Janice Kortkamp presents a vivid, passionate and truthful account of the US attack on Syria
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“What’s going on in northern Syria?” Many people are confused and that’s totally understandable. There is no way to make it simple – you’re dealing with myriads of factors and factions some of which go back thousands of years. Most folks there I’ve come to know will speak of events that happened whether 2000, 1500, 500, 200, or 100 years ago as though it were yesterday.
This essay is a result of years of my own research; reading/watching thousands of reports both historical and current; going on six research trips traveling around Syria during the war, each one lasting three or more weeks – as well as five trips to Lebanon, one to Kuwait, and time in Germany with Syrian refugees there; several hundreds of interviews with Syrians living in Syria and outside it either face to face or via skype etc; and my own observations and experiences, so I’m not going to bother trying to reference it all. Feel free to ask questions. Please know that I am 100% independent and not affiliated with any person, group, party, movement, media outlet, or country either my own or any other – I’ve done this as a volunteer citizen journalist who became obsessed with finding out the truth and sharing it because I’m so sick seeing the suffering of the Syrian people, my own government’s crimes there, and the lies of the war mongering media.
This is all politics: it’s dirty, it’s bloody, and through all of history it’s always been so. And the final, complete ending of the war against Syria probably won’t be clean and neat or even anytime soon. Why? Because too many countries/factions have invested too much to get their own piece of Syria’s pie and won’t just give up their “investments”. Also we are seeing powers and plans built up over the past 100 years getting weakened, being revealed as the “emperors without clothes” they really are … and those powers are not known for being “good losers”. Developments happening now in northern Syria might be quite positive – I am hoping and praying so – but only time will tell.
An American housewife shames the big media journos with her brave reports about a systematically martyred nation.
So what must people in the West know? Really the most important thing for westerners to know is this: that in any conflict there are the expansionist-aggressors and there are defenders. In Syria, the expansionist-aggressors are the US, UK, Israel, France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar; while Syria and its allies of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are the defenders. This means for there to be peace, the expansionist-aggressors must end their aggression. It’s not rocket science – no matter how much propaganda is used to justify expansionist-aggression, the propaganda is for a single purpose which is to mask the basic reason for the aggression. Expansionist-aggression is always about one thing and that is to take something or take control of something from someone else meaning land, resources and/or influence.
Here’s what I think…some things anyway to keep in mind if you’re trying to follow the situation:
“THE KURDS! THE KURDS! WHAT ABOUT THE KURDS?”
These cries are being heard from the halls of the DC Swamp and mainstream media. How to make this clear … the DC Swamp and mainstream media don’t know their Kurds from their whey as the old nursery rhyme goes:
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider, who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider, who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
99.99% of western “leaders” or Ken and Barbie doll “newscasters” could not care any less for the suffering of any Syrian regardless of which of the numerous ethnic or religious groups they might belong. Perhaps I’m exaggerating; maybe it’s just 99.95%. You’ve got the BIG name – BIG money – BIG show – BIG heads in media who the lower echelons idolize while trying to become BIG’s themselves. The Rachel Maddows and Sean Hannitys of the media have agendas they sell as shamelessly as used car salesmen, and like the best used car salesmen they can make you feel so good about buying a clunker even if it dies a block away from the car lot. The sell the clunkers – the propaganda of the war machine – and the lower echelons regurgitate the BIG names’ lies with all the passion of religious disciples.
The Kurds are just one of Syria’s many people groups and they live all around the country. And that is the way Syria is, people living together and all mixed together. There are areas with greater percentages of a certain ethnic or religious group so you might have a Christian village next to an Alawite village that’s next to a Sunni village (same for neighborhoods in the cities) for example, but you know, they’re in close proximity. Before the US terrorist proxy regime change attempt war they mixed more and folks got along really well. Miraculously that spirit is still there though the trust and harmony have been severely injured like a soldier who’s lost a leg in battle but is still alive and wants to fight again.
Like everyone else in Syria for the past eight and half years, Kurds have suffered and mourned, fought or fled – again, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, like all the millions of humans living there. Like any population whether small or large, it’s made up of individuals all with their own baggage, personal history, dreams and ambitions. Those individuals have formed many different groups with differing ideologies, ambitions and alliances.
There are Kurds who have been working with the US and Israel because they want their own state within Syria and by doing so helped the US block Syria from getting access to its own oil on its own land which was supposed to: weaken the Syrian Army (armies need fuel); reduce the people’s resolve to stand against US intervention and its pet terrorists; and limit Syria’s ability to rebuild both its infrastructure and economy (you need fuel to run heavy machinery, distribute building materials and goods etc).
There are Kurds who stand with Syria as a sovereign nation of many different peoples. There have been Kurds in Syria for many hundreds of years but most have come or were born in the last 100 years or so – many finding sanctuary in Syria after getting persecuted elsewhere.
