World News Done Right™
In 2013, the Turks, a NATO partner, wanted access to U.S. Patriot missile defenses to protect against any spillover from the Syrian Civil War. The Obama Administration refused. Since that point, U.S.-Turkish relations have collapsed and NATO has quietly broken because of this. The recent Turkish invasion of Syria merely highlights this fact.
“I have firm faith that the Kurds will one day get their independence. The day for that is not now. The best solution for the benighted Kurds would be to hunker down in their enclaves and lie in wait until their host nations – particularly those in Syria, Iran, and Turkey – become weak and unable to prevent the call for Kurdish independence. President Trump has made the right decision to acquiesce to the brutal autocrats in Turkey on the matter of the Kurds, if only because the United States needs autocratic Turkey to balance against Russia, China, and Iran more than it needs the Kurds at present.”
“If Iran is the threat that many in the Trump Administration believe it to be, and if American military power is no longer as effective in the region as everyone previously thought, then why not step back, reserve the right to attack any foe that may arise in Syria at a later date, and seek to make nice with the weaker members of this new Russo-Iranian-Turkish alliance?”
“If the United States does not act quickly to ensure the creation of an independent, fully functional Kurdish state, then America’s geostrategic position will be permanently marred. Things will get worse, not better, for the United States and its allies, as Iran’s position is increased regionally, Israel’s position is fundamentally weakened; the Sunni Arab states begin building nuclear arsenals of their own, and Turkey continues manipulating events to help bring about its delusions of reconstituting the Ottoman Empire of old. Meanwhile, as this occurs, the Russians will replace the United States as the “offshore” balancer, and China’s path to global economic dominance will be cleared.”
“Failure to recognize Kurdistan is not only an abdication of moral leadership, it is a geostrategic error for the United States. Without Kurdistan as a buffer state between Iran’s expansion into the Levant, as well as a check against Turkish and Russian consolidation of the region’s energy sources, we will permanently lose the region to our adversaries. Backing the Kurds to the fullest is in America’s best interest.”
In my recent lecture for the Koscuzsko Chair Intermarium Series at the Institute of World Politics, I talk about Turkey’s future under President Recep Erdogan and its implications for American foreign policy and the Middle East.
The defeat of the Islamic State will create several knock-on effects in the Middle East. Namely, the Kurds will likely renew calls for their independence. The U.S. should support these claims.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan is disinterested in fighting ISIS, so long as it means supporting the Kurds. The Trump Administration should act accordingly.
Turkey has just accused the United States of supporting terrorist groups in Syria. I explain how they are wrong and why I find this claim not only absurd and laughable, but also disgustingly hypocritical.
Underlying the Syrian Civil War has been a competition to build a billion-dollar pipeline through Syria to Europe. Russia has ensured that the Iranian pipeline will win out, thereby harming U.S. interests and empowering Russia’s influence not only in Syria, but more importantly, in Europe, which is overwhelmingly dependent on Russia for its energy needs.
THE WEICHERT REPORT 