Posted on 12/08/2015 12:39:36 PM PST by amorphous
That sounds more dramatic than it actually was. Turkey sent around 150 soldiers and two dozens tanks to Bashiqa, just northeast of Mosul in what Ankara described as an effort to replace an existing contingent of around 90 troops that have supposedly been on a "training" mission with the Peshmerga for the better part of two years.
As we documented over the weekend, this is hardly the first time the Turks have entered the country.
However, the circumstances are quite different this time around. That is, this isn't a anti-terror mission aimed at tracking the PKK. Over the weekend, we asked if Turkey was simply trying to protect lucrative oil smuggling routes run by both ISIS and the KRG. On Sunday, an angry Iraq gave Ankara 48 hours to withdraw the troops - or else.
Ok, or else what? Or else Iranâs Shiite militias will hunt them down and kill them according to a statement from Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. On top of that, at least one influential Shiite politician (the infamous Moktada al-Sadr-linked Hakim al-Zamili) wants PM Abadi to appeal to Moscow for "direct military intervention."
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Anyone have that pic of Fred Thompson from the hunt for red october, and that famous quote.
This story keeps reappearing, despite reports that he Turkish troops were withdrawn. And since when is Turkey friendly with the Peshmerga?
I’d have to guess that if Putin decides to kick azz and take names, things could get ugly for Turkey.
That entire situation is "complicated". There are so many factions with changing priorities, it's hard to track who's who.
One example for others unfamiliar; ISIS is Sunni. Many of its members are former Iraqi troops (Sunnis) who became disenfranchised under the now mostly Shia Iraq government.
So country is against country, sect against sect, and the greedy against everyone else in a constant flux and changing alliances.
A hell of a mess - thanks in no small part to our own abomination of desolation. Turkey friendly with the Peshmerga doesn't compute either. Must be either false or some temporary alliance?
I can’t see how this doesn’t soon become a full-fledged, all encompassing conflagration. And there will be NO winners if nuclear weapons are launched. Yet, in high places sit those seemingly desirous of such. Many in our own Congress and Senate are calling for it - even appropriating funds for it.
I apologize ahead of time, but I haven’t seen this issue discussed on FR or anywhere else for that matter.
During Obama’s address on Sunday he mentioned a “Cease Fire”.
A “Cease Fire” between who?
I got the impression that he was working on or negotiating a “Cease Fire” in Syria or the region in general.
Admittedly, I’ve been away from FR and the MSM for a day, but I would have thought this 0bama statement would have gain some traction.
Please advise.
Nasty possibility. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen that way.
Fascinating comments to consider at zerohedge. Thanks to all posters here and there.
“And since when is Turkey friendly with the Peshmerga?”
For the last few years.
Peshmerga used to used more as a general term for Kurdish fighters. Nowadays “Peshmerga” is used mostly to specifically refer to the Iraqi Kurdish fighters of the KDP party, headquartered in Erbil.
The leadership of the KDP (Barzani) has accomplished a significant diplomatic coup, by cultivating good relations with the Turkish regime (Erdogan). They have done this by clearly separating themselves from the PKK Kurdish Party that has been involved in a long guerrilla war against Turkey. Barzani also helped Erdogan in campaigning among the Kurdish minority in Eastern Turkey. But mostly Barzani got in good with Erdogan by cutting a big oil smuggling deal, which made Erdogan very rich.
It was a major scandal in Turkey a couple of years ago, and is coming back to light with Erdogan’s recently revealed oil smuggling from ISIS. Turkey was the only feasible route for the Iraqi Kurds to oil out to market, otherwise they would be run over roughshod by the Shi’ites running the Baghdad Government.
Erdogan has made smuggling oil from Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria his own family business, with his son Bilal running the tanker ship company to sell the oil internationally, and his son-in-law as the Turkish energy Minister, in charge of all the domestic transportation, storage and refining.
Take anything Obama says with a pinch of salt. Many times he flat out lies, other times his incompetence gets in the way of his scheming, but occasionally, like when he said he was going to fundamentally transform America, he gets his story straight.
Most interesting details, thanks for your informative post.
It is an ever changing situation - all these alliances might reverse themselves in 2016. It would not be surprising.
I am very alarmed that Turkey is being invited into the EU. It just does not make sense. They ought to be kicked out of NATO, for supporting terrorism.
“They (Turkey) ought to be kicked out of NATO, for supporting terrorism.”
Turkey has a lot of useful strengths, but its current regime is anti-western.
We need regime change, and the Turks need it too, as they are sliding toward dictatorship, war and economic ruin.
Understood.
But, he did in fact say he/they were working on a Cease Fire agreement.
I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any pundits from either side asking any questions about his cease fire statement.
Turkey on a training mission with the Kurds!? What a laff.
This whole thing is a mess, but this part is easy:
Obama wants a cease fire by Russia to protect obama’s MB and ISIS buddies in ISIS controlled territories, esp. Syria.
We are at the edge of WW III—Its like the time the Japanese planes were warming up on the carriers, Or like the burial of Archduke Ferdinan, or the Germans massing on the border with Poland. It is minutes from a grim and terrible war that may well go nuclear. Lets hope cooler heard prevail but I don’t see any in Washington. More is coming—thats for sure.
I'm afraid we are too. Any morning we could wake up in a totally different world - one where major cities are smoking ruins and millions upon millions are dead and dying.
Complete destruction is less than an hour away for any city on the globe today - somehow the prophets knew it would be like this over 2,000 years ago.
Isaiah 46:10 "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come..."
The Turkish General Staff missed their opportunity when they floated their ‘e-memorandum’ in April, 2007 to gauge public support for a coup. After that it was all down-hill, and now most of the senior officers at the time are all in prison.
For the record, Turkey has few useful strengths. We cut their FMF (Foreign Military Funding) to zero for a reason. They can’t be trusted.
“For the record, Turkey has few useful strengths.”
Geographic Control of the Bosphorus and Black Sea. Proximity to Russia, Iran and others for monitoring and supporting potential military operations (like the current air strikes from Incirlik). 80 million people (~18 million military age males). Second largest military in NATO (after the USA). Potential (and previous) example of modern Western secular government within the muslim world.
Better that they are turned to the good through regime change, than trown over to the dark side.
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