In August 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the Nineveh province of northern Iraq.
There ISIL carried out a genocide of followers of the Yezidi religion. This included the massacre at the town of Sinjar/Shingal which finally shamed the world into taking action against the group. ISIL also seized the city of Mosul and turned it into their de facto capital in Iraq.
On October 17th 2016 (17/10/16) an operation was launched to liberate Mosul. This was a combined operation.
The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga alongside the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation
Forces (PMF) militias would secure the areas around Mosul while the
Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) would liberate the city itself. All aspects
of the operation were supported by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint
Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
In launching this operation former US President Barack Obama had only one priority. To ensure a quick, flag waving victory to propel his designated successor Hillary Clinton to victory in the November 8th 2016 (8/11/16) US Presidential election.
To ensure this the central element of Obama's plan was to leave the entire western side of Mosul undefended. Dubbed; "The Falls Road" this area would allow ISIL to escape back to Syria while mounting only a symbolic defence of Mosul in time for Obama to claim victory in the city and Clinton to claim victory in the election.
The major flaw in Obama's plan is that if ISIL fighters could flee from Mosul to Syria they could just as easily flee from Syria to Turkey. From Turkey ISIL fighters could travel on to anywhere else in the world such as Europe, Libya, the Philippines or Afghanistan.
Fortunately the PMF were well aware of this threat. On October 29th (29/10/17) they opened a front to the west of Mosul to seal off the Falls Road.
This was completed on November 16th 2016 (16/11/16) with the PMF
liberating
Tal Afar Airport which sits around 7km (4 miles) south of the town of Tal Afar
itself. It created what is known as the Qarrayah - Tal Afar Line
stretching south from Tal Afar to Qarrayah on the southern front of the
Mosul operation.
On March 26th (26/3/17) the PMF created a second line between western
Mosul and Tal Afar. Stretching from Tal Zalat south-west of Mosul to
Badush north-west of Mosul this is known as the Tal Zalat - Badush Line.
It's creation allowed the ISF to open a northern axis within western
Mosul.
The PMF then turned their attention to liberating everything between the Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line and Iraq's border with Syria.
This was completed on June 7th (7/6/17) with the liberation of the
border village of Tal Safuq. It saw the PMF liberate some 28,000kmsq
(16,800milesq) of territory including the ancient city of Hadar/Hatra
and Sinjar/Shingal along with the H47 Highway
between Tal Afar and Syria.
The problem however has always been Recep Tayyip Erdogan the President/Prime Minister/Emperor of Iraq's northern neighbour Turkey.
Erdogan is a neo-Ottoman. That means he wants to re-establish the Ottoman Empire which at its peak stretched from the Balkan region of Europe all across the Middle-East, North Africa (MENA) region. Obviously this includes the Nineveh region of Iraq.
Erdogan sees as key to this effort ethnic Turks known as Turkmen who migrated to northern Iraq and northern Syria during the time of the Ottoman Empire. Tal Afar is predominately occupied by Turkmen.
The Turkmen living in Tal Afar are a mixture of Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. Erdogan is a Sunni Muslim and he supports the nominally Sunni Muslim ISIL. The PMF are predominately Shia Muslims.
Therefore Erdogan's fear has been that if the Turkmen who live in Tal Afar are liberated from the nominally Sunni ISIL by the Shia PMF they will switch their allegiance away from him. That will make it much harder for Erdogan to fulfil his dream of a new Ottoman Empire with he as its Emperor.
To this end Erdogan issued a simple threat to Iraq and the CJTFOIR coalition; If the PMF liberated Tal Afar he would send Turkish troops to support ISIL in stopping them. To back up this threat Erdogan had already deployed Turkish troops to Iraq's Kurdish Region adjacent to Nineveh Province and amassed further troops on Turkey's border with Iraq.
On July 9th (9/7/17) Mosul itself was liberated. This obviously included the area between Mosul and Tal Zalat-Badush line.
On August 20th (20/8/17) Erdogan's threats were ignored and an operation including the PMF was launched to liberate Tal Afar.
In the face of this operation ISIL's defences rapidly collapsed. Tal Afar was liberated on August 28th (28/8/17). Just 8 days after the operation had begun.
Despite the victory in Tal Afar around 350 ISIL fighters were able to flee to the village of al-Ayaziyah. This is located within the Tal Afar municipal area around 10km (6 miles) north of Tal Afar itself.
Al-Ayaziyah is tiny - barely 1kmsq (0.6milesq). However it is located within the al-Sasan mountains. This makes it is extremely difficult to access with heavy armoured vehicles such as tanks. As a result it took the ISF/PMF until August 29th (29/8/17) to re-deploy from Tal Afar to surround al-Ayaziyah.
Yesterday - August 30th (30/8/17) - the ISF/PMF launched their operation to liberate al-Ayaziyah. Despite the ISF/PMF being forced to fight without heavy armour this operation was completed by the end of the day.
That victory has allowed Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to declare today that Nineveh Province which along with the Kurdish Region makes up the bulk of northern Iraq has been totally liberated from ISIL.
I gather though there continue to be some mopping up operations in the areas of exposed desert between al-Ayaziyah and the Peshmerga positions around 2km (1.2 miles) to the north.
At a NATO meeting in late October 2016 the US was left under no illusion of what its allies thought of Obama's plan to allow ISIL to escape from Mosul back into Syria.
So on November 6th 2016 (6/11/16) Obama offered a panicked and poorly thought through solution.
At the same time the Iraqi's were liberating Mosul the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) would conduct an operation to liberate Raqqa which at the time was ISIL's de facto capital within Syria. Located some 200km (120 miles) west of the Syria/Iraq border within the Euphrates River basin.
The SDF is a coalition of Kurdish, Assyrian/Syriac, Turkmen and Arab
forces. Both members of the now defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Arab
tribal forces indigenous to northern Syria.
Unfortunately at the time Obama made this announcement the SDF were in no way equipped to successfully liberate Raqqa. They weren't even located anywhere near Raqqa. As a result the first stage of the operation was for the SDF to advance on Raqqa from the north, west and east.
This first stage was completed on
March 19th 2017 (19/3/17) with the SDF taking up positions at al-Karamah
- roughly 30km (20 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
On March 21st (21/3/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the
town of Tabqa and the adjoining Tabqa Dam. The Tabqa Dam creates Lake
Assad out of the Euphrates River and sits roughly 40km (25 miles) west
of Raqqa.The SDF had reached Lake Assad on January 20th (20/1/17).
On
May 11th (11/3/17) both the town of Tabqa and Tabqa Dam were liberated
by the SDF.
On June 6th (6/6/17) the operation to liberate Raqqa itself was begun.
This saw the SDF enter the city on three axis'; North, West and East. At
the same time the SDF launched a west-to-east sweep on the southern
bank of the Euphrates in order to cut Raqqa off from the rest of Syria.
The northern axis task was to liberate the former Syrian military -
Division 17 - base to the north of the city. This task was completed on
or around August 1st (1/8/17). Since then the northern axis has
maintained a holding pattern.
The southern sweep succeeded in cutting Raqqa off from the rest of Syria on June 29th (29/6/17).
On July 7th (7/7/17) it liberated the village Ukayrishah some 5km (9 miles) south-east of Raqqa. As of July 24th (24/7/17) this southern sweep has been in a holding pattern having secured positions some 10km (6 miles) south-east of Ukayrishah and roughly 25km (15 miles)
south-east of Raqqa.
Within Raqqa itself the western axis entered the city via the Jazra
suburb on June 6th (6/6/17). By July 3rd (3/7/17) the western axis had
succeeded in
completely liberating the Sabahiya, Romaniyah, al-Qadisiyyah and
al-Hattin districts and parts of the an-Nadah and al-Baryd districts.
These all sit on the western outskirts of Raqqa.
The eastern axis began by entering the Mashlab district at the most
south-easterly tip of Raqqa on June 6th (6/6/17). By June 17th (17/6/17)
they had succeeded in liberating the Mashlab, al-Sinaa and Bitani
districts. These all sit on the eastern outskirts of Raqqa.
On July 2nd (2/7/17) the eastern axis entered the Hisham Abdulmalik
district at the very south of Raqqa on the banks of the Euphrates.
Having liberated the Yarmouk district on July 17th (17/7/17) the western
axis entered the Shahada district. This also sits at the very south of
Raqqa directly adjacent to the Hisham Abdulmalik district.
On Thursday August 10th (10/8/17) the SDF were able to declare both the
Hisham Abdulmalik and Shahada districts fully liberated. That limited
ISIL to just 16 districts in the north and centre of the city.
Alongside fighting in the Hisham Abdulmalik district the eastern axis
also entered the Old City district of Raqqa on July 6th (6/7/17). This
sits directly west of the al-Sinaa and Bitani district and directly
north of the Hisham Abdulmalik district.
The Old City district is made up of four main neighbourhoods. Running
clockwise from the north-east these are; Madi, Rafiqa, Rashid and
Mansur.
On August 13th (13/8/17) the SDF liberated the Madi and Rafiqa
neighbourhoods with the westerly Rashid and Mansur neighbourhoods
remaining under ISIL control. On August 22nd (22/8/17) the SDF's eastern axis succeeded in liberating the Rashid neighbourhood of the Old City district.
Directly to the west of the Old City district you have what is believed to be ISIL's main headquarters within Raqqa.
This stretches across several districts including al-Baytra, Hanah and
the Security Box. It is perhaps better defined by landmarks such as
Harun al-Rashid Gardens, April 7th Park, the National Hospital and the
football stadium.
On June 28th (28/6/17) the western axis entered the an-Nadah district.
This sits directly south of the al-Bayrd district and directly east of
the Hattin district.
Alongside liberating the Shahada district they have continued to advance
in the Nadah district. This includes liberating the Karim district
directly to the south on August 6th (6/8/17).
Although not particularly wide the an-Nadah district is quite long. It
stretches almost from the western outskirts of Raqqa down to the Hanah
district and the National Hospital.
As the SDF have begun to approach ISIL's believed headquarters from both
the east and west they appear to have reached another level of
defences. This means that the intensity of the fighting has increased
dramatically and progress has slowed.
Since my post on August 24th (24/8/17) the eastern axis has continued to fight to liberate the Mansur neighbourhood of the Old City district. They also continue to fight to liberate the al-Rawdah district which they first entered on June 28th (28/6/17).
In both areas the SDF have continued to advance on a city block by city block basis.
Within the Mansur neighbourhood they hold total control of 45% and exert disputed control over 100%. Within the al-Rawdah district they have reached the northern section of the H6 Highway which divides it from the al-Thawrah district putting them in total control of around 70% of the district with disputed control over 100%.
The western axis continues to advance within the al-Nadah district on a similar city block by city block basis. They are currently in the area around the Dalaa junction which is around 50-60% along the length of the district.
On Sunday (28/8/17) the SDF did secure a significant strategic victory when they liberated the Children's Hospital.
This multi-storey complex sits on the junction between the Shahada and al-Moroor districts and what is known as the "Security Box." The al-Moroor district sits directly south of the al-Nadah district. It has long functioned as a base and command centre for ISIL. It was considered one of the key buildings on the south-eastern outskirts of what is believed to be ISIL main headquarters within Raqqa.
During these advances the SDF have been able to rescue over 200 civilian families liberating them from ISIL and bringing them to safety away from the fighting. They have also killed in the region of 190 ISIL fighters.
These gains though have not come without losses with the SDF confirming the deaths of 3 of their fighters.
These include Adnan Abu Amjad. He'd fought heroically with the SDF since the Battle of Kobane in late 2014 and in the battles of Tal Abyad, Tishrin and Manbij where he became head of the SDF's Manbij Military Council (MMC). At the time of his death he was leading the MMC as part of the SDF's efforts to liberate Raqqa.
The battle for Raqqa is taking place at southern edge of an area under SDF control designated; "Shangri-La."
Shangri-La stretches from the Syria/Iraq border to the east to broadly
speaking the Euphrates River in the west. Although there are areas of
Syrian control south of the city of Hasakah generally speaking the
southern boundary of Shangri-La is the Euphrates River basin where ISIL
continue to hold the cities of Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour.
The SDF also control a smaller area in the north-west of Syria roughly
3,000kmsq (1,800milesq) in size. This is centred around the city of
Afrin and has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Between Shangri-La and the Afrin Canton you have a roughly 100km (60 mile) wide area designated; "Garvaghy Road."
On August 24th 2016 (24/8/16) Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor
Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade Garvaghy
Road. The purpose was to prevent the SDF linking Shangri-La to Afrin
Canton because in doing so they would cut a vital ISIL supply route
running to and from Turkey.
Although the western boundary of Shangri-La is generally considered to
be the Euphrates River the SDF do control a small area west of the river
up to and including the town of Manbij. This sits roughly 25km (15
miles) south-west of the Tishrin Dam across the Euphrates. It was fully
liberated on August 27th 2016 (27/8/16).
It is this area Adnan Abu Amjad helped to liberate through the battles of Tishrin and Manbij and where the Manbij Military Council (MMC) was established.
The remaining parts of Syria is dominated by a threeway conflict between ISIL, the Syrians along with their Russian, Iranian and Lebanese backers and the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition.
The Army of Conquest is an Sunni Islamist organisation which is allied with ISIL.
One of the largest factions with the Army of Conquest is the Support
Front/Jabhat al-Nusra (ANF). They are the Syrian wing of The Base/Al
Qaeda (AQ). In an effort to disguise their links to Al Qaeda they have
recently taken to referring to themselves as the Organisation for the
Liberation of the Levant/Hayy'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Nobody recognises
the name change
The second largest faction within the Army of Conquest is the Islamic
Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham
al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham). They are very closely linked to the Muslim
Brotherhood and through the Brotherhood to Qatar and Turkey.
Another significant faction within the Army of Conquest is the United
Turkmen Army (UTA) who are sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen
Brigades (STB). This is formed of the paramilitary wing of the Turkish
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. The UTA are
particularly active within Garvaghy Road alongside the regular Turkish
military.
Other factions within the Army of Conquest include the small but
extremely nasty Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) and Islamist
fragments of the now defunct FSA.
These areas fall under the purview of the Astana Process. This sees Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran working to find a solution to the conflict between Syria and the Army of Conquest.
It was formed in December 2016 in response to the December 12th (12/12/16) liberation of Aleppo City from the Army of Conquest. It takes its name from the city of Astana in Kazakhstan where the majority of its meetings are held.
At around 17:40 on 31/8/17 (UK date) I'll have to pick this up after dinner.
Edited at around 19:00 on 31/8/17 (UK date) to add;
At its first meeting held in Moscow, Russia on December 29th 2016 (29/12/16) the Astana Process drew up a ceasefire agreement which has gone on to be known as the Astana Ceasefire.
The Astana Ceasefire has always been clear that it does not apply to ISIL nor does it apply to Al Qaeda whatever name they happen to be using. At the insistence of Erdogan the Astana Ceasefire also has never applied to the SDF.
The question of whether the Astana Ceasefire applies to the Army of Conquest coalition has always been a more complicated one. With the coalition being led by Al Qaeda does it mean that the Astana Ceasefire also doesn't apply to the other groups within the coalition?
At the second round of meetings in the Astana Process held on January 23rd (23/1/17) and January 24th (24/1/17) attempts were made to resolve this question. An Astana Ceasefire Mechanism was established to decide on a case-by-case basis while all parties pledged to separate "armed opposition groups" from ISIL and Al Qaeda.
At the fifth round of meetings in the Astana Process on May 3rd (3/5/17)
and May 5th (5/5/17) agreement was reached to create four zones within
Syria dubbed; "The Astana Zones." These are zones where ISIL are not considered to be active and the Astana Ceasefire would apply to all groups. Including Al Qaeda.
The three of the four Astana Zones are; An area around Homs Province, An area around the Syrian capital Damascus
and An area along Syria's borders with Jordan and Israel including
parts of Deraa and Quneitra Provinces.
The fourth Astana Zone is an area of Idlib Province directly beneath the SDF's Afrin Canton where Al Qaeda are extremely active. This has been designated; "The Sudetenland" due to Erdogan's desire to annex it as part of his new Ottoman Empire rather like Adolf Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in 1938.
Since May the four Astana Zones have been slowly going into effect.
The first zone to be established was the areas of Deraa and Quneitra Provinces along Syria's borders with Israel and Jordan. Following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in July 2017 US President Trump announced the two nations had agreed to establish the zone. In reality it had gone into effect eight days previously on July 10th (10/7/17).
Following the establishment of the southern zone the Astana Parties next set about establishing the Damascus zone. This really applies to the Ghouta suburb on the eastern outskirts of Damascus.
There efforts have been hampered by a conflict between the Army of Islam element of the Army of Conquest who support the ceasefire and the al-Rahman Legion/Faylaq al-Rahman FSA fragment who oppose it. With the Army of Conquest being unable to decide amongst themselves whether they support the ceasefire the Syrians have continued operations against them.
However on August 18th (18/8/17) the al-Rahman Legion did agree to the ceasefire and the Damascus zone went into effect.
While the Army of Conquest has been deciding the Damascus zone amongst itself the Astana Parties have been pressing ahead with establishing the Homs zone. Sometimes referred to as the; "Rastan Pocket" this is a pocket of territory between the cities of Homs and Hama centred around the town of Rastan.
The Homs zone went into effect on August 3rd (3/8/17). However amid Syrian shelling and an offensive by the Al Qaeda faction of the Army of Conquest on August 29th (29/8/17) there are signs that it is beginning to break down.
As if often the case in diplomacy the Astana Parties have each agreed to the creation of these zones for their own - often very different - reasons.
The southern zone along the borders of Israel and Jordan has probably been the most easy for them to agree on. Within that area the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been fighting the Army of Conquest alongside Syrian forces.
Hezbollah and Israel are sworn enemies of each other. The fighting in the southern zone has periodically caused artillery and rocket fire to stray into Israel. This has prompted Israel to conduct airstrikes against Hezbollah in retaliation.
The last thing anybody wants is for Israel to act unilaterally within what is an already extremely crowded and complex battle space. Therefore all parties have been happy for a ceasefire to take effect in that area in order to remove the threat of further Israeli involvement in the conflict.
Erdogan on the other hand only seems to have signed Turkey up to the Astana Zones in the hope it will allow him to annex the Sudetenland under the pre-text of securing the Idlib zone.
Meanwhile the Syrians, Russians and Iranians have signed up to allow them to divert resources from fighting the Army of Conquest to fighting ISIL. This is something they have been very successful at advancing on ISIL in two main directions.
In the south of Syria they have been advancing east from Damascus to the border with Iraq. By June 9th (9/6/17) they succeeded in reaching the Iraqi border at al-Tanf. This is located around 280km (170 miles) east of Damascus and 160km (95 miles) north-west of the Iraqi town of Rutba.
