Turkey trying to goad the West into attacking Assad

So, as IS have been fighting over the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kurbane for the past 3 weeks, right on the frontier with Turkey and with the their Parliament recently authorising action against IS, you'd think they'd get involved to stop them, but it would appear they are holding back from taking any action, even if it means the town will fall, in an effort to blackmail the Western powers.

Turkey wants Assad gone, that much has been obvious for a while and in return for sending their troops over the border (which they are prepared to do) to attack IS and to allow foreign jets to launch from inside their country they want something in return.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted on a visit to a refugee camp for Syrians that "right now, Kobane is about to fall".

He said: "We had warned the West. We wanted three things: no-fly zone, a secure zone parallel to that, and the training of moderate Syrian rebels."

Mr Erdogan said that "the terror will not be over... unless we co-operate for a ground operation", although he gave no further details.

Last week, Turkey pledged to prevent Kobane from falling to IS and its parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria.

But Kurds have accused Turkey of simply standing by as IS advanced on the Syrian Kurds defending Kobane.

Link

So, it would appear that rather than being a Western plot to overthrow Assad - the State Department has maintained the line they're only targeting IS positions and the UK point blank refuses to bomb anything in Syria - it is actually a plot by the regional powers, namely Turkey but including others such as Saudi and Qatar who have been very active in funding the rebels and are indirectly responsible for the rise of IS.

I know there will be those who won't believe it - everything must be an evil Western plot - but I wanted to post this thread to show that the problem in the ME is not a 2 dimensional, black and white situation.

Interesting observation. I dunno, Turkey is fairly well armed, know the region and people involved and has many assets at their disposal.

Something tells me they're playing it smart and when they finally decide to move against ISIS it'll knock the snot out of them.

Hopefully the Kurds who have been holding their own and doing quite well will get some relief.

a reply to: stumason

the problem in the ME is not a 2 dimensional, black and white situation.

Yes it is. heres how you tell…

quick-- name a country in the middle east the US has not bombed invaded or occupied.

They're next.

a reply to: stumason




Barry has been hinting this all alone ISIL..

a reply to: intrptr

Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain, Egypt...

There, I named 5 and can name more.

Honestly, I try to present a case and this is the sort of brain-dead response I get. I shouldn't be surprised, as I've seen you in other threads peddling the "evil Western plot" line, even going so far as to say we've supplied weapons to IS.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Fairly well armed? They're a NATO member with the second largest Army in the organisation (after the US of course) and the largest in the region, with modern, Western weaponry. Not to mention their large, advanced Air Force and considerable Navy, they are arguable the regional superpower.

Their lack of action against IS previously was a pragmatic response to work towards the toppling of Assad, though it seems this policy has bit them on the arse and now they are looking for Western backing to topple Assad if they are to move against IS.

Turks were closing an eye, allowing passage of European ISIS militants into the middle east.
And the US knew and were allowing it back when ISIS leaders were sitting inches away from McCain, all discussing how to beat Assad.
Now that Putin won't allow Obama to mess with Assad, Turkey is whinging and provoking an organized assault on Syria anyway.

a reply to: stumason

Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain, Egypt…

We occupy for out of five on your brain dead list. I did say…

…bombed invaded or occupied.

Iran is next.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: stumason

Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain, Egypt…

We occupy for out of five on your brain dead list. I did say…

…bombed invaded or occupied.

Iran is next.

Wait are you saying we occupied Jordan, SA, Bahrain and Egypt ----- and no one noticed this?

As a fellow member of NATO and the 8th strongest military, and lets not forget they are host to approx. 60-80 nuclear weapons for the US. Turkey has been licking their chops as this whole thing has progressed....

originally posted by: thesmokingman
As a fellow member of NATO and the 8th strongest military, and lets not forget they are host to approx. 60-80 nuclear weapons for the US. Turkey has been licking their chops as this whole thing has progressed....

And its just not Turkey that wants Assad out. Pretty much every country does...

a reply to: intrptr

No, the US doesn't "occupy" them in the slightest - talk about stretching a definition!

And people have been saying we're going to "bomb Iran" since I've been on the forum - still nothing yet and if anything, relations have warmed between Iran and the West.

originally posted by: thesmokingman

originally posted by: thesmokingman
As a fellow member of NATO and the 8th strongest military, and lets not forget they are host to approx. 60-80 nuclear weapons for the US. Turkey has been licking their chops as this whole thing has progressed....

And its just not Turkey that wants Assad out. Pretty much every country does...

Except of course Iran who see him as a Shia ally against the Sunni and a pathway for support to their Hezbollah allies.

originally posted by: stumason
a reply to: intrptr

No, the US doesn't "occupy" them in the slightest - talk about stretching a definition!

And people have been saying we're going to "bomb Iran" since I've been on the forum - still nothing yet and if anything, relations have warmed between Iran and the West.

That's been on the table since 1979

a reply to: Hanslune

Quite - it's not happened yet and looking increasingly less likely.

a reply to: stumason

I would agree I believe it is far more possible for a Sunni/Shia proxy war in Syria to involve the Iranian based side to start attacking Sunni countries (Jordan) covertly which will trigger retaliation.

a reply to: intrptr

well there is jordan, kuwait, saudi arabia, iran, egypt, turkey, oman, yemen....yeah we've only declared war on 2 middle eastern nations ever but aside from that we've only acted in a hostile manner on 3 or 4 other middle eastern nations in the last 100 years, so yeah it would be nice to think before stating something like it's a fact just because you feel like it's true

originally posted by: stumason
a reply to: intrptr

No, the US doesn't "occupy" them in the slightest - talk about stretching a definition!

And people have been saying we're going to "bomb Iran" since I've been on the forum - still nothing yet and if anything, relations have warmed between Iran and the West.

Relations have warmed between Iran and certain countries in the West, particularly the U.K of late, but not the U.S. Israel will not allow that to happen ever.

Iran isn't on the agenda just yet, but it will be. Is it not the western's intention to bring down all dictators eventually? I think it is and it all started with the Kosovo problem. By removing the last remaining dictator in Europe, they then turned their attention to the M.E.

Some May say Iran isn't a dictatorship,but with the Ayatollah at the helm, for all intents, it is. Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't.

As for the Turks not assisting the Kurds, no big surprise, especially given the history between them.

The hell with that Turkish fascist.
What about all the innocent Syrians this pig helped kill with his vendetta against Assad?

They get rid of Assad and have another Libya with an ongoing war of all those war lords now in Syria.

It will be more suffering for the Syrian people when the overthrow of Assad will become another Afghanistan and Libya combined.

All the nutty Jihadists in the world will come in and fight each other while this Turkish fascist sits back and kisses Obama’s ass...

It’s crystal clear this running dog Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has made a deal with the devil, ISIS. What leader in his right mind would want a mad group of lunatics on their border like ISIS?

The release and exchange of those hostages has proven this also.