGHT be different with the Kurds, they're mostly Christian and by all account not murderous, suicidal lunatics like the jihadist whack jobs, we've been arming until now!!!
They also seem to mildly comprehend the idea of democracy and freedom as well, which completely explains why they were the LAST options any of the last 4 dipshit Presidents thought logical to arm!!
You are mistaken they are not "mostly Christian" they are 99% Muslim, officially Sunni, but they are somewhat more secular than most, and they are non-Arab. They are the most reasonable ethnic group in the region, even though that's not saying a lot. They also suffered grievously under Saddam, and moreso when Bush41 left them hanging.
I wonder if this has anything to do with this?:
http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/study-finds-close-genetic-connection-betwe...
Naw, couldn't be, silly me.
who is we
the kurds work for israel
israel with the jkurds is stealing iraqs oil
the kurds stood down because the mossad instructed the kurds to leave the villages and towns.
thus allowing shimon elliot jewish head of isis to go on the talmudic rampage dressed up like a hollywood arab beard
problem reaction solution.
Neurosis can be treated, I don't know about being a sociopathic scumbucket. Bizzaro lies every day. Go wash you 'hand' more often. Shalom schwinehund.
Don't worry about Tony Moo-hammed. He's just that little kid that our parent's use to say...."You know that little Johnny....he's a little "off".
Hey...ZeroHedge is a free forum. You're always going to get from time to time sad, little people like Tony who can't stand their own life and don't have the courage or the ability to blame themselves and do something about it. So the Jew makes a great scapegoat.
Hey Tony....another day ended in Jerusalem. The Jews are still there. And guess what....they will be there again tomorrow when the sun comes up over their homeland while you're still sleeping tonight and dreaming the dreams of your father the Fuhrer.
Sweet dreams ! LOL !!!!
Turkey is getting too friendly with Russia, so they're already overdue for a US "Freedumbing"... The Kurds should certainly come in useful for that.
Indeed! I am sure that Turkey will be very happy to see the Kurds being armed by Washington! You can't make that shit. Insane. The more these idiotic neocons in Washington interven and the worst things will get. One has to marvel at their arrogant stupidity.
Turkey has played host to ISIS and all other islamist organizations and could, with their air foces flatten ISIS. While erdogan is a capricious nut case, he has for the most part toed the line of the west.
Bingo.
Obama should get rid of Kerry, otherwise people will blame him for these snafu.
Israeli TV was on the dot with their assessments of Kerry ... these guys know their stuff ...
Where did they found Kerry anyways?
the worse incompetent to ever occupy that office!
Yeah, getting rid of Kerry will fix everything .......... Lol.
it is a step in the right direction, even if a small one ... you got to start somewhere if you want things fixed, sitting back and complaining doesnt solve anything,
It does if it helps diseased statists recognize it's never the person in the office, but the office in the person.
Such positions of power would never exist in a truly peaceful society, as no such positions could exist in a peaceful society. Yet the statists only know how to ask for another chance at picking a better criminal.
Nation-states only have value for those who live in fear of others, and demand that a mob protect them. There is not a single person in power anywhere in the world with any moral authority over any one of us, (unless one has voluntarily chosen to subordinate themselves in such a relationship).
Go ahead though, and pretend that empowering the mafia has a harmonizing effect upon society. Then come here and complain about the complainers and see what you get for your troubles.
Existence within this universe is inherently not peaceful and as such the notion of a peaceful society is a mirage. Sooner or later you have to pick a side.
Agreed, getting rid of Kerry will expose Obama's incompetence even more.
p.s. Syria 2.0, ok, but what about Afghanistan 2.0 when the US armed the Mujahideen? Arming the Kurds will open a new, crossborder, can of worms as Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey all have Kurds living within their borders.
perhaps, but then we will know
Where did they find him? Well, he was an RCH from the Presidency. He probably should have more cheerleaders from a certain segment of the ZH battalion, I mean he did meet w/ the NV gov't while still on duty, he testified before Congress that he viewed US troops acting like Genghis Khan, and was a member of the Jane Fonda neocommunist brigade of the 1960/70's.