Al-Tanf had long been used by British, Jordanian and US Special Operations Forces (SOF's) to train another faction in the conflict known as the Southern Front. This is primarily made up of fragments of the FSA that joined neither the Army of Conquest or the SDF. The Syrians arrival at al-Tanf forced that training mission to be abandoned.
From al-Tanf the Syrians have advanced towards Palmyra around 180km (110 miles) to the north-west almost in the exact centre of Syria. Palmyra was of course liberated from ISIL by the Syrians in March 2017.
Having linked up with forces from al-Tanf the Syrians are now advancing from Palmyra to Deir-ez-Zour around 180km (110 miles) north-east. Although it is partially occupied by ISIL the Syrians have maintained control of at least part of Deir-ez-Zour throughout the conflict.
At around 20:45 on 31/8/17 (UK date) I am sadly going to have to pick this up tomorrow.
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Well, That Was a Long Weekend.
This past Bank Holiday Weekend London has seen the Notting Hill Carnival.
This is billed by organisers as; "Europe's Street Party." In reality it is a orgy of violent crime.
Beyond the usual robberies, sexual assaults, stabbings, shootings and acid attacks at least 50% of the time it ends in some form of rioting. Many local residents have taken to simply boarding up their properties, paying for private security patrols and evacuating the area.
The main flashpoint of the weekend is normally the Ladbroke Grove area. This is right by the scene of the June 13th (13/6/17) into June 14th (14/6/17) Grenfell Tower fire.
It is strongly suspected that the UK Labour Party who have strong links to carnival organisers set the Grenfell Tower fire.
At the lower end of their objectives this was done to bring down Kensington & Chelsea council which is elected by and represents the interests of the local residents who are force to evacuate from the path of the carnival.
This year carnival organisers decided to make the Grenfell Tower fire the focal point of the events. The official theme for the carnival was; "Green for Grenfell."
Green is a very significant colour within Islam. According to the Qu'ran Heaven is bathed in green with green cushions and carpets and green garments of fine silk. Martyrs are often referred to as; "Green Birds."
So by instructing carnival goers to wear costumes of green bird's feathers carnival organisers seemed to be making it very clear they consider the Grenfell Tower fire to be a Islamist-style Martyrdom operation like a suicide attack. They also seemed to be making clear they fully support it.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire London has experienced a significant increase in rioting and violent disorder orchestrated by the Labour Party. This included an attack on the offices of Kensington & Chelsea council four days after the fire.
As a result there has been a high level of concern that Labour would use the Notting Hill Carnival to kick off big time. In the name of their Grenfell Tower Martyrs.
On a related note BBC1's big Bank Holiday weekend drama was an adaptation of the J.K Rowling novel; "Strike: Cuckoo's Calling." This featured long speeches about the aspects of social housing policy which the Labour Party have tried putting at the centre of their Grenfell Tower campaign. Quite the achievement with production ending before the fire.
The Notting Hill Carnival also presents a specific security risk to me. Long term readers will know all about the problems I've had with the Labour-linked the Notting Hill Housing Trust. This social housing provider obviously has its roots in the Notting Hill area of London. During carnival their supporters tend to get a bit over excited.
As a result Britain has spent the weekend issuing heavy, coded threats to Labour and carnival organisers to behave themselves.
On Friday (25/8/17) there was a security incident at London's Buckingham Palace. A Muslim man parked his car outside the Palace with a large sword on the passenger seat. Two police officers then mildly injured themselves in a cloud of their own CS gas while arresting him.
Palaces are obviously where Sovereigns live. When it comes to sword attacks this particular Sovereign is something of a veteran.
On Sunday (27/8/17) - the official start of carnival - police made a further arrest in the case raiding a property in west London. The exact address has not been made public but I suspect it was in the Notting Hill area or closely linked to carnival organisers. Most likely through the ownership of the property.
I spent Saturday (26/8/18) night with a police helicopter hovering overhead for the best part of seven hours.
Officially this was to monitor a man who'd climbed a construction scaffold at a Veterinary clinic. When Britain used the death penalty they used to hang people from scaffolds. So this was; "The Man on the Scaffold Attacking the Vets."
Shortly after I went to bed the police helicopter was re-deployed to monitor the evacuation of a Grenfell Tower style housing block during a fire alert. This was caused by someone using a barbecue on their balcony. A curious thing to do at 2AM.
Due to the scale of the security threat presented by carnival the police have to dedicate two helicopters entirely to it. Unlike other public events like football matches and music festivals the organisers don't have to pick up the bill for this.
The weird thing though was this Hurricane Harvey which struck the US state of Texas.
Notting Hill Carnival weekend begins on Friday evening. However the carnival itself doesn't officially begin until Sunday. The serious violence tends to occur on Monday night. So following the initial impact you get several tense days as the level of destruction rises.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday evening. However unless it breached sea defences which it didn't the main concern was not the initial impact. Instead it was the onshore flooding that would build following that initial impact to an expected peak on Monday evening.
So Hurricane Harvey provided an almost perfect base for coded discussions about the Notting Hill Carnival security operation.
For example while I was being deafened by this helicopter various US government Twitter accounts sent out messages with a list of telephone numbers for people to call. Since then my PC has been asking if I'd like to establish a dial-up connection. Don't even get me stated on the problems this has caused Carnival Cruise Lines based out of Corpus Christi.
On Sunday (27/8/17) Britain experienced its own destructive cloud blowing in from the sea. This was an acid haze blowing onto beaches around Sovereign Harbour in East Sussex causing them to be evacuated.
This seemed to be further sign of Britain struggling to follow any potential coded discussions surrounding Hurricane Harvey. The were more concerned about acid attacks at Notting Hill Carnival.
That concern was very real. Just two hours after events in East Sussex one of the charming carnival goers did indeed spray a large crowd with acid. This triggered a stampede potentially leading to a disaster on the scale of the 2010 disaster at the Love Parade in Germany. There 21 people were killed and over 500 injured.
On Monday (28/8/17) La Porte, Texas experienced a chemical emergency of its own. Residents were urged to stay indoors amid reports that a cloud of Hydrogen Sulphide had been released from a local chemical plant.
The East Sussex chemical cloud was widely reported as being Chlorine Gas. If you've built up the experience of Chemical Weapons agents I have over the years it was very obviously not Chlorine Gas. Instead it was some variant of Sulphuric Acid similar to Hydrogen Sulphide.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) also got in on the act. On Friday (25/8/17) they marked the start of the Notting Hill Carnival weekend with a missile test.
On technically Tuesday (29/8/17) they marked the end of the carnival weekend with a second missile test. This one flew over Japan triggering carnival-style air-raid warnings causing panic and forcing people to seek a place of safety.
On technically August 9th (9/8/17) the DPRK announced it was drawing up plans to test fire missiles close to the US territory of Guam. Their leader Kim Jong-Un would make a final decision in mid-August.
In part this was in reference to UK Prime Minister Theresa May's mid-August decision on the structure and scope of a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. As I said at the time the Labour Party can't seriously expect the cover-up to last.
As for what is now Tropical Storm Harvey it has turned out worse then anyone expected.
The initial estimates were that the flood waters would peak on Monday (28/8/17). However it has already produced more than a year's worth of rain in two days. This has prompted the National Weather Service whom everyone rely upon for information to re-draw their maps to increase their flood predictions. The flood peak is now not expected until sometime on Thursday (31/8/17).
The city of Houston has been particularly hard hit prompting people to question why it was not evacuated before Harvey hit.
In Hurricanes the main form of flooding is coastal flooding. High winds produce a storm surge which causes sea levels to temporarily rise about the level of the land. As a result the sea expands over the land.
The other common cause of flooding is river flooding. This is the result of rivers having more water in them then the river bed can hold. As a result the river expands over the land. Storm surges can actually have a damning effect on rivers forcing them to flow back upstream.
These two types of flooding a relatively easy to predict. The worst affected areas are going to be the areas close to the sea and the areas close to the rivers.
What we're seeing in Texas is flash flooding. Simply rain falls on an area faster then the standing water can be absorbed into the water table or run-off into rivers and the sea. This is extremely hard to predict and can happen anywhere where it can rain.
The unpredictability of flash flooding makes it near impossible to tell which areas you need to evacuate people from and which areas it is safe to evacuate people to. Then there are the dangers of the evacuation itself.
The deathtoll from Houston includes a family of six who tried evacuating the area. Their vehicle was caught up in flash flooding and was swept away causing them to drown.
Therefore the best approach is really what Houston has been doing. Wait for the flooding to hit so you can coordinate a rescue effort once you know the areas that need to be evacuated and the areas it is safe to evacuate people to.
11:30 on 29/8/17 (UK date).
This is billed by organisers as; "Europe's Street Party." In reality it is a orgy of violent crime.
Beyond the usual robberies, sexual assaults, stabbings, shootings and acid attacks at least 50% of the time it ends in some form of rioting. Many local residents have taken to simply boarding up their properties, paying for private security patrols and evacuating the area.
The main flashpoint of the weekend is normally the Ladbroke Grove area. This is right by the scene of the June 13th (13/6/17) into June 14th (14/6/17) Grenfell Tower fire.
It is strongly suspected that the UK Labour Party who have strong links to carnival organisers set the Grenfell Tower fire.
At the lower end of their objectives this was done to bring down Kensington & Chelsea council which is elected by and represents the interests of the local residents who are force to evacuate from the path of the carnival.
This year carnival organisers decided to make the Grenfell Tower fire the focal point of the events. The official theme for the carnival was; "Green for Grenfell."
Green is a very significant colour within Islam. According to the Qu'ran Heaven is bathed in green with green cushions and carpets and green garments of fine silk. Martyrs are often referred to as; "Green Birds."
So by instructing carnival goers to wear costumes of green bird's feathers carnival organisers seemed to be making it very clear they consider the Grenfell Tower fire to be a Islamist-style Martyrdom operation like a suicide attack. They also seemed to be making clear they fully support it.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire London has experienced a significant increase in rioting and violent disorder orchestrated by the Labour Party. This included an attack on the offices of Kensington & Chelsea council four days after the fire.
As a result there has been a high level of concern that Labour would use the Notting Hill Carnival to kick off big time. In the name of their Grenfell Tower Martyrs.
On a related note BBC1's big Bank Holiday weekend drama was an adaptation of the J.K Rowling novel; "Strike: Cuckoo's Calling." This featured long speeches about the aspects of social housing policy which the Labour Party have tried putting at the centre of their Grenfell Tower campaign. Quite the achievement with production ending before the fire.
The Notting Hill Carnival also presents a specific security risk to me. Long term readers will know all about the problems I've had with the Labour-linked the Notting Hill Housing Trust. This social housing provider obviously has its roots in the Notting Hill area of London. During carnival their supporters tend to get a bit over excited.
As a result Britain has spent the weekend issuing heavy, coded threats to Labour and carnival organisers to behave themselves.
On Friday (25/8/17) there was a security incident at London's Buckingham Palace. A Muslim man parked his car outside the Palace with a large sword on the passenger seat. Two police officers then mildly injured themselves in a cloud of their own CS gas while arresting him.
Palaces are obviously where Sovereigns live. When it comes to sword attacks this particular Sovereign is something of a veteran.
On Sunday (27/8/17) - the official start of carnival - police made a further arrest in the case raiding a property in west London. The exact address has not been made public but I suspect it was in the Notting Hill area or closely linked to carnival organisers. Most likely through the ownership of the property.
I spent Saturday (26/8/18) night with a police helicopter hovering overhead for the best part of seven hours.
Officially this was to monitor a man who'd climbed a construction scaffold at a Veterinary clinic. When Britain used the death penalty they used to hang people from scaffolds. So this was; "The Man on the Scaffold Attacking the Vets."
Shortly after I went to bed the police helicopter was re-deployed to monitor the evacuation of a Grenfell Tower style housing block during a fire alert. This was caused by someone using a barbecue on their balcony. A curious thing to do at 2AM.
Due to the scale of the security threat presented by carnival the police have to dedicate two helicopters entirely to it. Unlike other public events like football matches and music festivals the organisers don't have to pick up the bill for this.
The weird thing though was this Hurricane Harvey which struck the US state of Texas.
Notting Hill Carnival weekend begins on Friday evening. However the carnival itself doesn't officially begin until Sunday. The serious violence tends to occur on Monday night. So following the initial impact you get several tense days as the level of destruction rises.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday evening. However unless it breached sea defences which it didn't the main concern was not the initial impact. Instead it was the onshore flooding that would build following that initial impact to an expected peak on Monday evening.
So Hurricane Harvey provided an almost perfect base for coded discussions about the Notting Hill Carnival security operation.
For example while I was being deafened by this helicopter various US government Twitter accounts sent out messages with a list of telephone numbers for people to call. Since then my PC has been asking if I'd like to establish a dial-up connection. Don't even get me stated on the problems this has caused Carnival Cruise Lines based out of Corpus Christi.
On Sunday (27/8/17) Britain experienced its own destructive cloud blowing in from the sea. This was an acid haze blowing onto beaches around Sovereign Harbour in East Sussex causing them to be evacuated.
This seemed to be further sign of Britain struggling to follow any potential coded discussions surrounding Hurricane Harvey. The were more concerned about acid attacks at Notting Hill Carnival.
That concern was very real. Just two hours after events in East Sussex one of the charming carnival goers did indeed spray a large crowd with acid. This triggered a stampede potentially leading to a disaster on the scale of the 2010 disaster at the Love Parade in Germany. There 21 people were killed and over 500 injured.
On Monday (28/8/17) La Porte, Texas experienced a chemical emergency of its own. Residents were urged to stay indoors amid reports that a cloud of Hydrogen Sulphide had been released from a local chemical plant.
The East Sussex chemical cloud was widely reported as being Chlorine Gas. If you've built up the experience of Chemical Weapons agents I have over the years it was very obviously not Chlorine Gas. Instead it was some variant of Sulphuric Acid similar to Hydrogen Sulphide.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) also got in on the act. On Friday (25/8/17) they marked the start of the Notting Hill Carnival weekend with a missile test.
On technically Tuesday (29/8/17) they marked the end of the carnival weekend with a second missile test. This one flew over Japan triggering carnival-style air-raid warnings causing panic and forcing people to seek a place of safety.
On technically August 9th (9/8/17) the DPRK announced it was drawing up plans to test fire missiles close to the US territory of Guam. Their leader Kim Jong-Un would make a final decision in mid-August.
In part this was in reference to UK Prime Minister Theresa May's mid-August decision on the structure and scope of a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. As I said at the time the Labour Party can't seriously expect the cover-up to last.
As for what is now Tropical Storm Harvey it has turned out worse then anyone expected.
The initial estimates were that the flood waters would peak on Monday (28/8/17). However it has already produced more than a year's worth of rain in two days. This has prompted the National Weather Service whom everyone rely upon for information to re-draw their maps to increase their flood predictions. The flood peak is now not expected until sometime on Thursday (31/8/17).
The city of Houston has been particularly hard hit prompting people to question why it was not evacuated before Harvey hit.
In Hurricanes the main form of flooding is coastal flooding. High winds produce a storm surge which causes sea levels to temporarily rise about the level of the land. As a result the sea expands over the land.
The other common cause of flooding is river flooding. This is the result of rivers having more water in them then the river bed can hold. As a result the river expands over the land. Storm surges can actually have a damning effect on rivers forcing them to flow back upstream.
These two types of flooding a relatively easy to predict. The worst affected areas are going to be the areas close to the sea and the areas close to the rivers.
What we're seeing in Texas is flash flooding. Simply rain falls on an area faster then the standing water can be absorbed into the water table or run-off into rivers and the sea. This is extremely hard to predict and can happen anywhere where it can rain.
The unpredictability of flash flooding makes it near impossible to tell which areas you need to evacuate people from and which areas it is safe to evacuate people to. Then there are the dangers of the evacuation itself.
The deathtoll from Houston includes a family of six who tried evacuating the area. Their vehicle was caught up in flash flooding and was swept away causing them to drown.
Therefore the best approach is really what Houston has been doing. Wait for the flooding to hit so you can coordinate a rescue effort once you know the areas that need to be evacuated and the areas it is safe to evacuate people to.
11:30 on 29/8/17 (UK date).
Saturday, 26 August 2017
Operation Featherweight: Month 38, Week 2, Day 1.
In August 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran
northern Iraq. This included seizing the city of Mosul which went on to
function as ISIL's de facto capital within Iraq.
On October 17th 2016 (17/10/16) an operation was launched to liberate Mosul. This was a combined operation.
The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga alongside the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militias would secure the areas around Mosul while the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) would liberate the city itself. All aspects of the operation were supported by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
The key flaw in the operation was the failure to seal off the western side of the city. This created a route dubbed; "The Falls Road" to allow ISIL fighters to escape from Mosul to Syria and then from Syria to the rest of the world. Regardless of the risks it presented former US President Barack Obama insisted on this in the hope of securing a swift liberation of Mosul with ISIL mounting only a symbolic defence.
Fortunately the PMF refused to go along with this plan. On October 29th (29/10/17) they opened a front to the west of Mosul to seal off the Falls Road.
This was completed on November 16th 2016 (16/11/16) with the PMF liberating Tal Afar Airport which sits around 7km (4 miles) south of Tal Afar itself. It created what is known as the Qarrayah - Tal Afar Line stretching south from Tal Afar to Qarrayah on the southern front of the Mosul operation.
On March 26th (26/3/17) the PMF created a second line between western Mosul and Tal Afar. Stretching from Tal Zalat south-west of Mosul to Badush north-west of Mosul this is known as the Tal Zalat - Badush Line. It's creation allowed the ISF to open a northern axis within western Mosul.
The PMF then turned their attention to liberating everything between the Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line and Iraq's border with Syria.
This was completed on June 7th (7/6/17) with the liberation of the border village of Tal Safuq. It saw the PMF liberate some 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory including the ancient city of Hadar/Hatra and the now infamous town of Sinjar/Shingal along with the H47 Highway between Tal Afar and Syria.
Unfortunately Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always forbidden the predominately Shia PMF from liberating Tal Afar. Fearing a loss of influence amongst mix of Sunni and Shia Turkmen who make up the bulk of the population of the town Sunni Erdogan stationed troops of the Turkey/Iraq border and threatened to invade should the PMF move to liberate Tal Afar.
On July 9th (9/7/17) Mosul itself was liberated. This obviously included the area between Mosul and Tal Zalat-Badush line.
Since then the ISF have been redeploying its forces to reinforce the PMF in preparation for an operation to liberate Tal Afar.
That operation was launched on Sunday August 20th (20/8/17).
