Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
Charles Lister‏
Verifizierter Account
#@Charles_Lister 13. Mai
Very insightful article by @ColinKahl, illustrating #Obama admin perspective on U.S relations with #YPG & #Turkey:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/12/...syria-trump/#…

But I stress it’s illustrative of #Obama admin perspective above/beyond anything else - except 1 line, US goes entirely unblamed.

Did anyone seriously think giving #Erdogan a referendum ‘congrats' & a White House visit would smooth over overt support to #YPG/#PKK?

Turkey committed egregious errors of judgement in #Syria pre-'14, but *we* also chose to back #Ankara's 30yr+ terrorist enemy: #PKK.

While glossing over U.S. provocations, the article presents #Turkey's strikes on #YPG/#PKK as a mistake. Would we have done different?

Moreover, the prospect of a “#Turkey-Kurd war” is proposed as a danger to #Raqqa, but it’s already a reality *because of* US strategy.

Raising #Turkey’s mistakes is *very* justified, but glossing over escalatory consequences of U.S. support to #YPG/#PKK is dishonest.

As I’ve said before, picking #YPG as our *only* partner in '14 was the obvious [& easy] option & it’s proven *v* successful, till now.

Point 1: Perhaps #Erdogan’s focus on a NFZ (or similar) in N #Syria was in part to facilitate recruitment of Arab opposition for T&E?

Also: one *has to* acknowledge how desperately naive the US T&E effort was in terms of the conditions imposed on prospective recruits.

The article suggests using #YPG for #Raqqa will prevent it from pursuing its broader goals in #Syria - I mean, really? On what basis?

Countless *very* senior US officials have told me: “we've no control over #YPG decisions - not our job.”

So… where’s our influence?

Suggesting #Turkey pursue talks with #PKK is right (I’ve also said so), but why would it do so while its #Syria affiliate is booming?

Serious Q - In what world (!) could we expect the #YPG to return all heavy weapons given to it by the U.S? I mean really?… Fantasy!

To suggest the U.S should demand a #YPG withdrawal east of ERV is also right - but we’ve tried that before & it determinedly failed.

To suggest an enhanced US focus on countering #PKK (while working with #YPG) is baffling. Our point man in YPG is a 27yr PKK veteran!

Lots of talk of getting #YPG to ‘distance itself’ from #PKK, but #Obama position was they'd no ties at all. Ambiguity = sure failure.

To suggest #YPG withdraws east of ERV in return for #Turkey accepting a land-bridge linking cantons = *everything* #Ankara rejects.
The article by Kahl is insightful, and he is correct to tar and feather Erdogan for playing with fire and then crying about getting burned. Although, I would say that at least one attack attributed to Daesh in Turkey was probably the work of the Turkish secret services looking to kill Kurds and swing a key election.

Having said that, there is no acknowledgement of American and Western failures on the Syria file that derive from:

  • Seeking to concentrate efforts on one or two actors (Al Qaeda and Daesh) out of the dozens of actors and various coalitions fighting in Syria
  • Treating terrorism in the West as the main problem of the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars, rather than spillover from them
  • Refusing to accept that Syrian and Iraqi Sunni Arabs regard the Shias, and sometimes the Kurds, as more of a threat than Daesh or Al Qaeda
  • Wanting maximum control over events in both countries with a minimum of effort
  • Attempting to separate the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts