On Sunday (21/2/16) US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Jordan to discuss the (still) ongoing war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups.
In preparation for this visit the US decided to lay down the equivalent of covering fire in the form of a shooting spree in Kalamazoo, Michigan, US. The primary purpose of this was of course to create confusion rather than make any definitive statements.
Michigan state is of course where the city of Flint is located. The reason why Flint was chosen as a metaphor for US President Barack Obama's refugee/terrorist pipeline is that Michigan actually has one of the highest proportions of Muslims citizens of any US state - predominately located around the city of Dearborn. Many of the state's Muslim residents arrived in the mid-1990's as refugees from the various Balkan wars that followed the NATO-led break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
Obviously the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists. Likewise the overwhelming majority or refugees are not terrorists. However in the current climate when you hear about a mass shooting in Michigan Islamic inspired terrorism is one of the first things you want to rule out.
The Kalamazoo - yes it's a real place - appears to have begun in the parking lot of a "Cracker Barrel" restaurant. This seems intended as a reference to an incident that occurred at the "Nazareth" restaurant and delicatessen in Columbus, Ohio on February 11th (11/2/16). Here a Muslim man armed with a machete walked into the Jewish owned restaurant and proceeded to attack people before being chased away. Fortunately no-one was killed in this attack and the man was arrested shortly after.
That of course was the second homegrown Islamic inspired terrorist attack that the US has experienced in 2016. The first of course occurred on January 8th (8/1/16) when Muslim convert Edward Archer opened fire on a police car in Philadelphia in the name of ISIL.
Fortunately the 2016 attacks have so far been nowhere near of the scale of the December 2nd (2/12/16) attack in San Bernardino, California in which 14 people killed and 22 were seriously wounded. However when you are in a war against an enemy that is attacking your civilians at home you hit them as hard as you can to eliminate that threat was quickly as possible.
What you do not do is declare a ceasefire to grant your enemy safe haven so they can grow stronger and launch more effective attacks against you. You most certainly do not supply them with weapons.
The fact that it was a Cracker Barrel restaurant is a reference to the term; "Cracker." This is a term of racial abuse used by black Americans against white Americans similar to the way the term; "Nigger" is used in the opposite direction.
In his effort to disguise his support for ISIL and associated groups back in 2014 Obama launched a racist campaign to pit black and white Americans against each other. One of the "Four legs good, two legs bad" style grunts to come out of this campaign is the question; "Why is a black shooter labelled a thug, a Muslim shooter labelled a terrorist but white shooters are written off as mentally ill?"
Mindful of this one of the first things the police in Kalamazoo did was confirm that the suspected shooter was white. This was obviously to distinguish it from one of the many shooting sprees that black suspects go on in Michigan on most weekends. However the sub-text is that "White" couldn't possibly mean "Muslim."
This of course is a complete nonsense because unlike skin tone religion is a matter of choice. Therefore you can have Arab Muslims, you can have black Muslims and you can have white Muslims. In fact the majority of Muslims in Indonesia - the World's most populous Muslim nation - tend to be distinctly Asian in appearance.
This mis-conception that Muslims have to be Arabs is particularly relevant to Syria. There you have a sub-group known as the "Leucosyri" which literally translates as; "White Syrians." The Leucosyri tend to be Muslims and are definitely Arab. However they tend to have very white skin along with the blond hair and blue eyes that leave them distinctly Aryan looking.
The Leucosyri are reasonably famous amongst anthropologists as one of those little foibles that prove people who choose to see everything through the prism of race are generally wasting their lives.
The suspected Kalamazoo shooter has since been identified as Jason Brian Dalton - a 45 year old who worked for the ride hailing service "Uber." If you type "Uber" into just the news section of Google you get around 95 million results. This shooting could be a reference to any one of them.
I suppose one of the main controversies surrounding Uber though is the type of security checks their driver have to go through and therefore the safety of their passengers. After all I think most people would balk at the idea of getting into a car with a stranger for free. However if you force them to pay for the privilege it seems they'll absolutely jump at the chance.
Uber have now confirmed that Mr Dalton had passed their background meaning that he would pass even an enhanced background check to purchase a firearm. As such much like the Newtown shooting or the San Bernardino terror attack Obama's new background checks would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the Kalamazoo shooting.
The other main controversy surrounding Uber is the way that they are taking jobs away from traditional Taxi companies. I suppose you could even go so far as to say that; "Uber Driver" has become the new way of saying; "Taxi Driver."
There is of course a very famous 1976 movie called "Taxi Driver." Although I've never seen it I have on occasion been compared to the central character "Travis Bickle." One of the main themes of the movie is Bickle's desire to rescue a child prostitute or 'ISIL Child Bride' played by Jodie Foster in her debut role. In 1981 John Hinkley Jr attempted to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster after having seen her in Taxi Driver.
On Sunday (21/2/16) six car bombings tore through two cities in Syria. In Homs City two bombs struck neighbourhoods mainly populated by members of the Alawite sub-sect of Shia Islam of which Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is a member. Later in the day four bombs tore through the capital Damascus in and around the Sayyida Zeinab shrine which containing the grave of the Prophet Muhammed's granddaughter is the holiest Shia shrine in Syria.
At least 140 civilians were killed in these attacks which have since been claimed by ISIL.
The thing that really annoys me about ISIL being referred to as "IS" or even "ISIS" is that it removes the word; "Levant" from their name. This is crucial in understanding both the group and the wider conflict.
ISIL consider it their objective to rid the traditional Levant region of all non-Sunni Muslims. They believe that this will allow God to descend to earth triggering the apocalyptic war that will finally see all the Shia infidels vanquished by the holy Sunni Warriors.
Therefore when you hear that a nihilistic organisation primarily dedicated to the slaughter of Shia-Muslims has slaughtered 140 Shia-Muslims is is really easy to over analyse their motives.
However Damascus and Homs seem to have been chosen rather than say Baghdad or Ramadi in Iraq because of the talks over a cessation of hostiles. If you go back and read the thousands of words I've written on the subject in the past couple of weeks you will notice that ISIL barely get mentioned. As a result they're under huge pressure to demonstrate to their supporters that they are still relevant.
What I found interesting about the bombings though was that supporters of the supposedly moderate opposition found it extremely difficult to believe a group as ideologically pure of ISIL could have carried out such an atrocity. So instead they did what they always do and started circulating lunatic conspiracy theories blaming it all on the Syrian government.
Last night it was announced that the cessation of hostilities agreement will go into force at 00:00 (local) on Saturday (27/2/16) or 22:00GMT on Friday (26/2/16). Like everybody else I'm waiting to see what will happen.
17:40 on 23/2/16 (UK date).
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
Saturday, 20 February 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 19, Week 4, Day 5.
On Wednesday (17/2/16) and Thursday (18/2/16) Turkey carried out several terrorist bombings.
One of these occurred in Stockholm, Sweden and resulted in no casualties. Another occurred just outside the city Diyarbakir in Turkey's predominately Kurdish south-east. Six Turkish soldiers were killed. The most significant bombing though occurred on Wednesday (17/2/16) evening when a convoy of Turkish military vehicles was blown up in the capital Ankara killing 26. Predominately soldiers.
Less then 24 hours after the Ankara bombing the Turkish government summoned the Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The purpose of this meeting was to present those Ambassadors with the 'evidence' Turkey had gathered linking the Ankara bombing to the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) which Turkey is currently attacking in defence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups.
I gather then key exhibit Turkey presented to support its claim was a severed hand it claims had been recovered from the scene. Turkish fingerprint analysis identified that hand as belonging to a Salih Necar - a Syrian national from the Kurdish Syrian town of Amuda which sits roughly 25km (15 miles) west of the Turkey/Syria border city of Qamishli. It is alleged that Necar had been fingerprinted when he crossed into Turkey as a refugee.
Obviously it is not my place to tell the Turkish authorities what their tells are. However it is fair to assume that this claim of the YPG carrying out the Ankara bombing is substantially lacking in credibility.
On Friday (19/2/16) the UK publicly called out Turkey on its false accusations against the YPG. This took the form of a severed foot being found in a public park in the British city of Bath. If you are familiar with my case file you will immediately understand the significance of Bath.
It appears that this foot had literally been PLANTED in a flowerbed as if someone was hoping a whole new person would grow. The message quite simply being that if Turkey doesn't have a problem with killing 26 of its own soldiers on the streets of its capital simply chopping off someone's hand as part of the effort is unlikely to cause them any moral problems.