Desperation time at the Obama Island White House in Martha' Vineyard. No, not because of what's happening in Iraq but because he is worried about it raining and messing up his golf schedule.
As has been posited by folks much smarter than me ( and me ) a separate kurdistan as a vassal state to the west and israel with a ruined iraq is where this was going from the start.
Should any of us be suprised that BOTH the war mongers and the hippies of the 60's who are now in power brought the drugs and the wars with them?
They just can't let the 60's go.
Hippies in the 60's ------- Free Love and Dope (illegal)
Hippies in the 2010's --------- Free Viagra and Dope (legal)
War Mongers in the 60's--------Democracy for the brown people in the jungle
War Mongers in the 2010's--------Democracy for the brown people in the desert.
Same as it ever was.
Couldn't have said it better....
Will anyone argue that the USA just take a break from further operations in the entire Middle East / North Africa region? My recommendation would be to stand back, do nothing, and see what happens — since everything we’ve done so far just leaves things and lives shattered. Let’s even say that ISIS ends up consolidating power in Iraq, Syria, and some other places. The whole region will get a very colorful demonstration of what it is like to live under an 11th century style psychopathic despotism, and then the people left after the orgy of beheading and crucifixion can decide if they like it. The experience might be clarifying.
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/global-nausea/
MIC wins again!
Yes! And this is not because they're stupid. This is intentional. Just like how they intentionally left weapons and military equipment behind for ISIS to use. They haven't given up on Syria yet either. Watched Lindsay Graham on Sunday morning news shows preparing us for a false flag event. He said ISIS is a direct threat to the US and they will attack us here.
Can you say OVERREACH?
The bane of every declining empire.
i have to agree with you there ... although is not the fault of lowest ranks, it is the fault of Kerry and company who have no idea what they are doing ... instead of dealing in the Middle East he just drops a snafu and off he goes to ASEAN to mess it up over there as well ... OVERREACHING? you are right on the dot.
You either have people who can do three and four jobs at once, or if you dealing with slow learners, let them focus at one thing at a time ...
I prefer to think of it as an 'exhausted organized criminal gang' complete with arms dealing, drug running, strong arming, theft, bribery, blackmail, vice and murder rather than 'declining empire'.
The perps must be dealt with accordingly. Preferably, in timely and traditional fashion.
and so this will enrage the turks, who will take a harder turn into regional islamism and fuck-israelism. so i am not sure how i feel about this.
that assessment might be on old data, me feller. In the last few months Turkey has been purchasing oil from the northern iraqi kurds - they are in business together at the moment - a business that deprives the maliki govt and America of their expected oil revenues
But I bet they're still giving all the Islamists militias a free pass to operate from their side of the border against the FSA, Syrian Army, and (Syrian) Kurds.
Why don't they just send over gun free zone signs? It seems to me like it would be a lot cheaper.
Then they'd have nutty terrorists with 30 magazine clips firing 30 rounds a second at...oh nevermind...
Worked so well in Chicago. Hell, talkin' about Chicago, seems the ME could use their community organized, as well.
We need to control kurdish oil, that's very important.
However, if QE continues, say goodbye to control of any energy source in the world. World will simply drop USD use.
Arming the kurds and attacking Assad MUST be accompanied with a financial wipeout by unwinding QE.
The world is not interested in weak dollar.
Correction; the world is not interested in the petro-dollar, but the MIC offers it little choice.
No objection.
MIC will offer little choice to bank lobby soon, also
Barry the Bumbling Boob.
There's nothing confusing about this. The MIC must be justified and supported with more arms expenditures. Maximum confusion over there sells more arms.
Iraq 2.0...Kurdish Redux
And the Kurdish, who have always lived beyond the suppression of the Turks...
will never ever....
EVER EVER!!!
