Letter to Sen McCain RE CBRN use in Syria

[Randy Daytona]

I'm in the middle of this book right now. Though it can be a bit dry at times, it's worth the effort.

As we are reading the same book, thought you would find this interesting. Looks like Turkey is contemplating its future. Notice it now includes Aleppo, Mosul and Kirkuk...

In the past few weeks, a conflict between Ankara and Baghdad over Turkey’s role in the liberation of Mosul has precipitated an alarming burst of Turkish irredentism. On two separate occasions, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Treaty of Lausanne, which created the borders of modern Turkey, for leaving the country too small. Turkey’s pro-government media have shown a newfound interest in a series of imprecise, even crudely drawn, maps of Turkey with new and improved borders...Turkey won’t be annexing part of Iraq anytime soon, but this combination of irredentist cartography and rhetoric nonetheless offers some insight into Turkey’s current foreign and domestic policies and Ankara’s self-image.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/23...tionalists-want-ottoman-borders-iraq-erdogan/

 

[Brett327]

That's a bit far-fetched. The last thing Turkey needs is to incorporate vast swaths of ungovernable war-torn territory. This is some academic's wet dream, which I deem stupid.

 

[Randy Daytona]

That's a bit far-fetched. The last thing Turkey needs is to incorporate vast swaths of ungovernable war-torn territory. This is some academic's wet dream, which I deem stupid.

The article said it was certainly not official, but struck the author as odd that it was now appearing rather crudely in the Turkish press.

 

[Recovering LSO]

At least the borders would've been drawn by people who actually live there....

 

[Flash]

As we are reading the same book, thought you would find this interesting. Looks like Turkey is contemplating its future. Notice it now includes Aleppo, Mosul and Kirkuk...President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Treaty of Lausanne, which created the borders of modern Turkey....

Erdogan and the other Turkish nationalists who have delusions of such grandeur seem to forget that the vast majority of folks that live there aren't Turks and weren't happy when they were ruled by them 100 or so years ago and aren't happy with the Turks trying to force their way in.

At least the borders would've been drawn by people who actually live there....

Well, not exactly. The populace in those areas are mainly ethnic Kurds and Arabs with just a few ethnic Turks.

That's a bit far-fetched. The last thing Turkey needs is to incorporate vast swaths of ungovernable war-torn territory. This is some academic's wet dream, which I deem stupid.

That is more like it.

 

[Flash]

UNREP, Russian-style.

 

[Brett327]

More like DIWREP.

 

[Flash]

More like DIWREP.

Well, I said it was Russian-style.....

 

[Brett327]

Are we sure it's RAS, or is one of them getting towed?

 

[Flash]

Are we sure it's RAS, or is one of them getting towed?

No wakes or churn from engines so probably just hanging out, refueling.

 

[Brett327]

Whose assessment is that? Why would they do RAS like that and not alongside as we do? Who is replenishing whom? Why wouldn't they copy our methods? That's what most of our near-peer folks do, right?

 

[Hair Warrior]

If Turkish leaders actually want to redraw borders, the Kurds will happily try to take what they think is theirs - incl. some current Turkish territory. It'd be a miscalculation on Turkey's part to seek cartographic change... but who knows what to predict after this summer/fall.

 

[Flash]

Whose assessment is that? Why would they do RAS like that and not alongside as we do? Who is replenishing whom? Why wouldn't they copy our methods? That's what most of our near-peer folks do, right?

Why don't you ask your spy?

 

[Brett327]

Good one.

 

[Randy Daytona]

I don't disagree that Syria is going to be a big mess and that democracy there is extremely unlikely in the near and mid term, but I would offer up Turkey, Morocco and Indonesia as counterpoints to the notion that Islam and democracy are incompatible.

Looks like Indonesia is having a few problems - not sure if this is a one off and contained or the precursor to something bigger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/world/asia/jakarta-protest-blasphemy-ahok-indonesia.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/asia/jakarta-islamist-governor-protest/