So later in the day Turkey changed its tune. This involved issuing as statement claiming responsibility for the Ankara bombing on behalf of the "Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK).
TAK were formed in 2003/4 by the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Their purpose was to prevent the Justice & Development Party (AKP) forming an alliance with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against the MHP. The founder of the AKP - Recep Tayyip Erdogan - was of course elected Prime Minister in 2002 but was banned from taking up office until 2003.
Although their official acronym is AKP supporters of the AKP like to refer to the party simple as; "AK" which is the Turkish word for clean/honest.
Ironically now that the AKP have ended peace negotiations with the PKK TAK are now being used to prop up Erdogan. For example they were cited as the cause of the December 23rd 2015 (23/12/15) bombing of an aircraft belonging to "Pegasus Airlines" at Istanbul Airport in which one person was killed. That attack seemed intended to promote discussion about the Arab military alliance that Saudi Arabia keeps threatening to form which has been codenamed; "Pegasus."
In their current incarnation TAK serve as a metaphor for several Turkish backed insurgent groups currently operating in Syria. The first of these is the "Falcons of Mount Zawiya" group. Those falcons were the last group to be provided with training and equipment under the US "Train & Equip" program before they defected to Al Nusra Front (ANF) - Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - and Train & Equip was shut down in September 2015.
The fact that the US has terminated Train & Equip raises the question of why Turkey is continuing to support two other insurgent groups in Syria - "The Falcons of the Levant Brigade" and "The Levant Front." These two groups are currently fighting alongside ISIL and the ANF within the roughly 100km (60 mile) wide stretch of northern Syria known as "Erdogan's Pocket" to prevent the YPG liberating that area from the west and the Syrian Democratic Forces (ADF/QSD) liberating it from the east.
The crucial detail in TAK's claim of responsibility for the Ankara bombing was that it identified a different person as the bomber. Where the Turkish government had identified Salih Necar as the bomber the TAK statement identified Zinar Raperin - a Turkish national from the city of Van.
This obviously left the international community with a choice; They could either reject the TAK statement or join the UK in accusing the Turkish government of lying in its attempts to blame the YPG.
The reason why Turkey was getting so jittery was that yesterday (19/2/16) Russia started discussions at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on a statement recognising Syria as a sovereign state and calling for - unnamed parties - to stop shelling it. Such a statement would of course prevent the YPG from declaring a Kurdish state within Syria thus removing Turkey's main, stated objection to the YPG.
You would not think that this would be a difficult sentiment for the UNSC to support. After all the preamble of the United Nations (UN) Charter recognises all member nations as sovereign states. In order to become a member of the the UN nations must ratify the UN Charter into law.
As such the UNSC was only being asked to confirm that they are members of the UN. As they were being asked this in the UN Headquarters as accredited members of the UN you wouldn't think that would be too much of a problem.
If they felt they were unable to that the UNSC could at least have kept the pressure up on Turkey not to escalate further by making clear that the question remained on the table.
Unfortunately the US, France and the UK found themselves unable to differentiate between whatever internal problems there may be in Syria and the foreign invasion of Syria by nations such as Turkey. As such they immediately invoked that 1977 nihilist anthem by the "Sex Pistols" and declared the discussion to have "No Future."
This is of course the standard response those nations give when being asked about the Syrian government. Even when the question is; "Can the Syrian people choose the Syrian government?"
On plus side the US, France and the UK have now formally acknowledged that there is no internal dispute within Syria. Merely a foreign invasion of Syria.
However by refusing to condemn that invasion of Syria the UNSC has given Turkey the greenlight to deploy whatever resources it likes to seize the territory once known as Syria and make it part of Turkey. Just yesterday Turkey threatened to hand Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to terror groups in Syria by firing them against YPG ground positions.
Although it's clear that western nations care nothing for the safety of their citizens there are only so many attacks Russia can be forced to absorb before words have to become deeds.
This of course is what was actually being discussed at last night's European Union (EU) Summit.
The UK's big mistake was to try and link its membership of the EU to the ongoing fight against ISIL and associated groups. Apart from the severed foot they did this with a natural gas explosion in Haxby, Yorkshire. This was to highlight ISIL and associated groups routine use of chemical weapons such as Sulphur Mustard gas.
There was also the murder of an Imam in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. If we are going to continue to permit ISIL and associated groups to present themselves as Muslims then it is going to provoke a massive Islamaphobic backlash. Western governments will have to deal with that as well as the massively increased terror threat.
As a result this long awaited EU Summit meal was delayed so it coincided with the closed UNSC session.
The Baltic states and Poland then delayed UK Prime Minister Cameron's big speech until they had received assurances that the main aim of the EU is no longer as a political union of like-minded states. Nor is it an economic union. Instead it is simply a mechanism through which to wage war against Russia.
So you'll excuse me if I'm not convinced by Cameron's claim that the UK taxpayer won't be constantly bailing out an ever expanding group of weak economies.
15:45 on 20/2/16 (UK date).
One of these occurred in Stockholm, Sweden and resulted in no casualties. Another occurred just outside the city Diyarbakir in Turkey's predominately Kurdish south-east. Six Turkish soldiers were killed. The most significant bombing though occurred on Wednesday (17/2/16) evening when a convoy of Turkish military vehicles was blown up in the capital Ankara killing 26. Predominately soldiers.
Less then 24 hours after the Ankara bombing the Turkish government summoned the Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The purpose of this meeting was to present those Ambassadors with the 'evidence' Turkey had gathered linking the Ankara bombing to the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) which Turkey is currently attacking in defence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups.
I gather then key exhibit Turkey presented to support its claim was a severed hand it claims had been recovered from the scene. Turkish fingerprint analysis identified that hand as belonging to a Salih Necar - a Syrian national from the Kurdish Syrian town of Amuda which sits roughly 25km (15 miles) west of the Turkey/Syria border city of Qamishli. It is alleged that Necar had been fingerprinted when he crossed into Turkey as a refugee.
Obviously it is not my place to tell the Turkish authorities what their tells are. However it is fair to assume that this claim of the YPG carrying out the Ankara bombing is substantially lacking in credibility.
On Friday (19/2/16) the UK publicly called out Turkey on its false accusations against the YPG. This took the form of a severed foot being found in a public park in the British city of Bath. If you are familiar with my case file you will immediately understand the significance of Bath.
It appears that this foot had literally been PLANTED in a flowerbed as if someone was hoping a whole new person would grow. The message quite simply being that if Turkey doesn't have a problem with killing 26 of its own soldiers on the streets of its capital simply chopping off someone's hand as part of the effort is unlikely to cause them any moral problems.
So later in the day Turkey changed its tune. This involved issuing as statement claiming responsibility for the Ankara bombing on behalf of the "Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK).
TAK were formed in 2003/4 by the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Their purpose was to prevent the Justice & Development Party (AKP) forming an alliance with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against the MHP. The founder of the AKP - Recep Tayyip Erdogan - was of course elected Prime Minister in 2002 but was banned from taking up office until 2003.
Although their official acronym is AKP supporters of the AKP like to refer to the party simple as; "AK" which is the Turkish word for clean/honest.
Ironically now that the AKP have ended peace negotiations with the PKK TAK are now being used to prop up Erdogan. For example they were cited as the cause of the December 23rd 2015 (23/12/15) bombing of an aircraft belonging to "Pegasus Airlines" at Istanbul Airport in which one person was killed. That attack seemed intended to promote discussion about the Arab military alliance that Saudi Arabia keeps threatening to form which has been codenamed; "Pegasus."
In their current incarnation TAK serve as a metaphor for several Turkish backed insurgent groups currently operating in Syria. The first of these is the "Falcons of Mount Zawiya" group. Those falcons were the last group to be provided with training and equipment under the US "Train & Equip" program before they defected to Al Nusra Front (ANF) - Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - and Train & Equip was shut down in September 2015.
The fact that the US has terminated Train & Equip raises the question of why Turkey is continuing to support two other insurgent groups in Syria - "The Falcons of the Levant Brigade" and "The Levant Front." These two groups are currently fighting alongside ISIL and the ANF within the roughly 100km (60 mile) wide stretch of northern Syria known as "Erdogan's Pocket" to prevent the YPG liberating that area from the west and the Syrian Democratic Forces (ADF/QSD) liberating it from the east.
The crucial detail in TAK's claim of responsibility for the Ankara bombing was that it identified a different person as the bomber. Where the Turkish government had identified Salih Necar as the bomber the TAK statement identified Zinar Raperin - a Turkish national from the city of Van.
