Donald Trump's government is making a colossal mistake by abandoning their erstwhile allies in the Middle Eastern arena, the Kurdish people, to their fate in the hands of Turkey and its ambitious President Mr. Erdogan. This astounding backtracking - not long ago Trump had insisted that anyone who harmed the Kurds would be punished severely, especially in economic terms - will leave the reputation of the USA even more in tatters than anyone thought possible. Furthermore, it will disqualify the US from involvement in any regional peace settlements so desperately needed, leaving anyone still a US supporter shaking their heads and crying with frustration.
It is even more appalling that the strongest world power is stepping aside to allow Turkey to invade a foreign country and establish a zone according to its preference in Syria - paraphrasing Greta Thunberg, how dare they? This is blatant empire-building by an aggressive regional player who is ignoring any rule of law in the area, tries to force allies to do their bidding and constantly makes war-like pronouncements against its neighbours, often fellow NATO members; this aggression also overshadows the good that may come out of this operation, namely the repatriation of a large number of Syrians, maybe up to 2 million, currently in Turkey. Is Turkey vying to replace the ridiculous IS Caliphate with one of its own, trying to reawaken an Ottoman Empire, long consigned to the dustbin of history, but in the form of a modern, Turkish state or what? This operation does not have the hallmarks of a peacekeeping move.
Why is the United Nations security council not acting? How is this so different from Kosovo when the world stepped in to stop the annihilation of a minority at the hands of a dominant majority, indeed willing to invade another country to do so? Is the supposed good being done enough to allow the part extinction of the Kurds? Shame, shame, shame.
Not that President Tump is familiar with the sentiment - to me he seems incapable of shame - as he has a long history of selling out allies when they no longer fit his personal agenda. And the decision is based on political posturing and - would you believe it, money considerations - so the fate of the Kurdish people must be immaterial! Boy, even Dubbya, of whom we thought he was the worst possible President, would never have behaved this way.
In my opinion the USA has a long history of doing good around the world, often thanklessly, regularly helping where help was needed with cash, with arms, with military assistance. As the world's biggest superpower, certainly for the last eighty years, they have of course also been guilty of misbehaviour, miscalculations and even crimes, but to my mind the scale up to today was in their favour - for all their faults and mistakes the 'Yanks' were the cavalry, the good guys, until now. No credibility after this, no trust, a pariah superpower in my eyes. Will the rest of the world sit by and watch this happen?
If this sounds like a rant, it's because it is - I'm very angry that anyone, never mind the USA, can behave like this. Make America a disgrace? The world is watching anxiously.
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