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<big><big><big></big></big></big><big><big><big>ISIS, Double
Standards, and the Fight in Kobani </big></big></big>
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<div class="field-item even"><big><big><big><span
class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime"
content="2014-10-10T00:00:00-05:00">October 10, 2014</span></big></big></big></div>
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<div class="field-item even"><big><big><big><a
href="http://greenshadowcabinet.us/member-profile/7568">Ajamu
Baraka, Public Intervenor for Human Rights</a></big></big></big></div>
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<p><big><big><big><strong><em>While ISIS moves to slaughter Kurds in
Kobani, the current situation is part of the cynical
farce that is the fight against ISIS<br>
</em></strong></big></big></big></p>
<p><big><big><big> The U.S. is not interested in altering the
balance of forces on the ground in Syria by seriously
degrading ISIS militarily and undermining its primary
short-term strategic objective of regime change in Syria.<br>
<br>
</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big><a
href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/10/isis-double-standards-and-fight-kobani"
target="_blank"><em>Common Dreams</em></a></big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The U.S. is conducting a curious humanitarian war
against ISIS in Syria. While Kobani, the largely Kurdish
district that straddles the border with Turkey is being
attacked by ISIS forces and facing the very real possibility
of mass civilian killings if it falls, U.S. military
spokespersons claimed that they are watching the situation
in Kobani and have conducted occasional bombing missions but
that they are concentrating their anti-ISIS efforts in other
parts of Syria. Those other efforts appear to consist of <a
href="http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/09/24/us-bombed-empty-buildings-in-raqqa-in-airstrikes-on-isil-in-syria/"
target="_blank">bombing empty buildings</a>, schools,
small oil pumping facilities, an occasional vehicle and <a
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/29/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN0HO0EV20140929"
target="_blank">grain silos</a> where food is stored to
feed the Syrian people. Turkey also seems to be watching as
the Kurds of Kobani fight to the death against ISIS.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The humanitarian concerns of officials in the U.S.
with the plight of Kurds in Kobani could not be more
different than what occurred in Iraq when ISIS forces made a
push into Kurdish territory. When the Kurdish city of Erbil
was under attack by ISIS, U.S. forces unleashed the full
power of its air force in tactical coordination with Kurdish
forces to push ISIS back.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>So what is the difference in the two situations?
</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The difference and the reason why the Kurds of
Kobani are to be sacrificed stems from the fact that they
are the wrong kind of Kurds. Masoud Barzani and the
bourgeois Kurds of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) are
the “good Kurds” and the predominant force among the Kurds
of Iraq. Their control of almost 45% of Iraqi oil reserves
and the booming business that they have been involved in
with U.S. oil companies and Israel since their “liberation”
with the U.S. invasion makes them a valued asset for the
U.S. The same goes for Turkey where despite the historic
oppression of Kurds in Turkey, the government does a robust
business with the Kurds of Iraq. </big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The situation is completely different in the
Kurdish self-governing zones in Syria. In Kobani, it is the
Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or Y.P.G., that is linked
to the Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K), a Turkey-based
Kurdish independence organization that both the U.S. and
Turkey have labeled a “terrorist” organization, that
provides the main forces resisting the ISIS attack. Also,
the ISIS attack in Kurdish territory neatly converges with
the strategic interests of Turkey. Both the U.S. and Turkey
saw the control of territory by militant Kurds as a threat.