There were Kurds back in the early 1900’s who helped the Ottomans slaughter the Armenian and Assyrian Christians. There are Kurds who fought against ISIS and there are Kurds who fought with ISIS – but NOBODY has fought ISIS (and al Qaeda and all the rest of the terrorists and mercenaries paid to destroy Syria) like the Syrian Arab Army with the much needed and appreciated help from its allies of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. Neither the Kurd militants supported by the US, nor the US coalition – especially the US coalition that often attacked the Syrian Army that really was fighting ISIS – can compare with the epic fight the Syrians have made against all the terrorist groups. The sons of Syria have hemorrhaged casualties to defend THEIR country against the headchopping thugs often used as assets by expansionist-aggressors meaning the US and its allies. You don’t fight ISIS and lose six people folks as the US coalition has done while it’s been playing “drone strike video games”, and “whack-a-mole” with thousands of bombing runs guaranteed to raise the stock prices of Raytheon and other weapons of mass destruction makers in its scorched earth carnage that’s killed many thousands of civilians.
Western-controlled Jihadists in Idlib. The BBC and the rest of the Western press howled about a government “takeover” of Idlib, but how can a nation “take over” its own territory?
Most Kurds live in the northern part of Syria and so do many other people groups – in fact the Kurds there are only 30% of the population in the north and they’re only 6-10% of Syria’s population overall. What is and has been missing from the force-fed narratives about “the Kurds” are the other 70% of the population in that long swath of northern Syria that borders Turkey, as well as (with only an occasional passing mention) the great majority of Syrians who’ve been mass murdered, beheaded, kidnapped, raped and looted by the US and allies’ pet headchopping terrorist mercenary thugs often referred to as “moderates” and “freedom fighters” by the same media crying crocodile tears now for Kurds.
LEFT: Typical blatantly imperialist cover by The Economist, one of the most malignant magazines around. The UK continues to be one of America’s most eager partners in international crime. This is what passes for journalism in the West.
There are Kurd separatists who’ve been colluding with Israel since the 1960’s in their purely selfish drive for an independent state in Syria. Israel would benefit in several ways. First, there’s oil – Israeli media reports Israel is getting over 70% of its oil from the “Kurdistan” area of Iraq – and not coincidentally the area under US/Kurdish (or SDF) control sits on Syria’s most important oil fields. Also, Israel would have an ally of those Kurd separatists in their own drive to expand in the region and do to Lebanon, Syria, and much of Iraq as they’ve done to Palestine. In other words, the people would have to be in submission to the persecution imposed by the Zionists, their natural resources sold to or taken by the Zionists, and their history and heritage plundered and sacked, you know, because Israel is “defending itself” meaning no other country is allowed to be able to defend itself from Israeli expansionist-aggression. That’s the biggest benefit to the “Greater Israel Plan” because that plan requires the strong, independent states to no longer be strong and independent.
To make the path clear for “Greater Israel” Iraq and Syria and Iran all had to be either taken over by traitor puppets willing to submit to US/Israel’s whims and greed; or they had to be destroyed and busted up into little, weaker states in such a way as to ensure continual warfare. As I said, people groups are mixed and people living in areas where the Kurds want to claim as their own aren’t willing to be marginalized by Kurdish masters under the thumb of Israel and the US so that means trouble and more trouble. Israel is why the Kurd women fighters got the sexualizing merchandising routine btw. Israel is a master at getting guys excited to see beautiful women with big … guns. The clue is the obvious omission in western, Israel-friendly media is the total absence of reporting on the many Syrian women soldiers who were also risking their lives to fight terrorists including ISIS. According to our predominantly Zionist media, those women were chopped liver and not worthy of mentioning. Also like the Zionists of Israel, the separatist Kurds have learned to play the victim card to the hilt to get what they want, and naturally, the US military industrial intelligence complex CEO’s and other leaders will make loads of money helping all sides which is the American “interest” here – it’s “The American Way”.
NOW, LET’S “TALK TURKEY”
That country is ruled by a Muslim Brotherhood Mafioso-like thug named Erdogan whose ego, greed and ambitions cannot be contained by the walls of his brand new 1500 room mansion-palace or even within the borders of spectacularly beautiful Turkey itself. No, Erdogan wants to grow in power and influence in the region and has his eye on taking over that northern swath of Syria. His evil eye is coveting all of Cyprus among other targets.
That country is ruled by a Muslim Brotherhood Mafioso-like thug named Erdogan whose ego, greed and ambitions cannot be contained by the walls of his brand new 1500 room mansion-palace or even within the borders of spectacularly beautiful Turkey itself. No, Erdogan wants to grow in power and influence in the region and has his eye on taking over that northern swath of Syria. His evil eye is coveting all of Cyprus among other targets.
Turkey has power because it has the magical combination known by real estate agents as “location, location, location” – the three priorities when establishing value of property. It is the land bridge between east and west, north and south. Turkey also has military power and Erdogan has built Europe’s most powerful military other than NATO forces. As the old adage goes, you don’t build up a massive army to not use it. The US with typical recklessness has a reported 50 nuclear warheads at its base in Turkey to sweeten the pot and make things even more dangerous.
So Erdogan has the US and NATO pandering to him to be on their side, and he’s got Russia pandering to him to be more a part of the new Eastern/Asia block led by Russia and China that is emerging as the alliance more countries are turning to for profits and rationality.
