And there we have it; after several years of persistently advocating the creation of 'safe zones' in Syria, President Erdogan, with the apparent active support of Russia and the United States, has finally succeeded or is apparently about to succeed in creating such 'zones' in Syria.
So, how did the Machiavellian Erdogan secure the support of his Machiavellian counterparts, President Putin and President Obama, in having his own way; at least, sofar? We have seen Vice President Biden sitting with President Erdogan giving him emotional and diplomatic support on his, so far, successful defeat of the coup against his government, while also commenting on how the U.S was providing air support to assist Turkey's incursion into northern Syria, to attack, not only Daesh, but also the U.S supported Kurdish foot soldiers who have been doing their bit in fighting the U.S's proxy war in Syria.
Notwithstanding the U.S.s Vice-President's affirmation of support for Turkey's invasion of Syria, on the pretext of fighting Daesh, we now have the Americans calling on all the parties - except Daesh, we can assume - to stop the fighting, because it is "unacceptable." Not sure if the diplomatic concept of 'unacceptability' might be a code for Turkey to continue to attack the Kurds in Syria, and a pallid 'there, there', for the hurt feelings and death which Turkey, with American support and connivance, is dealing out on the Kurds. Who have only recently helped the American and their western allies to capture Manbij from Daesh. Only to now be attacked by Turkey, with the support of the Americans, with a view to driving them out of Manbij.
One can imagine the French and British allies of the Americans, in private, saying to the latter; are you sure you have gotten this right? What the hell are we doing helping President Erdogan to attack our Kurdish allies in Syria and bring death and destruction to them? What is Turkey going to offer us as a pro quo?
And so the U.S maintains its incompetence, duplicity and disastrous policy toward Syria, by alienating first the Syrian Government, by supporting the rebels fighting to overthrow the Syrian state, and then moving on to, in the eyes of the so-called Syrian Free Army - which has now been bought by the Turks, under President Erdogan - betrayed them, by not bombing the Syrian Government and military in 2013. And now, having secured the support of the Kurds in helping to win back Kobani and Manbij, the Americans have turned around and betrayed them in payment for Erdogan's support on some as yet unclear objective.
And what is the lesson for all the respective combatant parties in the Syrian proxy war - a war which been prolonged by the duplicity and perceived self-interests of the Americans and their western and Sunni regimes in the Middle East? That when it comes to the Americans, it is a matter of, 'you trust us at your own peril', because we know what we want, which is to secure our own self-interests, but we really do not know how best to achieve it, and know that we are causing greater damage in our floundering. Forgive us, especially as it is you, the foot soldiers and the people of Syria who are doing the suffering and the dying.
Of course the Americans would not have made such a big mess of things with their reckless and ill-thoughtout policies and actions, had their lives been on the line, but that is as one would have expected it to be. When you are paying for your actions or inactions with the lives and assets of another country, especially one whose government you have made into or designated an enemy, you have more capacity to 'make mistakes.'
While we probably should not be too surprised by the U.S's support of Turkey's attempt to set up 'safe zones' in Syria, the support of the Russian's seem more enigmatic. Following Erdogan's shooting down of a Russian fighter jet and the killing of the pilots, President Putin made it clear that he would punish Turkey for their unfriendly action, and went about making good his words.
So, why is Russia now rewarding President Erdogan by apparently inviting him into northern Syria? Seeing that the Russians, having been invited into Syria by the legitimate government, they able to taking the stance of at least verbally challenging Turkey's action and making token attempts at resisting it? We are not hearing anything from the Russians, and, in this context, silence could be read as a sign of at least tacit, if not active support of Turkey's military incursion.
It could also mean that Russia could, at anytime, say to Turkey, 'stop it, we do not support it.' It is clear that Turkey, being a member of NATO, is able to call on the alliance to defend it, however, the grounds for NATO to defend Turkey's incursion into another country and occupy its territory with the use of the now 'mercenary forces' of the so-called Syrian Free Army, is not clear cut.
And so it is, that, instead of the Syrian people being able to see the light at the end of this catastrophic proxy war being fought in their country and at their expense, it could be at greater risk of becoming 'Libyanised', with scores of armed groups fighting against the government of the country and each other, with the support of countries where peace, security and stability prevail.
It is as if these foreign countries and their leaders have to find some way of venting their own blood-lust, and are doing so by sacrificing the people of Syria, as they had done in Libya, and are also doing in Yemen.
Let us hope that the Russians have not, like the Americans and their NATO and Sunni rulers allies, already become confused by the evolution of the Syrian proxy war, and have lost sight of why they said they intervened in the first place. If that were to be the case, then the prognosis for this war has just become a lot worse.
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