This obviously left the international community with a choice; They could either reject the TAK statement or join the UK in accusing the Turkish government of lying in its attempts to blame the YPG.
The reason why Turkey was getting so jittery was that yesterday (19/2/16) Russia started discussions at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on a statement recognising Syria as a sovereign state and calling for - unnamed parties - to stop shelling it. Such a statement would of course prevent the YPG from declaring a Kurdish state within Syria thus removing Turkey's main, stated objection to the YPG.
You would not think that this would be a difficult sentiment for the UNSC to support. After all the preamble of the United Nations (UN) Charter recognises all member nations as sovereign states. In order to become a member of the the UN nations must ratify the UN Charter into law.
As such the UNSC was only being asked to confirm that they are members of the UN. As they were being asked this in the UN Headquarters as accredited members of the UN you wouldn't think that would be too much of a problem.
If they felt they were unable to that the UNSC could at least have kept the pressure up on Turkey not to escalate further by making clear that the question remained on the table.
Unfortunately the US, France and the UK found themselves unable to differentiate between whatever internal problems there may be in Syria and the foreign invasion of Syria by nations such as Turkey. As such they immediately invoked that 1977 nihilist anthem by the "Sex Pistols" and declared the discussion to have "No Future."
This is of course the standard response those nations give when being asked about the Syrian government. Even when the question is; "Can the Syrian people choose the Syrian government?"
On plus side the US, France and the UK have now formally acknowledged that there is no internal dispute within Syria. Merely a foreign invasion of Syria.
However by refusing to condemn that invasion of Syria the UNSC has given Turkey the greenlight to deploy whatever resources it likes to seize the territory once known as Syria and make it part of Turkey. Just yesterday Turkey threatened to hand Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to terror groups in Syria by firing them against YPG ground positions.
Although it's clear that western nations care nothing for the safety of their citizens there are only so many attacks Russia can be forced to absorb before words have to become deeds.
This of course is what was actually being discussed at last night's European Union (EU) Summit.
The UK's big mistake was to try and link its membership of the EU to the ongoing fight against ISIL and associated groups. Apart from the severed foot they did this with a natural gas explosion in Haxby, Yorkshire. This was to highlight ISIL and associated groups routine use of chemical weapons such as Sulphur Mustard gas.
There was also the murder of an Imam in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. If we are going to continue to permit ISIL and associated groups to present themselves as Muslims then it is going to provoke a massive Islamaphobic backlash. Western governments will have to deal with that as well as the massively increased terror threat.
As a result this long awaited EU Summit meal was delayed so it coincided with the closed UNSC session.
The Baltic states and Poland then delayed UK Prime Minister Cameron's big speech until they had received assurances that the main aim of the EU is no longer as a political union of like-minded states. Nor is it an economic union. Instead it is simply a mechanism through which to wage war against Russia.
So you'll excuse me if I'm not convinced by Cameron's claim that the UK taxpayer won't be constantly bailing out an ever expanding group of weak economies.
15:45 on 20/2/16 (UK date).
Thursday, 18 February 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 19, Week 4, Day 3.
Certainly since August 2015 Turkey has been desperate to invade northern Syria. Specifically a roughly 100km (60 mile) wide corridor stretching from the Syrian town of Azaz in the west to the Euphrates River in the east.
The purpose of this invasion is to preserve the supply lines of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups. These have recently been put under extreme pressure by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to the south, the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) to the west and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) to the east.
Although this invasion plan has seen numerous starts and false starts matters seemed to come to a head for Turkey on February 11th (11/2/16) when the YPG succeeded in liberating the Menagh Air Base. This sits roughly 7km (4 miles) south of Azaz just inside the western boundary of what has become known as "Erdogan's Pocket."
In response on Saturday (13/2/16) Turkey started shelling YPG positions inside of Syria.
The primary objective of this was to prevent the YPG from liberating a road that links the towns of Azaz and Tel Rifat. Both of these towns were under the occupation of Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - the Al Nusra Front (ANF). Despite Turkey's shelling the YPG did succeed in liberating both the road and and the town of Tel Rifat. Azaz remains under Al Qaeda control and Turkey's shelling of the YPG continues.
On Tuesday (16/2/16) the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met to discuss Turkey's shelling in closed session. It unanimously concluded that Turkey's actions constitute a violation of international law and urged it to cease and desist.
In response to the UNSC meeting on Wednesday (17/2/16) Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç announced that Turkey still intends to invade Syria. Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting for 18:00 (local)/16:00 (GMT) in Turkey's capital Ankara.
While that National Security Council meeting was taking place a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of buses carrying Turkish troops in Ankara. So far 28 people have been reported killed and a further 61 injured.
Whilst Turkey has been excitedly been discussing its plans to invade Syria everyone else has been discussing how to manage the constant stream of terrorist propaganda being pumped out by Turkey. In my own particular fashion I raised the restrictions on terrorist propaganda Britain enforced between 1988 and 1994. That is of course an example of how not to do it.
Sometimes referred to as; "The Voice Ban" these restrictions were introduced into the 1988 Ballygawley Bus Bombing. Here a roadside bomb set by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) tore through a bus carrying 36 British soldiers as the were returning to base from holiday. 8 of the soldiers were killed making it the single largest loss of British lives behind the Narrow Water Ambush in which 18 soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.
Yesterday's Ankara bombing is of course a direct re-creation of the Ballygawley Bus Bombing. The objective of the attack seems to be threefold;
Firstly it was intended to galvanise the Turkish people into support for Turkey's planned invasion of Syria to "Eliminate the threat of Kurdish Terror!"
Secondly it was intended to force the UNSC to designate the YPG as a terrorist organisation and therefore give permission for Turkey's invasion of Syria. To this end the Turkish Foreign Ministry has today summoned the Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UNSC to show them all the evidence it's already managed to gather proving the YPG carried out the Ankara bombing.
Thirdly it seems to be an attack on me personally. The intention being to convince the international community that my recent sharing of Irish Republic Army (IRA) drinking songs contained coded messages instructing the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to carry out the attack. Therefore I'm a terrorist so must be arrested and silenced.
The problem with that of course is that as the PKK well know they were allied with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). The PIRA killed more members of the INLA then the British ever did. If there were messages hidden in those videos lets just say that the people who need to know are well aware of the success that is certain to come to Chiwetel Ejiofor at the upcoming Oscars. Despite the protests.
It seems though that the Ankara bombing was not the only terrorist outrage to befall the Turks yesterday.
Later that evening at around 21:30 an explosion struck the basement of a Turkish cultural centre in the Swedish capital Stockholm. There were no injuries. Along with the unknown individual who shot a Kurdish protester in Stockholm on Sunday (14/2/16) that cultural centre is closely linked to the Turkish Embassy in Sweden. As such any investigation will also be closely linked to the Turkish Embassy in Sweden.
In early May 2016 Sweden will be hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. They secured this dubious honour by winning the 2015 contest with the song "Heroes" by "Måns Zelmerlöw" which praised attempts to turn Ukraine into ISIL's Shamali Province. I gather that this year the rules have been changed so we can clearly see which points have been awarded by expert juries and which points have been awarded by less well informed members of the public.
In the very early hours of Sunday (14/2/16) morning all the members of a British band called "Viola Beach" were killed in a car accident in Stockholm. Already smothered with false awards and fake praise Viola Beach are exactly the type of act the UK likes to dump on Eurovision in an effort to convince everyone they're taking it seriously. As such it seems to be the type of story that is absolutely littered with coded references. I gather Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak - Erdogan's son-in-law - is particularly sensitive to any talk of oil tankers.
The fact that it was the basement of the building that was bombed is a specific reference to a particularly brutal incident in Turkey's ongoing brutal campaign in the Kurdish south-east which has been going on for the past 6 months with the full permission of US President Barack Obama.
On January 25th (25/1/16) Turkish tanks surrounded an entire district in the city of Cizre, Sirnak Province and opened fire forcing the residents to seek shelter in basements. Despite repeated calls for the civilians to be allowed to leave to seek food and medical attention Turkish tanks continued to shell the district for the next two weeks. On February 8th (8/2/16) they set fire to the district.
Turkey claims that just 27 PKK terrorists were killed in the onslaught. However despite Turkish attempts to block an investigation the confirmed death toll now stands at 145 and is expected to rise as more charred corpses are recovered.