What the ISF have actually done is redeploy the 40,000+ strong force they used to liberate Mosul to liberate Tal Afar. With Tal Afar being around a tenth of the size of Mosul this has seen it be almost completely swamped by ISF forces.
By being able to bring such an overwhelming force to bear the ISF have given themselves the opportunity to attack pretty much any part of Tal Afar at any time they like. However for the sake of simplicity it is easier to talk in terms of them deploying their forces along three axis;
To the east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Al Buwayr. This sits around 30km (18 miles) east of Tal Afar just south of the H47 Highway/M1 Motorway linking Tal Afar to Mosul.
To the west of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves just outside the town of Ibrat ash Shaghirah. This sits around 20km (12 miles) west of Tal Afar just north of the H47 Highway linking Tal Afar to Sinjar/Shingal.
To the south-east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Ayn al-Jahesh. This sits around 55km (30 miles) south-east along the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain.
On Tuesday August 22nd (22/8/17) the western axis entered Tal Afar itself in the al-Kifah (north) district. This is actually the second most westerly of Tal Afar's districts sitting east of Mola Jasim district north of the H47 Highway as it cuts through the town. The western axis liberated this district the same day.
Rather than attacking along the line of the H47 Highway the eastern axis actually banked south of the town. On August 20th (20/8/17) they entered Tal Afar itself in the al-Noor district. This sits mid-way along the eastern outskirts almost in line with Tal Afar's Ottoman-era Citadel.
To say there has not been much fighting in Tal Afar would be an insult to the people doing that fighting. However ISIL seem to have been unable to mount much of a coherent defence of the town in fact seeming to be on the brink of total collapse.
In short order the eastern axis have been able to liberate the al-Sinna (north) district to the north of the al-Noor district. They have also liberated the al-Nasar, al-Jazeera and Kinder al-Yas districts. These all sit in a line south of the al-Noor district.
In equally short order the western axis has been able to liberate the Mola Jasim district to the west of al-Kifah (north) district and the al-Kifah (south) district which sits south of the H47 Highway.
The western axis has gone on to liberate the al-Zaharaa and the Cemetery which sit in line east of al-Kifah (north) district. They have also liberated the al-Saad and al-Wahada districts which sit across the H47 Highway from the Cemetary and al-Zaharaa district.
Most crucially the western axis has also liberated the al-Sinna (south) district east of the al-Kifah (south) district along with the adjacent Seed Store, Hayakel, al-Moalimeen and Orchards districts. These all sit between the al-Kifah (south) district and the al-Jazeera district on the eastern axis.
Yesterday (25/8/17) the eastern axis liberated the al-Montather district which sits south of the al-Jazeera district. They were also able to advance west into the al-Taleaa district where they linked up with the western axis advancing north from the Orchards district.
This means that they have been able to liberate the Ottoman-era Citadel and the centre of Tal Afar's Old City. It also means that Tal Afar is around 65-70% liberated.
Today there are unconfirmed reports that that remaining eight districts have been liberated and the Iraqis will declare victory in Tal Afar tomorrow.
Amid the rapid progress within Tal Afar itself I have struggled to keep up with the progress of the south-eastern axis making its way along the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain. However they have already liberated the towns of Muhallabiyah and al-Tinyah. With the exception of the village or Zambar these are the only main population centres between the towns of Ayn al-Jahesh and Tal Afar.
In the operation to liberate Tal Afar the Iraqis have continued to be supported by CJTFOIR.
However rather than providing air support which is largely covered by the Iraqi Air Force CJTFOIR have focused on providing Special Operations Forces (SOF's) on the ground. Rather than fighting these SOF's have taken up observation posts close to Tal Afar to monitor the battle and offer advice where needed.
Unusually for SOF's the Belgian forces have been given a rather high profile posing for journalists photographs.
On Monday (21/8/17) a Cougar Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle was destroyed by ISIL on the south-eastern axis. Although this was an ISF vehicle completely different from the Dingo MRAP used by Belgian SOF's the rumour went around ISIL supporters that they had destroyed a Belgian SOF unit.
Yesterday (25/8/17) evening a 20 year old Somali Muslim man was shot and killed while attempting a stabbing attack against soldiers in Brussels, Belgium. It is possible that is linked to Belgium's perceived role in ISIL's looming defeat in Tal Afar.
16:25 on 26/8/17 (UK date).
On October 17th 2016 (17/10/16) an operation was launched to liberate Mosul. This was a combined operation.
The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga alongside the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militias would secure the areas around Mosul while the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) would liberate the city itself. All aspects of the operation were supported by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
The key flaw in the operation was the failure to seal off the western side of the city. This created a route dubbed; "The Falls Road" to allow ISIL fighters to escape from Mosul to Syria and then from Syria to the rest of the world. Regardless of the risks it presented former US President Barack Obama insisted on this in the hope of securing a swift liberation of Mosul with ISIL mounting only a symbolic defence.
Fortunately the PMF refused to go along with this plan. On October 29th (29/10/17) they opened a front to the west of Mosul to seal off the Falls Road.
This was completed on November 16th 2016 (16/11/16) with the PMF liberating Tal Afar Airport which sits around 7km (4 miles) south of Tal Afar itself. It created what is known as the Qarrayah - Tal Afar Line stretching south from Tal Afar to Qarrayah on the southern front of the Mosul operation.
On March 26th (26/3/17) the PMF created a second line between western Mosul and Tal Afar. Stretching from Tal Zalat south-west of Mosul to Badush north-west of Mosul this is known as the Tal Zalat - Badush Line. It's creation allowed the ISF to open a northern axis within western Mosul.
The PMF then turned their attention to liberating everything between the Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line and Iraq's border with Syria.
This was completed on June 7th (7/6/17) with the liberation of the border village of Tal Safuq. It saw the PMF liberate some 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory including the ancient city of Hadar/Hatra and the now infamous town of Sinjar/Shingal along with the H47 Highway between Tal Afar and Syria.
Unfortunately Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always forbidden the predominately Shia PMF from liberating Tal Afar. Fearing a loss of influence amongst mix of Sunni and Shia Turkmen who make up the bulk of the population of the town Sunni Erdogan stationed troops of the Turkey/Iraq border and threatened to invade should the PMF move to liberate Tal Afar.
On July 9th (9/7/17) Mosul itself was liberated. This obviously included the area between Mosul and Tal Zalat-Badush line.
Since then the ISF have been redeploying its forces to reinforce the PMF in preparation for an operation to liberate Tal Afar.
That operation was launched on Sunday August 20th (20/8/17).
What the ISF have actually done is redeploy the 40,000+ strong force they used to liberate Mosul to liberate Tal Afar. With Tal Afar being around a tenth of the size of Mosul this has seen it be almost completely swamped by ISF forces.
By being able to bring such an overwhelming force to bear the ISF have given themselves the opportunity to attack pretty much any part of Tal Afar at any time they like. However for the sake of simplicity it is easier to talk in terms of them deploying their forces along three axis;
To the east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Al Buwayr. This sits around 30km (18 miles) east of Tal Afar just south of the H47 Highway/M1 Motorway linking Tal Afar to Mosul.
To the west of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves just outside the town of Ibrat ash Shaghirah. This sits around 20km (12 miles) west of Tal Afar just north of the H47 Highway linking Tal Afar to Sinjar/Shingal.
To the south-east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Ayn al-Jahesh. This sits around 55km (30 miles) south-east along the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain.
On Tuesday August 22nd (22/8/17) the western axis entered Tal Afar itself in the al-Kifah (north) district. This is actually the second most westerly of Tal Afar's districts sitting east of Mola Jasim district north of the H47 Highway as it cuts through the town. The western axis liberated this district the same day.
Rather than attacking along the line of the H47 Highway the eastern axis actually banked south of the town. On August 20th (20/8/17) they entered Tal Afar itself in the al-Noor district. This sits mid-way along the eastern outskirts almost in line with Tal Afar's Ottoman-era Citadel.
To say there has not been much fighting in Tal Afar would be an insult to the people doing that fighting. However ISIL seem to have been unable to mount much of a coherent defence of the town in fact seeming to be on the brink of total collapse.
In short order the eastern axis have been able to liberate the al-Sinna (north) district to the north of the al-Noor district. They have also liberated the al-Nasar, al-Jazeera and Kinder al-Yas districts. These all sit in a line south of the al-Noor district.
In equally short order the western axis has been able to liberate the Mola Jasim district to the west of al-Kifah (north) district and the al-Kifah (south) district which sits south of the H47 Highway.
The western axis has gone on to liberate the al-Zaharaa and the Cemetery which sit in line east of al-Kifah (north) district. They have also liberated the al-Saad and al-Wahada districts which sit across the H47 Highway from the Cemetary and al-Zaharaa district.
Most crucially the western axis has also liberated the al-Sinna (south) district east of the al-Kifah (south) district along with the adjacent Seed Store, Hayakel, al-Moalimeen and Orchards districts. These all sit between the al-Kifah (south) district and the al-Jazeera district on the eastern axis.
Yesterday (25/8/17) the eastern axis liberated the al-Montather district which sits south of the al-Jazeera district. They were also able to advance west into the al-Taleaa district where they linked up with the western axis advancing north from the Orchards district.
This means that they have been able to liberate the Ottoman-era Citadel and the centre of Tal Afar's Old City. It also means that Tal Afar is around 65-70% liberated.
Today there are unconfirmed reports that that remaining eight districts have been liberated and the Iraqis will declare victory in Tal Afar tomorrow.
Amid the rapid progress within Tal Afar itself I have struggled to keep up with the progress of the south-eastern axis making its way along the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain. However they have already liberated the towns of Muhallabiyah and al-Tinyah. With the exception of the village or Zambar these are the only main population centres between the towns of Ayn al-Jahesh and Tal Afar.
In the operation to liberate Tal Afar the Iraqis have continued to be supported by CJTFOIR.
However rather than providing air support which is largely covered by the Iraqi Air Force CJTFOIR have focused on providing Special Operations Forces (SOF's) on the ground. Rather than fighting these SOF's have taken up observation posts close to Tal Afar to monitor the battle and offer advice where needed.
Unusually for SOF's the Belgian forces have been given a rather high profile posing for journalists photographs.
On Monday (21/8/17) a Cougar Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle was destroyed by ISIL on the south-eastern axis. Although this was an ISF vehicle completely different from the Dingo MRAP used by Belgian SOF's the rumour went around ISIL supporters that they had destroyed a Belgian SOF unit.
Yesterday (25/8/17) evening a 20 year old Somali Muslim man was shot and killed while attempting a stabbing attack against soldiers in Brussels, Belgium. It is possible that is linked to Belgium's perceived role in ISIL's looming defeat in Tal Afar.
16:25 on 26/8/17 (UK date).
Thursday, 24 August 2017
Operation Featherweight: Month 38, Week 1, Day 6.
On November 6th 2016 (6/11/16) the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) launched an operation to liberate the Syrian city of Raqqa
from the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The SDF is a coalition of Kurdish, Assyrian/Syriac, Turkmen and Arab forces. Both members of the now defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Arab tribal forces indigenous to northern Syria. Located on the Euphrates River Raqqa has long functioned as ISIL's de facto capital city.
The first stage of the operation saw the SDF advance on Raqqa in three directions; North, West and East. This first stage was completed on March 19th 2017 (19/3/17) with the SDF taking up positions at al-Karamah - roughly 30km (20 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
On March 21st (21/3/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the town of Tabqa and the adjoining Tabqa Dam. The Tabqa Dam creates Lake Assad out of the Euphrates River and sits roughly 40km (25 miles) west of Raqqa.The SDF had reached Lake Assad on January 20th (20/1/17).
On May 11th (11/3/17) both the town of Tabqa and Tabqa Dam were liberated by the SDF.
On June 6th (6/6/17) the operation to liberate Raqqa itself was begun. This saw the SDF enter the city on three axis'; North, West and East. At the same time the SDF launched a west-to-east sweep on the southern bank of the Euphrates in order to cut Raqqa off from the rest of Syria.
The northern axis task was to liberate the former Syrian military - Division 17 - base to the north of the city. This task was completed on or around August 1st (1/8/17). Since then the northern axis has maintained a holding pattern.
The southern sweep succeeded in cutting Raqqa off from the rest of Syria on June 29th (29/6/17).
On July 7th (7/7/17) it liberated the village Ukayrishah some 5km (9 miles) south-east of Raqqa. As of July 24th (24/7/17) this southern sweep had advanced a further 10km (6 miles) south-east taking up positions roughly 25km (15 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
However at the same time the Syrians have been advancing from the city of Palmyra on the city of Deir-ez-Zour around 130km (80 miles) south-east of Raqqa. On July 30th (30/7/17) the Syrians liberated the village of Dalhah.
Dalhah sits directly in front of the SDF's advance around 10km (6 miles) south-east of Ukayrishah. As a result the SDF have been unable to advance further south-east without getting themselves drawn into a second battle against a second enemy.
Within Raqqa itself the western axis entered the city via the Jazra suburb on June 6th (6/6/17). By July 3rd (3/7/17) the western axis had succeeded in completely liberating the Sabahiya, Romaniyah, al-Qadisiyyah and al-Hattin districts and parts of the an-Nadah and al-Baryd districts. These all sit on the western outskirts of Raqqa.
The eastern axis began by entering the Mashlab district at the most south-easterly tip of Raqqa on June 6th (6/6/17). By June 17th (17/6/17) they had succeeded in liberating the Mashlab, al-Sinaa and Bitani districts. These all sit on the eastern outskirts of Raqqa.
On July 2nd (2/7/17) the eastern axis entered the Hisham Abdulmalik district at the very south of Raqqa on the banks of the Euphrates. Having liberated the Yarmouk district on July 17th (17/7/17) the western axis entered the Shahada district. This also sits at the very south of Raqqa directly adjacent to the Hisham Abdulmalik district.
On Thursday August 10th (10/8/17) the SDF were able to declare both the Hisham Abdulmalik and Shahada districts fully liberated. This limits ISIL to just 16 districts in the north and centre of the city.
Alongside fighting in the Hisham Abdulmalik district the eastern axis also entered the Old City district of Raqqa on July 6th (6/7/17). This sits directly west of the al-Sinaa and Bitani district and directly north of the Hisham Abdulmalik district.
The Old City district is made up of four main neighbourhoods. Running clockwise from the north-east these are; Madi, Rafiqa, Rashid and Mansur. On August 13th (13/8/17) the SDF liberated the Madi and Rafiqa neighbourhoods with the westerly Rashid and Mansur neighbourhoods remaining under ISIL control.
Directly to the west of the Old City district you have what is believed to be ISIL's main headquarters within Raqqa.
This stretches across several districts including al-Baytra, Hanah and the Security Box. It is perhaps better defined by landmarks such as Harun al-Rashid Gardens, April 7th Park, the National Hospital and the football stadium.
Rather admirably on Google Maps someone has registered the business; "ISIS Capital" in this area just north of April 7th Park. The reviews are a blast.
On June 28th (28/6/17) the western axis entered the an-Nadah district. This sits directly south of the al-Bayrd district and directly east of the Hattin district.
Alongside liberating the Shahada district they have continued to advance in the Nadah district. This includes liberating the Karim district directly to the south on August 6th (6/8/17).
Although not particularly wide the an-Nadah district is quite long. It stretches almost from the western outskirts of Raqqa down to the Hanah district and the National Hospital.
As the SDF have begun to approach ISIL's believed headquarters from both the east and west they appear to have reached another level of defences. This means that the intensity of the fighting has increased dramatically and progress has slowed.
Between the liberation of the Madi and Rafiqa neighbourhoods of the Old City district on August 13th (13/8/17) and Tuesday (22/8/17) the SDF failed to liberate a single district.
This slowdown in the SDF's progress has triggered a significant increase in the number of airstrikes by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Forces: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
In the week between August 14th (14/8/17) and August 20th (20/8/17) CJTFOIR carried out in excess of 250 airstrikes in Raqqa alone. To put that in some sort of perspective I think it exceeds the number of airstrikes conducted in all of Iraq in the first two months of operations under former US President Barack Obama.
These strikes seem to be tactically legitimate destroying ISIL fighting units, fighting positions and defensive structures to allow the SDF to advance. However the increase in the number of strikes has raised concerns about both the risk to civilians trapped within Raqqa and of damage to Raqqa's infrastructure.
Despite the slowdown in progress what has not happened is that the SDF has not see an increase in its casualty rate. During that 9 day period between August 13th (13/8/17) and August 22nd (22/8/17) 14 SDF fighters were killed. That is consistent with what you would expect from this type of operation and the casualties the SDF have sustained throughout this battle.
It certainly pales into near insignificance compared with the damage the SDF are doing to ISIL. Although I don't have exact figures ISIL have seen around 360 of their fighters killed during the same period. This includes in excess of 70 being killed in a single exchange with the SDF.
Therefore there seems to be no indication that the SDF's advance has been halted let alone turned back by ISIL. They continue to make progress on the neighbourhood level. Particularly in the Darayeh district which sits north of Shahada and south of Karim.
On Tuesday (22/8/17) the SDF's eastern axis succeeded in liberating the Rashid neighbourhood of the Old City district. That just leaves the Mansur neighbourhood in the north-west to be liberated before the Old City district is completely liberated. That will put the SDF within a city block of Harun al-Rashid Gardens.
While I'm here I should take the opportunity to comment on something that has threatened to become something of an elephant in the room at the diplomatic level.
The British government funded Channel 4 TV network has been a drama it has produced on the ISIL called; "The State." Using fictionalised characters it attempts to tell the story of British volunteers for ISIL.
So for example there is "Ushna" character. She is an composite of various British schoolgirls such as Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum who've run away to join ISIL.
Then there is "Shakira" who travels with her young son. She is a reference to Kadijah Dare whose son Isa Dare was used in an ISIL execution video in February 2016. They've made her a doctor as a device to pose some rather needless questions about ISIL's attitudes towards women's rights.
There are also numerous male fighters. These include British Pakistanis and Black British Muslims alongside White converts from a range of nations including Britain, the Netherlands and Germany.
The State was broadcast in four, one hour episodes daily between August 20th (20/8/17) and August 23rd (23/8/17). However I've only made it through the first two episodes.
With Channel 4 craving attention above all else they have tried to generate a controversy over whether the show humanises ISIL's foreign fighters at exactly the time we are trying to prevent them from travelling to commit atrocities in the west.
I would say that it is certainly guilty of that and seems to be an attempt at terrorist propaganda. However not on the scale of Channel 4 News who have a habit of airing ISIL propaganda videos as fact.
One particularly troubling scene shows a presumably CJTFOIR airstrike against a hospital in Raqqa. Seeming to last for hours this targets the hospital's maternity ward producing graphic scenes of babies being slaughtered in their cribs.