Turkey in particular wanted to undermine the self-governing
process among Kurds, Christians and Sunni Arabs in those
self-governing zones and turn the territory into a
battlefield in order to steal Syrian territory and isolate
and attack the “bad” Kurds of the PKK.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>Turkey pushed and apparently secured an agreement
from the U.S. that it will not oppose it taking parts of
Syrian territory. To consolidate that land grab Turkey also
wants to establish a “buffer zone” along the Syrian-Turkey
border. This is why U.S. government spokespersons have been
floating the idea of a <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/world/middleeast/us-considers-a-no-fly-zone-to-protect-civilians-from-airstrikes-by-syria-.html?_r=1"
target="_blank">no-fly zone in Northeastern Syria</a> in
the U.S. state/corporate media. The zone is being framed as
necessary to protect civilians from attacks by the Syrian
forces – the humanitarian hustle again.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>Yet for the “bad” Kurds of Syria like the “bad”
Palestinians of Hamas and Gaza, there will be no
humanitarian intervention.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>To placate the Turkish government in exchange for
its increased cooperation in what is being set-up as a final
push on Damascus, the people of Kobani will be delivered to
ISIS.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The transparency of Turkey’s plan and the
collaboration of the U.S. in the planned massacre of YPG
combatants at Kobani could be easily exposed in the U.S. if
the news readers in the corporate press were actually able
to “see” the world more critically and allowed to question
the state sanctioned narratives without running the risk of
ending their “careers.” For example, the obvious question
regarding a no-fly zone in Northeastern Syria is why is it
necessary when the only civilians being attacked in
Northeastern Syria are Kurds and they are being attacked by
ISIS forces that don’t have an air force, at least not yet.
</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>But those questions are not being asked very often
because they don’t comport with the official narrative that
the U.S. is compelled to act once again to save the world
against an intractable enemy that can only be defeated by
U.S. military might. All of this is part of the imperialist
hustle that even large segments of the “left” in the U.S.
has fallen for.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>However, the non-bombing of ISIS at Kobani and the
theatrics of bombing fixed, empty buildings confirm what
should be obvious based on the history of U.S. interventions
– that the real objective of U.S. intervention in Iraq and
Syria is the reintroduction of direct U.S. military power in
the region in order to secure continue control over the oil
and natural gas resources of the region, undermine Iran,
block the Russian Federation, and break-up cooperative
economic and trade agreements between counties in Central
Asia and China. In other words, the objective is to secure
U.S. and Western colonial/capitalist hegemony. The U.S. and
its allies just needed a pretext to get back in without
alienating large sectors of their domestic populations. ISIS
give them what the sarin gas attacks could not – mass
acceptance in the West for another war, however limited it
is being sold in its first phase.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The militarists in the U.S. political
establishment never wanted to abandon their plans for a
permanent military presence in Iraq, even in the face of the
fact that it was costing the nation an enormous price in
blood, treasure and domestic legitimacy to remain. They
concluded that the road back to Bagdad and on to Tehran went
through Syria. A position that despite reports to the
contrary, Obama signed on to early in his administration.
All Obama wanted was some plausible deniability during the
first phase of the plan to destabilize Syria.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>The current situation in Kobani is part of the
cynical farce that is the fight against ISIS. Turkey has no
interest in preventing Kobani from falling to ISIS when it
suits its strategic interests to deny the Kurds any
semblance of self-determination. And the U.S. is not
interested in altering the balance of forces on the ground
in Syria by seriously degrading ISIS militarily and
undermining its primary short-term strategic objective of
regime change in Syria. </big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>With the creation of ISIS, the neocons and liberal
interventionists now have their war and a sizeable portion
of the U.S. public is in support, at least at this point .
But that support will change as soon as it becomes clear
that the political elite has plunged the U.S. back into
another quagmire. The real shame and expression of the white
supremacist colonial/capitalist global contradiction is that
until that awareness takes hold among the people at the
center of the empire and the people there move to alter U.S.
war policies, thousands more will die in Kobani and
throughout Syria, Iraq and the world.</big></big></big></p>
<big><big><big>
</big></big></big>
<p><big><big><big>~<em> </em><a
href="http://greenshadowcabinet.us/member-profile/7568"><em>Ajamu
Baraka</em></a><em> serves as Public Intervenor for
Human Rights on the Democracy Branch of the Green Shadow
Cabinet.</em></big></big></big></p>
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