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 Indígenas/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.