Considering how we queue up to condemn the Syrian government for allowing areas like Deir ez-Zour to be besieged by ISIL while invoking memories of the 1994 Siege of Sarajevo you would think the international community - particularly the European Union (EU) - would literally be up in arms over the Cizre Massacre.
This morning it seems Turkey has suffered yet another terrorist outrage. 7 soldiers were killed when a convoy they were travelling was struck by a roadside bomb near the city Diyarbakir. Along with Cizre Diyarbakir is located in the Turkey's south-eastern Kurdish region.
The main difference between yesterday's Ankara Bus Bombing and the 1988 Ballygawley Bus Bombing is location.
The Ankara bombing occurred in the so-called "Security Sector" of Turkey's capital city. This is similar to Horse Guards Parade in London, UK or the area around the Capitol Building and the White House in Washington D.C, US. The Ballygawley Bus Bombing occurred on a quiet country road in County Tyrone which is right on the border with the Republic of Ireland. Even by British soldiers these areas were affectionately referred to as; "Bandit Country."
Diyarbakir is in Turkey's equivalent of Bandit Country.
Like Cizre Diyarbakir has long been on the receiving end of an onslaught by the Turkish military. Knowing full well what they are doing the Turkish government is obviously concerned that its behaviour there will trigger a backlash from the EU in particular. As such Diyarbakir has frequently featured in negotiations between Turkey and the EU.
For example on January 19th (19/1/16) - on the eve of a Turkish visit to Germany - it was announced that Turkey was ending its operation in Diyarbakir. They declared they just had to remove a few barricades and ditches. With Turkey clearly not ending its Diyarbakir operation and never having any intention to do so this was interpreted as a threat to Germany and the EU; Complain about the Diyarbakir operation and Turkey will remove the barricades and ditches it has erected in an attempt to convince the world it has sealed its border to ISIL.
Immediately after the YPG had liberated Menagh Air Base on February 11th (11/2/16) Turkey again announced that its Diyarbakir operation had ended in transparent attempt to gain EU support for its invasion plan. Although the Diyarbakir operation again has very clearly not ended today's bombing seems to send the message; "Look what happens when you force us to end the Diyarbakir operation!"
As for who carried out these recent terrorist atrocities in Turkey the first suspect it always the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Their paramilitary wing is known as; "The Grey Wolves." It is this organisation that Alparlsan Celik is a member of. It is also the organisation that has today sent a reported 500 fighters to reinforce Al Qaeda positions in Azaz.
However viewing it as a threat to his own ambitions over recent years Erdogan's Justice & Development Party (AKP) have been cracking down on the MHP through numerous "Parallel State" operations. The purpose of ending the ceasefire with the PKK in response to the July 20th 2015 (20/7/15) Suruc bombing was of course to trick the MHP into an alliance with the AKP which has Erdogan at its head.
As as a result the recent terror attacks all seem to be the work of MHP hands but with an AKP brain.
17:15 on 18/2/16 (UK date).
The purpose of this invasion is to preserve the supply lines of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated groups. These have recently been put under extreme pressure by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to the south, the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) to the west and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) to the east.
Although this invasion plan has seen numerous starts and false starts matters seemed to come to a head for Turkey on February 11th (11/2/16) when the YPG succeeded in liberating the Menagh Air Base. This sits roughly 7km (4 miles) south of Azaz just inside the western boundary of what has become known as "Erdogan's Pocket."
In response on Saturday (13/2/16) Turkey started shelling YPG positions inside of Syria.
The primary objective of this was to prevent the YPG from liberating a road that links the towns of Azaz and Tel Rifat. Both of these towns were under the occupation of Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - the Al Nusra Front (ANF). Despite Turkey's shelling the YPG did succeed in liberating both the road and and the town of Tel Rifat. Azaz remains under Al Qaeda control and Turkey's shelling of the YPG continues.
On Tuesday (16/2/16) the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met to discuss Turkey's shelling in closed session. It unanimously concluded that Turkey's actions constitute a violation of international law and urged it to cease and desist.
In response to the UNSC meeting on Wednesday (17/2/16) Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç announced that Turkey still intends to invade Syria. Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting for 18:00 (local)/16:00 (GMT) in Turkey's capital Ankara.
While that National Security Council meeting was taking place a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of buses carrying Turkish troops in Ankara. So far 28 people have been reported killed and a further 61 injured.
Whilst Turkey has been excitedly been discussing its plans to invade Syria everyone else has been discussing how to manage the constant stream of terrorist propaganda being pumped out by Turkey. In my own particular fashion I raised the restrictions on terrorist propaganda Britain enforced between 1988 and 1994. That is of course an example of how not to do it.
Sometimes referred to as; "The Voice Ban" these restrictions were introduced into the 1988 Ballygawley Bus Bombing. Here a roadside bomb set by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) tore through a bus carrying 36 British soldiers as the were returning to base from holiday. 8 of the soldiers were killed making it the single largest loss of British lives behind the Narrow Water Ambush in which 18 soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.
Yesterday's Ankara bombing is of course a direct re-creation of the Ballygawley Bus Bombing. The objective of the attack seems to be threefold;
Firstly it was intended to galvanise the Turkish people into support for Turkey's planned invasion of Syria to "Eliminate the threat of Kurdish Terror!"
Secondly it was intended to force the UNSC to designate the YPG as a terrorist organisation and therefore give permission for Turkey's invasion of Syria. To this end the Turkish Foreign Ministry has today summoned the Ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UNSC to show them all the evidence it's already managed to gather proving the YPG carried out the Ankara bombing.
Thirdly it seems to be an attack on me personally. The intention being to convince the international community that my recent sharing of Irish Republic Army (IRA) drinking songs contained coded messages instructing the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to carry out the attack. Therefore I'm a terrorist so must be arrested and silenced.
The problem with that of course is that as the PKK well know they were allied with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). The PIRA killed more members of the INLA then the British ever did. If there were messages hidden in those videos lets just say that the people who need to know are well aware of the success that is certain to come to Chiwetel Ejiofor at the upcoming Oscars. Despite the protests.
It seems though that the Ankara bombing was not the only terrorist outrage to befall the Turks yesterday.
Later that evening at around 21:30 an explosion struck the basement of a Turkish cultural centre in the Swedish capital Stockholm. There were no injuries. Along with the unknown individual who shot a Kurdish protester in Stockholm on Sunday (14/2/16) that cultural centre is closely linked to the Turkish Embassy in Sweden. As such any investigation will also be closely linked to the Turkish Embassy in Sweden.
In early May 2016 Sweden will be hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. They secured this dubious honour by winning the 2015 contest with the song "Heroes" by "Måns Zelmerlöw" which praised attempts to turn Ukraine into ISIL's Shamali Province. I gather that this year the rules have been changed so we can clearly see which points have been awarded by expert juries and which points have been awarded by less well informed members of the public.
In the very early hours of Sunday (14/2/16) morning all the members of a British band called "Viola Beach" were killed in a car accident in Stockholm. Already smothered with false awards and fake praise Viola Beach are exactly the type of act the UK likes to dump on Eurovision in an effort to convince everyone they're taking it seriously. As such it seems to be the type of story that is absolutely littered with coded references. I gather Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak - Erdogan's son-in-law - is particularly sensitive to any talk of oil tankers.
The fact that it was the basement of the building that was bombed is a specific reference to a particularly brutal incident in Turkey's ongoing brutal campaign in the Kurdish south-east which has been going on for the past 6 months with the full permission of US President Barack Obama.
On January 25th (25/1/16) Turkish tanks surrounded an entire district in the city of Cizre, Sirnak Province and opened fire forcing the residents to seek shelter in basements. Despite repeated calls for the civilians to be allowed to leave to seek food and medical attention Turkish tanks continued to shell the district for the next two weeks. On February 8th (8/2/16) they set fire to the district.
Turkey claims that just 27 PKK terrorists were killed in the onslaught. However despite Turkish attempts to block an investigation the confirmed death toll now stands at 145 and is expected to rise as more charred corpses are recovered.
Considering how we queue up to condemn the Syrian government for allowing areas like Deir ez-Zour to be besieged by ISIL while invoking memories of the 1994 Siege of Sarajevo you would think the international community - particularly the European Union (EU) - would literally be up in arms over the Cizre Massacre.
This morning it seems Turkey has suffered yet another terrorist outrage. 7 soldiers were killed when a convoy they were travelling was struck by a roadside bomb near the city Diyarbakir. Along with Cizre Diyarbakir is located in the Turkey's south-eastern Kurdish region.
