Marvin: "Both Micheals have endorsed NATO’s extensive and far more dangerous military support to Zelensky's Ukraine. They may have also previously cited Nazi Germany’s modest arms deliveries to the Ethiopian monarchy resisting fascist Italy in defence of their position. Their evident hostility to the secular left-wing Kurds accepting US military assistance to fend off attacks from Turkey and ISIS is an inconsistency requiring further explanation."
If I am one of the "both Michaels", then I have never criticised the YPG/SDF for "accepting US military assistance to fend off attacks from Turkey and ISIS." So no inconsistency from me.I have criticised them for other things, for example, when they conquered the rebel-held, Arab-majority region north of Aleppo around Tel Rifaat in 2016 in direct coordination with the Russian airforce. I know there is a tendency among westerners, both of the right and the left, to view "Kurds" and/or "Rojava" as something pure that can do no wrong, because only Arabs commit errors, crimes etc, but that is not materialist. The PYD/YPG/SDF should be criticised just like any other rebel group should. Marvin: "Also, like others, I would like to see corroboration from other than unreliable Israeli news sources that the YPG/SDF is not only seeking military support from Israel but views the right-wing Zionist colonial state as a "model" and wishes to enter into some undefined "alliance" with it." I agree that some anonymous "Syrian Kurds" being allegedly cited by an Israeli publication is not useful as evidence that the SDF is asking for Israeli support. However, I think you are guilty of exactly the same thing - correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to look back through the posts, but wasn't it you that cited some anonymous "Syrian rebel" being allegedly cited by some Israeli publication (Times of Israel?) allegedly saying they want good relations with Israel, and this was evidence for some sweeping statement that the new government would be allied with the US, Israel, Turkey etc? In my opinion, in both cases, these Israeli publications are just aiming at causing division and confusion. Regarding HTS, while nothing can be predicted about the future, remember we are talking about an organisation that supports Hamas, that openly welcomed October 7, and that in the statelet it ran in Idlib, as well as the Turkish/SNA region in northern Aleppo, were abuzz with demonstrations, seminars, donation-drives etc for Gaza for the last year – and this not only due to HTS, but rather all the rebel groups and civil society groups in the region are very pro-Palestine, and other rebel groups also welcomed October 7. By contrast, the regime arrested people, including Palestinians, who tried to organise pro-Palestine demonstrations. Of course, HTS is bourgeois-nationalist, and no-one can rule out it eventually coming to the same kind of pragmatic approach to Israel that Assad had and other Arab states have; in fact most likely, it will simply follow the Arab League position that has been endorsed by every other country, including Assad’s Syria, that peace with Israel can only come with the recognition of a Palestinian state on all of ’67 with its capital in East Jerusalem. Actually (and some may see it as ironic, though it isn’t), it was only the Assad regime’s closest allies in the Arab world – the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt etc – that had broken this by recognising Israel. Assad himself openly stated his desire to be a Sadat if only Israel would return the Golan. In other words, while I think neither anonymous alleged statement by some Kurd and some rebel should be considered useful at all, the reality is that there is much more likelihood of Israel coming to some kind of understanding with the SDF than of an HTS/rebel led government turning pro-Israel! That is neither a criticism of the SDF, nor any kind of solid prediction, rather it is a statement of geopolitics. Israel is surrounded by Arab regimes, and both the Iranian and Turkish regimes are also hostile. From an Israeli perspective, some level of support to the Kurdish cause, even a Kurdish state, has a geopolitical logic, as Kurds live in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. In recent days, many Israeli leaders have expressed the view that Israel should “support the Kurds.” For example, just before Assad’s fall, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar stated that “Israel doesn’t take sides” as “there is no good side there <https://syrianobserver.com/foreign-actors/israeli-foreign-minister-determines-position-on-syria-developments-addresses-interests-of-kurds.html>” and that Israel should “explore ways to increase cooperation” with the Kurds <https://syrianobserver.com/foreign-actors/israeli-foreign-minister-determines-position-on-syria-developments-addresses-interests-of-kurds.html>, “we need to focus on their interests.” Similarly, launching this current massive Israeli attack on free Syria, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amachai Chiukli of Likud stated “The events in Syria are far from being a cause for celebration <https://x.com/amichaichikli/status/1865627636896076062...>. Despite the rebranding of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its leader Ahmed al-Shara, the bottom line is that most of Syria is now under the control of affiliates of al-Qaeda and Daesh. *The good news is the strengthening of the Kurds and the expansion of their control in the north-east of the country* (Deir ez-Zor area).” And, after all, for better or worse, Israel’s main ally, the US, has had a 10-year working relationship with the SDF; it has no other such relationships with anyone in Syria. Now, that does not mean Israel will come to the aid of the Kurds; it could be useful propaganda. It also does not mean the SDF will ask for it, or welcome it. It does however raise an interesting question that Marvin alludes to at the outset: since, as Marvin states and I agree, the SDF should not be condemned for receiving aid (in the form of 10 years of air cover by the US airforce …) from the US against ISIS or Turkey, would we still say the same IF Israel did come to their aid? On another thing. We need to distinguish between “the Kurds”, the SDF, and the Rojava statelet they run. The Kurds are an ethnicity and have every right to self-determination. Separate to that, the SDF’s Rojava project has been its own revolution within the broader Syrian revolution, and one which has shown a number of advanced features, particularly with women’s emancipation. I have taken neither the demonisation approach nor the over-romanticisation approach to the Rojava experiment, but I think it has the same right to exist as any other people’s governance in Syria if it ahs the support of the people, regardless of what I think of it. It is not up to me. However, the Rojava statelet does not only include Kurdish people. Supporters of the SDF, like Chris and other comrades in Socialist Alliance/GLW generally claim the Arabs under SDF rule are happy with that arrangement and indeed are active participants in the multi-ethnic structures of Rojava. I find this exaggerated and romanticised, especially given the known power within the SDF and Rojava statelet of the Kurdish PYD. Like peoples all over Syria confronting the Assad regime, people join or accept whatever armed group has more power, arms, money etc. It is a question of the stomach, about feeding families, and security from a genocidal regime and genocidal ISIS. The vast majority of HTS troops, for example, are not jihadists. So given the geography of Rojava in the northeast, where the only alternatives were the regime and ISIS, Arabs in the Deir Ezzor and Raqqa regions accepted the SDF. Now however the Arabs are shaking off the SDF. They shrugged them off in Deir Ezzor, and rejoined the main Syrian state now under former opposition control. This was not an “HTS attack on the SDF” let alone “on the Kurds,” but from what I can see, a movement of the Arab population, which has been in revolt other times as well. The same thing is now happening in Sarab Raqqa; I’ve seen news that the SDF opened fire on the demonstrators and killed four. The recent agreement between Turkey/SNA and the SDF for the latter to withdraw from Manbij is also about that being an Arab city. However, if Turkey/SNA are advancing onto Kurdish Kobani, that is an entirely different matter and of course we should defend the Kurds/SDF (and to be clear, I hope the US does so). On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 3:15 AM Marv Gandall via groups.io <marvgand2= [email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Dec 12, 2024 at 06:58 AM, Mark Baugher wrote: > > Why is it news that a group or nation being oppressed by a larger power to > turn to their enemy's enemy? > > > > Also, like others, I would like to see corroboration from other than > unreliable Israeli news sources that the YPG/SDF is not only seeking > military support from Israel but views the right-wing Zionist colonial > state as a "model" and wishes to enter into some undefined "alliance" with > it. > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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