This has never happened. Particularly not during 2015 when the scene is set. That was a period in which Turkey prevented CJTFOIR striking ISIL targets in and around Raqqa.
Amongst the male fighter there is White convert to Islam who previous served with the British Army. With him seeming never to discuss his faith it would be easy to confuse him with any number of people who've joined the SDF's International Brigades.
This seems to be an attempt to draw an equivalency between foreign ISIL volunteers and the SDF's International Brigades. This has long been a strategy of propaganda by both ISIL themselves and the Muslim Brotherhood.
While the majority of ISIL fighters are foreign the SDF's International Brigades are tiny - far below that is normally considered Brigade strength. Those who have joined the SDF have done so because they possess specialist skills such as combat experience. Beyond stopping ISIL they have no unifying ideology.
As at 17:30 on 24/8/17 (UK date) we are now just talking about bad TV I will pick this up after dinner.
Edited at around 18:50 on 24/8/17 (UK date) to add;
Although it seems very much like a piece of ISIL propaganda The State probably best serves as a talking point about western liberals current fetish for Muslims. It's this that drives them to inadvertently believe in and produce Islamist propaganda.
The show seems as if someone has told Channel 4 a little bit about the basics of Islam and a few basic words of Arabic. They've got so over excited by this exotic novelty they have to blurt it out to everyone like some sort of tedious student returning from their gap year.
A lot of the dialogue is in Arabic and touches on Islamic religious concepts like martyrs being Green Birds in Jinnah (Heaven). Whenever this happens a little graphic will pop up on screen giving the Arabic term and its English translation.
It must be said though that the phrase; "The Kurds killed his brother in Kobane" is funny to me in any language.
My main takeaway from The State though is that for a show billed as being on a cinematic scale how cheap and tacky it is.
It features Jessica Gunning who is a reasonably well known supporting actress on British TV.
Gunning plays a character called "Umm Walid" who is a sort of house mother or Aunty at a house for unmarried women who've newly arrived in Syria. It is her job to teach them how to behave as ISIL brides. Gunning plays the role with a bizarre not quite American, not quite Canadian north-American accent that she frequently gives up on mid-sentence.
Through its portrayal of the ISIL maidens The State has clearly been heavily influenced by the US TV Show; "The Handmaids Tale." Through things like female genital mutilation and hangings from cranes that touches on Islams attitudes to women's rights.
It is as if The State has picked up that idea from the Handmaid's Tale and tried to run with it. Before falling over and grazing its knee.
For all its faults The State is rather useful for orientating your way around the current battle for Raqqa.
For their education Umm Walid gathers Ushna, Shakira and other women in a school in Raqqa. This is obviously fictional. However it seems heavily inspired by the Rasheed Secondary school. The SDF are currently around 500 metres/yards west of that.
Many of the scenes are set around a public square in Raqqa. These include bizarrely the beheading of an Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga. That square is based on Harun al-Rashid Gardens. The SDF are currently around 250 metres/yards west of that.
19:20 on 24/8/17 (UK date).
The SDF is a coalition of Kurdish, Assyrian/Syriac, Turkmen and Arab forces. Both members of the now defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Arab tribal forces indigenous to northern Syria. Located on the Euphrates River Raqqa has long functioned as ISIL's de facto capital city.
The first stage of the operation saw the SDF advance on Raqqa in three directions; North, West and East. This first stage was completed on March 19th 2017 (19/3/17) with the SDF taking up positions at al-Karamah - roughly 30km (20 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
On March 21st (21/3/17) the SDF launched an operation to liberate the town of Tabqa and the adjoining Tabqa Dam. The Tabqa Dam creates Lake Assad out of the Euphrates River and sits roughly 40km (25 miles) west of Raqqa.The SDF had reached Lake Assad on January 20th (20/1/17).
On May 11th (11/3/17) both the town of Tabqa and Tabqa Dam were liberated by the SDF.
On June 6th (6/6/17) the operation to liberate Raqqa itself was begun. This saw the SDF enter the city on three axis'; North, West and East. At the same time the SDF launched a west-to-east sweep on the southern bank of the Euphrates in order to cut Raqqa off from the rest of Syria.
The northern axis task was to liberate the former Syrian military - Division 17 - base to the north of the city. This task was completed on or around August 1st (1/8/17). Since then the northern axis has maintained a holding pattern.
The southern sweep succeeded in cutting Raqqa off from the rest of Syria on June 29th (29/6/17).
On July 7th (7/7/17) it liberated the village Ukayrishah some 5km (9 miles) south-east of Raqqa. As of July 24th (24/7/17) this southern sweep had advanced a further 10km (6 miles) south-east taking up positions roughly 25km (15 miles) south-east of Raqqa.
However at the same time the Syrians have been advancing from the city of Palmyra on the city of Deir-ez-Zour around 130km (80 miles) south-east of Raqqa. On July 30th (30/7/17) the Syrians liberated the village of Dalhah.
Dalhah sits directly in front of the SDF's advance around 10km (6 miles) south-east of Ukayrishah. As a result the SDF have been unable to advance further south-east without getting themselves drawn into a second battle against a second enemy.
Within Raqqa itself the western axis entered the city via the Jazra suburb on June 6th (6/6/17). By July 3rd (3/7/17) the western axis had succeeded in completely liberating the Sabahiya, Romaniyah, al-Qadisiyyah and al-Hattin districts and parts of the an-Nadah and al-Baryd districts. These all sit on the western outskirts of Raqqa.
The eastern axis began by entering the Mashlab district at the most south-easterly tip of Raqqa on June 6th (6/6/17). By June 17th (17/6/17) they had succeeded in liberating the Mashlab, al-Sinaa and Bitani districts. These all sit on the eastern outskirts of Raqqa.
On July 2nd (2/7/17) the eastern axis entered the Hisham Abdulmalik district at the very south of Raqqa on the banks of the Euphrates. Having liberated the Yarmouk district on July 17th (17/7/17) the western axis entered the Shahada district. This also sits at the very south of Raqqa directly adjacent to the Hisham Abdulmalik district.
On Thursday August 10th (10/8/17) the SDF were able to declare both the Hisham Abdulmalik and Shahada districts fully liberated. This limits ISIL to just 16 districts in the north and centre of the city.
Alongside fighting in the Hisham Abdulmalik district the eastern axis also entered the Old City district of Raqqa on July 6th (6/7/17). This sits directly west of the al-Sinaa and Bitani district and directly north of the Hisham Abdulmalik district.
The Old City district is made up of four main neighbourhoods. Running clockwise from the north-east these are; Madi, Rafiqa, Rashid and Mansur. On August 13th (13/8/17) the SDF liberated the Madi and Rafiqa neighbourhoods with the westerly Rashid and Mansur neighbourhoods remaining under ISIL control.
Directly to the west of the Old City district you have what is believed to be ISIL's main headquarters within Raqqa.
This stretches across several districts including al-Baytra, Hanah and the Security Box. It is perhaps better defined by landmarks such as Harun al-Rashid Gardens, April 7th Park, the National Hospital and the football stadium.
Rather admirably on Google Maps someone has registered the business; "ISIS Capital" in this area just north of April 7th Park. The reviews are a blast.
On June 28th (28/6/17) the western axis entered the an-Nadah district. This sits directly south of the al-Bayrd district and directly east of the Hattin district.
Alongside liberating the Shahada district they have continued to advance in the Nadah district. This includes liberating the Karim district directly to the south on August 6th (6/8/17).
Although not particularly wide the an-Nadah district is quite long. It stretches almost from the western outskirts of Raqqa down to the Hanah district and the National Hospital.
As the SDF have begun to approach ISIL's believed headquarters from both the east and west they appear to have reached another level of defences. This means that the intensity of the fighting has increased dramatically and progress has slowed.
Between the liberation of the Madi and Rafiqa neighbourhoods of the Old City district on August 13th (13/8/17) and Tuesday (22/8/17) the SDF failed to liberate a single district.
This slowdown in the SDF's progress has triggered a significant increase in the number of airstrikes by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Forces: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
In the week between August 14th (14/8/17) and August 20th (20/8/17) CJTFOIR carried out in excess of 250 airstrikes in Raqqa alone. To put that in some sort of perspective I think it exceeds the number of airstrikes conducted in all of Iraq in the first two months of operations under former US President Barack Obama.
These strikes seem to be tactically legitimate destroying ISIL fighting units, fighting positions and defensive structures to allow the SDF to advance. However the increase in the number of strikes has raised concerns about both the risk to civilians trapped within Raqqa and of damage to Raqqa's infrastructure.
Despite the slowdown in progress what has not happened is that the SDF has not see an increase in its casualty rate. During that 9 day period between August 13th (13/8/17) and August 22nd (22/8/17) 14 SDF fighters were killed. That is consistent with what you would expect from this type of operation and the casualties the SDF have sustained throughout this battle.
It certainly pales into near insignificance compared with the damage the SDF are doing to ISIL. Although I don't have exact figures ISIL have seen around 360 of their fighters killed during the same period. This includes in excess of 70 being killed in a single exchange with the SDF.
Therefore there seems to be no indication that the SDF's advance has been halted let alone turned back by ISIL. They continue to make progress on the neighbourhood level. Particularly in the Darayeh district which sits north of Shahada and south of Karim.
On Tuesday (22/8/17) the SDF's eastern axis succeeded in liberating the Rashid neighbourhood of the Old City district. That just leaves the Mansur neighbourhood in the north-west to be liberated before the Old City district is completely liberated. That will put the SDF within a city block of Harun al-Rashid Gardens.
While I'm here I should take the opportunity to comment on something that has threatened to become something of an elephant in the room at the diplomatic level.
The British government funded Channel 4 TV network has been a drama it has produced on the ISIL called; "The State." Using fictionalised characters it attempts to tell the story of British volunteers for ISIL.
So for example there is "Ushna" character. She is an composite of various British schoolgirls such as Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum who've run away to join ISIL.
Then there is "Shakira" who travels with her young son. She is a reference to Kadijah Dare whose son Isa Dare was used in an ISIL execution video in February 2016. They've made her a doctor as a device to pose some rather needless questions about ISIL's attitudes towards women's rights.
There are also numerous male fighters. These include British Pakistanis and Black British Muslims alongside White converts from a range of nations including Britain, the Netherlands and Germany.
The State was broadcast in four, one hour episodes daily between August 20th (20/8/17) and August 23rd (23/8/17). However I've only made it through the first two episodes.
With Channel 4 craving attention above all else they have tried to generate a controversy over whether the show humanises ISIL's foreign fighters at exactly the time we are trying to prevent them from travelling to commit atrocities in the west.
I would say that it is certainly guilty of that and seems to be an attempt at terrorist propaganda. However not on the scale of Channel 4 News who have a habit of airing ISIL propaganda videos as fact.
One particularly troubling scene shows a presumably CJTFOIR airstrike against a hospital in Raqqa. Seeming to last for hours this targets the hospital's maternity ward producing graphic scenes of babies being slaughtered in their cribs.
This has never happened. Particularly not during 2015 when the scene is set. That was a period in which Turkey prevented CJTFOIR striking ISIL targets in and around Raqqa.
Amongst the male fighter there is White convert to Islam who previous served with the British Army. With him seeming never to discuss his faith it would be easy to confuse him with any number of people who've joined the SDF's International Brigades.
This seems to be an attempt to draw an equivalency between foreign ISIL volunteers and the SDF's International Brigades. This has long been a strategy of propaganda by both ISIL themselves and the Muslim Brotherhood.
While the majority of ISIL fighters are foreign the SDF's International Brigades are tiny - far below that is normally considered Brigade strength. Those who have joined the SDF have done so because they possess specialist skills such as combat experience. Beyond stopping ISIL they have no unifying ideology.
As at 17:30 on 24/8/17 (UK date) we are now just talking about bad TV I will pick this up after dinner.
Edited at around 18:50 on 24/8/17 (UK date) to add;
Although it seems very much like a piece of ISIL propaganda The State probably best serves as a talking point about western liberals current fetish for Muslims. It's this that drives them to inadvertently believe in and produce Islamist propaganda.
The show seems as if someone has told Channel 4 a little bit about the basics of Islam and a few basic words of Arabic. They've got so over excited by this exotic novelty they have to blurt it out to everyone like some sort of tedious student returning from their gap year.
A lot of the dialogue is in Arabic and touches on Islamic religious concepts like martyrs being Green Birds in Jinnah (Heaven). Whenever this happens a little graphic will pop up on screen giving the Arabic term and its English translation.
It must be said though that the phrase; "The Kurds killed his brother in Kobane" is funny to me in any language.
My main takeaway from The State though is that for a show billed as being on a cinematic scale how cheap and tacky it is.
It features Jessica Gunning who is a reasonably well known supporting actress on British TV.
Gunning plays a character called "Umm Walid" who is a sort of house mother or Aunty at a house for unmarried women who've newly arrived in Syria. It is her job to teach them how to behave as ISIL brides. Gunning plays the role with a bizarre not quite American, not quite Canadian north-American accent that she frequently gives up on mid-sentence.
Through its portrayal of the ISIL maidens The State has clearly been heavily influenced by the US TV Show; "The Handmaids Tale." Through things like female genital mutilation and hangings from cranes that touches on Islams attitudes to women's rights.
It is as if The State has picked up that idea from the Handmaid's Tale and tried to run with it. Before falling over and grazing its knee.
For all its faults The State is rather useful for orientating your way around the current battle for Raqqa.
For their education Umm Walid gathers Ushna, Shakira and other women in a school in Raqqa. This is obviously fictional. However it seems heavily inspired by the Rasheed Secondary school. The SDF are currently around 500 metres/yards west of that.
Many of the scenes are set around a public square in Raqqa. These include bizarrely the beheading of an Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga. That square is based on Harun al-Rashid Gardens. The SDF are currently around 250 metres/yards west of that.
19:20 on 24/8/17 (UK date).
Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Operation Featherweight: Month 38, Week 1, Day 4.
In August 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran northern Iraq. This included seizing the city of Mosul which went on to function as ISIL's de facto capital within Iraq.
On October 17th 2016 (17/10/16) an operation was launched to liberate Mosul. This was a combined operation.
The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga alongside the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militias would secure the areas around Mosul while the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) would liberate the city itself. All aspects of the operation were supported by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
The critical flaw within the plan to liberate Mosul was that the entire western side of the city was left undefended. Dubbed; "The Falls Road" this was done at former US President Barack Obama's request in order to ensure a quick victory by allowing ISIL fighters to flee back into Syria.
The problem with this idea is that if ISIL fighters were able to flee to Syria they were also able to flee to Turkey. From Turkey ISIL fighters would be able to travel on to places like Europe, Libya and Afghanistan.
Fortunately the PMF were alive to this threat. On October 29th 2016 (29/10/16) they opened a front to the west of Mosul to seal the Falls Road. This was done by advancing from the Qarrrayh Front south of Mosul to the town of Tal Afar which sits about 80km (48 miles) west of Mosul on the H47 Highway between Mosul and Iraq's border with Syria.
The sealing of the Falls Road was completed on November 16th 2016 (16/11/16) with the PMF liberating Tal Afar Airport which sits around 7km (4 miles) south of Tal Afar itself. This established the The Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line.
On February 26th 2017 (26/2/17) the PMF along with the ISF's 9th Armoured Division moved to tighten the western cordon on Mosul. They did this by advancing from the town of Tal Zalat around 20km (12 miles) west of Mosul to the town of Badush around 12km (7 miles) north-west of Mosul.
The establishment of this Tal Zalat-Badush Line was completed on March 26th (26/3/17). It is this which allowed the ISF's 9th Armoured Division to open a northern axis within western Mosul.
The PMF then turned their attention to liberating everything between the Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line and Iraq's border with Syria.
This was completed on June 7th (7/6/17) with the liberation of the border village of Tal Safuq. It saw the PMF liberate some 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory including the ancient city of Hadar/Hatra and the now infamous town of Sinjar/Shingal along with the H47 Highway between Tal Afar and Syria.
The problem has always been Iraq's neighbour to the north, Turkey. It's President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has forbidden the PMF from moving ahead to liberate Tal Afar itself. Erdogan has deployed troops to Turkey's border with Iraq and threatened to invade if the PMF entered Tal Afar.
Apart from his support for ISIL Erdogan's opposition to the liberation of Tal Afar is that it's population is predominately made up of ethnic Turks.
The Turkmen as they're known are a mixture of Sunni and Shia Muslims. The prospect of the predominately Shia PMF liberating these Turkmen from the nominally Sunni ISIL could well lead to Sunni Erdogan losing vital support in an area he one day hopes to annex as part of his new Ottoman Empire.
On July 9th (9/7/17) Mosul itself was liberated. This obviously included the area between Mosul and Tal Zalat-Badush line.
Since then the ISF have been redeploying its forces to reinforce the PMF in preparation for an operation to liberate Tal Afar.
As of August 15th (15/8/17) they had taken up positions at several locations at the edge of the Tal Afar municipal area;
To the east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Al Buwayr. This sits around 30km (18 miles) east of Tal Afar just south of the H47 Highway/M1 Motorway linking Tal Afar to Mosul.
To the west of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves just outside the town of Ibrat ash Shaghirah. This sits around 20km (12 miles) west of Tal Afar just north of the H47 Highway linking Tal Afar to Sinjar/Shingal.
To the south-east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Ayn al-Jahesh. This sits around 55km (30 miles) south-east along the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain.
On Sunday (20/8/17) the operation to liberate Tal Afar was begun.
The first stage was to reach Tal Afar itself by liberating all the villages and farms in the municipal area. This includes a largely uninhabited area to the north of Tal Afar. That area includes the Camp Numaan military base and the Kasik Oil Refinery.
On that first day of operations the south-eastern axis advanced some 30km (20 miles) amid heavy resistance to liberate the village of Muhallabiyah at the foot of the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain.
The eastern axis advanced some 15km (10 miles) to liberate the village of Qaryat al-Ashiq at the junction where the M1 Motorway becomes the H47 Highway.
The western axis liberated Ibrat ash-Shaghirah and pressed on to Tal Afar.
On the second day of operations (21/8/17) the eastern axis liberated the Camp Numaan base. The western axis entered Tal Afar itself and liberated the al-Nour district. This sits on the north-west side of the H47 Highway as it runs through Tal Afar.
Today (22/8/17) the eastern axis has liberated the Kasik Oil Refinery. The western axis has entered al-Kazraa district of Tal Afar. The south-eastern axis has liberated the village of al-Tinyah just north-west of Muhallabiyah.
Obviously there is something you don't say at the start of a battle.
However it is worth pointing out that Tal Afar is significantly smaller than Mosul. The estimated 2,500 ISIL fighters there have been totally besieged for five months.
17:45 on 22/8/17 (UK date).