USE THESE WEAPONS AGAINST THE TURKS?????
A EURO AND AMERICAN ALLY?????!!!!
WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?????????!!!!!!!!!!
IF WE LOSE TURKEY AS A ALLY, IT WILL BE TERRIBLE!!!!
All a part of Obamanomics.
All part of a widening front for world war and ever more threatening enemies.
Too late...
We should not be allied with ANY Muzzie government.
They are treacherous, hideous, authoritarian snakes.
Have ANY of you asked yourselves why it is that the two states of governance of most Muzzie countries is either Authoritarianism or Blood Letting Tribalism ?
It's easy.....just read the Quran. Listen to the mullahs' sermons. They stream that stuff on the internet....even translate it in English.
The smart Muzzie governments are authoritiarian like the Saudis and the Syrians. They keep the animals at bay. With homegrown terror and cruelty. But they get the job done.
But look what happens when you depose leaders such as the Shah of Iran....Ghadaffi and Saddam. The pressure cooker explodes and out comes the Muzzie version of Ebola.
But that is the state of Muzzie governance because they are ultimately ruled by a sick, twisted, religion and ideology. And the only way to tamp down on that is to install a cruel dictator.
Sorry.....just the way it is. And we should have no part of it. Let Allah help the Muzzie out. If he truly exists. But the Muzzie knows that Allah does NOT exist in his heart of hearts. Which is why they feel so hell bound to do his job for him.
Well...well......lookee here.
Turkey is wising up to the threat of the head choppers
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/the-new-sultan-erdogans-t...
"They are treacherous, hideous, authoritarian snakes."
In sharp contrast to western governments, and all other governments too...?
I'm not so sure that the Islamist Endorgan (SP) is an ally.
We need US military leadership that owns a pair, demand trials for the decision-makers in DC who are responsible for loading up Iraq with weapons that are now turned against innocent people. John McCain, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Rahn Emmanuel, Kagain, and Colin Teaspoon Powell et al, deserve to be on trial now. The weapon movements and military misadventures in the ME need to stop. Bring the troops home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh-JoW_8qw0
You might want to rethink that.
An domestically interventionist military that can be expected to intervene when politicians behave badly, can also be expected to intervene when politicians behave well.
You can't avoid the excesses of human behavior by means of a human-led government.
I caught that :)
Which network runs this "Obama meets Kerry" series ? Will Alec Baldwin get a role ? It is one of the best satirical shows out of the US for a long time - a real send-up of West Wing and that hokum
WW3.0 Did they send them legs too, or just arms?
Judging by their fungibility, I think our arms always get legs.
Man dressed as Osama bin Laden sneaks across US border.
http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/11/new-video-james-okeefe-crosses-the-bor...
Why does everyone mock those who are concerned about ISIS inflitrating the US?
"US is sending arms to the Kurds as their new proxy mercenary force in Northern Iraq"
The MIC shouts "Huzzah!!"
Geez, this sounded really familiar so I looked it up...... I can't even joke around anymore. I wonder if I can sue the US governemnt for stealing my jokes. It's possible that the US governemnt is so fucked up they are pulling foreign policy from the ZH comment section.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-27/pentagon-has-problem-vetting-mo...
edit highlighted policy from above that the US governemtn stole - Next up: funding, arming and training "moderate" Kurds to fight in Syria. Will they turn around and secure their homeland in Iraq and maybe look north to Turkey?
The 200,000 + refugees, the oil and the Kurds themselves must be defended. Kurds are generally cool.
Maybe we need a Balfifth Declaration seizing NW Iran, Northern Iraq, and SW Turkey for the so-cool-they're-Frozen People.
Seriously, every time we send armaments into that area, they soon become the battlefield assets of "our enemy". But I think we will never learn until we are no longer able to do it.
No...the Kurds DO NOT need to be defended. Let their Muzzie brothers do that. Let the world see Muzzie kindness and compassion. Let the world see Muzzie courage.
