Syria: will the West attack?
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It might be worth looking up this book about Rojavahttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/193866017X?keywords=a%20small%20key%20can%20open%20a%20large%20door%20the%20rojava%20revolution&qid=1445327114&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1The introduction is free online:http://www.tangledwilderness.org/a-mountain-river-has-many-bends/
Even an informed Tory (Julian Lewis is chairman of the defence committee) calls the prospect of UK airstrikes as a "pointless endeavour” and "extremely dangerous"
Quote:In Syria, apart from Kurds in limited areas, there are no credible, non-Islamist ground forces other than President Assad’s. The government does not accept that its preferred “moderate” forces are a fantasy and that a jihadi victory would be the only outcome if Assad were overthrown – with all the biblical-scale horrors which would flow from that for the Christians, Alawites, Shia and other minorities, as well as secular Sunnis…With the removal of Assad, groups like this would be like vultures at a feast. No serious analyst argues that the handful of “moderates” would be a match for the jihadis.The Party once debated Julian Lewis — on 17 February 1983 on "What is the threat to world peace?" with him representing the anti-CND "Coalition for Peace through Security".(He was also due to debate us in July 1991 but didn't turn up). I'm not saying we influenced him (hardly). Anybody making a rational and objective analysis of the situation in Syria would reach the same conclusion as he has in the quote above. The only question that politicians running particular capitalist states have to decide is whether this is a risk worth taking and ultimately a price worth paying to remove a government in Syria opposed to their interests. Some evidently do.Lewis was one of the Tory MPs who voted against bombing Syria the last time it was proposed (and defeated) in 2013. At least he's consistent. Some (most) of those who wanted to bomb Syria in 2013 have changed their mind as to who to bomb (then it was the government, now it's their Jihadist opponents) but not to bomb. It seems they are simply bomb-happy.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/10/wrangle-influence-parliament.htmlCole hits the nub on the head: it's about Speheres of Influence: Syria is Russias backyard (and it's outpost on the med) it can't afford to let it fall to a hostile power. It isn't backing Assad per se, it's staking a claim to the territory and ensuring a friendly government come what may.The US considers Iraq its sphere of influence, and so won't tolerate Russian bombing there.
Sometimes you cannot believe how unreal the press can be. The Independent ( re-hashing a Daily Mirror story that places the Corbyn on Trident statement right beneath the article) publishes a story from 1954, 62 years ago , that some sort of atomic war expert speculated that instead of dozens of atomic bombs, Russia would only use a few big ones, to effectively destroy London. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russia-planned-to-drop-nuclear-bombs-on-london-in-the-cold-war-letter-says-a6707306.htmlBut need the story have required this sentence
Quote:Current Russian president Vladimir Putin has begun bombing Syrian opponents to President Bashar al-Assad, who is believed by the US to have used chemical weapons on his own citizens.Just what relevance is there except to instil and implant an irrational fear into the minds of people today about the Russian threat.
Young Master Smeet wrote:It might be worth looking up this book about Rojavahttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/193866017X?keywords=a%20small%20key%20can%20open%20a%20large%20door%20the%20rojava%20revolution&qid=1445327114&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1The introduction is free online:http://www.tangledwilderness.org/a-mountain-river-has-many-bends/Well, I've got my copy, and its very interesting. So, it's a mishmash of reports from the area, including the constitution of the Cantons. That expressly says the economy must serve people's needs, and incorporates the UN Charter on Human Rights into their constitution. It also expressly guarntees the right of private property.However, the reports say that a lot of property has been allocated to the commons, and most property is held as property in use (usufruct). An interesting point is that the Ba'ath party seems to have nationalised a lot of land, and the Cantons are handing that over to co-operatives to diversify the crop (Rojava was one of the biggest crop producers in Syria). Also, the commons are being used in lieu of welfare payments and there is no taxation.A declaration by Ocalan (Apo) (who has an interesting role as King-over-the-water, in as much as he is the revered leader/theorist, that means no one else can take the throne, but as he is rotting in a Turkish gaol, he cannot practically lead, this may be (but not for him) a lucky circumstance) declares that EU Law, National Law and Canton Law all shall be applied (and in that order).Quite how much of this is a libertarian revelation by a former Maoist guerilla group, and how much is accomodation to some traditional aspects of Kurdish life is unclear, certainly the liberation of women in these areas is important.
What this article reports would seem to suggest that they have not abandoned their Maoist ideology entirely:http://syriadirect.org/news/new-pyd-curriculum-in-northern-syria-reveals-ideological-linguistic-fault-lines/
Quote:Cheerful images of Ocalan, juxtaposed with the Rojava flag and speaking with a young child, fill some of the pages of textbooks used as part of the new curricula, in pictures given to Syria Direct. Opposition to the new curricula is not only partisan, however. Educators have also pointed to the content of the new texts as an attempt to embed a “totalitarian ideology” into school lessons by “sanctifying the leader and militarizing the schools,” Jian Zakaria, the secretary of the West Kurdistan Teachers’ Union said.Interesting also that the Syrian government has been continuing to pay for education (and health and other services too) in the areas controlled by the Kurdish Nationalists of the PYD/PKK.
Meanwhile the other side of the battle line:http://syriadirect.org/news/every-child-left-behind-in-the-islamic-state%E2%80%99s-new-elementary-schools/I think I'd rather learn Kurdish.
Not sure if anyone else caught this in the FT about YPG, PKK, Bookchin and Ocalanhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/50102294-77fd-11e5-a95a-27d368e1ddf7.html
Important election today in Turkey. If the ruling Islamist party loses and power passes to the secular opposition party, in coalition with the Kurdish nationalists, then there would be a complete change of Turkey's policy towards Syria. The main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), comes from the same secular nationalist stable as the Baath party in Syria and is in fact sympathetic to the government there.
Read an interesting interpretation on the Russian progandist website RT about why Obama is sending special focrces into Syria….they are actually being used as human shields, to stop the Russians bombing of America's allies, knowing that Putin would be diplomatically reluctant to actually directly fire upon Americans.Makes more sense than thinking 50 soldiers no matter how special they are would make a difference. https://www.rt.com/op-edge/320356-syria-us-troops-shields/Imagine the effect if America woke up to tv broadcasts of American GIs being blasted to pieces by Russian missiles….i doubt the response would be the same as when MH17 being shot down
Robert Fisk, to my mind the most under-rated journalist in the UK, has written a review of Under the Black Flag which is about daily living under ISIS. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/a-new-book-reveals-the-horrifying-and-fascinating-details-of-daily-life-under-isis-a6717056.htmlPerhaps a member might have read it too and would like to comment.
The headline news today is "Cameron backs down over plan to bomb Syria". Once again, it's not because of demonstrations but because he doesn't think he'd get a parliamentary majority in favour, even though a number of prominent Labour MPs would back him but he can't be sure of enough of his own MPs.
Cole puts it in perspective:http://www.juancole.com/2015/11/exaggeration-shoot-planes.html
Quote:Daesh has made some of its biggest splashes with a smartphone camera and some petty thuggery. (Grabbing someone and killing him is not that hard, and illiterate teenagers in American inner cities do it every day). In a day of news as infotainment, per-minute payments for advertisements, and social media, a single beheading can create an impression. But like 15,000 people a year are murdered in the United States and since most of those murders are committed by gunmen, we’re not allowed to talk about those.The solution to IS is political, and doesn't have to involve trying to work out ways to kill people. It would probably be cheaper to just evacuate the entirety of Syria than to fight IS to the death.
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