On October 17th 2016 (17/10/16) an operation was launched to liberate Mosul. This was a combined operation.
The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga alongside the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) militias would secure the areas around Mosul while the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) would liberate the city itself. All aspects of the operation were supported by the US-led coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
The critical flaw within the plan to liberate Mosul was that the entire western side of the city was left undefended. Dubbed; "The Falls Road" this was done at former US President Barack Obama's request in order to ensure a quick victory by allowing ISIL fighters to flee back into Syria.
The problem with this idea is that if ISIL fighters were able to flee to Syria they were also able to flee to Turkey. From Turkey ISIL fighters would be able to travel on to places like Europe, Libya and Afghanistan.
Fortunately the PMF were alive to this threat. On October 29th 2016 (29/10/16) they opened a front to the west of Mosul to seal the Falls Road. This was done by advancing from the Qarrrayh Front south of Mosul to the town of Tal Afar which sits about 80km (48 miles) west of Mosul on the H47 Highway between Mosul and Iraq's border with Syria.
The sealing of the Falls Road was completed on November 16th 2016 (16/11/16) with the PMF liberating Tal Afar Airport which sits around 7km (4 miles) south of Tal Afar itself. This established the The Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line.
On February 26th 2017 (26/2/17) the PMF along with the ISF's 9th Armoured Division moved to tighten the western cordon on Mosul. They did this by advancing from the town of Tal Zalat around 20km (12 miles) west of Mosul to the town of Badush around 12km (7 miles) north-west of Mosul.
The establishment of this Tal Zalat-Badush Line was completed on March 26th (26/3/17). It is this which allowed the ISF's 9th Armoured Division to open a northern axis within western Mosul.
The PMF then turned their attention to liberating everything between the Qarrayah-Tal Afar Line and Iraq's border with Syria.
This was completed on June 7th (7/6/17) with the liberation of the border village of Tal Safuq. It saw the PMF liberate some 28,000kmsq (16,800milesq) of territory including the ancient city of Hadar/Hatra and the now infamous town of Sinjar/Shingal along with the H47 Highway between Tal Afar and Syria.
The problem has always been Iraq's neighbour to the north, Turkey. It's President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has forbidden the PMF from moving ahead to liberate Tal Afar itself. Erdogan has deployed troops to Turkey's border with Iraq and threatened to invade if the PMF entered Tal Afar.
Apart from his support for ISIL Erdogan's opposition to the liberation of Tal Afar is that it's population is predominately made up of ethnic Turks.
The Turkmen as they're known are a mixture of Sunni and Shia Muslims. The prospect of the predominately Shia PMF liberating these Turkmen from the nominally Sunni ISIL could well lead to Sunni Erdogan losing vital support in an area he one day hopes to annex as part of his new Ottoman Empire.
On July 9th (9/7/17) Mosul itself was liberated. This obviously included the area between Mosul and Tal Zalat-Badush line.
Since then the ISF have been redeploying its forces to reinforce the PMF in preparation for an operation to liberate Tal Afar.
As of August 15th (15/8/17) they had taken up positions at several locations at the edge of the Tal Afar municipal area;
To the east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Al Buwayr. This sits around 30km (18 miles) east of Tal Afar just south of the H47 Highway/M1 Motorway linking Tal Afar to Mosul.
To the west of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves just outside the town of Ibrat ash Shaghirah. This sits around 20km (12 miles) west of Tal Afar just north of the H47 Highway linking Tal Afar to Sinjar/Shingal.
To the south-east of Tal Afar the ISF/PMF positioned themselves around the town of Ayn al-Jahesh. This sits around 55km (30 miles) south-east along the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain.
On Sunday (20/8/17) the operation to liberate Tal Afar was begun.
The first stage was to reach Tal Afar itself by liberating all the villages and farms in the municipal area. This includes a largely uninhabited area to the north of Tal Afar. That area includes the Camp Numaan military base and the Kasik Oil Refinery.
On that first day of operations the south-eastern axis advanced some 30km (20 miles) amid heavy resistance to liberate the village of Muhallabiyah at the foot of the Zambar-Ibrahim Mountain.
The eastern axis advanced some 15km (10 miles) to liberate the village of Qaryat al-Ashiq at the junction where the M1 Motorway becomes the H47 Highway.
The western axis liberated Ibrat ash-Shaghirah and pressed on to Tal Afar.
On the second day of operations (21/8/17) the eastern axis liberated the Camp Numaan base. The western axis entered Tal Afar itself and liberated the al-Nour district. This sits on the north-west side of the H47 Highway as it runs through Tal Afar.
Today (22/8/17) the eastern axis has liberated the Kasik Oil Refinery. The western axis has entered al-Kazraa district of Tal Afar. The south-eastern axis has liberated the village of al-Tinyah just north-west of Muhallabiyah.
Obviously there is something you don't say at the start of a battle.
However it is worth pointing out that Tal Afar is significantly smaller than Mosul. The estimated 2,500 ISIL fighters there have been totally besieged for five months.
17:45 on 22/8/17 (UK date).
Friday, 18 August 2017
The White Terror. Pt. 2
Due to Google having a wobble this MUST be read as a direction continuation of Part 1; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/the-white-terror.html
Erdogan's plans to annex the Sudetenland received another apparent boost on Tuesday (15/8/17). President Trump gave a press conference in which he re-committed himself to doing what he was elected to do. End US Federal Government support for the Democrats Divide & Rule campaign.
This prompted US supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to launch the #ImpeachTrump social media campaign.
US supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood such as @LSarsour and @SaysHummingbird are very easy to identify on Twitter. They tend to use as an avatar an image of a woman wearing a Hijab in the colours of the US flag. Drawn in the style of Barack Obama's 2008 "Hope" campaign these were commissioned by the Muslim Brotherhood as part of their anti-Trump resistance campaign.
Although I seem to have inadvertently started a showbiz feud with Alyssa Milano of all people supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are not people you want to associate with. They frequently try to disguise their bigotry by using the slogan; "Love For All, Hatred For None."
This is actually the slogan of the Ahmadi Muslim sect. Sunni Muslims of the Muslim Brotherhood consider Ahmadis to be heretics and regularly persecute and murder them. The Muslim Brotherhood's actual slogan could well be; "Tolerance For None, Hatred For All."
On Thursday (17/8/17) the Muslim Brotherhood decided to press home their perceived advantage with further violent demands for Erdogan to be allowed to annex the Sudetenland. This time with an attack on the Spanish city of Barcelona.
At around 15:00 (17:00 local) a white van entered Las Ramblas from Placa de Catalunya headed in the direction of the harbour. As the van made its way along this pedestrian area it repeatedly swerved in order to mow down as many innocent people as it could.
By the time the van had come to a halt at Placa de la Boqueria roughly midway along Las Ramblas the attack had killed 14 civilians and injured 130 more.
The driver of the vehicle then fled on foot via the Luna de Istanbul Turkish restaurant. While the restaurant owner made false claims of customers being held hostage by two armed men the van driver escaped the scene.
Almost immediately after the attack the police linked the attack to a house explosion that occurred in the town of Alcanar. This is around 200km (120 miles) south of Barcelona. They also quickly captured a second van believed to be a getaway vehicle in the town of Vic around 80km (50 miles) north of Barcelona.
With the police hot on their heels five members of the terror cell launched into a last stand in the town of Cambrils. This is around 90km (55 miles) south-west of Barcelona. Wearing what turned out to be fake suicide vests the five men rammed their car into a police patrol, exited with knives and attempted to stab people. They were quickly shot and killed.
It would appear that the explosion in Alcanar was part of a failed attempt by the cell to assemble a Vehicle Borne Improvised Device (VBIED). So rather than simply conducting a run-over attack on Las Ramblas the group hoped to conduct a run-over attack from Placa de Catalunya along Las Ramblas where they could detonate their bomb in the harbour area in the shadow of Montjuic - "Jewish Mountain."
This is the route of the funeral procession of leading Antifa figure Buenaventura Durruti.
By the end of the Second World War Franco had managed to distance himself from the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. This allowed him to be embraced by the newly formed NATO alliance as a bulwark against Communism along what is often described as Europe's Soft-Underbelly.
As a result Franco's White Terror continued all the way up until his death in 1975 - ironically on the 39th anniversary of Durriti's funeral.
This means that Spanish Civil War remains a very touchy subject within Spain. Particularly in relations between the central government in Madrid and the Basque region capitoled in Santander and the Catalan region capitoled in Barcelona.
It also means that if you talk about terror in the streets of Barcelona the first words that will pop into a lot of people's heads is; "White Terror!"
The specific van used in the attack was a White Fiat. In terms of motor vehicles "FIAT" is simply an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino.
However in Latin "Fiat" is a wording roughly translating it as; "Let It Be Done."
Particularly in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis lots of people started talking about cash money as being "Fiat Currency." This stems from when trade was done in gold which is really heavy.
So rather than lugging huge amounts of gold about merchants would give people a piece of paper instructing the guards at their gold store to Let It Be Done when the bearer of that piece of paper demanded a certain amount of gold. These notes became known as Fiat Currency and more recently "Bank Notes."
So in Latin "Fiat Alba" roughly translates as the strong statement; "Let It Be Done, Whites!"
Fiat is also a word in the Catalan language spoken in Barcelona. There it means; "Sell." So "Fiat Blanca" roughly translates as the equally strong statement; "Sell the Whites!"
The Democrats Divide & Rule campaign is really something they've borrowed from the world of capitalism.
Corporations divide customers into different 'tribes' and then run marketing campaigns to target those specific tribes. An early example of this is the US cola wars. Coca Cola was marketed at White customers while Pepsi was marketed at Black customers. Much like segregation Pepsi will assure you their product is separate but equal.
As a result corporate America has really embraced Hillary Clinton and the Democrats Divide & Rule campaign because the see tribal division as an opportunity for better targeted marketing and bigger profits. Those corporate lobbyists have also forced particularly greedy members of the Republican Party into condemning President Trump's stance against this division.
The problem is that through things like globalisation and demands for a seemingly endless stream of low paid and often illegal immigrants Corporate America has already given White Americans a severe kicking.
Making "Sell the Whites!" the official campaign slogan of both the Democrat & Republican Party's at the next election will simply drive more people towards groups like those seen in Charlottesville making America a more violent and divided place.
Attacks like this always heighten tension between Muslims and non-Muslims that ISIL, Al Qaeda and neo-Nazis all wish to exploit. By making me to discuss things like the Catalan translation of "White Fiat" I feel that the Barcelona attackers are trying to force me and other commentators to take on the role of recruiting sergeant for neo-Nazi groups.
As such the Barcelona attack was intended as a celebration by the Muslim Brotherhood at their success in weakening President Trump through their actions in Charlottesville.
It also served as a threat to America. Let Erdogan annex the Sudetenland or the Muslim Brotherhood will ratchet up America's racial violence even further making the nation impossible to govern.
Due to the Civil War history Spain has also been strong but softly spoken supporters of the SDF and its International Brigades within the international coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
So as they bury their dead it is also the same threat to Spain;
"Allow Erdogan to annex the Sudetenland and destroy the SDF. Or Else."
At around 17:35 on 18/8/17 (UK date) I'll have to pick this up again after dinner.
Edited at around 19:30 on 18/8/17 (UK date) to add; This might get a little squiffy.
Within Turkey Ercan Can - the owner of the Luna de Istanbul restaurant - is being hailed as something of a national hero. Reading the Erdogan controlled press which in Turkey days is just the press you would think events in Barcelona were nothing more than an attack on a Turkish restaurant.
Almost immediately following the attack in Barcelona ISIL's news agency Amaq claimed responsibility. All this really proves is the extensive damage that the SDF have done to ISIL's command and control structures.
The attack in Barcelona was the first major terrorist attack to strike Spain since the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings. These Al Qaeda attacks killed at least 192 people and injured more than 2,000.
Within Al Qaeda's history Cambrils holds a special significance. It is where 9/11 attackers Mohammed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shibh before attempting to travel to the US.
Although bin al-Shibh was denied entry at the border Atta went on to board American Airlines flight 11 - the first to crash into the World Trade Centre. Bin al-Shibh remains in Guantanamo Bay despite Obama's best efforts to release him.
The Barcelona attack occurred on a significant anniversary for Turkey. On August 17th 1999 (17/8/99) a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the town of Izmit killing around 17,000 people. Outrage at how easily the buildings crumbled significantly helped to propel Erdogan's Islamist Justice & Development Party (AKP) gain power at the 2002 election.
Against the backdrop of a day of national mourning you would think that what was to be presented as an Al Qaeda attack against Turkey would provide Erdogan with the excuse he needed to annex the Sudetenland. To protect Turks from the evils of Al Qaeda.
The YPG fighting as part of the SDF are of course not the only Kurds fighting ISIL. Within Iraq's Kurdish Region the Peshmerga have had great success defeating the group.
Unfortunately the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga are an example of Lions being led by Donkeys. The donkey in this case being Kurdish Regional President Masoud Barzani.
Barzani has got it into his head that if he can seize the Kirkuk oil and gas fields he can sell that oil and gas to Erdogan in Turkey. That will allow him to declare just the Iraqi Kurdish region as the independent nation of Kurdistan.
What Barzani seems to have failed to realise is that Erdogan is a neo-Ottoman. That means he wants to re-establish the Ottoman Empire. That most certainly includes the Iraq's Kurdish Region.
In fact as the Mosul operation was being launched in October 2016 Turkish newspapers ran headlines declaring Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk - basically the entire Iraqi Kurdish region - to be parts of Turkey.
So if Barzani does get his wish Erdogan will simply withhold the oil and gas revenues. With Barzanistan being unable to pay for its own defence Erdogan will then simply invade. Iraq certainly won't help to defend the newly formed Barzanistan and due to its illegal declaration of statehood the international community will be unable to.
However God seems to have conspired against Barzani and given him exactly what he wants. On September 25th 2017 (25/9/17) Barzani will hold an illegal referendum on making his region an independent nation. This will occur a week before Spain's Catalan region holds a similarly illegal referendum.
However unlike Barzani the Catalans do this every couple of years. Their European Union (EU) neighbours are certainly more civilised then Erdogan.
Therefore Erdogan's hope was that the Barcelona attack would be viewed by Iraqi Kurds as him attacking their Catalan brothers. That will drive support for Barzani's referendum speeding up the day Erdogan can make Mosul, Erbil and Kirkuk parts of Turkey.
Within Spain the attack seems intended to increase pressure on both the Catalans and the central government in Madrid.
With the attackers seeming to model themselves on a rational rather than suicidal Molenbeek-style cell and the attack very much resembling the London Bridge attacks that preceded the UK's June election the main part of pressure is the prospect of a similar attack every week until the Catalan vote.
The fact that the cell are dead means that cannot be considered a credible threat.
Today (18/8/17) there has been an apparent marauding stabbing attack in the city of Turku in Finland. Details are still emerging but although Finns will correct you on the pronunciation "Turku" sounds a bit like "Turkey."
As with Sunday's (13/8/17) attack in Burkina Faso and yesterday's attack in Barcelona this builds the mood music of Turkey being under siege from Al Qaeda.
Surely then we must give Erdogan permission to annex the Sudetenland to protect Turkey(!)
20:20 on 18/8/17 (UK date).
Edited again at around 16:20 on 20/8/17 (UK date) to quickly add;
Saying Erdogan wants to conquer both Iraq and Syria's Kurdish regions as part of his new Ottoman Empire is a massive understatement. He really wants to restablish the entire Ottoman Empire which at its peak stretched across the entire Middle-East, North-Africa (MENA) region.
The Mamluk Empire and Islamist Caliphate that the Ottoman Empire replaced actually included most of Spain except for the Basque and Catalan regions. The fact they have often threatend but up until now been unable to attack Spain has long been a source of frustation for Islamists. They have similar feelings about Italy.
Also more details have been confirmed about the stabbing attack in Turku, Finland. This has been confirmed as the nation's first Islamist terror attack and it killed two people wounded eight.
The attacker who was shot, wounded and arrested by the police has been identified only as a Moroccan Muslim. Like the attackers in Barcelona and Mohamed Meziane - perpetrator of the White Terror.
The attacker is believed to have been seeking Asylum/Refugee status and to have specifically targeted white women. Certainly throughout Europe's recent migration crisis this threat of particularly sexual violence against women has been a powerful recruiting tool for racist groups. The term; "Rapeugee" has even been coined to label all refugees as rapists.
This is something that actually runs deep within neo-Nazi ideology. There's a British neo-Nazi band called "English Rose." Their name is a protest against beautiful white skinned English women being defiled by filthy Negroes. Their song; "Antifa Ha, Ha, Ha" seems particularly topical at the moment.
The fact the attack occured in the city of Turku is intended to contribute to the entirely false mood music that Turkey is under constant threat from terrorists in the Sudentenland.
Therefore the message is the same as the message in the Charlottesville and Barcelona attacks. Give Erdogan permission to annex the Sudetenland or else.
What's interesting is that the threat seems to be a racist backlash making nations ungovernable rather than just Islamist terror itself. It suggests even the terrorists aren't that confident in their ability to mount sustained attacks.
Although I mean them no offence beyond the fact they have a city named Turku it is a bit hard to understand why anyone would want to attack Finland. Although they are active members of CJTFOIR I don't think anyone in Finland would or would want to be described as global power players. They're far too sensible for that.
Finland however is right next to Russia. We're actually in the process of marking the hundreth anniversary of Russia's 1917 Revolutions which saw Finland break free from the Russian Empire.
So while the main threat seems to be against the US and CJTFOIR the Turku attack also seemed to be something of a glancing, warning shot against Russia.
Aside from trying to annex the Sudetenland under the pretext of protecting Turks from terrorists Erdogan is also trying to annex the Sudetenland as one of the Astana Zones. In order to do that Erdogan must secure the consent of Russia under the Astana Process.
The Astana Process really only exists as a result of the economic sanctions that Obama and the Democrats imposed on Russia. Without that pressure on their economy it is unlikely that Russia would be giving Erdogan the time of day. Particularly after Erdogan assassinated one of Russia's Ambassadors.
Obama and the Democrats imposed sanctions on Russia because they fully ideologically support the Islamofascists of ISIL and Al Qaeda. However officially the sanctions have been imposed to protect the nations neighbouring Russian from; "Russian Aggression."
The problem is the nation's bordering Russia such as Finland don't see a threat of Russian aggression. In fact at what would normally be described as the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest Finland's entry was; "Blackbird, Blackbird, Go Away."
As such the attack on Finland also seemed intended to serve as a threat to Finland and Russia's other neighbours not to speak out against the US Democrats anti-Russian conspiracy theories.
