Small, Dependent, Expendable, the Kurds Have Been Betrayed for Centuries

Despite it already being said by many analysts and bloggers, I started writing about this issue a week ago and, true to my form, it was getting to be an out of control dissertation on the history of the Kurds in the Middle East, no matter how much I redacted.

It's all important and relevant, but what I was trying to say, essentially, is:

• The Kurdish people are an ancient stateless people who coalesced over the centuries. While majority Sunni Muslim after centuries of Islamic rule, they are not monolithic in religion and have several dialects. Don't use this to discount their validity.

• One thing that is quite consistent is the vulnerable condition they have existed in over the centuries due to their constant condition of being under the rule of clashing empires. This vulnerability is exploited in regional conflicts as they almost always have had to choose sides, and hope they chose wisely.

• They have been constantly betrayed, long before Western interference, by the powers that have vied for dominance in the middle east.

• In the last 100 years, however, beginning with the British, they have assisted and then been betrayed by foreign powers in favour of more powerful regional interests, particularly in Iraq and Turkey.

• Those within the Syrian borders are currently in a terrible state due to the pretty much unsolvable shit storm there.

• Those within the borders of modern Turkey have endured their own struggle unique to those conditions and policies. A designated terrorist group has taken root there. Their actions against Turkish civilians, in particular, are not okay. Many of their actions against the Turkish military are not okay. This does not, however, wash away any sins of Turkish oppression of Kurds in general. Nor does it mean that the Kurdish people, in general, are terrorists.

• Turkey, in theory (remember, Syria is, as state above, a shit show), should be able to coordinate measured and responsible action against terrorists working in cross-border terrorist activity. What we are are seeing is neither measured, nor responsible, and the coordination is with the dodgiest of parties with unscrupulous methods. Turkey is responsible for their actions as well.

• Turkey has, generally gotten a lot of leeway for their activities due to their regional strategic importance. This inch giving means probably not a single analyst of the region is surprised at their feeling the license to take an extremely heavy hand. In his "hey bro, 'sup?" letter to President Erdogan, Trump himself acknowledges that he may do something "foolish" that would be looked upon as "evil".

• Therefore, Trump knew that he was opening a gate to hell for the very people who most recently assisted with the fight against the very shared threat that is ISIS. They died so US soldiers didn't have to. Their participation meant we could put minimal US boots on the ground.

• And this is just not okay.

It is time to say "Fine, Turkey, go to Mother Russia. We cannot turn a blind eye anymore." I saw "we" as the American people speaking for the United Stated. I'm not quite sure who Trump speaks for.