******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Nick I'll pass for now on "the most progressive force in the Middle East "etc, just to note that you're so Rojava-centric that you assume the massive ethnic cleansing is about the YPG's uprooting of some Arab comminities a few years ago. Read the article Nick. It was referring to the expulsion of 200,000 people from their homes in Idlib by Assad/Russia RIGHT NOW, a fsr more massive catastrophe than what is befalking Afrin, yet one that GLW couldn't give a toss about, so spare me your lessons about solidarity comrade. On 23/01/2018 10:18 AM, "Louis Proyect via Marxism" < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > On 1/22/18 2:38 PM, Nick Fredman via Marxism wrote: > >> And apparently by you. The most progressive force in the Middle East is >> under existential threat and the solidarity you got is “whatever, they had >> it coming”. That’s peace and out from me. >> > > Maybe it was a mistake for Green Left to publish an article that accused > the FSA of being led by warlords and bandits at a time when Assad was > trying to annihilate it. That does not encourage the kind of solidarity you > are expecting now. > > 13 years ago I wrote an article about the Kurds that alluded to some > deeply engrained weaknesses of a movement whose overall goal is laudable: > > The most striking example of Kurdish fecklessness, however, occurred in > the 1960s and '70s when they aligned themselves with Zionism, the Shah of > Iran, and US imperialism against Arab nationalism in general and Iraq > particularly. > > Jonathan C. Randal, a veteran Washington Post reporter strongly committed > to the Kurdish struggle, quotes a Mossad veteran: "Put a Kurd atop a > mountain with a rifle, pita bread, and onions and he'll stop a whole column > of troops for you." (6) The support that Kurdish fighters received from > Israel paled in comparison from that originating from Tehran. Using bases > in Iran, Barzani's fighters launched bloody attacks on northern Iraqi > cities. > > But ultimately it was the United States that played the Kurdish card. > During the course of Pike Committee investigations into covert spying, it > was revealed that the Kurds received funding and logistical support from > the CIA between 1972 and 1975. Notwithstanding Barzani's foolish illusions > in the United States, a 1974 CIA memo revealed his benefactor's true > intentions: "Iran, like ourselves, has seen benefit in a stalemate > situation, in which Iraq is intrinsically weakened by the Kurds' refusal to > relinquish semi-autonomy. Neither Iran nor ourselves wish to see the matter > resolved one way or the other." (7) > > Unfortunately, the Kurds failed to anticipate the Shah's openness to > diplomatic maneuvers that would leave them out in the cold. In 1976 the > Shah and Saddam Hussein cut a deal in Algiers that would throw the Kurds to > the wolves. The March 15, 1975 Economist reported: > > Within 24 hours of the Algiers ceremonies, Iraqi tanks and > infantry launched an offensive from the west that soon had the Kurds in > retreat from the strategic mountain barriers beyond Rawandiz that they have > held since the early autumn in the face of successive Iraqi attacks. By the > time the ceasefire came into effect on Thursday the Iraqis commanded the > Kurds' main supply route, and Choman itself, the official Kurdish > headquarters, was exposed to direct artillery fire by the fall of Mount > Zuzak. Iraqi troops had also made substantial gains in thrusts into > Kurdistan from the south and the north. The explanation of their sudden > success is that, on the morning when the Iraqis began their offensive, the > Iranians pulled out their heavy artillery and anti-tank weapons. They also > closed the border to all fresh supplies of ammunition to the Kurds, who > were running badly short by midweek. > > full: http://www.swans.com/library/art10/iraq/proyect.html > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/opt > ions/marxism/mkaradjis%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
