The Islamic state

[Jeff Robinson]

No,you are totally misreading the situation, once the Kurdish problem has been resolved ISIS will make perfectly good and peaceable neighbours for Turkey.
I mean it obviously makes sense to replace an organisation that has made repeated attempts to reach a conciliated agreement, who has initiated ceasefire after ceasefire, who announced and end to the force of arms in favour of a diplomatic solution with a bunch of bloodthirsty fanatics who intend to establish a new Caliphate using terror and ethnic cleansing as the tools for the job.

Are you channelling phildwyer?

 

[J Ed]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29555999

I watched this earlier, absolutely astonishing. This AKP minister displays the same sort of attitude as Al-Qaeda (I nearly said of a suicide bomber targeting civilians but I think that some of them probably have slightly less dodgy views), no doubt he thinks that the Kurdish men who are murdered and the women and children who are enslaved and raped deserve it because they are just terrorists.

 

[J Ed]

Enslaved, I cannot believe that we are even using that word, yet there it is... it's an accurate word to use here.

 

[coley]

from what i hear from friends in Brussels, that is already happening - nothing official, just stuff no longer going through the standard NATO channels that would normally go to all members, but instead its being done bilaterally on a 'people we trust' basis.

the ATO for example - being done by US Cent Com instead of NATO - theres a palpable sense that nothing sensitive, or time sensitive targetting, is going near NATO or Turkey because of the concern that such intelligence would find itself in IS's hands. Turkey decided some time ago that it was no longer interested in joining the EU, perhaps this takes its - already established - drift out of NATO another couple of steps further...

Whey, if your eyeing up the possibilities of becoming the new ME superpower and re- establishing your empire then mebbes having an attack dog like IS is a tempting idea and having an excuse to leave NATO thus reinforcing your distaste for 'western values' far fetched? Not these days!

 

[coley]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29555999

Ends any speculation as to whether Turkey is going to move against IS then, and I would be very wary now of basing western responses against IS in Turkey.
Seems Turkey is now dropping all pretence.

 

[coley]

Are you channelling phildwyer?

Phil is my hero, my source of opinion of all things Turkish, bow before his omnipresence mortal.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Ends any speculation as to whether Turkey is going to move against IS then, and I would be very wary now of basing western responses against IS in Turkey.
Seems Turkey is now dropping all pretence.

I'm surprised there aren't yet (as far as I know) any protests outside the Turkish Embassy in London given their objectively pro-ISIS stance and their directly linked brutal internal crackdown against their Kurdish citizens.

 

[J Ed]

I'm surprised there aren't yet (as far as I know) any protests outside the Turkish Embassy in London given their objectively pro-ISIS stance and their directly linked brutal internal crackdown against their Kurdish citizens.

There have been protests outside the Turkish embassy, also at UK airports... Manchester Picadilly... outside the Sheffield town hall...

 

[coley]

I'm surprised there aren't yet (as far as I know) any protests outside the Turkish Embassy in London given their objectively pro-ISIS stance and their directly linked brutal internal crackdown against their Kurdish citizens.

Strange, as there seems to be quite a lot of protests elsewhere?

 

[DrRingDing]

I'm surprised there aren't yet (as far as I know) any protests outside the Turkish Embassy in London given their objectively pro-ISIS stance and their directly linked brutal internal crackdown against their Kurdish citizens.

There was a protest today in London Traf Square then onto occupy Westminster bridge.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

There have been protests outside the Turkish embassy, also at UK airports... Manchester Picadilly... outside the Sheffield town hall...

Glad to hear it. I haven't been able to find any information about protests outside the Turkish embassy on line. The left should be out in full force supporting the Kurds! The Palestinians are not the only oppressed group in the Middle East!

 

[Jeff Robinson]

There was a protest today in London Traf Square then onto occupy Westminster bridge.

Yes, I was aware of those.

 

[Anudder Oik]

Optimistic BBC news headline;
Kobane fighting: IS meets its match in Syrian Kurdish forces

 

[where to]

We prob need a thread on the domestic (eg left) response to this, and Isis more generally. Somewhere for the protests to be discussed / promoted and the various positions of different domestic groups / individuals to be recorded, discussed etc

Seems both stw and the neo cons are shamefully silent right now for example

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Optimistic BBC news headline;
Kobane fighting: IS meets its match in Syrian Kurdish forces

The determination, courage and will of the Kobane defenders is truly awe inspiring, despite the fact that they are outgunned and out-resourced. ISIS have indeed met their match - they were used to corrupt and sectarian armed forces rolling over and fleeing in Iraq. The people of Kobane are fighting not just for their survival, but for something more meaningful - a way of living that they feel invested in. This is why the regional and global elites are so reticent to support them: they represent hope.

 

[coley]

The determination, courage and will of the Kobane defenders is truly awe inspiring, despite the fact that they are outgunned and out-resourced. ISIS have indeed met their match - they were used to corrupt and sectarian armed forces rolling over and fleeing in Iraq. The people of Kobane are fighting not just for their survival, but for something more meaningful - a way of living that they feel invested in. This is why the regional and global elites are so reticent to support them: they represent hope.

