The Kurdish assault on the city of Sinjar in Northern Iraq is getting quite a bit of attention:
MOUNT SINJAR, Iraq—Kurdish forces backed by U.S. and allied warplanes began a major assault Thursday aimed at retaking an Iraqi city from Islamic State and severing the extremist group’s crucial supply line to Syria.
Some 7,500 so-called Peshmerga fighters were deployed in the attack on Sinjar city, which has been held by Islamic State for more than a year, the local Kurdish administration said.
By the afternoon, they had seized control of 22 miles of highway south of the town, part of an effort to block Islamic State from sending reinforcements, said Maj. Qasim Samu Shingali, the administration’s head of security in the surrounding Sinjar district.
Not to diminish the bravery of the peshmerga in any way but there’s something most of the news coverage isn’t mentioning. Sinjar, a mostly Yezidi city, is in Kurdish territory or, at least, territory claimed by the Kurds. The Kurds are fighting for their homes and for the land that they consider theirs.
There is very little evidence that the Kurds will fight for Iraq much less for Syria. The peshmerga are a sort of National Guard. My point is that there are distinct limits in the value of the Kurds as allies.
And that doesn’t even take into account the reaction of the Turks who are quietly supporting DAESH. Ataturk’s secular Turkey is truly dead but the country is still a member of NATO. We may face a time when we’ll be forced to choose between the Turks and the Kurds.
…and, none of this effects our national interest…until it does.
@jan
Turkey is a US ally. So, they are a US problem. The Kurds are not a US ally, and they are not a US problem except in relation to Turkey. Israel is not a US ally, and they are not a US problem except in relation to Turkey.
If the US has any interest, it would be to preempt any military action against Turkey. Perhaps the US should bomb the Israelis or the Kurds to let them know we mean business, and Turkey is off limits.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Tasty,
And, what kind of an ally has Turkey been? Have they been reliable or even backed us sufficiently when called upon? If you answer “yes,” then that’s news to me.
@jan
The kind of ally is irrelevant, unless they are to be kicked out of NATO. I would suggest that before bringing as many countries into NATO as possible somebody may want to think about the future.
Turkey as an Islamist country is an ally of the US until they are kicked out of NATO. Ukraine in NATO is one Facebook coup from being a Russian client and a US ally.
If you consider lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing to be loyal acts, Israel is your goto country. Otherwise, they are just a brown nosing client, and when a better patron comes along, Israel will become their client instead. (Oh no, he didn’t. Oh yeah, he did.)
The elites of the world think they are the smartest and can never be wrong. I would suggest that many Americans who complain about the elites are actually the elites themselves.
“If you consider lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing to be loyal acts, Israel is your goto country.”
Tasty,
Maybe I just don’t see the entire picture clearly. However, I’ve never been able to understand the accusations/negative vitriol tossed at Israel. Sometime, explain it to me.
I have never understood the reason Israel is placed upon a pedestal. They are not an ally, and they are not a friend. I am old fashioned about who I consider my friends, and people who spy on me and bug my house do not count. They may be business associates, but I will never trust them.
The truth is that Israel is more like Russia, but if you know their history, it makes sense.
No, they’re a client. Prior to 9/11 I used to say that the Israelis are not our friends and the Arabs are not our enemies. Now I still don’t think that the Israelis are our friends and I’m not so sure about the rest.
Do not mistake your clients for your friends. And, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
Except for the UK, I do not trust the Europeans, but I do have an affinity for the Mediterranean folks.
The Brits ain’t what they used to be.
Jan — Turkey’s been a US ally for going on 70 years. They fought beside us in Korea and in Viet Nam. They’ve housed our military bases for many years and our nuclear-tipped IRBMs until JFK pulled them out in 1962. And they’ve probably treated Greece with more forebearance than that nation really deserved because they wished to stay on good terms with us.
That said … Turkey is in NATO, an alliance against military action in Europe or an alliance against the USSR. Whatever the h*** is going on in Syria and Iraq isn’t a NATO concern, and while we might wish to stay on good terms with Turkey in general, we don’t have an obligation to base our foreign policy in that area on their terms.
Or so I see it.
That said, this is a stupid sideshow.
China may well be the major world power around 2050, if the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t f*** up too badly. India’s got a shot at being the dominant world power somewhere near the end of the century. And after that … the projections are that Africa will rise from a population of 2 billion people to 5 or 6 billion by 2100 and if the per capita GNP rises to decent levels, that continent will pretty much rule the world for centuries to come.
Our struggle with Islamic jihadism may well be the last major conflict that history records for the USA.