France said it was vital to stop Islamic State's advance on Kobani, and was discussing with Turkey what could be done. "A tragedy is unfolding, and we must all react," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told parliament.But some analysts doubt the will exists among Western allies to take further action."It's the coalition of the unwilling, each country is doing the bare minimum, particularly in Syria," said Fadi Hakura at the London based think-tank, Chatham House.From across the Turkish border, two Islamic State flags could be seen flying over the eastern side of Kobani.
Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic relays an important point made by his source on the ground, which I have put on bold type:
I just got off the phone with a desperate-sounding Kurdish intelligence official, Rooz Bahjat, who said he fears that Kobani could fall to ISIS within the next 24 hours. If it does, he predicts that ISIS will murder thousands in the city, which is crammed with refugees—Kurdish, Turkmen, Christian, and Arab—from other parts of the Syrian charnel house. As many as 50,000 civilians remain in the town, Bahjat said."A terrible slaughter is coming. If they take the city, we should expect to have 5,000 dead within 24 or 36 hours," he told me. "It will be worse than Sinjar," the site of a recent ISIS massacre that helped prompt President Obama to fight ISIS. There have been reports of airstrikes on ISIS vehicles, but so far, Bahjat said that these strikes have been modest in scope and notably ineffective.Kobani is located on the Turkish border, but Bahjat said he is receiving reports that Turkey is pulling its troops back, rather than risk armed confrontation with ISIS. "It's unbelievable—Turkey is in NATO, so you literally have NATO watching what is happening in this town. Everyone can see it—the TV cameras are there, watching. It's terrible."He went on, "This just can't be allowed to happen. I'm upset personally as a Kurd, seeing my brethren killed. I'm upset as a secularist seeing the hope of freedom being murdered and I'm upset as a human being, watching these monsters commit genocide."Kurdish fighters are outnumbered by ISIS, and they have no heavy weaponry. There are reports coming out of Kobani that at least one female Kurdish suicide bomber has struck at ISIS terrorists already. The situation is grim, growing grimmer, and one in which hesitation by the international community may not be easily forgiven.
This moment in the history of our civilization is as shameful as it is alarming. This is what happens when the United States of America votes for its own dismantlement, and therefore abnegates its leadership role on the world stage.
A civilization that loses all sense of honor is ripe for conquest by savages.
There is a lot of other bad stuff happening all over the globe, including right here on our own shores. Sire the world is weary and wary of involvement in problems being created by the immediate players themselves. 13 years and what have we got? Zilch, and to hear you talk, worse than zilch. It's frigging futile, I tell you. A majority of the American people were sick of said futility halfway in to Cheneys 2nd term. His approval rating at the end of his second term was like 13 per cent. And you want us to go into the same shit on a different day? I'm grateful more countries aren't buying it.
ReplyDeleteSo you're fine with being conquered and killed, and seeing the women in your family sold off as slaves. There is no other conclusion to draw from your statement.
ReplyDeleteA bit much, lad.
ReplyDelete