They still have politicians with sound mind, but, the national politics seems to be arrested by a clique led by the president. The secular minded people are disempowered. And with anti-secular deeply sectarian religious education going on for a decade now, I do not want to imagine the intellectual make up of the upcoming generations.
As I said, a considerable portion of people are feeling helpless there.
And Syrian situation just made it worse. The overt radicalization of the government, interestingly enough, started from the 2010s, with the Arab riots. A grand, region-wide project seems to be underway. The result will likely be a Levant with borders re-defined.
A viable state of Kurdistan bordering Turkey is a reality now.
Nonetheless, US also backstabbed Turkey, I guess, and I understand the frustration on part of the Turkey's high leadership. Interestingly, it is only Turkey that is the steadfast about regime change in Syria. It is only Turkey right now that is offering real tangible help to foreign militia in Syria.
All the other actors changed their position. Turkey stubbornly keeps its position, trying to utilize its geographic advantages to destabilize Syria. But there seems to be no clear policy.
Great powers may make mistakes and simply change course. Small powers have no such luxury. If they do, they pay a price. Turkey is paying a heavy price.
***
Syrian Peace Plan: US Seethes at Its Humiliation by Russia
This is a long article. But a nice one. It says:
"
A very well sourced article, which has recently appeared in
The Wall Street Journal (attached below), shows the extent of the policy disarray in Washington following the US-Russian “cessation of hostilities” agreement.
It seems there has been a massive row.
The heads of the US military and the CIA are clearly furious at the way in which they feel the US has been humiliated, and in a series of angry meetings in the White House they have made their feelings known.
Though they rationalise their anger with talk about how Russia cannot be trusted, and how US allies in the regions like the Turks and the Saudis feel betrayed, that is what it amounts to.
These recriminations have slipped into the open, as shown by the recent angry comments of Mark Toner, the US State Department’s deputy spokesman, who in exceptionally crude and undiplomatic language called on Russia in Syria “to put up or shut up”.
These comments have provoked a
stern rebuke from Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s formidable spokeswoman, whilst Alexey Pushkov, the Chairman of the State Duma’s committee for foreign affairs, has twisted the knife by
Tweeting that
"A deputy spokesman of the U.S. Department of State has broken down - frayed nerves. In the United States lots of people regard the ceasefire in Syria as a defeat: the papers are indignant and the neoconservatives are shocked.”
The difficulty the US hardliners face is that for all the brave talk of a Plan B they have no realistic alternative to offer.
The Wall Street Journal reports US officials saying that “neither (US Defence Secretary Ash) Carter nor Gen. Dunford had formally submitted recommendations to Mr. Obama” and the suggestions mentioned the article - stepping up arms supplies to the rebels, providing them with battlefield intelligence, or imposing further economic sanctions on Russia - hardly amount to practical recommendations Obama can use..."
you euro-wannabee boys..
