Who the hell knows what is going on in the Middle East? It is difficult to get accurate information from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Meanwhile, in our confusion thousands of ordinary innocent people die a brutal death, and thousands more are maimed and traumatised. However, you can rest assured that what is going on is no accident, no trick of fate, no streak of misfortune, but the direct result of planned actions by power hungry states and their psychopathic leaders, imperialist and religious nutters. As far as the Western imperialists are concerned, chaos in that region suits them, while the blood flows, creating divisions between the people, the area's resources are there for the plundering. Strong governments in that region doesn't suit the powerful Western imperialists, much easier to rape and plunder a land while it is in chaos. Perhaps the greatest misfortune to befall the people of that region is the fact that they are living on top of rich deposits of oil and gas, desirable commodities of the imperialist class. Turkey is playing the usual state power and politics game with the lives of the people, as it oscillates between supporting ISIS and bombing ISIS. Not through any change in its approach to humanity, but simply a desire for power.
Read the full article HERE:"Ankara's recent adoption of aggressive policies towards both the PKK and the ISIL has considerably raised the risk of terrorist attacks and sustained civil unrest inside the country," Wolfango Piccoli of risk research firm Teneo Intelligence said in a note.
Yet on both fronts, Erdoğan looks to be hoping to seize opportunity out of crisis. He is reviving Turkey's international standing with the more robust stance on ISIL, but also undermining the pro-Kurdish opposition and bolstering nationalist support at home with the attacks on the PKK. Why now?
Smarting from an election setback in June, when the AK Party he founded lost its majority and the pro-Kurdish opposition HDP secured enough votes to enter parliament for the first time, Erdoğan is keen to win back nationalist support.
"The likely target here is instead the HDP. By striking hard at the PKK, the Turkish government is pressuring the HDP to pick a side," said Erik Meyersson, an assistant professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, in an article on his website.
"Either it denounces PKK to end violence, risking political blowback among its Kurdish base, or it adopts a more pro-Kurdish rhetoric, risking the ire of the Turkish public as well as the judiciary, which has a long history of banning Kurdish parties and politicians."
A collapse of the Kurdish vote and fears over security could, in the event of an early election, revive the AKP vote and with it Erdoğan's ambition to change the constitution, investing his presidency with broad new powers.