The Kurds, from what I've been able to read, are the only group really fighting to protect the Christians.
Einstein never defined "insanity" this way. Urban legend.
As to Iraq, it should have been divided into three parts: (1) independent Kurdistan; (2) U.S. occupation zone; (3) British occupation zone.
They didn't do it because of political correctness.
Strength through diversity... or so I am told countless times in the MSM, in Uni, everywhere.
Let the Muzzie divide it however the hell they wish.
If the Kurds can't defend their homeland.....they don't deserve it.
NO U.S. Occupation zone
NO British Occupation zone.
Let the Muzzies have it.....it's theirs
Let the world finally get a GOOD look at the true state of Muzzie affairs.
You mean Kurdistan, a Western Sunni Syria-Iraq (this is essentially what the Islamic State wants to be; it loses out on most of the oil and is landlocked), and an Eastern Shia Iraq (which will promptly become a puppet of Iran, and has most of the oil and the ports, and was therefore never an option). SA wouldn't be happy, Turkey wouldn't be happy, Syria wouldn't be happy, Israel wouldn't be happy.
Get three groups equally armed...stalemate....get Iraq split into three....Profit.
The underpants gnome way.
The splitting up of Iraq is definately a step in their plan. Right now the Kurds and Turkey have been partnering, they did so after coming to a level of power equalization of sorts. Now by arming the Kurds perhaps the US is hoping the Kurds will get greedy or dwell on old tribal wrongs inflicted upon them by the Kurds and restart conflicts with Turkey. Maybe even try to take a portion of Turkey that the Kurds have felt belonged to them.
I think these weapons are meant to be aimed at Turkey, while ISIS (CIA/Massod) is meant to divide Iraq, the US then pushes for the UN to recognize the new nations created by the division (for the sake of peace of course), and for ISIS to turn back towards Syria and to start softening Iran with Massod's help. It may be in the cards for the US to get more directly involved in helping ISIS take over Syria - of course. ISIS forces in Syria will be regiven their Syria name given to them by the US of (Rebels).
Saudi A is involved and their dictators think they are part of the inner group, but you never know how that will pan out. If ISIS is solidly controlled by CIA/Massod then given the opportunity ISIS may be directed at SA should SA move towards the Chinese.
As a few others have pointed out China is forgotten. But the US may be more worried about China gaining ground in the ME than Russia.
Good points. There are a lot of cards in the actors' hands that can't be seen by the fawning US or European publics. These cards = lives, blood, succor, and they aren't playing the 'game' well.
So if the Russians come out and say they are arming the East Ukranian "rebels" than what does the USA have to say? Hypocrites.
This is a good move on the part of the US and the EU. What we are witnessing are the wars of the Islamic Reformation. The powers of the right need to be in this one. The results should be pre-ordained with minimum bloodloss, while maximizing the negation of the tribal blood lust.
Turkey and Qatar support the ISIS. The US and the EU will support the Kurds. Expect this to spill over into Turkey.
Wait a minute.... that seems to contradict my scorecard that has the US training ISIL in Jordan and Turkey, and the US & Mossad standing up ISIL's fearless leader [the guy with the gold Rolex].
http://www.meforum.org/3838/israel-kurds
New weapons. Sounds like a good time for ISIS to take over the Kurds for an arms run.
ISIS will allow the Kurds to unpack the weapons, thus saving valuable time and labor...
Is this arms supply a quid pro qou for the Kurds providing oil to Israel?
Just wondering....
That and so much more:
http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/study-finds-close-genetic-connection-betwe...
http://rt.com/op-edge/169672-israel-kurdistan-conflict/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/29/israel-prime-minister-kurdi...
http://m.forward.com/articles/201681/why-israel-wants-an-independent-kur...
Tail wags dog, get it?
"US is sending arms to the Kurds as their new proxy mercenary force in Northern Iraq."
The entire US military is a mercenary force. They haven't done one single constitutional action in 50 years.