The main difference between yesterday's Ankara Bus Bombing and the 1988 Ballygawley Bus Bombing is location.
The Ankara bombing occurred in the so-called "Security Sector" of Turkey's capital city. This is similar to Horse Guards Parade in London, UK or the area around the Capitol Building and the White House in Washington D.C, US. The Ballygawley Bus Bombing occurred on a quiet country road in County Tyrone which is right on the border with the Republic of Ireland. Even by British soldiers these areas were affectionately referred to as; "Bandit Country."
Diyarbakir is in Turkey's equivalent of Bandit Country.
Like Cizre Diyarbakir has long been on the receiving end of an onslaught by the Turkish military. Knowing full well what they are doing the Turkish government is obviously concerned that its behaviour there will trigger a backlash from the EU in particular. As such Diyarbakir has frequently featured in negotiations between Turkey and the EU.
For example on January 19th (19/1/16) - on the eve of a Turkish visit to Germany - it was announced that Turkey was ending its operation in Diyarbakir. They declared they just had to remove a few barricades and ditches. With Turkey clearly not ending its Diyarbakir operation and never having any intention to do so this was interpreted as a threat to Germany and the EU; Complain about the Diyarbakir operation and Turkey will remove the barricades and ditches it has erected in an attempt to convince the world it has sealed its border to ISIL.
Immediately after the YPG had liberated Menagh Air Base on February 11th (11/2/16) Turkey again announced that its Diyarbakir operation had ended in transparent attempt to gain EU support for its invasion plan. Although the Diyarbakir operation again has very clearly not ended today's bombing seems to send the message; "Look what happens when you force us to end the Diyarbakir operation!"
As for who carried out these recent terrorist atrocities in Turkey the first suspect it always the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Their paramilitary wing is known as; "The Grey Wolves." It is this organisation that Alparlsan Celik is a member of. It is also the organisation that has today sent a reported 500 fighters to reinforce Al Qaeda positions in Azaz.
However viewing it as a threat to his own ambitions over recent years Erdogan's Justice & Development Party (AKP) have been cracking down on the MHP through numerous "Parallel State" operations. The purpose of ending the ceasefire with the PKK in response to the July 20th 2015 (20/7/15) Suruc bombing was of course to trick the MHP into an alliance with the AKP which has Erdogan at its head.
As as a result the recent terror attacks all seem to be the work of MHP hands but with an AKP brain.
17:15 on 18/2/16 (UK date).
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
The Death of Justice Scalia.
On Saturday (13/2/16) Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) Judge Anthony Scalia died at the age of 79. Appointed by Republican President Ronald Regan in 1986 Justice Scalia was considered one of the leading Conservative voices on the Supreme Court.
The timing of his death presents something of a constitutional crisis for the US.
Certainly since the Paris Massacres of November 13th 2015 (13/11/15) something of an unspoken compromise has existed at the heart of the US Establishment.
Barack Obama's somewhat crazy executive actions such as on immigration and climate change get held up in SCOTUS while the US civil service keeps things ticking over. In return Obama gets to appear on TV talk-shows such as "The Ellen Show" and leave office at the end of his term with his pension intact rather than being held to account for his actions.
With the 2016 election campaign formally beginning with the Iowa Caucus on February 1st (1/2/16) this delicate balance became solidified. Dating back to 1968 there is a informal rule in US politics known as the "Thurmond Rule" which makes clear that a during their final election campaign a President will not nominate and therefore seek confirmation from Congress of a new Justice to the Supreme Court.
The purpose of this rule is really twofold. Firstly SCOTUS is frequently called upon to rule on extremely contentious areas of US politics such as abortion and gun control. As such the confirmation process has to be extremely rigorous with members of Congress being forced to ask tough questions about the candidate's opinions on tough issues regardless of what that member of Congress' personal opinions may be.
During an election campaign everything a member of Congress says or does is very closely watched. Under this level of scrutiny those seeking re-election may be tempted to pull punches during the confirmation process meaning that an unqualified candidate ends up as a Supreme Court Justice.
Obviously candidates who have not yet been elected to Congress don't participate in the confirmation process. As such it gives an unfair electoral advantage to challengers over incumbents. On this occasion this means that Democrats would be given an unfair advantage of Republicans but in previous years it has been the other way around.
Secondly it is undemocratic that a President such as Obama who - even without term limits - would be unable to win re-election is able to appoint a Supreme Court Justice who would pursue the outgoing President's political agenda for the next 20, 30 or even 40 years despite that political agenda being rejected by voters what could well be just a few days later.
Once again demonstrating that he is unfit to hold such high office Obama didn't even wait until Justice Scalia's body was cold before announcing that he is going to disregard the Thurmond rule and nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia. This is likely to trigger a bloody battle with Congress just before the November election.
The problem is if Obama is going to disregard the long-standing norm of behaviour everyone else might have to reconsider the compromise that keeps Obama in office until the end of his term. The alternative being that Obama faces trial for treason against the United States by way of providing sanctuary to groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who are waging war against the United States.
As a result rather than quietly seeing out the remainder of his term Obama could find himself seeing out the rest of his days in a Federal Prison.
Therefore we could end up in the strange position where a Supreme Court lacking a majority is forced to rule on whether Obama is eligible to appoint a Justice to the Supreme Court.
It is perhaps testament to how tyrannical Obama has become that conspiracy theories that he had Justice Scalia murdered in a last-gasp power-grab are actually finding traction amongst the US mainstream.
17:10 on 17/2/16 (UK date).
The timing of his death presents something of a constitutional crisis for the US.
Certainly since the Paris Massacres of November 13th 2015 (13/11/15) something of an unspoken compromise has existed at the heart of the US Establishment.
Barack Obama's somewhat crazy executive actions such as on immigration and climate change get held up in SCOTUS while the US civil service keeps things ticking over. In return Obama gets to appear on TV talk-shows such as "The Ellen Show" and leave office at the end of his term with his pension intact rather than being held to account for his actions.
With the 2016 election campaign formally beginning with the Iowa Caucus on February 1st (1/2/16) this delicate balance became solidified. Dating back to 1968 there is a informal rule in US politics known as the "Thurmond Rule" which makes clear that a during their final election campaign a President will not nominate and therefore seek confirmation from Congress of a new Justice to the Supreme Court.
The purpose of this rule is really twofold. Firstly SCOTUS is frequently called upon to rule on extremely contentious areas of US politics such as abortion and gun control. As such the confirmation process has to be extremely rigorous with members of Congress being forced to ask tough questions about the candidate's opinions on tough issues regardless of what that member of Congress' personal opinions may be.
During an election campaign everything a member of Congress says or does is very closely watched. Under this level of scrutiny those seeking re-election may be tempted to pull punches during the confirmation process meaning that an unqualified candidate ends up as a Supreme Court Justice.
Obviously candidates who have not yet been elected to Congress don't participate in the confirmation process. As such it gives an unfair electoral advantage to challengers over incumbents. On this occasion this means that Democrats would be given an unfair advantage of Republicans but in previous years it has been the other way around.
Secondly it is undemocratic that a President such as Obama who - even without term limits - would be unable to win re-election is able to appoint a Supreme Court Justice who would pursue the outgoing President's political agenda for the next 20, 30 or even 40 years despite that political agenda being rejected by voters what could well be just a few days later.
Once again demonstrating that he is unfit to hold such high office Obama didn't even wait until Justice Scalia's body was cold before announcing that he is going to disregard the Thurmond rule and nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia. This is likely to trigger a bloody battle with Congress just before the November election.
The problem is if Obama is going to disregard the long-standing norm of behaviour everyone else might have to reconsider the compromise that keeps Obama in office until the end of his term. The alternative being that Obama faces trial for treason against the United States by way of providing sanctuary to groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who are waging war against the United States.
As a result rather than quietly seeing out the remainder of his term Obama could find himself seeing out the rest of his days in a Federal Prison.
Therefore we could end up in the strange position where a Supreme Court lacking a majority is forced to rule on whether Obama is eligible to appoint a Justice to the Supreme Court.
It is perhaps testament to how tyrannical Obama has become that conspiracy theories that he had Justice Scalia murdered in a last-gasp power-grab are actually finding traction amongst the US mainstream.
17:10 on 17/2/16 (UK date).
Operation Featherweight: Month 19, Week 4, Day 2.
Yesterday the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) did indeed meet to discuss Turkey's shelling of northern Syria which began on Saturday (13/2/16).
