While President Trump spends his days golfing and watching television, the world around him falls deeper into chaos and instability by the day.
Now that the threat of ostensible consequences from Washington has been definitively put to rest by the President and his State Department’s obvious uninterest in even the symbolic promotion of the American values, dictators and despots around the world have begun behaving with reckless impunity.
Nowhere has that been made more clear than in the Middle East, where our so-called friends in Turkey have begun their second invasion of Syria, this time into the Kurdish canton of Afrin, as part of their genocidal war against the Kurdish people and to fulfill their territorial ambitions of a “Greater Turkey.”
The cantons of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, or Rojava as it is informally known, form a democratic polyethnic state offering peace and stability in a region wracked by brutal war and extremism.
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Their military, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPS) and the Syrian Democratic Forces, have borne the brunt of the campaign to liberate eastern and northern Syria from ISIS and deserve the credit that Donald Trump takes for himself for the successful conclusion of that campaign.
To reward them for their sacrifices and their courage on the battlefield, the Trump administration has thrown them to the Gray Wolves and turned our backs on them.
Unbeliavable moments for a NATO army. Turkish soldiers standing next to fighters of Free Syrian Army chanting: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar” in a village near Afrin, Syria. pic.twitter.com/yhOobFoPKl
— Ebubekir ISIK (@isik_ebubekir) January 22, 2018
Under the tacit endorsement of the United States government, Turkish artillery and rockets have barraged civilian areas over the weekend, killing at least 18 innocents and creating yet another wave of refugees, driving hundreds of thousands from their homes in terror from the onslaught of Turkish military units and their Islamist militia allies.
9/ Here is a map to help you better understand the situation on the ground. These are the 2 areas where they are trying to penetrate Afrin. Turkish army from the North & Turkish backed Syrian rebels from the East. @akhbar pic.twitter.com/9s1XbAfzra
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) January 20, 2018
The United States is standing by and doing nothing as one of Syria’s best opportunities for peace and democracy is in danger of being ground to dust under the jack-boots of Turkish Islamofascist extremism – and all they can do is express “serious concern” as one so-called “ally” goes to war against another – and blames us for it.
“America has acknowledged it is in the process of creating a terror army on our border. What we have to do is nip this terror army in the bud” announced Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Monday, turning on the United States and declaring his intention to destroy the most effective anti-ISIS fighting force in the region.
Now that the Turks have made their move, al-Qaeda’s once again re-branded Syrian affiliate, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, is moving in on the Kurds from the south.
Unreal. So just to recap, the Kurds in Syria are now being attacked from all sides.
Around Afrin by Turkish army (from north &west), by FSA (north &east), by al-Qaeda linked HTS (south).
In Eastern Syria by ISIS, southeast Deir Ezzor.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) January 24, 2018
We cannot allow the treads of Turkish tanks to open yet another new war in Syria and to crush the noble aspirations of Kurdish autonomy. If Afrin falls, the Turks will turn to Manbij in the east, where the United States has a significant ground presence, possibly drawing us into yet another regional conflict with an ally that supported ISIS and houses a U.S. airbase where we store at least 50 nuclear weapons.
What does the United States have to say about this?
#Afrin situation developed as we were leaving. US now engaged intensively to urge restraint and de-escalation. We are prepared to work with Turkey on legitimate security concerns, but prolonged operation risks giving life to ISIS as its on verge of defeat. @POTUS readout – pic.twitter.com/vYqtXEcqW2
— Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) January 24, 2018
The word of the United States will mean absolutely nothing if we turn our backs on the YPG and allow an authoritarian despot like Erdogan to target and abuse a democratic ally in such callous fashion.
EMERGENCY PROTEST FOR AFRIN IN DC
Date: 1/26/2018
Time: 1:00pm
Location: U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW, Washington DC
Bring signs and flags!#TwitterKurds #AfrinNotAlone https://t.co/HdqlOEg3ip pic.twitter.com/CpXmZLCSiF— #AfrinSavaşınaHAYIR (@mjb____) January 18, 2018