Walter Russell Mead, Hudson Institute: Russia Wields the Kurdish Weapon
An incoherent American strategy is allowing Putin’s Russia to drive wedges into American alliances and disrupt what little strategy the U.S. has left in Syria. The latest example: Russia’s clever move to back the Syrian Kurds—key allies in what passes for America’s anti-ISIS strategy—against the Turks, America’s NATO allies and the keystone of any serious policy to restore order to Syria without the use of American troops.
As the Turks pound the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian Kurds turn to Russia for help, the last fig leaf drops away from the pretense that the United States has a strategy against ISIS. If President Obama sits back as the Russians humiliate the Turks and perhaps drive them into a greater intervention against the Kurds in Syria, he will watch as Putin shreds what is left of the U.S.-Turkish alliance that has been a bedrock of stability in the region since the Truman Administration.
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WNU Editor: It is easy to blame Russia for the mess in Turkey and for disrupting Turkish-U.S. relations .... but it is the Turks who got themselves in this mess in the first place. Supporting the revolution against the Assad regime .... followed by supporting the Syrian rebels with military supplies, logistics, safe havens in Turkey, etc. .... followed by waging war against the Kurds .... all of these "chickens are now coming home to roost" for the Turkish government .... and they are paying the price for it. As for Washington .... their policy has always been to stay out of this mess as much as possible .... but they are getting drag in because of Turkey and treaty obligations .... a greater involvement that I sense President Obama is loathe to commit.
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