The best American political movie is Alien, where a totally crazed spaceship-owning company wants to capture and train an utterly uncontrollable alien creature to make it into a weapon, with horrific results. At the time, they labelled that "Science-Fiction". Nowadays, it should be filed under "USA foreign policy documentaries". Think about the USA arming Al-Qaeda, think about ISIS, think about the Neo-Nazis in Ukraine...
Side note:
Einstein never said nor wrote that statement. It's a very widely believed urban legend and that is all. See for example, http://www.news.hypercrit.net/2012/11/13/einstein-on-misattribution-i-pr...
Turkey, who has always strongly opposed an independent Kurdistan and has spent centuries fighting Kurds, may now say "FK you" to NATO and close off the Bosporus Straits to NATO ships. Putin can then bring Turkey back into Russia's orbit.
And all of this because the USA's Sunni Jihadist anti-Assad sprog (aka ISIS) went off script and started doing the same shit in Iraq that they had been doing in Syria, with the USA's blessing, for the last couple of years. The Empire's State Department is obviously staffed by Affirmative Action retards.
///
Turkey has been on the Islamist path now for about 10 years. Atatürk and all he stood for has nearly all been unraveled. I sure hope that the EU continues to stall admitting them. As for NATO, I see less and less strategic value, and more and more a liability having them as a member.
"Putin can then bring Turkey back into Russia's orbit."
Ding ding ding we have a winner!
Islamic State hands out gas, electricity, fuel and food to get local support. Terror coupled with shared spoils. It's how Hamas came to power http://tinyurl.com/otfjdt9
Yeah, as long as you don't get your head lopped off, and convert to their version of Islam, it's so much better than before! So glad we spend $3Tr. on that!!
Don't forget wives. They give out wives too.
This is a case of the year 1000 being injected into the 21st Century.
Not to quibble but that year is 622 rather.
The number of kidnapped Yazidi women forced into sexual slavery is 500 currently.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Budd2r5CcAAg7DU.png
Obama's foreign policy team is actually playing the board game Risk, and basing their decisions off rolls of the dice and 20 year old maps...working out quite well I think...
AL MALIKI
COUP
FORWAR
This is the first sensible act of an insane and schizophrenic Obama Administration.
As I have written since 2007, Iraq is an artificial State. To believe that Kurds, Sunni, and Shi’a can live peacefully together contradicts realty. The political solution to the Iraqi civil war is to construct a new compact. That new compact will be the partition of Iraq into three distinct States.
The best United States strategy for Iraq to defeat a 7th century cave mentality bent on genocide of non-Muslims at the end of a sword, is to arm the Kurdish army with overwhelming firepower to defeat ISIS. The US and its Allied Partners should conduct massive air strikes against the ISIS forces. The combination of the two will defeat ISIS in Iraq, as fast as it begun. There is only one way to deal with Islamic terrorist -- exterminate them before they do you.
Kurdistan is the part of Iraq where the US mission has succeeded.
The failure in Iraq was not military defeat, but diplomatic malpractice. After ISIS, the greatest threat to stability in Iraq is the Iranian puppet, Nouri al–Maliki, the Shi’a Prime Minister. It's not simply that Maliki must go (which will not happen peacefully), but that Iraq be divided into three Nations.
Iraq is not a lost cause. There can be stability and peace, but not until the reality de jure is the same as the realty du jour.
'Americans' are wonderful schemers and masters at social engineering, you have to give them that.
The path is being paved for the Kurdistan country they want so much.
If any people need a nation, it's the Kurds. I just hope they arm their brothers in that newest Islamist hellhole, the people who committed the first true mass genocide, the Turks.
Yes. ISIS are barbarians.
But why does the government have to get involved? Why do my children have to be at risk because of something happening on the far side of the world, that we can do nothing about?
Alternatively:
Why can't regular people, if they so choose, provide or withhold support?
I understand the Kurds primarily lack ammunition.
If people sympathize with them, why can't they simply mail them more ammunition?
