The Potential for Al Jazeera Starting the next Middle East War

 

Qatar has opened a gashing wound upon the Saudi Royal Family and their claims to be the “Servant of the Holy Places” of Mecca and Medina. Using their weaponized radio and television channels broadcasting as al Jazeera they have called for the internationalizing of the Islamic Holy Cities. Such an eventuality would rob the Saudi Royal Family of their claim which justifies their ability to rule Saudi Arabia and could even foment a civil war within Saudi Arabia. The reasoning behind this call being made by al Jazeera may not even be originating from Qatar but instead from Tehran, Iran and the Mullahs. This might even be a ploy originating in Ankara, Turkey with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who has visions of reestablishing the Ottoman rule over Mecca and Medina. Wherever the idea for these broadcasts, the one thing which is obvious is, it has heightened already drawn tight tensions with Iran, Qatar and Turkey on one side and Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on the other. As if things were not bad enough, with the recent drone incursion into Israeli airspace by what was an Iranian flown remote aircraft intercepted by Israel, led to the Israeli airstrike in Syria on Syrian and Iranian command and control centers used for such operations. Add in the recently started new front in Syria with Turkey bringing a war against the Kurds in northern Syria and a likely land grab by Turkey whose President Erdoğan has made speeches claiming that Aleppo historically was a Turkish city. This is also part of President Erdoğan’s delusional belief that it is his destiny to reestablish the Ottoman Empire. He has also made claims on Kirkuk and Mosul which are Kurdish areas of Iraq. One thing which is clear is the Turkish President has strong hatreds with the Kurds both within Turkey and elsewhere.

 

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubayr warned Qatar that clearly previously such a call for internationalizing the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina would be interpreted by Saudi Arabia as a declaration of war which he further stated, “Do not test the patience of the great powers, you dwarves.” This was an obvious attempt at intimidation which Qatar has apparently disregarded. Qatar has some insurance against any Saudi aggressions as there are troops sent by Turkey within the nation plus Iran has promised to aid Qatari interests from any Saudi or other outside actions. With tensions at such a heightened level and the above-mentioned nations restating their mutual support on each side and enmity for the others, it would take one wrong step, one misspoken word at an overly sensitive moment or even a misreading of intentions to tip over the first domino leading to the entire stack falling in rapid succession. These tensions and the recent fighting between the disparate parties in Syria, the interventions of Iran across the Middle East including Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon and possibly beyond including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist entities have proven President Trump correct in his assessment that Israel-Arab conflict is not the central problem.

 

President Trump has realized the reality that the Arab Palestinians are not the central focus of the Muslim world but an all but forgotten backwater which nobody desires to take too much interest just in case they might be stuck with having to come to their aid. The Arab Palestinians are simply an unwanted group of malcontents whose leadership had worn out their welcome across the Arab world. When the Syrian civil war first started, one of the first places bombed and struck with artillery barrages were the Palestinian refugee camps with the largest being barrel bombed for almost two weeks solid. These were the first victims of Bashir al Assad’s wrath. It may have been that President Trump noted how even the self-declared greatest friends of the Arab Palestinians, the European Union, European nations and leftist NGO’s were all silent and never registered even the slightest of concerns over Bashir al-Assad’s wiping out of the Palestinian refugee camps. Between such lack of real concern for the Arab Palestinians whose troubles could not be placed on Israel and Mahmoud Abbas consistently refusing every offer to talk or reach a peace under any condition has led President Trump to demand actual effort and signs of real sincerity before he will waste any further funding of UNRWA or the Palestinian Authority. President Trump appears to have one main objective in the Middle East, to keep the United States as untangled in the entire area as humanly possible. We should all hope that nothing changes this and forces President Trump to decide it is necessary for the United States to engage in the Middle East as such would only occur if things became excessively dire.

 

Iranian Allies versus Saudi Allies and pro-Saudi but Neutral

 

The unfortunate thing is should a war break out starting between Saudi Arabia and Qatar and quickly spread to having Iran step into the breach and also attack Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates as well as Saudi Arabia to force the Saudis to defend on the greatest number of fronts and also have the possibility of Turkey sending troops and air power to assist Iran as Turkey has returned to allying with Iran after a brief period of neutrality while seeking United States military aid which was provided. What is most disturbing is that Turkey continues to be a NATO member which makes possible numerous troubling demands which could be made of NATO should Turkey be dragged into a conflict against Saudi Arabia and aiding Iran. That raises the question as to what the United States do if called upon to honor the call of another NATO member for aid in a war they were presumably dragged into which would place the United States aiding Iran against Saudi Arabia, Egypt and their other allies which President Trump has decided are the United States true friends within the Islamic World. Perhaps President Trump’s belief that the Middle East is best left at arms distance or further may be the smartest means of dealing with most of the mess developing within. President Putin has been attempting to extract Russia while not losing face or disturbing his allies who are becoming more burdensome than they will likely prove to be worth. In the meantime, Putin had best find some way of putting a tight lid on the building pressure between Qatar and Saudi Arabia probably by insisting that Iran calm their attack dog and end the al Jazeera attacks on the Saudi Royals and end the calls for the internationalization of Mecca and Medina before the pressure boiler explodes from the pressure and open violence breaks out.

