As Trump goes about smashing alliances, he’s harming NATO in a number of ways. By apparently favoring Putin in Syria, with this latest catastrophe involving the betrayal of the Kurds and greenlighting a Turkish invasion of northern Syria, he’s casting doubt on the rationale for Turkey to continue as a NATO member in my opinion. So that’s one potential disaster — a democratic, multi-ethnic and tolerant Turkey had been a bulwark of Western power for decades, one that couldn’t be more strategically located on the literal bridge between Europe and Asia and straddling Western and Russian spheres of influence but also of course serving as a balance to the Arab League and Iran. Of course Turkey is also directly on the path to the oil fields of Arabia and Central Asia including Iran and those of Russia and the former Soviet Union such as Turkmenistan.
However, there’s another angle to the betrayal of the Kurds and that’s the fact that Israel and Kurdistan have been friends, and secondly that Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds is rattling the Israelis severely. The US has long been Israel’s best ally but all the Evangelical hoo-hah can’t hide the fact that Trump is completely untrustworthy since he’s a deeply compromised, vicious, ignorant narcissist who would sell his mother if it got him something. Of course we could have told people that but who listens to Democrats.
Anyway I’m sure the Israelis had Trump figured long before now, when he gave away their super top secret intel to the Russians right in the Oval Office; but his blatant abandonment of the Kurds must be terrifying to the Israelis who may find themselves facing a completely chaotic situation with no allies at all. Probably they, like we, had been counting on our military and intelligence professionals along with whatever adults remained in the Senate and the White House to manage the situation but lo, Trump apparently went off completely half-cocked and threw the whole Middle East and NATO up in the goddam air along with our Kurdish allies and the Syrian democrats.
From the Jerusalem Post,
www.jpost.com/...
Updated: I wrote this late last night. Now the attack on the Kurds is underway. I am horrified.
I wonder if it’s an accident this this war started on Yom Kippur. We Jews will never forget that Israel was attacked on Yom Kippur and the end was in sight when Sharon, ignoring orders broke through on the Suez and encircled the Egyptian armies.
I hope Kos readers who aren’t familiar with the Yom Kippur War will study it. The sacrifice of the tank battalions in the North is taught to this day.
And, it helps explain present-day Israeli actions. It’s important to know history.