Mind you the US Democrats seem to have already abandoned the Russian aggression conspiracy theory in favor of the Russian hacking conspiracy theory.
Maybe one day soon they'll tell the truth.
17:00 on 20/8/17 (UK date).
Erdogan's plans to annex the Sudetenland received another apparent boost on Tuesday (15/8/17). President Trump gave a press conference in which he re-committed himself to doing what he was elected to do. End US Federal Government support for the Democrats Divide & Rule campaign.
This prompted US supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to launch the #ImpeachTrump social media campaign.
US supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood such as @LSarsour and @SaysHummingbird are very easy to identify on Twitter. They tend to use as an avatar an image of a woman wearing a Hijab in the colours of the US flag. Drawn in the style of Barack Obama's 2008 "Hope" campaign these were commissioned by the Muslim Brotherhood as part of their anti-Trump resistance campaign.
Although I seem to have inadvertently started a showbiz feud with Alyssa Milano of all people supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are not people you want to associate with. They frequently try to disguise their bigotry by using the slogan; "Love For All, Hatred For None."
This is actually the slogan of the Ahmadi Muslim sect. Sunni Muslims of the Muslim Brotherhood consider Ahmadis to be heretics and regularly persecute and murder them. The Muslim Brotherhood's actual slogan could well be; "Tolerance For None, Hatred For All."
On Thursday (17/8/17) the Muslim Brotherhood decided to press home their perceived advantage with further violent demands for Erdogan to be allowed to annex the Sudetenland. This time with an attack on the Spanish city of Barcelona.
At around 15:00 (17:00 local) a white van entered Las Ramblas from Placa de Catalunya headed in the direction of the harbour. As the van made its way along this pedestrian area it repeatedly swerved in order to mow down as many innocent people as it could.
By the time the van had come to a halt at Placa de la Boqueria roughly midway along Las Ramblas the attack had killed 14 civilians and injured 130 more.
The driver of the vehicle then fled on foot via the Luna de Istanbul Turkish restaurant. While the restaurant owner made false claims of customers being held hostage by two armed men the van driver escaped the scene.
Almost immediately after the attack the police linked the attack to a house explosion that occurred in the town of Alcanar. This is around 200km (120 miles) south of Barcelona. They also quickly captured a second van believed to be a getaway vehicle in the town of Vic around 80km (50 miles) north of Barcelona.
With the police hot on their heels five members of the terror cell launched into a last stand in the town of Cambrils. This is around 90km (55 miles) south-west of Barcelona. Wearing what turned out to be fake suicide vests the five men rammed their car into a police patrol, exited with knives and attempted to stab people. They were quickly shot and killed.
It would appear that the explosion in Alcanar was part of a failed attempt by the cell to assemble a Vehicle Borne Improvised Device (VBIED). So rather than simply conducting a run-over attack on Las Ramblas the group hoped to conduct a run-over attack from Placa de Catalunya along Las Ramblas where they could detonate their bomb in the harbour area in the shadow of Montjuic - "Jewish Mountain."
This is the route of the funeral procession of leading Antifa figure Buenaventura Durruti.
By the end of the Second World War Franco had managed to distance himself from the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. This allowed him to be embraced by the newly formed NATO alliance as a bulwark against Communism along what is often described as Europe's Soft-Underbelly.
As a result Franco's White Terror continued all the way up until his death in 1975 - ironically on the 39th anniversary of Durriti's funeral.
This means that Spanish Civil War remains a very touchy subject within Spain. Particularly in relations between the central government in Madrid and the Basque region capitoled in Santander and the Catalan region capitoled in Barcelona.
It also means that if you talk about terror in the streets of Barcelona the first words that will pop into a lot of people's heads is; "White Terror!"
The specific van used in the attack was a White Fiat. In terms of motor vehicles "FIAT" is simply an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino.
However in Latin "Fiat" is a wording roughly translating it as; "Let It Be Done."
Particularly in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis lots of people started talking about cash money as being "Fiat Currency." This stems from when trade was done in gold which is really heavy.
So rather than lugging huge amounts of gold about merchants would give people a piece of paper instructing the guards at their gold store to Let It Be Done when the bearer of that piece of paper demanded a certain amount of gold. These notes became known as Fiat Currency and more recently "Bank Notes."
So in Latin "Fiat Alba" roughly translates as the strong statement; "Let It Be Done, Whites!"
Fiat is also a word in the Catalan language spoken in Barcelona. There it means; "Sell." So "Fiat Blanca" roughly translates as the equally strong statement; "Sell the Whites!"
The Democrats Divide & Rule campaign is really something they've borrowed from the world of capitalism.
Corporations divide customers into different 'tribes' and then run marketing campaigns to target those specific tribes. An early example of this is the US cola wars. Coca Cola was marketed at White customers while Pepsi was marketed at Black customers. Much like segregation Pepsi will assure you their product is separate but equal.
As a result corporate America has really embraced Hillary Clinton and the Democrats Divide & Rule campaign because the see tribal division as an opportunity for better targeted marketing and bigger profits. Those corporate lobbyists have also forced particularly greedy members of the Republican Party into condemning President Trump's stance against this division.
The problem is that through things like globalisation and demands for a seemingly endless stream of low paid and often illegal immigrants Corporate America has already given White Americans a severe kicking.
Making "Sell the Whites!" the official campaign slogan of both the Democrat & Republican Party's at the next election will simply drive more people towards groups like those seen in Charlottesville making America a more violent and divided place.
Attacks like this always heighten tension between Muslims and non-Muslims that ISIL, Al Qaeda and neo-Nazis all wish to exploit. By making me to discuss things like the Catalan translation of "White Fiat" I feel that the Barcelona attackers are trying to force me and other commentators to take on the role of recruiting sergeant for neo-Nazi groups.
As such the Barcelona attack was intended as a celebration by the Muslim Brotherhood at their success in weakening President Trump through their actions in Charlottesville.
It also served as a threat to America. Let Erdogan annex the Sudetenland or the Muslim Brotherhood will ratchet up America's racial violence even further making the nation impossible to govern.
Due to the Civil War history Spain has also been strong but softly spoken supporters of the SDF and its International Brigades within the international coalition - Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR).
So as they bury their dead it is also the same threat to Spain;
"Allow Erdogan to annex the Sudetenland and destroy the SDF. Or Else."
At around 17:35 on 18/8/17 (UK date) I'll have to pick this up again after dinner.
Edited at around 19:30 on 18/8/17 (UK date) to add; This might get a little squiffy.
Within Turkey Ercan Can - the owner of the Luna de Istanbul restaurant - is being hailed as something of a national hero. Reading the Erdogan controlled press which in Turkey days is just the press you would think events in Barcelona were nothing more than an attack on a Turkish restaurant.
Almost immediately following the attack in Barcelona ISIL's news agency Amaq claimed responsibility. All this really proves is the extensive damage that the SDF have done to ISIL's command and control structures.
The attack in Barcelona was the first major terrorist attack to strike Spain since the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings. These Al Qaeda attacks killed at least 192 people and injured more than 2,000.
Within Al Qaeda's history Cambrils holds a special significance. It is where 9/11 attackers Mohammed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shibh before attempting to travel to the US.
Although bin al-Shibh was denied entry at the border Atta went on to board American Airlines flight 11 - the first to crash into the World Trade Centre. Bin al-Shibh remains in Guantanamo Bay despite Obama's best efforts to release him.
The Barcelona attack occurred on a significant anniversary for Turkey. On August 17th 1999 (17/8/99) a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the town of Izmit killing around 17,000 people. Outrage at how easily the buildings crumbled significantly helped to propel Erdogan's Islamist Justice & Development Party (AKP) gain power at the 2002 election.
Against the backdrop of a day of national mourning you would think that what was to be presented as an Al Qaeda attack against Turkey would provide Erdogan with the excuse he needed to annex the Sudetenland. To protect Turks from the evils of Al Qaeda.
The YPG fighting as part of the SDF are of course not the only Kurds fighting ISIL. Within Iraq's Kurdish Region the Peshmerga have had great success defeating the group.
Unfortunately the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga are an example of Lions being led by Donkeys. The donkey in this case being Kurdish Regional President Masoud Barzani.
Barzani has got it into his head that if he can seize the Kirkuk oil and gas fields he can sell that oil and gas to Erdogan in Turkey. That will allow him to declare just the Iraqi Kurdish region as the independent nation of Kurdistan.
What Barzani seems to have failed to realise is that Erdogan is a neo-Ottoman. That means he wants to re-establish the Ottoman Empire. That most certainly includes the Iraq's Kurdish Region.
In fact as the Mosul operation was being launched in October 2016 Turkish newspapers ran headlines declaring Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk - basically the entire Iraqi Kurdish region - to be parts of Turkey.
So if Barzani does get his wish Erdogan will simply withhold the oil and gas revenues. With Barzanistan being unable to pay for its own defence Erdogan will then simply invade. Iraq certainly won't help to defend the newly formed Barzanistan and due to its illegal declaration of statehood the international community will be unable to.
However God seems to have conspired against Barzani and given him exactly what he wants. On September 25th 2017 (25/9/17) Barzani will hold an illegal referendum on making his region an independent nation. This will occur a week before Spain's Catalan region holds a similarly illegal referendum.
However unlike Barzani the Catalans do this every couple of years. Their European Union (EU) neighbours are certainly more civilised then Erdogan.
Therefore Erdogan's hope was that the Barcelona attack would be viewed by Iraqi Kurds as him attacking their Catalan brothers. That will drive support for Barzani's referendum speeding up the day Erdogan can make Mosul, Erbil and Kirkuk parts of Turkey.
Within Spain the attack seems intended to increase pressure on both the Catalans and the central government in Madrid.
With the attackers seeming to model themselves on a rational rather than suicidal Molenbeek-style cell and the attack very much resembling the London Bridge attacks that preceded the UK's June election the main part of pressure is the prospect of a similar attack every week until the Catalan vote.
The fact that the cell are dead means that cannot be considered a credible threat.
Today (18/8/17) there has been an apparent marauding stabbing attack in the city of Turku in Finland. Details are still emerging but although Finns will correct you on the pronunciation "Turku" sounds a bit like "Turkey."
As with Sunday's (13/8/17) attack in Burkina Faso and yesterday's attack in Barcelona this builds the mood music of Turkey being under siege from Al Qaeda.
Surely then we must give Erdogan permission to annex the Sudetenland to protect Turkey(!)
20:20 on 18/8/17 (UK date).
Edited again at around 16:20 on 20/8/17 (UK date) to quickly add;
Saying Erdogan wants to conquer both Iraq and Syria's Kurdish regions as part of his new Ottoman Empire is a massive understatement. He really wants to restablish the entire Ottoman Empire which at its peak stretched across the entire Middle-East, North-Africa (MENA) region.
The Mamluk Empire and Islamist Caliphate that the Ottoman Empire replaced actually included most of Spain except for the Basque and Catalan regions. The fact they have often threatend but up until now been unable to attack Spain has long been a source of frustation for Islamists. They have similar feelings about Italy.
Also more details have been confirmed about the stabbing attack in Turku, Finland. This has been confirmed as the nation's first Islamist terror attack and it killed two people wounded eight.
The attacker who was shot, wounded and arrested by the police has been identified only as a Moroccan Muslim. Like the attackers in Barcelona and Mohamed Meziane - perpetrator of the White Terror.
The attacker is believed to have been seeking Asylum/Refugee status and to have specifically targeted white women. Certainly throughout Europe's recent migration crisis this threat of particularly sexual violence against women has been a powerful recruiting tool for racist groups. The term; "Rapeugee" has even been coined to label all refugees as rapists.
This is something that actually runs deep within neo-Nazi ideology. There's a British neo-Nazi band called "English Rose." Their name is a protest against beautiful white skinned English women being defiled by filthy Negroes. Their song; "Antifa Ha, Ha, Ha" seems particularly topical at the moment.
The fact the attack occured in the city of Turku is intended to contribute to the entirely false mood music that Turkey is under constant threat from terrorists in the Sudentenland.
Therefore the message is the same as the message in the Charlottesville and Barcelona attacks. Give Erdogan permission to annex the Sudetenland or else.
What's interesting is that the threat seems to be a racist backlash making nations ungovernable rather than just Islamist terror itself. It suggests even the terrorists aren't that confident in their ability to mount sustained attacks.
Although I mean them no offence beyond the fact they have a city named Turku it is a bit hard to understand why anyone would want to attack Finland. Although they are active members of CJTFOIR I don't think anyone in Finland would or would want to be described as global power players. They're far too sensible for that.
Finland however is right next to Russia. We're actually in the process of marking the hundreth anniversary of Russia's 1917 Revolutions which saw Finland break free from the Russian Empire.
So while the main threat seems to be against the US and CJTFOIR the Turku attack also seemed to be something of a glancing, warning shot against Russia.
Aside from trying to annex the Sudetenland under the pretext of protecting Turks from terrorists Erdogan is also trying to annex the Sudetenland as one of the Astana Zones. In order to do that Erdogan must secure the consent of Russia under the Astana Process.
The Astana Process really only exists as a result of the economic sanctions that Obama and the Democrats imposed on Russia. Without that pressure on their economy it is unlikely that Russia would be giving Erdogan the time of day. Particularly after Erdogan assassinated one of Russia's Ambassadors.
Obama and the Democrats imposed sanctions on Russia because they fully ideologically support the Islamofascists of ISIL and Al Qaeda. However officially the sanctions have been imposed to protect the nations neighbouring Russian from; "Russian Aggression."
The problem is the nation's bordering Russia such as Finland don't see a threat of Russian aggression. In fact at what would normally be described as the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest Finland's entry was; "Blackbird, Blackbird, Go Away."
As such the attack on Finland also seemed intended to serve as a threat to Finland and Russia's other neighbours not to speak out against the US Democrats anti-Russian conspiracy theories.
Mind you the US Democrats seem to have already abandoned the Russian aggression conspiracy theory in favor of the Russian hacking conspiracy theory.
Maybe one day soon they'll tell the truth.
17:00 on 20/8/17 (UK date).
The White Terror.
I consume a lot of news. In print, on television and online.
So I understand why most of you could be forgiven for forgetting that there is still a massive war being fought in both Iraq and Syria.
This war is being fought primarily against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Although they use the word "Islamic" in their name ISIL are in fact ideological Nihilists. This school of philosophy sees violence as an end in itself and provided part of the inspiration for the political ideology of Nazism.
As a result ISIL are amongst the worst the world has ever seen. They happily pursue all the crimes against humanity including slavery, sexual violence and genocide.
Within Syria the largest force fighting ISIL is the Syrians themselves. In late 2013 the Syrians campaign against ISIL had taken the group to the brink of defeat. ISIL were pinned down in a small area around the Euphrates River basin in north-east Syria. This is what prompted ISIL to invade Iraq in 2014.
Flush with weapons and cash looted from Iraq ISIL began to grow again in Syria. However in September 2015 Russia sent forces to assist the Syrians in their fight against ISIL. As a result ISIL are now back on the brink of defeat restricted to a small area around the Euphrates River basin.
However the most effective force fighting against ISIL and Syria is a coalition called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD)
The SDF is made up of Syrian Kurdish fighters known as the People's Protection Units (YPG/J). The fight along Assyrian/Syriac forces known as the Syriac Military Council (MSF) and numerous Arab and Turkmen forces. Both fragments of the long defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and tribal forces local to northern Syria.
There are now actually so many Arab and Turkmen groups fighting as part of the SDF is numerous military councils and brigades that I mean them no offence. It is simply not possible for me to name them all individually here.
The primary area under the SDF's control is an area of north-eastern Syria that has been designated; "Shangri-La."
Shangri-La stretches from the Syria/Iraq border to the east to broadly speaking the Euphrates River in the west. Although there are areas of Syrian control south of the city of Hasakah generally speaking the southern boundary of Shangri-La is the Euphrates River basin where ISIL continue to hold the cities of Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour.
The SDF also control a smaller area in the north-west of Syria roughly 3,000kmsq (1,800milesq) in size. This is centred around the city of Afrin and has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Between Shangri-La and the Afrin Canton you have a roughly 100km (60 mile) wide area designated; "Garvaghy Road."
On August 24th 2016 (24/8/16) Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade Garvaghy Road. The purpose was to prevent the SDF linking Shangri-La to Afrin Canton because in doing so they would cut a vital ISIL supply route running to and from Turkey.
Although the western boundary of Shangri-La is generally considered to be the Euphrates River the SDF do control a small area west of the river up to and including the town of Manbij. This sits roughly 25km (15 miles) south-west of the Tishrin Dam across the Euphrates. It was fully liberated on August 27th 2016 (27/8/16).
Erdogan's invasion of Garvaghy Road initially focused on the town of Jarablus. This sits around 35km (20 miles) north of Manbij right on the Syria/Turkey border. Having captured Jarablus Erdogan then wanted his forces to move south to capture Manbij from the SDF. However he was deflected into first capturing other towns with Garvaghy Road such a Azaz, Marea, Dabiq, al-Rai and finally al-Bab.
Having captured al-Bab Erdogan declared on February 28th 2017 (28/2/17) that his forces would advance to capture Manbij from the SDF. On March 1st (1/3/17) Erdogan sent the Turkish forces to unleash a barrage of airstrikes against SDF positions at Manbij including US, British and French Special Operations Forces (SOF's) that were embedded with the SDF there.
This nearly week long crisis was only brought to an end when Russia stepped in. They brokered an agreement that would see Syrian forces take up positions at the town of Armia roughly midway between al-Bab and Manbij. Those Syrian forces would act as a buffer between the SDF and Turkish forces.
As the SDF have made significant progress against ISIL in Raqqa Erdogan has become increasingly aggressive.
On June 22nd (22/6/17) Erdogan deployed more Turkish forces both to the border and within Garvaghy Road. This build up of forces is in preparation for an operation dubbed; "Euphrates Sword" which is intended to invade and capture the Afrin Canton from the SDF.
There is much speculation that this operation will be launched on the anniversary of Erdogan's invasion of Garvaghy Road dubbed; "Euphrates Shield" in and around August 24th 2017 (24/8/17).
On June 30th (30/6/17) Turkish forces both regular and irregular have been shelling Afrin Canton from both within Turkey and Garvaghy Road. This shelling has been near continuous ever since. It has primarily targeted civilian villages and refugee camps. It has also triggered numerous wildfires intended to force civilians from the area.
On August 6th (6/8/17) through to August 8th (8/8/17) Erdogan's forces conducted attacks against Syrian forces at Armia. This seems to have been an attempt to break through the Russian established buffer-zone to allow Erdogan's forces to attack the SDF at Manbij.