Erdogan is a master at playing all sides against each other. He’s been the leading logistical ally of ISIS and al Qaeda among the US’s intentionally ironically named “friends of Syria” gang of countries that have been trying to rip Syria apart all for their own greed, ambitions and vindictive spite. These countries include as I mentioned before, the US, UK, Israel, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and numerous other US minion countries like Australia, Canada, other EU nations etc. It’s been a real gang-bang.
Putin is probably the only leader that Erdogan will trust in the current situation.
Erdogan has been waging war against Syria for almost nine years and has invaded it a few times with zero condemnation by the US and other allies. His “Free Syrian Army” co-sponsored by the United States, UK and others, decimated Syria’s economy by stealing and destroying many thousands of factories in Aleppo; the factories in Aleppo were responsible for the lion’s share of Syria’s production capabilities. The “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) was given funds, weapons, and intelligence/communications support by the CIA, MI6, Mossad and other intelligence services while they rampaged through Syria chopping heads; massacring many villages; executing, kidnapping, persecuting, and driving out religious minorities like the Christians and Alawites; looting and destroying archaeological and historic sites; and working side by side with al Qaeda and ISIS groups to try to terrorize the Syrians into submission to them. Erdogan’s son was facilitating the sale of ISIS oil at cheap prices in order to provide the many millions of dollars to finance those terrorists. Europe and Israel were both buying ISIS oil.
The biggest help Turkey gave to ISIS and al Qaeda and the legions of other mercenary thugs was the over 150,000 “jihadi” cannon-fodder volunteers from dozens of other countries Turkey allowed to enter Syria on its “highway to heaven” for extremist-adventurers from all over the world.
Putin, unlike his insipid European counterparts, is the only global power leader with the kahunas and ability to deal shrewdly with Erdogan. Trump is similar to Putin in that high-testosterone way but at the very least is hampered by ignorance of the complexities of the region and the power of the Deep State power-brokers in Washington. I say at the very least because Trump has been increasing US troops in the region, not the reverse, and US troops continue to “guard” Syria’s oil – from Syria. His true instincts and plans are hard to discern. Putin has Russia’s own oligarchs and mafias to deal with also but he is the only one who can put the brakes on Erdogan’s plans. The problem is he still wants Turkey as a partner and it remains to be seen what concessions will result from his upcoming meeting with Erdogan in Moscow. For right now, it appears that Putin is putting his foot down against Erdogan in Syria. That, combined with the rapid deployment of the Syrian Army to the north; agreements with the former US ally called the SDF to co-control key areas; what appears to be the international’ community’s losing patience with Erdogan, all give me hope for Syria.
SUMMARY
In the end, you’re either with the expansionist-aggressors or you’re with the defender; and in my opinion honest human beings must be against all wars of expansionist-aggression. Plenty of positive things were happening in Syria until the “leaders of the free world” decided to pull the rug from under its feet. Most Syrians I’ve met – almost all – describe the years before the war as a golden age. In my travels I’ve experienced a country and a people that is hard to describe but I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, “I’d rather be in Syria” and it’s true. There’s a song, a love poem, a spirit in the air that rises from the soil and descends from heaven that can change a soul that’s become too cynical and refresh it like nowhere else I’ve ever been.
In the end, you’re either with the expansionist-aggressors or you’re with the defender; and in my opinion honest human beings must be against all wars of expansionist-aggression. Plenty of positive things were happening in Syria until the “leaders of the free world” decided to pull the rug from under its feet. Most Syrians I’ve met – almost all – describe the years before the war as a golden age. In my travels I’ve experienced a country and a people that is hard to describe but I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, “I’d rather be in Syria” and it’s true. There’s a song, a love poem, a spirit in the air that rises from the soil and descends from heaven that can change a soul that’s become too cynical and refresh it like nowhere else I’ve ever been.
Syria’s Army, that steadfast defender of their homeland is an inspiration of really, truly, never giving up. Its leader has stayed calmly at the helm throughout the storm in spite of half the world throwing everything they’ve got at him to force him to his knees. And the people who have endured for over eight years beyond what normal folk like me could survive for maybe a month, maybe a year, without losing all touch with gentleness and joy. For all the troubles, sorrows, problems, and issues the Syrian people have been facing and must keep facing now to heal their land and their hearts, to rebuild their country, restore its society and economy, reduce corruption, improve the quality of life, and to take back its rightful place as a leader and model in the region – I can say with absolute certainty that if anyone can do it, Syrians can. Bottom line is – all of Syria for all Syrians and any military that’s there that hasn’t been invited needs to go. When those militaries go, the invited militaries will follow. And if you’re crying tears for the Kurds, don’t cry them around me unless you’ve been crying for all the good people of Syria for eight and a half years.
About the author(s)
JANICE KORTKAMP‚ In her own words: “I’m an independent researcher and writer regarding the Middle East, particularly Syria. I’ve traveled throughout much of Syria in five, month-long trips, usually on my own with Syrian friends as translators and guides. Have also spent almost 7000 hours researching the country and conflict over the past five and half years.” Janice’s work, that of an admitted independent researcher and amateur journalist, exposes the bankruptcy of mainstream “professional” journalists and mercenary punditocracy.
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