69 million page views

The Kobane Front: Latest Map; similar to Warsaw, 1945

Reader comment on item: Dubious U.S. Mission in Syria
in response to reader comment: New development

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Sep 30, 2014 at 21:33

By the time this gets posted, God only knows whether there will be any Kurds left in Kobane. Here's the Map:

https://tangsir2569.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/kobane-27-sept-2014-by-desyracuse.jpg

The part that stands out to me, is the long, long stretch along the border, where the Turks have been standing by and watching ISIS steadily attack the Kurds right across the fence. The border looks like this:

http://cdncms.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/2014/09/29/193561_newsdetail.jpg

Those are Turkish tanks -- German-built Leopard tanks, I imagine.

NATO ally, ally, al- lie-lie-lie. There must be a tune, to go along with that. Turkey's membership in NATO seems to boil down to the US bailing them out if they get into trouble attacking their neighbors; but no real help flowing the other way. The US, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark all consider ISIS a clear and present danger to their own security; but Turkey has so far not come to their aid. If they invade Syria, though, as they have been talking about doing for some time, and find themselves in trouble, they will expect us to help them.

The current callous attitude of the Turks toward the besieged Kurds of Kobane, reminds me of the halt in the Russian advance against the Nazis at Warsaw. They could easily have taken the city, but that would have helped the Polish resistance, who had risen in revolt. Instead, they simply waited in their tanks, as the Turks are doing at Kobane, until the Polish resistnace had been crushed and Warsaw utterly destroyed by the Germans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising#mediaviewer/File:Destroyed_Warsaw,_capital_of_Poland,_January_1945.jpg

Warsaw, after the failure of the Polish uprising. The Soviets stood by across the river, until the uprising had been thoroughly crushed.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (8) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Voices from Iran [28 words]Vince EmmerOct 2, 2014 10:57218391
1New development [24 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
There is NO Santa ClausSep 29, 2014 07:30218305
1The Kobane Front: Latest Map; similar to Warsaw, 1945 [271 words]Michael S.Sep 30, 2014 21:33218305
1How Will Russia Respond [137 words]mozereOct 4, 2014 05:15218305
2The Turks are not afraid of the Russians and Chinese. [62 words]Michael S.Oct 10, 2014 03:35218305
Rubber Banding Mapping Boundaries [395 words]M. ToveyOct 13, 2014 15:44218305
Turkey waiting in the wings... Turkey wings? Yummy [1113 words]Michael S.Nov 6, 2014 00:54218305
A unique time of duplicity [281 words]MIchael S.Sep 29, 2014 07:02218304

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)