Turkey has quite clearly stated that the purpose of this shelling is to prevent the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from liberating a roughly 100km (60 miles) long stretch of territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria the Al Nusra Front (ANF).
This was a closed UNSC session which is the polar opposite of this past weekend's Munich Security Conference. It is attended only by the 15 members of the UNSC and the convention is that none of those members speak directly to the media. As a result this is largely guess work.
However it appears that Russia tabled a statement "Urging Turkey to comply with international law." The choice of the word "urge" was a pointed reference to the statement the US issued on Saturday (13/2/16) urging Turkey to show restraint while calling on the YPG to stop fighting ISIL/ANF.
The use of the term "Urge" rather than say "Insists," "Demands," "Orders" etc gives the false impression that Turkey's compliance with international law is somehow optional.
This was pointed reference to the French authored UNSC Resolution 2249 (2015) that was passed on November 21st (21/11/15) just after the Paris Massacres. That limited the obligation to fight terrorism - a requirement under international law due to Resolution 2170 (2014) - only to nations "with the capacity to do so." The implication being that the "Desire" to fight terrorism is the same as the "Capacity" to fight terrorism.
Despite forcing two permanent, veto wielding, members to the UNSC to admit to their mistakes it appears that the Russian statement has been unanimously agreed upon. However it was never intended to be a public statement.
In the extremely polite world of international diplomacy this is rather a strong statement against Turkey.
However my concern is that even at the best of times Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan's relationship with reality is rather tenuous and subtly is not his strong suit.
So although this statement makes clear that Turkey's behaviour is a complete violation of international law it leaves the door open just a crack by suggesting that Turkey has the option of continuing to violate international law.
It seems that Turkey intends to try and force its way through that crack. Today government linked media in Turkey are trying to deny the statement ever existed while the Deputy Prime Minister has again re-stated Turkey's intention to invade Syria. A national security council meeting is scheduled to start right about now and Turkey has continued to shell the YPG.
Although it clearly needs to stop because people are being killed Turkey's actions fortunately don't seem to be making much of a difference. Despite the shelling on Monday (15/2/16) the YPG were able to liberate the town of Tel Rifat from Al Qaeda.
Today it is seems the genuinely moderate groups in Marea - which sits around 6km (3.5 miles) east of Tel Rifat - have decided that they have no fight with the YPG and will be allowing them to peacefully enter the town this evening.
15:15 on 17/2/16 (UK date).
Turkey has quite clearly stated that the purpose of this shelling is to prevent the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from liberating a roughly 100km (60 miles) long stretch of territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria the Al Nusra Front (ANF).
This was a closed UNSC session which is the polar opposite of this past weekend's Munich Security Conference. It is attended only by the 15 members of the UNSC and the convention is that none of those members speak directly to the media. As a result this is largely guess work.
However it appears that Russia tabled a statement "Urging Turkey to comply with international law." The choice of the word "urge" was a pointed reference to the statement the US issued on Saturday (13/2/16) urging Turkey to show restraint while calling on the YPG to stop fighting ISIL/ANF.
The use of the term "Urge" rather than say "Insists," "Demands," "Orders" etc gives the false impression that Turkey's compliance with international law is somehow optional.
This was pointed reference to the French authored UNSC Resolution 2249 (2015) that was passed on November 21st (21/11/15) just after the Paris Massacres. That limited the obligation to fight terrorism - a requirement under international law due to Resolution 2170 (2014) - only to nations "with the capacity to do so." The implication being that the "Desire" to fight terrorism is the same as the "Capacity" to fight terrorism.
Despite forcing two permanent, veto wielding, members to the UNSC to admit to their mistakes it appears that the Russian statement has been unanimously agreed upon. However it was never intended to be a public statement.
In the extremely polite world of international diplomacy this is rather a strong statement against Turkey.
However my concern is that even at the best of times Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan's relationship with reality is rather tenuous and subtly is not his strong suit.
So although this statement makes clear that Turkey's behaviour is a complete violation of international law it leaves the door open just a crack by suggesting that Turkey has the option of continuing to violate international law.
It seems that Turkey intends to try and force its way through that crack. Today government linked media in Turkey are trying to deny the statement ever existed while the Deputy Prime Minister has again re-stated Turkey's intention to invade Syria. A national security council meeting is scheduled to start right about now and Turkey has continued to shell the YPG.
Although it clearly needs to stop because people are being killed Turkey's actions fortunately don't seem to be making much of a difference. Despite the shelling on Monday (15/2/16) the YPG were able to liberate the town of Tel Rifat from Al Qaeda.
Today it is seems the genuinely moderate groups in Marea - which sits around 6km (3.5 miles) east of Tel Rifat - have decided that they have no fight with the YPG and will be allowing them to peacefully enter the town this evening.
15:15 on 17/2/16 (UK date).
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 19, Week 4, Day 1.
Yesterday (15/2/16) activists in Northern Syria accused Russia of bombing hospitals in Maaret al-Numan - which sits between Hama City and Idlib City - and Azaz - the Al Qaeda occupied town just north of Aleppo City.
What made this claim so outrageous and so shocking is that it actually happened.
The particular group making this claim is the White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) whose work is often clearly branded with the logo of a white helmet inside a blue outline map of Syria on a yellow background. Funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), operating from Turkey and headed by a British mercenary the White Helmets are not a humanitarian organisation.
Instead they are a purely military organisation dedicated to psychological warfare. They were formed with the sole purpose of illegally overthrowing the Syrian government. Their main weapon is what is termed "Atrocity Propaganda." That is the deliberate fabrication or exaggeration of atrocities such as war crimes that are blamed on the enemy.
The White Helmets' particular predilection for using children in their propaganda videos itself constitutes a war crime contrary to Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Although it is hard to pick just one perhaps the most outrageous claim made by the White Helmets was that on October 20th 2015 (20/10/15) Russian air-strikes had destroyed the Syrian-American Medical Centre (SAMC) in the town of Sarmin which sits around 5km (3 miles) east of Idlib City.
Having not conducted any air-strikes in the area on the day in question Russia immediately tasked observation satellites and reconnaissance aircraft to inspect the damage to the building. They found absolutely none whatsoever and later released footage of the undamaged building which were confirmed by the US.
There was of course no need for Russia to go to these lengths because part of the video released by the White Helmets was filmed inside the very clearly un-destroyed hospital which they were claiming had been destroyed. Going for a sort of war crime trifecta another section of the same video showed two boys who could be no more then 10 photogenically posed on top of a pile of rubble tearfully telling the world how their parents had been killed in the air-strike that never happened.
Despite the White Helmets own video quite clearly demonstrating that they were lying this story of Russia bombing a hospital was widely reported as fact across much of the World. The source of the video - the White Helmets - was never acknowledged and their credibility as a source was certainly not examined.
It is exactly this type of "Hostile Action" that the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed would cease on Thursday (18/2/16) in preparation for wider ceasefire negotiations.
Obviously the fact that the same media outlets who report the White Helmets' claims as fact also reported Friday's (12/2/16) agreement as a "ceasefire" really highlights the problem.
Unfortunately because the US decided to air its dirty laundry in public at this past weekend's three day Munich Security Conference Saudi Arabia got wind of this.
So yesterday they ordered the arrest/kidnapping of four US journalists in Bahrain. Ever since Saudi troops rolled across the causeway in March 2011 to brutally crush a popular uprising Bahrain has been nothing more then a client state of Saudi Arabia. The message was quite clear; Saudi Arabia will target any western journalist of new agency that dares to report the truth.
Fortunately for the US the Israelis then got involved briefly arresting the Jerusalem bureau chief of the Washington Post on charges of "inciting violence." Not only did this lead to the four US journalist being immediately freed the Saudis also freed the three US citizens they'd been holding hostage in Iraq since January 15th (15/1/16) in an effort to sow division between the US and the Shia militias who are fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq.
The locations of yesterday's strikes were also significant. Azaz is of course the Al Qaeda occupied town that Turkey is currently shelling to prevent the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from liberating. As Al Qaeda are named in various United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions there is no suggestion that Azaz will be covered by any ceasefire. I hope this post doesn't clash with the closed door UNSC meeting on Turkey's terrorist actions. However with closed door sessions it is always hard to tell.
Similarly Maaret al-Numan sits on the main Highway 60 which runs from the capital Damascus to the Al Qaeda/ISIL occupied Aleppo City. As such it controls the main supply route needed to liberate Aleppo City and therefore - for the same reason as Azaz - will not be covered by any future ceasefire.