The West needs to embrace reality and stop faffing around, invest and support an independent Kurdistan as opposed to those who give the nod but who are really aiming for a return to an Islamic superpower, given our dependence on their oil, it's only their internal/religious differences that's stopped them strapping us over a barrel, as they did in 73.

 

[Red Storm]

Anti Fascist Revolutionary Action Berlin have got some mad photos they're saying are from Turkish Kurdistan now. SFW but in a spoiler because they're big.

Spoiler

More here: https://www.facebook.com/arabantifa

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Turkish anarchists, who made headlines around the world during the battle for Taksim Square, have decamped to the besieged Kurdish town of Kobani to support the fight against the Islamic State.

While Turkish security forces look on from across the border as the Islamic State continues its onslaught against Kobani, a group of Turkish activists have crossed the border to support the Kurds,writes Brian Whelan.

They call themselves Devrimci Anarsist Faaliyet (Revolutionary Anarchist Action), and their members were on the barricades last year when major protests erupted around Taksim Square and Gezi park in Istanbul.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, the group reveals it has visited Kobani on three occasions, bypassing Turkish border guards and helping Kurdish refugees to escape into Turkey.

The links between Kurdish groups and anarchists were born from the proscribed PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) leader Abdullah Ocalan's prison conversion to the writings of Murray Bookchin, a New York anarchist academic.

In Kobani the PYD (Democratic Union Party) and its armed wing, the YPG, are followers of Ocalan, and have attempted to implement an autonomous form of Kurdish direct democracy. Turkish radicals are hoping to learn from this experience.

"YPG is organising the fight at the highest level against Isis as a self-defence force. So we are trying to support in every way possible," the anarchist explained.

http://www.channel4.com/news/turkey-kurdish-islamic-state-kobani-taksim-anarchists-kurds

 

[butchersapron]

Ye olde twitter back on around the border - should have some news shortly i think.

 

[teqniq]

patrickgaley: An @AFP alert says IS jihadists have taken control of Kurdish headquarters in #Kobane.

 

[butchersapron]

AFP provide nothing to back it up and others in the area don't mention it. Sceptical.

 

[flypanam]

Demo tomorrow in London Parliament Square 2pm.

You can see an image of the poster if you twitter search #kobane

 

[inva]

Jenan Moussa reports: "#break Kobane Chief Anwar Moslem, tells me over phone from #Kobane: "Security zone (police bldg +court) has fallen into ISIS hands." @akhbar"

copied from her twitter feed here.

I don't know where that is in the city and if that is the hq that has been mentioned.

It sounds as though IS have got reinforced.

 

[butchersapron]

I think we need to find out where that is. The vehicle born bom that ISIS tried to use the other day was supposed to be heading for that cop shop - which to me sounds like it may be on the outskirts. Or it may be a different building altogether. The call for airdrops suggest possible total encirclement. Crucial few hours it sounds like. YPG/YPJ snipers going to be all over that place though.

 

[DotCommunist]

The determination, courage and will of the Kobane defenders is truly awe inspiring, despite the fact that they are outgunned and out-resourced. ISIS have indeed met their match - they were used to corrupt and sectarian armed forces rolling over and fleeing in Iraq. The people of Kobane are fighting not just for their survival, but for something more meaningful - a way of living that they feel invested in. This is why the regional and global elites are so reticent to support them: they represent hope.

article posted earlier in the thread had a military leader outline how they drew IS into a booby trapped half of Kobane, let the traps soften hem up and then attacked, pushing them back to the outskirts. Not just hope, audacity and sound tactics, strong motivations. I hope Kobane eats ISIS.

 

[coley]

Anybody know how Many non combatants left in Kobane?

 

[Pickman's model]

article posted earlier in the thread had a military leader outline how they drew IS into a booby trapped half of Kobane, let the traps soften hem up and then attacked, pushing them back to the outskirts. Not just hope, audacity and sound tactics, strong motivations. I hope Kobane eats ISIS.

i'd have thought the sort of small-unit tactics espoused by the likes of h. john poole in e.g. phantom soldier (http://nightops.net/doc/books/Phantom Soldier: The Enemy's Answer to US Firepower - H John Poole.pdf large pdf) might do the trick. given that isis has to come to the kurds, the bits about hue and iwo jima both apposite.

 

[butchersapron]

Anybody know how Many non combatants left in Kobane?

Couplpe of thousand - and loads more trapped just before the border - hence the calls for a humanitarian corridor.

 

[inva]

Anybody know how Many non combatants left in Kobane?

the journalist I quoted a couple of posts above says reportedly 1000-3000 in the city.

and a BBC reporter says "UN estimates 500 civilians still inside Kobane, 10-13,000 more trapped between the town and the border"
link

 

[teqniq]

I think we need to find out where that is. The vehicle born bom that ISIS tried to use the other day was supposed to be heading for that cop shop - which to me sounds like it may be on the outskirts. Or it may be a different building altogether. The call for airdrops suggest possible total encirclement. Crucial few hours it sounds like. YPG/YPJ snipers going to be all over that place though.

jenanmoussa: Perspective: #Kobane from East to West 5kms, North to South 3kms. From what I hear, Security zone around 1.5 kms from East border of city.