Think about the answer to those questions, and it will rapidly become clear why these problems exist.
It is akin to the government philosophy of supressing fires until there is so much combustible material that the conflagaration is unstoppable.
And I guess I just told you why I think this is happening. It is because of the government.
Which government?
All of them.
It is massively unfair, just ZH paranoid wanking, to call the Kurds a proxy mercenary force for the US. The Kurds are the most secular and reasonable ethnic group in the region - though that's not saying much. They've been fighting Saddam, and Iran, and Turkey for generations. They will be murdered and enslaved by ISIS if we don't help them quickly. I doubt they have any interest in being a mercenary force for the US. They don't have to - they do have oil, if ISIS doesn't steal it, and if they can find a way to deliver it. So pull out that other ZH paranoid wanking and say it's all about oil, if you must, but get your paranoid wanking right, will ya?
Not to mention how the US already screwed them over in 1991, leaving them to be savaged by Saddam. And now they're getting pounded by ISIS with US weapons? You might say, we owe them.
Turkey and Iran won't like the US giving the Kurds arms. Valerie Jarrett may pop a cork. It may lead to them breaking free from Iraq. But it's that or they die. Sometimes it gets real, don't it?
erdogan sees his past mistakes regarding qatar's gas via syria, transitioning into europe. the arabs... ie, egypt's `?ussa puppetry?', saudis, and israel were all in collusion? yes, the arabs work with israel when it best suits their needs! kemal ataturk would be proud of his republic today?
he (erdogan) royally fucked-up when his breathren-- the muslim brotherhood and morsi of egypt were dethroned. this was the final straw along with a subversive/ covert ussa cia-operation to cast (erdogan) himself into obscurity by the ussa gulen movement!
guess what? pm erdogan just won the elections hands down yesterday and will change the constitution so he can be the new president. what this means is the ussa's most valuable strategic ally on the defunct nothern tier will switch sides with russia! this means nato's got huge problems. the russian's aren't fond of the muslim brotherhood, but a moar passive and amicable conciliatory trade-off would benefit both sides.
russia would help financially with the 'baku-tbilisi-ceyhan-pipeline' regarding armenian and georgia's smoke and mirrors border disputes with azerbaijan threatening war with armenia over the 'nagorno-karabakh region. certainly all can share in the profits at the crossroads of baku's port. lest we forget that iran has huge gas finds in its nothern corridor bordering the caspian sea also. it's a win-win for all, especially turkey, the transit point to europe.
syria has wound down to a standstill, where a truce is in the making as far as i'm concerned. isis is now landlocked in iraq and with russian and turkish forces forming an alliance with assad's reluctantly agreeing under russian lavrov persuasion?
remember this-- syria has no 'oil' that's worth going to war for... but, it's geography is the heart and soul of the mesopotamia. it borders lebanon, turkey, jordan, iraq, and israel (palestine?),... what one should look at is jordan and israel, both ussa strongest allies.
jmo
"syria has no 'oil' that's worth going to war for"
Tell that to Syrian Army, FSA, militias, and Kurds who have been doing just that for 3 years.
Watching a documentary on WW2. Many Nazi collaborators outside of Gemany were tracked down years later, trialed and executed for treason. What was treason? A blanket term used as widely as "terrorism" is today. Selling art or any kind of national goods to a Nazi, for instance, was treason. For many years "waging an aggressive war" was an act of treason. Under such clause half the world leaders today would dangle on a rope (instead of receving Nobel Prizes).
Putin is tiptoeing on Ukraine, appealing for intervention on humanitarian grounds. In post-WW2 days he'd have the authority to enter Ukraine a day after the first government shell landed in an Eastern region and exectute ship every Maidan Nazi off to Siberia, or worse.
How times change.
Yes, the one essential criterion for treason after WW II was to have been on the losing side. The eponymous Vidkun Quisling being the prime example. http://irishsavant.blogspot.ie/2013/12/was-quisling-quisling.html