It was of course the US who designated the bombing of hospitals as the lingua franca (bridging language) for discussions about war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria with their much more ferocious attack on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 3rd (3/10/15).
16:45 on 16/2/16 (UK date).
What made this claim so outrageous and so shocking is that it actually happened.
The particular group making this claim is the White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) whose work is often clearly branded with the logo of a white helmet inside a blue outline map of Syria on a yellow background. Funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), operating from Turkey and headed by a British mercenary the White Helmets are not a humanitarian organisation.
Instead they are a purely military organisation dedicated to psychological warfare. They were formed with the sole purpose of illegally overthrowing the Syrian government. Their main weapon is what is termed "Atrocity Propaganda." That is the deliberate fabrication or exaggeration of atrocities such as war crimes that are blamed on the enemy.
The White Helmets' particular predilection for using children in their propaganda videos itself constitutes a war crime contrary to Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Although it is hard to pick just one perhaps the most outrageous claim made by the White Helmets was that on October 20th 2015 (20/10/15) Russian air-strikes had destroyed the Syrian-American Medical Centre (SAMC) in the town of Sarmin which sits around 5km (3 miles) east of Idlib City.
Having not conducted any air-strikes in the area on the day in question Russia immediately tasked observation satellites and reconnaissance aircraft to inspect the damage to the building. They found absolutely none whatsoever and later released footage of the undamaged building which were confirmed by the US.
There was of course no need for Russia to go to these lengths because part of the video released by the White Helmets was filmed inside the very clearly un-destroyed hospital which they were claiming had been destroyed. Going for a sort of war crime trifecta another section of the same video showed two boys who could be no more then 10 photogenically posed on top of a pile of rubble tearfully telling the world how their parents had been killed in the air-strike that never happened.
Despite the White Helmets own video quite clearly demonstrating that they were lying this story of Russia bombing a hospital was widely reported as fact across much of the World. The source of the video - the White Helmets - was never acknowledged and their credibility as a source was certainly not examined.
It is exactly this type of "Hostile Action" that the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed would cease on Thursday (18/2/16) in preparation for wider ceasefire negotiations.
Obviously the fact that the same media outlets who report the White Helmets' claims as fact also reported Friday's (12/2/16) agreement as a "ceasefire" really highlights the problem.
Unfortunately because the US decided to air its dirty laundry in public at this past weekend's three day Munich Security Conference Saudi Arabia got wind of this.
So yesterday they ordered the arrest/kidnapping of four US journalists in Bahrain. Ever since Saudi troops rolled across the causeway in March 2011 to brutally crush a popular uprising Bahrain has been nothing more then a client state of Saudi Arabia. The message was quite clear; Saudi Arabia will target any western journalist of new agency that dares to report the truth.
Fortunately for the US the Israelis then got involved briefly arresting the Jerusalem bureau chief of the Washington Post on charges of "inciting violence." Not only did this lead to the four US journalist being immediately freed the Saudis also freed the three US citizens they'd been holding hostage in Iraq since January 15th (15/1/16) in an effort to sow division between the US and the Shia militias who are fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq.
The locations of yesterday's strikes were also significant. Azaz is of course the Al Qaeda occupied town that Turkey is currently shelling to prevent the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from liberating. As Al Qaeda are named in various United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions there is no suggestion that Azaz will be covered by any ceasefire. I hope this post doesn't clash with the closed door UNSC meeting on Turkey's terrorist actions. However with closed door sessions it is always hard to tell.
Similarly Maaret al-Numan sits on the main Highway 60 which runs from the capital Damascus to the Al Qaeda/ISIL occupied Aleppo City. As such it controls the main supply route needed to liberate Aleppo City and therefore - for the same reason as Azaz - will not be covered by any future ceasefire.
It was of course the US who designated the bombing of hospitals as the lingua franca (bridging language) for discussions about war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria with their much more ferocious attack on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 3rd (3/10/15).
16:45 on 16/2/16 (UK date).
Sunday, 14 February 2016
Operation Featherweight: Month 19, Week 3, Day 7.
In my post of January
28th (28/1/16) I mentioned how the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) backed by Russia
air-power had succeeded in liberating all of Latakia Province on January 24th
(24/1/16). What I may have failed to make clear is just how bad tempered this got.
Turkey was of course
furious at the liberation of Latakia. That is because it sealed a roughly 75km
(45 mile) stretch of the border between Turkey and Syria. Turkey had been using
that stretch of territory to supply weapons and fighters to an irregular
division of the Turkish Army known as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB).
As the
the STB are waging war against the SAA - the main force fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) - their allegiance to ISIL is beyond dispute.
As if that wasn't
humiliating enough for Turkey as the SAA liberated Rabia - the last town to be
liberated - the Russians deployed a Special Forces - SPETSNAZ- ground unit. That unit's
mission was simple - kill or capture Alparslan Celik. You may remember that
Celik is the Turkish national who appeared as the spokesman for the STB
celebrating the Turkish shooting down of a Russian Su-24 over Syria on November
24th (24/11/15).
During that address
Celik spoke proudly of how the STB had machine gunned the Su-24 crew as they
had parachuted to earth. In doing so Celik declared to the World that he is a
war criminal and on December 23rd (23/12/15) Russia duly issued an international arrest warrant
to see Celik held accountable for his crimes.
However it turns out
that Celik had fled Rabia prior to the SPETSNAZ raid and was instead hiding
out in Istanbul, Turkey.
This was hugely embarrassing for Turkey because it
made clear to everyone that the "moderate Syrian opposition" which
Turkey speaks so fondly of are neither moderate nor Syrian. The fact that Celik
was not arrested the moment he entered Turkey also made quite clear that Turkey
is failing in its international obligations by continuing to shelter those who
have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Perhaps most
importantly in the pseudo-macho culture Turkish President/Prime
Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cultivated it made quite clear that
Celik is a coward who ran away and hid when the big boys came knocking
Italy in particular
had a great deal of fun with this in the form of ongoing raids against
organised crime - the mafia - in it's country. In one particular incident the
supposedly all powerful leaders of one particular criminal group were found
hiding out in the woods like rats in a hole. I personally found their interest
in the Spanish wholesale market highly amusing.
It is of course Italy
who have been leading efforts to block this USD/E3bn ransom payment from the
European Union (EU) to Turkey over the refugees.
So on January 25th
(25/1/16) Italian student Giulio Regeni went missing in Cairo, Egypt. The 28
year old had been living in Egypt for the past four months as part of his
Cambridge, UK, University PHD thesis on the Egyptian Trade Union movement. Nine days
later Mr Regeni's body was discovered partially burnt and showing signs of
torture along with injuries suggesting he had been beaten to death.
It is well known that
Turkey has a sizable presence in Turkey that is working to violently overthrow
the Egyptian government under the "Rabia" banner as part of Erdogan's
efforts to re-establish the Ottoman Empire. One of their main tactics is to
undermine the Egyptian state by accusing the police of brutality. Quite how -
as a Druze woman - George Clooney's wife Amal Alamuddin can continue to work in
support of these Sunni-extremists is completely beyond me.
As such I think it is
quite clear to all that Turkey had Giulio Regeni murdered as punishment for
Italy's blocking of this E3bn ransom payment. The killing would then be blamed
on the Egyptian police further weakening the Egyptian state and furthering
Turkey's cause.
Unfortunately certain
sections of the UK media - particularly Sky News - have fallen for this hook,
line and sinker. Surely it can't be long before former Al Jazeera reporter
Sherine Tadros' career in the UK media comes to an end. After all despite all
her claims of in depth knowledge of Egyptian politics she completly missed the
arrest on January 30th (30/1/16) of a Turkish police officer assigned to the Turkish Consulate who had been
carrying out hostile reconnaissance of the security measures to protect tourists
at the Giza Pyramids.
Obviously with diplomatic immunity eventually being invoked the details of this have been quietend somewhat.
On February 3rd
(3/2/16) the SAA were finally able to liberate the villages of Nubul and
Zaharaa ending a three year long siege. These sit some 15km (9 miles)
north-west of Aleppo City. Their liberation leaves the occupied Aleppo City
surrounded on three sides and places SAA troops around 30km (18 miles) from the
border with Turkey.
This development
simply added to Turkey's fury. Certainly since August 8th 2015 (8/8/15) Turkey has insisted
that ISIL must be left in control of a section of it's border stretching some
100km (60 miles) from the Euphrates River in the east to roughly the border
town of Kilis in the west. Containing the town of Marea this area of ISIL
control has become known as "Erdogan's pocket."