On August 10th (10/8/17) Erdogan's forces used anti-Tank weapons specifically to attack a US SOF vehicle at Tal Abyad. This sits within Shangri-La around 55km (30 miles) east of the city of Kobane right on the border with Turkey. The vehicle was destroyed but fortunately no US troops were killed or wounded.
To the south of Afrin Canton you have an area centred around the city of Idlib that has been designated; "The Sudetenland" in reference to Nazi Germany's annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. The Sudetenland is under the control of the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition.
The Army of Conquest is an Sunni Islamist organisation which is allied with ISIL.
One of the largest factions with the Army of Conquest is the Support Front/Jabhat al-Nusra (ANF). They are the Syrian wing of The Base/Al Qaeda (AQ). In an effort to disguise their links to Al Qaeda they have recently taken to referring to themselves as the Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant/Hayy'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Nobody recognises the name change
The second largest faction within the Army of Conquest is the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham). They are very closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and through the Brotherhood to Qatar and Turkey.
Another significant faction within the Army of Conquest is the United Turkmen Army (UTA) who are sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB). This is formed of the paramilitary wing of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. The UTA are particularly active within Garvaghy Road alongside the regular Turkish military.
Other factions within the Army of Conquest include the small but extremely nasty Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) and Islamist fragments of the now defunct FSA.
On December 12th 2016 (12/12/16) the Syrian city of Aleppo was finally and fully liberated by the Syrians from the Army of Conquest. This forced the Army of Conquest to seek refuge in and around Idlib City leading to the creation of the Sudetenland as a strategically significant area.
The liberation of Aleppo City also triggered the establishment of the Astana Process on Syria. This sees Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syria meet periodically to discuss the conflict.
At the fifth round of meetings in the Astana Process on May 3rd (3/5/17) and May 5th (5/5/17) agreement was reached to create four zones within Syria dubbed; "The Astana Zones." These include the Sudetenland, an area around Homs Province, and area around the Syrian capital Damascus and an area along Syria's borders with Jordan and Israel including parts of Deraa and Quneitra Provinces.
The exact function of these zones and even their names is still to be determined by the Astana Process. However Erdogan is extremely keen to have the Sudetenland designated as a Safe-Haven under the terms of international law. This will protect Army of Conquest fighters located there and allow Erdogan to deploy Turkish troops to occupy and formally annex the Sudetenland.
Prior to the creation of the Astana Zones the Astana pledged to; "fight jointly against ISIL/DAESH and Al-Nusra and to separate from them armed opposition groups." This pledge was made at the second round of meetings in the Astana Process on January 23rd (23/1/17) and January 24th (24/1/17).
To this end in early July Ahrar al-Sham launched attacks against Al Nusra with the supposed intention of expelling them from the Sudetenland. The problem is that Ahrar al-Sham lost this battle with themselves being expelled from the Sudetenland on July 23rd (23/7/17). This left Al Qaeda in complete control of the Sudetenland.
On August 11th (11/8/17) Erdogan announced that he would be closing the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to end cross border trade with Al Qaeda. However he pledged to allow "humanitarian aid" through the crossing into the Sudetenland.
One of the big recent political scandals in Turkey began in January 2014 when the Turkish border Gendarmerie stopped trucks loaded with humanitarian aid before they could cross into Syria over the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
On inspecting the trucks the Gendarmes found the "humanitarian aid" to be heavy weapons intended to be delivered to Al Qaeda by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT). This was repeated two weeks later.
Erdogan's response was to imprison all the Gendarmes and local prosecutors involved in stopping the weapons shipments along with any journalists who reported on them on charges of treason.
On Wednesday (16/7/17) Erdogan had Deniz Akbulut - the lawyer who represented some of those men at their trial - arrested for treason.
The recent shoving match between Al Qaeda and Ahrar al-Sham is very similar to events that occurred within Garvaghy Road both prior to Erdogan's first attempt to invade in December 2016 and his eventual invasion in August 2016.
There particularly the UTA faction of the Army of Conquest would cycle control of various towns such as Marea between themselves and ISIL dependent on what combination of forces in control of an area would suit Erdogan's agenda best.
The clearest example occurred in March 2016 at the town of al-Rai. This sits directly in the centre of Garvaghy Road right on the border with Turkey and is sometimes referred to as Cobanbey which sits on the Turkish side.
The Army of Conquest advanced from positions close to Marea and Azaz capturing al-Rai on April 8th 2016 (8/4/17) from ISIL. However they then promptly handed all the territory they had gained back to ISIL.
Erdogan then used the threat of ISIL on Turkey's border as a pretext to invade Garvaghy Road preventing the SDF from cutting ISIL's supply lines with Turkey.
Amongst the ranks of the SDF there is an International Brigade of foreign volunteers. Although on absolutely nowhere near the same scale this has been inspired by the International Brigades who fought on the Republican, anti-Fascist side during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War.
This brings me on to the well publicised events of Saturday (12/8/17) the city of Charlottesville in the US state of Virginia.
Under former President Barack Obama the US Democrat Party instigated a formal policy of Divide & Rule against the US population.
This policy involved dividing American society into different 'tribes' based on race, religion, gender and sexuality. These tribes are then encouraged to fight each other as a way to allow the Democrats to market themselves to voters as a way to protect the different tribes from each other.
The division based up race has been particularly unpleasant. Here the Democrats have sponsored a Black Supremacist group know as Black Lives Matter (BLM) to act as its street army using violence to attack and intimidate opponents.
Black Lives Matter have been particularly focused on intimidating law enforcement agencies to allow leading Democrat Hillary Clinton to avoid prosecution for multiple offences of espionage against the US. This allowed Hillary Clinton to represent the Democrats in the 2016 Presidential Election.
Black Lives Matter have also conducted a systematic campaign to have statues, memorials and monuments relating to the American Civil War removed from public life. The reason for this is that put simply the American Civil War was fought between anti-Slavery Republicans and pro-Slavery Democrats.
This issue of the destruction of statues and other aspects of cultural heritage is actually a huge global issue in the fight against ISIL and associated groups. The destruction of cultural heritage has long been recognised as a precursor to genocide.
First a hate group removes the symbols of the people they hate from public life. Next they remove the people they hate from public life forcing them into ghettos and concentration camps. Finally they exterminate the people they hate.
In 2015 the International Criminal Court (ICC) took up the matter. Specifically in the case of Islamist militant Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi who destroyed statues and other aspects of cultural heritage as part of attempts to establish a self-proclaimed Islamist Caliphate in northern Mali in 2012.
In September 2016 the ICC ruled that the destruction of cultural heritage can be considered a war crime/lower crime against humanity. Al-Mahdi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Just yesterday (17/8/17) the ICC ruled that al-Mahdi was financially responsible for the destruction fining him USD3.2m.
So the destruction of statues and cultural heritage is an example of the US Democrat Party heading in a certain direction. Fortunately the rest of the World seems to be heading in a different direction.
As a Democrat-run town in a Democrat-run state Charlottesville has been an enthusiastic supporter of Black Lives Matter campaign of cultural destruction. City and State authorities have volunteered to remove large sections of American history from public life in an effort to legitimise Black Lives Matter's campaign.
A group describing itself as "Unite the Right" called for protests last Friday (11/8/17) in Charlottesville against the actions of City and State officials.
Those City and State officials attempted to block the protest against them by seeking a Court injunction. This was denied on the groups that peacefully protesting against political decision is a Civil Right protected by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights section of the US Constitution.
The Friday protest went off almost completely peacefully. However it was attacked by a small number of members of Black Lives Matter using weapons like CS/Tear Gas.
The problem arose on Saturday (12/8/17) the Charlottesville's Democrat Mayor Mike Signer and Virgina's Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe called on Democrat supporters from across the country to descend on the city to defy the Court's ruling and deny the civil right to protest.
This led to what a riot professional would describe as; "Mild Squabbling" and 14 extremely minor injuries.
However later in the day a car crashed into a crowd of assorted pro-Democrat supporters at the junction of Fourth Street and the Water Pedestrian Mall. This resulted in the death of one person - Heather Heyer - and injuries to 19 others.
As the name suggests Charlottesville's Water Pedestrian Mall is normally closed to vehicle traffic. Particularly on Saturdays. As I sure many people have experienced a protest march or other large scale public gathering often leads to roads that are normally open to vehicles being closed to protect pedestrians.
However on that particular Saturday's the Democrat City officials took a peculiar decision. They decided to open the Water Pedestrian Mall to vehicle traffic. They also appear to have ordered the police to largely withdraw from the streets refusing to protect buildings such as the Beth Israel Synagogue which you would think would be at high risk of attack if violence broke out.
So at the very least the City and State officials who took those decision should expect to convicted of Ms Heyer's Manslaughter by way of Gross Negligence. The entire thing strikes me as a good candidate for a British-style Judge-led Public Inquiry.
In response to Ms Meyer's death US Democrats have clamoured for President Trump condemn all the groups in the Unite the Right coalition by name. They have no interest in the other violent groups being condemned or identifying the different factions in the Unite the Right coalition. Instead they describe them with the blanket term; "White Supremacist."
There was one particularly prominent but as yet unidentified group. They appeared in much of the TV footage always being at the front of the clashes seeming to be the main instigators or provocateurs of the violence.
This group carried flags and homemade shields featuring the logo of a black Saint Andrews cross against a white background or a white St Andrews cross within a black circle.
Those symbols are the insignia of the air forces of the Fascist, Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. They were largely supplied by Hitler's Nazi Germany through a special division of the Nazi military known as the Condor Legion.
The shock troops of the Democrats Divide & Rule campaign is Black Lives Matter. However as a Black Supremacist group they are obviously extremely unwelcoming to non-Black Democrat supporters.
The has prompted the Democrats to cultivate a separate street army for their non-Black supporters using the name; "Anti-Fascist Action (Anti-FA)." The Democrats version of Antifa really made their debut on April 15th 2017 (15/4/17) attacking Trump supporters in Berkeley, California.
As an Anarchist group the traditional Antifa are not particularly well organised with a patchy history. However they have their ideological roots in the Spanish Civil War. Their main slogan; "No Parasan (They Shall Not Pass)" was the battle cry used by Republicans during the long siege of Madrid.
The irony is that the version of Antifa we are currently seeing in the US are acting in support of Obama's Democrat Party. They are certainly no friends of the SDF's International Brigade.
The reason why the SDF have an International Brigade is the under Obama the US refused to provide them with any military support in their fight against ISIL. This forced them to recruit ex-members of western military's to provide them with training and experience as private citizens.
It was the bravery and sacrifice of these Americans and others while their President did nothing that finally shamed Obama into giving the SDF extremely limited support. However Obama still refused to support the SDF fully instead trying to build a rival power structure within the group in the hope it would defect and ally itself with the Army of Conquest and ISIL.
Obama certainly did not oppose Erdogan's invasion of Garvaghy Road and if he had remained in power it is likely Obama would fully support Erdogan's plans to invade Afrin Canton and annex the Sudetenland. Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia of course happened in 1938. During the Spanish Civil War.
With his frequent airstrikes against the SDF it is often said that Erdogan is acting as ISIL's airforce. Through their support that would make Obama and his Democrats ISIL's Condor Legion.
So I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone with an understanding of the history and values of the Republican International Brigades and Antifa would demean themselves by supporting the US Democrats.
Any serious member of Antifa would already be well aware of Buenaventura Durruti. This Catalan Anarchist was probably the Republicans most successful military commander during the Spanish Civil War.
Although Durruti's death in 1936 is shrouded in mystery it's widely accepted that he was assassinated by Communist elements of the Republican forces who viewed his popularity and success as a threat to their absolute control.
Those Communist elements obsession with absolute control at the expense of actually fighting the Nationalists is one of the main reasons the Republicans lost the war.
There is absolutely no excuse for any genuine member of Antifa not knowing the story of Buenaventura Durruti because he is hardly a secret. His funeral in Barcelona on November 20th 1936 (10/11/36) was arguably one of the largest in Spanish history.
Durruti's funeral procession saw hundreds of thousands of people packing the city's Placa de Catalunya main square and the Las Ramblas main thoroughfare to pay their respects. He was finally laid to rest at Montjuic - "Jewish Mountain" - Cemetery overlooking the harbour.
Franco's Nationalist air force's most infamous engagement was the April 1937 bombing of the Basque city of Guernica. Rather than having any particular military value this atrocity was really an opportunity for Hitler to test out the fancy new weapons he'd developed. Chief amongst these was the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber.
Amid the insignia of the Nationalist airforce the way that the grey Dodge Challenger dove down a hill into pedestrians in Charlottesville certainly had an air of a Stuka dive bomber about it.
If there was any military value to the atrocity at Guernica it was as part of Franco's policy of; "The White Terror."
As the name suggests this was a systematic use of violent atrocities in order to terrorise those to opposed the notion of White Supremacy into submission. Alongside Guerncia one of the most famous examples of White Terror was the Massacre of Badojoz. Here 4,000 Republican fighters and civilian supporters were publicly executed in the town of Badjoz.
Despite its name the White Terror was predominately carried out by Black Muslims. The Fuerzas Regulares IndÃgenas/Indigenous Regular Forces sometimes known simply as; "Regulares" were Franco's shock troops raised in Morocco which at the time as a Spanish colony.
The Regulares were led by Mohamed Meziane - the only ethnic Moroccan to hold the rank of General in the Spanish military. Meziane's brutality rivalled even ISIL's.
The US historian John Thompson Whitaker witnessed Meziane hand two young girls over to his men as sex slaves. Meziane told the appalled journalist not to worry because the girls would only be able to live through a few hours of brutal gang rape.
What linked Muslims like Mohamed Meziane to Fascists like Franco and Hitler was their deep, shared hatred of Jews.
Hitler frequently praised Islam saying that Nazis have more in common with Muslims than with the French. Albert Speer even claimed that Hitler believed the Nazis had more in common with Muslims than with Christians. Hitler particularly praised the way the Prophet Mohammed had driven the Jews from the Arabian Peninsula.
At the time of the Second World War much of the Muslim world was under the control of European colonial powers. So not formally being considered nations they couldn't formally ally themselves with the Nazis. However European Muslims fought enthusiastically on the side of Nazi Germany. Particularly the 13th and 21st Divisions of the Waffen-SS.
While Mohamed Meziane's Regulares where fighting for Franco in the Spanish Civil War Hitler backed Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini to lead the Arab Revolt in British Mandated Palestine. In 1941 Hitler backed Rashid Ali al-Gaylani to launch the Anglo-Iraqi War in British Mandated Palestine.
Both al-Husseini and al-Gaylani pledged their allegiance to the Nazi-led Axis Powers prompting Hitler to issue Fuhrer Directive No.30 formally recognising Arab Muslims as allies of the Nazis.
As a result the symbolism of events in Charlottesville including the cries of; "White Terror!" very much resemble a coded message from supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood within the US Democrat Party to Erdogan.
The message being to go ahead with his invasion plans because they would keep President Trump pinned down with battlecries of "White Terror!"
As the Qatari Royal Family made quite clear on May 23rd (23/5/17) the Muslim Brotherhood's ultimate aim is to stage a coup and overthrow President Trump.
By Sunday (13/8/17) Erdogan had certainly been emboldened.
In the evening the Turkish military artillery Erdogan had stationed on the Turkish side of the border in perpetration for the Euphrates Sword operation significantly intensified its shelling of Afrin Canton. This included shelling the of the Rubar camp for Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP's)/Refugee Camp.
At around the same time it was claimed that a Turkish police officer was stabbed and killed by an ISIL member he was arresting. This allows Erdogan to falsely claim that Turkey is an enemy of ISIL and that he must take action to protect Turks from ISIL.
Finally there was the gun attack on the Aziz Istanbul Turkish restaurant in Ouagadougou - the capital of Burkina Faso. Lasting for more than eight hours this attack left 18 people dead and injured many others.
The attack has been blamed on Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). This seems a reasonable assumption. Along with what has become the ISIL affiliate Boko Haram centred in Nigeria AQIM established what they called an Islamist Caliphate in northern Mali in 2012.
The victims of the attack include citizens of at least nine nations. However the death of a single Turk along with the very obvious references to Turkey will allow Erdogan to falsely claim that he is an enemy rather than an enemy of Al Qaeda.
It will also allow Erdogan to claim that he must take action to protect Turks by invading Afrin Canton and annexing the Sudetenland.
At around 14:45 on 18/8/17 (UK date) I will pick this up after lunch and coffee.
So I understand why most of you could be forgiven for forgetting that there is still a massive war being fought in both Iraq and Syria.
This war is being fought primarily against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Although they use the word "Islamic" in their name ISIL are in fact ideological Nihilists. This school of philosophy sees violence as an end in itself and provided part of the inspiration for the political ideology of Nazism.
As a result ISIL are amongst the worst the world has ever seen. They happily pursue all the crimes against humanity including slavery, sexual violence and genocide.
Within Syria the largest force fighting ISIL is the Syrians themselves. In late 2013 the Syrians campaign against ISIL had taken the group to the brink of defeat. ISIL were pinned down in a small area around the Euphrates River basin in north-east Syria. This is what prompted ISIL to invade Iraq in 2014.
Flush with weapons and cash looted from Iraq ISIL began to grow again in Syria. However in September 2015 Russia sent forces to assist the Syrians in their fight against ISIL. As a result ISIL are now back on the brink of defeat restricted to a small area around the Euphrates River basin.
However the most effective force fighting against ISIL and Syria is a coalition called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD)
The SDF is made up of Syrian Kurdish fighters known as the People's Protection Units (YPG/J). The fight along Assyrian/Syriac forces known as the Syriac Military Council (MSF) and numerous Arab and Turkmen forces. Both fragments of the long defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) and tribal forces local to northern Syria.
There are now actually so many Arab and Turkmen groups fighting as part of the SDF is numerous military councils and brigades that I mean them no offence. It is simply not possible for me to name them all individually here.
The primary area under the SDF's control is an area of north-eastern Syria that has been designated; "Shangri-La."
Shangri-La stretches from the Syria/Iraq border to the east to broadly speaking the Euphrates River in the west. Although there are areas of Syrian control south of the city of Hasakah generally speaking the southern boundary of Shangri-La is the Euphrates River basin where ISIL continue to hold the cities of Mayadin and Deir-ez-Zour.
The SDF also control a smaller area in the north-west of Syria roughly 3,000kmsq (1,800milesq) in size. This is centred around the city of Afrin and has been designated; "The Afrin Canton."
Between Shangri-La and the Afrin Canton you have a roughly 100km (60 mile) wide area designated; "Garvaghy Road."
On August 24th 2016 (24/8/16) Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent regular Turkish forces to invade Garvaghy Road. The purpose was to prevent the SDF linking Shangri-La to Afrin Canton because in doing so they would cut a vital ISIL supply route running to and from Turkey.