Initially the purpose
of establishing Erdogan's pocket was to provide a pre-text for a full-scale
Turkish ground invasion of Syria. The purpose of this invasion was to
strengthen ISIL's under pressure supply lines and to overthrow the main
anti-ISIL force - the Syrian government.
It seems that Erdogan
has still not received a firm and non-negotiable "No" to this plan.
However in the meantime he seems happy to keep his pocket open to guarantee at
least a limited supply line between Turkey and Raqqa - ISIL's de facto capital
in Syria.
The liberation of
Nubul and Zaharaa obviously leaves the SAA poised to move in an seal Erdogan's
pocket cutting what is left of ISIL's supply lines. So in response Turkey's
propaganda machine has gone into overdrive throwing out wild claim after wild
claim the hope of halting the SAA's advance.
So apparently the SPETSNAZ team dedicated to the capture of Alparslan Celik is now
an "Anti-Sunni Death Squad" while Celik's return to his native Turkey
is now apparently "Ethnic Cleansing."
The main effort
though is the roughly 70,000 civilians who have fled north from the line of
conflict into Erdogan's pocket. This is entirely a problem of Erdogan's
creation.
Throughout the past
five years Turkey has pumped out relentless anti-Shia propaganda. This has all
been focused on telling the Syria people that they are engaged in the sectarian
war to end all wars and the evil Shias of the Syrian government will murder
them in their beds in they get the chance. Although entirely false governments
and the media in the west have seen fit to recite these lies as fact rather
than exposing them for what they are.
To the west of
Erdogan's pocket you have the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) operating
in what they term the "Afrin Canton." To the east of Erdogan's
pocket - across the Euphrates - you have the mixed forces of the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD).
In war Internally Displaced People (IDP's) tend to
flee away from the line of conflict no matter how jagged that is. If the YPG
and the QSD moved in from the west and east in a pincer movement to the north
then the IDP's would flee the line by heading south. This would put them in
territory controlled by the Syrian government where they would discover that
all the Turkish lies about the Syrian government are just that. Lies.
However Turkey has
remained adamant that neither the YPG nor the QSD can move into remove ISIL
from Erdogan's pocket. As such the only option remaining is for the SAA to
advance from the south driving the IDP's north.
Not only is it
entirely of Erdogan's creation this new IDP crisis seems to be of his design.
There is significant concern that he will attempt to use it as the pre-text for
the invasion of Syria. Turkey already seems to be involved in a sort of soft
invasion under the pretence of sending humanitarian supplies to the IDP's.
So it raised many an
eyebrow when on February 9th (9/2/16) German Chancellor/Head of Government
Angela Merkel once again travelled to Turkey in order to indulge Erdogan's
every whim lest he tells the world that she made another little girl cry.
As such that day's
crash between two trains just outside the city of Munich in the German state of
Bavaria should hardly have come as a surprise. In case you haven't worked it
out by now one of the trains represented Turkey's desire to flood the EU with
irregular migrants - I suspect Erdogan's focus is on terrorists rather than
refugees. The other train represented the backlash for any right thinking
person in Europe. The signal operator who is under investigation for making the mistake that caused the crash is of
course Angela Merkel.
The death toll of 11
wasn't actually that bad in comparison. Erdogan drowns that many in the Aegean
every day.
Demonstrating that
Angela Merkel now speaks for no-one but Angela Merkel on Thursday (11/2/16) the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) announced that it was deploying a
unified task force to the Aegean Sea. At the moment that task force's mission is
to gather intelligence on the routes used to smuggle irregular migrants through
Turkey into the EU. However if Turkey fails to act on that intelligence I can
see it being turned into a blockade to stop Erdogan's train in its tracks
preventing any future collisions.
Elsewhere everyone
has really been focused on 'forgetting' to return emails about the YPG
advancing out of the Afrin Canton with Russian air-support. On Thursday
(11/2/16) the YPG had succeeded in liberating the Menagh airbase from groups
allied to ISIL. This sits roughly 15km (8 miles) south of Syria's border with Turkey roughly 40km (24 miles) north of Aleppo City.
Meanwhile the US and
France as part of Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve
(CJTFOIR) - the US-led coalition - have been busy bombing ISIL positions around
the town of Manbij. This sits on the western bank of the Euphrates just beyond
the Tishan Dam that the QSD liberated on December 26th (26/12/15). Since then Turkey's big
concern is that the QSD will advance on Manbij and remove ISIL from Erdogan's
pocket.
I'm not saying that this bombing of Manbij is definitely CJTFOIR giving
permission for the QSD operation to proceed. However if the QSD were to advance
they would certainly find that the target has been softened up for them.
As such former French
Foreign Minister's Laurent Fabius' curious pro-Turkish leaving comments struck
me as the parting shots of a man whose been told that he doesn't need to work
out his notice period after all.
Things got really
interesting though on Wednesday (10/2/16) when US jets took off from United
States Air Force (USAF) base Incirilk in Turkey. They proceeded to fly to Aleppo
City and bomb targets being occupied by what Turkey terms the 'moderate
opposition.' The Americans then immediately put out a statement claiming that
two hospitals had been destroyed in strikes they blamed on the Russians.
However the next day
CJTFOIR published their daily strike update. This edition was adorned with a
photograph of the aircraft that carried out the Aleppo City strikes. Inside it
made clear that CJTFOIR would be making no apologies for the strikes on Manbij.
Then on Thursday
(11/2/16) evening someone thought it would be a good idea to hold a meeting of
the poorly named International Syria Support Group (ISSG). Better referred to as
the "Illegal Sunnistan Syria Group" the ISSG is an international group dedicated
to the overthrow of the Syrian government. As this aim runs contrary to the
charter of the United Nations (UN) I do not understand how it can, in any way,
be endorsed by the UN or attended by any UN member state.
However it seems that
some people enjoyed World War One and World War Two so much they just can't
wait to start World War Three.
In what I can only
assume was a psychotic episode in the stupidly early hours of Friday (12/2/16)
morning the ISSG announced that it had reached an agreement. As always with
these types of agreement exactly what was agreed is certainly open to
interpretation.
For example you could
interpret the agreement to mean that Russia and the Syrian government have
decided to surrender and preserve ISIL's presence in the country for all
eternity.
Alternatively you
could interpret it to mean that the US has given itself a timetable of 7 days
to end all pro-ISIL sanctions against Russia and formally designate Turkey as a
state sponsor of terrorism. Thus ending its membership of NATO.
Assuming it was the
former Islamist terrorists decided to celebrate by attacking a UN base near Kidal in Mali. Five UN staff members were killed in this attack.
However after having
it explained to them that it was more of the latter the US then started to
panic a bit with the shooting of two schoolgirls at the Independence High
School in Arizona. The two girls represent the female fighters of the YPG to
the west of Erdogan's pocket and the female fighters of the QSD to the east of
Erdogan's pocket. The announcement that it was an "isolated incident"
was intended to reassure Erdogan that the two girls would not be meeting at
independence.
Emboldened by this on Saturday (13/2/16) Turkey started shelling YPG positions in Syria. The purpose of this barrage was to stop the YPG liberating the road that runs between the towns of Azaz and Tell Rifat which sits around 2km (1.2 miles) east of the Menagh airbase.
Both Azaz and Tell Rifat are currently under the occupation of Al Nusra Front (ANF) - Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria. Therefore Turkey's actions can only be viewed as an unprovoked act of war against Syria and it's allies in direct support of an internationally recognised terrorist group.
Curiously the US - through Vice President Joe Biden - opted not to condemn Turkey's actions in support of a declared enemy of the US. Instead they merely urged Turkey to try and show restraint. Perhaps more shockingly the US went on to actively discourage the YPG from liberating any more territory for Al Qaeda.
Needless to say Turkey was further emboldened by these comments and continued to shell the YPG today. The Turks say that they've killed 32 YPG fighters while the YPG claim that only 2 have fallen. Either way it's been a bit nasty.
While all this was going on the US was ruining it all by trying to force everyone to air their dirty laundry in public at the
Munich Security Conference. This of course is the type of sounding out that
should have occurred in the corridors of the closed NATO Summit that should have
taken place immediately after the November 13th (13/11/15) Paris Massacres.
After all I gather the Munich Security Conference is only attended by the sort of podgy right-wing loons who get all sweaty in the palms at the mere mention of a little bit of military action.
Apart from that
though I think it went well. After all US President Barack Obama never fails.
He's Awesome.
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