Although the western boundary of Shangri-La is generally considered to be the Euphrates River the SDF do control a small area west of the river up to and including the town of Manbij. This sits roughly 25km (15 miles) south-west of the Tishrin Dam across the Euphrates. It was fully liberated on August 27th 2016 (27/8/16).
Erdogan's invasion of Garvaghy Road initially focused on the town of Jarablus. This sits around 35km (20 miles) north of Manbij right on the Syria/Turkey border. Having captured Jarablus Erdogan then wanted his forces to move south to capture Manbij from the SDF. However he was deflected into first capturing other towns with Garvaghy Road such a Azaz, Marea, Dabiq, al-Rai and finally al-Bab.
Having captured al-Bab Erdogan declared on February 28th 2017 (28/2/17) that his forces would advance to capture Manbij from the SDF. On March 1st (1/3/17) Erdogan sent the Turkish forces to unleash a barrage of airstrikes against SDF positions at Manbij including US, British and French Special Operations Forces (SOF's) that were embedded with the SDF there.
This nearly week long crisis was only brought to an end when Russia stepped in. They brokered an agreement that would see Syrian forces take up positions at the town of Armia roughly midway between al-Bab and Manbij. Those Syrian forces would act as a buffer between the SDF and Turkish forces.
As the SDF have made significant progress against ISIL in Raqqa Erdogan has become increasingly aggressive.
On June 22nd (22/6/17) Erdogan deployed more Turkish forces both to the border and within Garvaghy Road. This build up of forces is in preparation for an operation dubbed; "Euphrates Sword" which is intended to invade and capture the Afrin Canton from the SDF.
There is much speculation that this operation will be launched on the anniversary of Erdogan's invasion of Garvaghy Road dubbed; "Euphrates Shield" in and around August 24th 2017 (24/8/17).
On June 30th (30/6/17) Turkish forces both regular and irregular have been shelling Afrin Canton from both within Turkey and Garvaghy Road. This shelling has been near continuous ever since. It has primarily targeted civilian villages and refugee camps. It has also triggered numerous wildfires intended to force civilians from the area.
On August 6th (6/8/17) through to August 8th (8/8/17) Erdogan's forces conducted attacks against Syrian forces at Armia. This seems to have been an attempt to break through the Russian established buffer-zone to allow Erdogan's forces to attack the SDF at Manbij.
On August 10th (10/8/17) Erdogan's forces used anti-Tank weapons specifically to attack a US SOF vehicle at Tal Abyad. This sits within Shangri-La around 55km (30 miles) east of the city of Kobane right on the border with Turkey. The vehicle was destroyed but fortunately no US troops were killed or wounded.
To the south of Afrin Canton you have an area centred around the city of Idlib that has been designated; "The Sudetenland" in reference to Nazi Germany's annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. The Sudetenland is under the control of the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition.
The Army of Conquest is an Sunni Islamist organisation which is allied with ISIL.
One of the largest factions with the Army of Conquest is the Support Front/Jabhat al-Nusra (ANF). They are the Syrian wing of The Base/Al Qaeda (AQ). In an effort to disguise their links to Al Qaeda they have recently taken to referring to themselves as the Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant/Hayy'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Nobody recognises the name change
The second largest faction within the Army of Conquest is the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham). They are very closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and through the Brotherhood to Qatar and Turkey.
Another significant faction within the Army of Conquest is the United Turkmen Army (UTA) who are sometimes known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB). This is formed of the paramilitary wing of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) known as the Grey Wolves. The UTA are particularly active within Garvaghy Road alongside the regular Turkish military.
Other factions within the Army of Conquest include the small but extremely nasty Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) and Islamist fragments of the now defunct FSA.
On December 12th 2016 (12/12/16) the Syrian city of Aleppo was finally and fully liberated by the Syrians from the Army of Conquest. This forced the Army of Conquest to seek refuge in and around Idlib City leading to the creation of the Sudetenland as a strategically significant area.
The liberation of Aleppo City also triggered the establishment of the Astana Process on Syria. This sees Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syria meet periodically to discuss the conflict.
At the fifth round of meetings in the Astana Process on May 3rd (3/5/17) and May 5th (5/5/17) agreement was reached to create four zones within Syria dubbed; "The Astana Zones." These include the Sudetenland, an area around Homs Province, and area around the Syrian capital Damascus and an area along Syria's borders with Jordan and Israel including parts of Deraa and Quneitra Provinces.
The exact function of these zones and even their names is still to be determined by the Astana Process. However Erdogan is extremely keen to have the Sudetenland designated as a Safe-Haven under the terms of international law. This will protect Army of Conquest fighters located there and allow Erdogan to deploy Turkish troops to occupy and formally annex the Sudetenland.
Prior to the creation of the Astana Zones the Astana pledged to; "fight jointly against ISIL/DAESH and Al-Nusra and to separate from them armed opposition groups." This pledge was made at the second round of meetings in the Astana Process on January 23rd (23/1/17) and January 24th (24/1/17).
To this end in early July Ahrar al-Sham launched attacks against Al Nusra with the supposed intention of expelling them from the Sudetenland. The problem is that Ahrar al-Sham lost this battle with themselves being expelled from the Sudetenland on July 23rd (23/7/17). This left Al Qaeda in complete control of the Sudetenland.
On August 11th (11/8/17) Erdogan announced that he would be closing the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to end cross border trade with Al Qaeda. However he pledged to allow "humanitarian aid" through the crossing into the Sudetenland.
One of the big recent political scandals in Turkey began in January 2014 when the Turkish border Gendarmerie stopped trucks loaded with humanitarian aid before they could cross into Syria over the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
On inspecting the trucks the Gendarmes found the "humanitarian aid" to be heavy weapons intended to be delivered to Al Qaeda by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT). This was repeated two weeks later.
Erdogan's response was to imprison all the Gendarmes and local prosecutors involved in stopping the weapons shipments along with any journalists who reported on them on charges of treason.
On Wednesday (16/7/17) Erdogan had Deniz Akbulut - the lawyer who represented some of those men at their trial - arrested for treason.
The recent shoving match between Al Qaeda and Ahrar al-Sham is very similar to events that occurred within Garvaghy Road both prior to Erdogan's first attempt to invade in December 2016 and his eventual invasion in August 2016.
There particularly the UTA faction of the Army of Conquest would cycle control of various towns such as Marea between themselves and ISIL dependent on what combination of forces in control of an area would suit Erdogan's agenda best.
The clearest example occurred in March 2016 at the town of al-Rai. This sits directly in the centre of Garvaghy Road right on the border with Turkey and is sometimes referred to as Cobanbey which sits on the Turkish side.
The Army of Conquest advanced from positions close to Marea and Azaz capturing al-Rai on April 8th 2016 (8/4/17) from ISIL. However they then promptly handed all the territory they had gained back to ISIL.
Erdogan then used the threat of ISIL on Turkey's border as a pretext to invade Garvaghy Road preventing the SDF from cutting ISIL's supply lines with Turkey.
Amongst the ranks of the SDF there is an International Brigade of foreign volunteers. Although on absolutely nowhere near the same scale this has been inspired by the International Brigades who fought on the Republican, anti-Fascist side during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War.
This brings me on to the well publicised events of Saturday (12/8/17) the city of Charlottesville in the US state of Virginia.
Under former President Barack Obama the US Democrat Party instigated a formal policy of Divide & Rule against the US population.
This policy involved dividing American society into different 'tribes' based on race, religion, gender and sexuality. These tribes are then encouraged to fight each other as a way to allow the Democrats to market themselves to voters as a way to protect the different tribes from each other.
The division based up race has been particularly unpleasant. Here the Democrats have sponsored a Black Supremacist group know as Black Lives Matter (BLM) to act as its street army using violence to attack and intimidate opponents.
Black Lives Matter have been particularly focused on intimidating law enforcement agencies to allow leading Democrat Hillary Clinton to avoid prosecution for multiple offences of espionage against the US. This allowed Hillary Clinton to represent the Democrats in the 2016 Presidential Election.
Black Lives Matter have also conducted a systematic campaign to have statues, memorials and monuments relating to the American Civil War removed from public life. The reason for this is that put simply the American Civil War was fought between anti-Slavery Republicans and pro-Slavery Democrats.
This issue of the destruction of statues and other aspects of cultural heritage is actually a huge global issue in the fight against ISIL and associated groups. The destruction of cultural heritage has long been recognised as a precursor to genocide.
First a hate group removes the symbols of the people they hate from public life. Next they remove the people they hate from public life forcing them into ghettos and concentration camps. Finally they exterminate the people they hate.
In 2015 the International Criminal Court (ICC) took up the matter. Specifically in the case of Islamist militant Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi who destroyed statues and other aspects of cultural heritage as part of attempts to establish a self-proclaimed Islamist Caliphate in northern Mali in 2012.
In September 2016 the ICC ruled that the destruction of cultural heritage can be considered a war crime/lower crime against humanity. Al-Mahdi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Just yesterday (17/8/17) the ICC ruled that al-Mahdi was financially responsible for the destruction fining him USD3.2m.
So the destruction of statues and cultural heritage is an example of the US Democrat Party heading in a certain direction. Fortunately the rest of the World seems to be heading in a different direction.
As a Democrat-run town in a Democrat-run state Charlottesville has been an enthusiastic supporter of Black Lives Matter campaign of cultural destruction. City and State authorities have volunteered to remove large sections of American history from public life in an effort to legitimise Black Lives Matter's campaign.
A group describing itself as "Unite the Right" called for protests last Friday (11/8/17) in Charlottesville against the actions of City and State officials.
Those City and State officials attempted to block the protest against them by seeking a Court injunction. This was denied on the groups that peacefully protesting against political decision is a Civil Right protected by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights section of the US Constitution.
The Friday protest went off almost completely peacefully. However it was attacked by a small number of members of Black Lives Matter using weapons like CS/Tear Gas.
The problem arose on Saturday (12/8/17) the Charlottesville's Democrat Mayor Mike Signer and Virgina's Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe called on Democrat supporters from across the country to descend on the city to defy the Court's ruling and deny the civil right to protest.
This led to what a riot professional would describe as; "Mild Squabbling" and 14 extremely minor injuries.
However later in the day a car crashed into a crowd of assorted pro-Democrat supporters at the junction of Fourth Street and the Water Pedestrian Mall. This resulted in the death of one person - Heather Heyer - and injuries to 19 others.
As the name suggests Charlottesville's Water Pedestrian Mall is normally closed to vehicle traffic. Particularly on Saturdays. As I sure many people have experienced a protest march or other large scale public gathering often leads to roads that are normally open to vehicles being closed to protect pedestrians.
However on that particular Saturday's the Democrat City officials took a peculiar decision. They decided to open the Water Pedestrian Mall to vehicle traffic. They also appear to have ordered the police to largely withdraw from the streets refusing to protect buildings such as the Beth Israel Synagogue which you would think would be at high risk of attack if violence broke out.
So at the very least the City and State officials who took those decision should expect to convicted of Ms Heyer's Manslaughter by way of Gross Negligence. The entire thing strikes me as a good candidate for a British-style Judge-led Public Inquiry.
In response to Ms Meyer's death US Democrats have clamoured for President Trump condemn all the groups in the Unite the Right coalition by name. They have no interest in the other violent groups being condemned or identifying the different factions in the Unite the Right coalition. Instead they describe them with the blanket term; "White Supremacist."
There was one particularly prominent but as yet unidentified group. They appeared in much of the TV footage always being at the front of the clashes seeming to be the main instigators or provocateurs of the violence.
This group carried flags and homemade shields featuring the logo of a black Saint Andrews cross against a white background or a white St Andrews cross within a black circle.
Those symbols are the insignia of the air forces of the Fascist, Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. They were largely supplied by Hitler's Nazi Germany through a special division of the Nazi military known as the Condor Legion.
The shock troops of the Democrats Divide & Rule campaign is Black Lives Matter. However as a Black Supremacist group they are obviously extremely unwelcoming to non-Black Democrat supporters.
The has prompted the Democrats to cultivate a separate street army for their non-Black supporters using the name; "Anti-Fascist Action (Anti-FA)." The Democrats version of Antifa really made their debut on April 15th 2017 (15/4/17) attacking Trump supporters in Berkeley, California.
As an Anarchist group the traditional Antifa are not particularly well organised with a patchy history. However they have their ideological roots in the Spanish Civil War. Their main slogan; "No Parasan (They Shall Not Pass)" was the battle cry used by Republicans during the long siege of Madrid.
The irony is that the version of Antifa we are currently seeing in the US are acting in support of Obama's Democrat Party. They are certainly no friends of the SDF's International Brigade.
The reason why the SDF have an International Brigade is the under Obama the US refused to provide them with any military support in their fight against ISIL. This forced them to recruit ex-members of western military's to provide them with training and experience as private citizens.
It was the bravery and sacrifice of these Americans and others while their President did nothing that finally shamed Obama into giving the SDF extremely limited support. However Obama still refused to support the SDF fully instead trying to build a rival power structure within the group in the hope it would defect and ally itself with the Army of Conquest and ISIL.
Obama certainly did not oppose Erdogan's invasion of Garvaghy Road and if he had remained in power it is likely Obama would fully support Erdogan's plans to invade Afrin Canton and annex the Sudetenland. Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia of course happened in 1938. During the Spanish Civil War.
With his frequent airstrikes against the SDF it is often said that Erdogan is acting as ISIL's airforce. Through their support that would make Obama and his Democrats ISIL's Condor Legion.
So I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone with an understanding of the history and values of the Republican International Brigades and Antifa would demean themselves by supporting the US Democrats.
Any serious member of Antifa would already be well aware of Buenaventura Durruti. This Catalan Anarchist was probably the Republicans most successful military commander during the Spanish Civil War.
Although Durruti's death in 1936 is shrouded in mystery it's widely accepted that he was assassinated by Communist elements of the Republican forces who viewed his popularity and success as a threat to their absolute control.
Those Communist elements obsession with absolute control at the expense of actually fighting the Nationalists is one of the main reasons the Republicans lost the war.
There is absolutely no excuse for any genuine member of Antifa not knowing the story of Buenaventura Durruti because he is hardly a secret. His funeral in Barcelona on November 20th 1936 (10/11/36) was arguably one of the largest in Spanish history.
Durruti's funeral procession saw hundreds of thousands of people packing the city's Placa de Catalunya main square and the Las Ramblas main thoroughfare to pay their respects. He was finally laid to rest at Montjuic - "Jewish Mountain" - Cemetery overlooking the harbour.
Franco's Nationalist air force's most infamous engagement was the April 1937 bombing of the Basque city of Guernica. Rather than having any particular military value this atrocity was really an opportunity for Hitler to test out the fancy new weapons he'd developed. Chief amongst these was the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber.
Amid the insignia of the Nationalist airforce the way that the grey Dodge Challenger dove down a hill into pedestrians in Charlottesville certainly had an air of a Stuka dive bomber about it.
If there was any military value to the atrocity at Guernica it was as part of Franco's policy of; "The White Terror."
As the name suggests this was a systematic use of violent atrocities in order to terrorise those to opposed the notion of White Supremacy into submission. Alongside Guerncia one of the most famous examples of White Terror was the Massacre of Badojoz. Here 4,000 Republican fighters and civilian supporters were publicly executed in the town of Badjoz.
Despite its name the White Terror was predominately carried out by Black Muslims. The Fuerzas Regulares IndÃgenas/Indigenous Regular Forces sometimes known simply as; "Regulares" were Franco's shock troops raised in Morocco which at the time as a Spanish colony.
The Regulares were led by Mohamed Meziane - the only ethnic Moroccan to hold the rank of General in the Spanish military. Meziane's brutality rivalled even ISIL's.
The US historian John Thompson Whitaker witnessed Meziane hand two young girls over to his men as sex slaves. Meziane told the appalled journalist not to worry because the girls would only be able to live through a few hours of brutal gang rape.
What linked Muslims like Mohamed Meziane to Fascists like Franco and Hitler was their deep, shared hatred of Jews.
Hitler frequently praised Islam saying that Nazis have more in common with Muslims than with the French. Albert Speer even claimed that Hitler believed the Nazis had more in common with Muslims than with Christians. Hitler particularly praised the way the Prophet Mohammed had driven the Jews from the Arabian Peninsula.
At the time of the Second World War much of the Muslim world was under the control of European colonial powers. So not formally being considered nations they couldn't formally ally themselves with the Nazis. However European Muslims fought enthusiastically on the side of Nazi Germany. Particularly the 13th and 21st Divisions of the Waffen-SS.
While Mohamed Meziane's Regulares where fighting for Franco in the Spanish Civil War Hitler backed Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini to lead the Arab Revolt in British Mandated Palestine. In 1941 Hitler backed Rashid Ali al-Gaylani to launch the Anglo-Iraqi War in British Mandated Palestine.
Both al-Husseini and al-Gaylani pledged their allegiance to the Nazi-led Axis Powers prompting Hitler to issue Fuhrer Directive No.30 formally recognising Arab Muslims as allies of the Nazis.
As a result the symbolism of events in Charlottesville including the cries of; "White Terror!" very much resemble a coded message from supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood within the US Democrat Party to Erdogan.
The message being to go ahead with his invasion plans because they would keep President Trump pinned down with battlecries of "White Terror!"
As the Qatari Royal Family made quite clear on May 23rd (23/5/17) the Muslim Brotherhood's ultimate aim is to stage a coup and overthrow President Trump.
By Sunday (13/8/17) Erdogan had certainly been emboldened.
In the evening the Turkish military artillery Erdogan had stationed on the Turkish side of the border in perpetration for the Euphrates Sword operation significantly intensified its shelling of Afrin Canton. This included shelling the of the Rubar camp for Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP's)/Refugee Camp.
At around the same time it was claimed that a Turkish police officer was stabbed and killed by an ISIL member he was arresting. This allows Erdogan to falsely claim that Turkey is an enemy of ISIL and that he must take action to protect Turks from ISIL.
Finally there was the gun attack on the Aziz Istanbul Turkish restaurant in Ouagadougou - the capital of Burkina Faso. Lasting for more than eight hours this attack left 18 people dead and injured many others.
The attack has been blamed on Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). This seems a reasonable assumption. Along with what has become the ISIL affiliate Boko Haram centred in Nigeria AQIM established what they called an Islamist Caliphate in northern Mali in 2012.
The victims of the attack include citizens of at least nine nations. However the death of a single Turk along with the very obvious references to Turkey will allow Erdogan to falsely claim that he is an enemy rather than an enemy of Al Qaeda.
It will also allow Erdogan to claim that he must take action to protect Turks by invading Afrin Canton and annexing the Sudetenland.
At around 14:45 on 18/8/17 (UK date) I will pick this up after lunch and coffee.
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