 

The causing of a new front in the Iranian war on the rest of the Islamic Arab world in their quest to spread Shiism making it supreme over Sunni Islam by whatever means required has only increased the regions where Iran can now threaten. If Iran truly desires to make Shiism preeminent and dominating the Middle East, picking a war with Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be the most direct method, perhaps not the smartest, but it would be the most direct. Saudi Arabia holds the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina and Egypt has the largest populations as well as the leading Islamic university, Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Taking control of these assets and swaying this many Arab Muslims would go a long way in having Shiism become dominant in the Middle East and make spreading it throughout the Islamic world far more readily possible. It might simply all depend on exactly how far along the Iranian work to develop and build a nuclear arsenal has come along. If it is much further along than believed by Washington D.C. and Jerusalem, then this task just became far more likely and the Iranian threat beyond just the Middle East just became exponentially more dangerous. This is another reason for the Russians to try to calm the situation because the last thing everybody needs is a war which could easily escalate completely beyond any efforts to control, and an Iran possibly facing losing a conflict with Egypt and Saudi Arabia might become capable of anything to try to alter such an eventuality. The one way Iran could lash out would be an all out attack upon Israel, and the last thing the world would need is an attack on Jerusalem and/or Tel Aviv with weapons of mass destruction, as the Israeli retaliation would be definitive and devastating. Perhaps Qatar had best be advised to calm down their rhetoric as otherwise things stepping beyond anybody’s ability to calm could be right around the corner, and if such is pressed, then it should be understood that Iran desired an open conflict and should receive all the responsibility for what follows equally with whoever fires the first shot.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Time for United States or Turkey to Leave NATO

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has received the requisite permissions from Russian President Putin to assist in their war to reinstate Syrian mass murderer Bashar al-Assad as the uncontested dictatorial ruler in all of Syria. Now Erdoğan, in his best al-Assad imitation, has launched an all out assault on the Kurds in northern Syria. There are few questions as to what Erdoğan views as the result of his efforts will produce. His desire for a Greater Turkey, or the new Ottoman Empire, will include the areas south to include Aleppo and to the southeast to include Mosul and potentially Kirkuk. Erdoğan is poised to engage and eradicate the Kurds by ethnically cleansing the entire areas which they currently hold. The fact that the Kurds were crucial in the containment and following defeat of the Islamic State matters not to Erdoğan, they are simply the wrong kind of Muslims in his book, making them just slightly less offensive than were the Armenian Christian population to the Ottoman Empire in the ramping to World War I between 1915 and 1917 and the Armenian Genocide. What is unfolding before the world is the result of the denial of the Kurdish desire for their own independent nation after their Kurdistan referendum where 93% voted for independence.

 

Where there was one nation who backed their vote and called for recognition of the nation of Kurdistan was Israel but as the United States having just finished an election resulted in a hasty decision based on the recommendations of the State Department and many at the Pentagon, both of which told the Kurdish leadership the same thing they told the Zionist leadership in 1948, wait, the time is not right and it will cause the United States difficulties which they refused to endure. You know the world has made a huge misjudgment when a maniacal egomaniac is given a green light to start and conquer lands they crave through a genocidal cleansing of the very people who desired to simply live in peace who were told their desire for a homeland was too much bother and they should wait. The difference is the Zionists did not listen to the State Department or Pentagon (Defense Department) and President Truman also made up his own mind remembering the Biblical lessons his mother had taught him in his youth. Unfortunately, the Kurdish leaders heeded the warnings from Washington and will now likely bear the consequences. Also, the fact that the Kurds in Iraq and their brethren in Syria are far apart politically also meant that only the Iraqi Kurds were polled and there was no consideration to include the Syrian Kurds. Until the Kurds can unite under a singular leadership and unite in their political preferences preferably choosing democratic capitalism over socialist governance, they will remain two separate groups and thus weak and easy victims. How far Erdoğan decides to push might depend on Russia and Iran, as they might not support his extending into Iraq. Defeating the Syrian Kurds is obviously supported by Russia and Iran as it furthers their efforts to reseat Bashir al-Assad, beyond that would only be accepted if they were working with the Iraqis. What will be interesting is the reaction of the Russians and the Iranians when they realize that Erdoğan intends to retain the extra territory he gains, conquers, and has no intention of stepping away and gifting the lands to al-Assad. That just might be where the coalition agreement comes to a brittle and violent end.

 

Greater Turkey

 

The real question will be whether or not United States President Donald Trump notices this little item in the news and whether it registers. The good thing is it will be easy to tell whether or not the President notices, simply watch his Twitter feed. Beyond that, we would be ignoring our responsibility if we did not provide our positions and any background we might have. The easiest way to address this is to go chronologically in reverse order on our main articles involving Turkey and NATO. Our articles start with NATO and the Turkey Problem from November 29, 2015; then Turkey Needs to Prove They Belong in NATO Now from September 18, 2014; and lastly we have our original article on Turkey and NATO, The Turkey Problem for NATO from January 15, 2010.

 

Perhaps we should go back as to when, why and how it was that Turkey became a NATO member state. Turkey was included into NATO along with Greece on February 18, 1952, under the direction of President Harry S. Truman as he declared that the United States would support and back militarily any nation threatened by the Soviet Union. Marking this declaration, President Truman announced the inclusion of Greece and Turkey into NATO and thus under the NATO umbrella. These two nations were the first additions since the founding states on August 24, 1949. NATO was the Western states answer to the Warsaw Pact nations under the auspices of the Soviet Union. Thus was the genesis of the Cold War which lasted until the end of the 1980’s and the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations leading to a rapid expansion of NATO absorbing the Warsaw Pact nations which desired to join. This almost led to a second cold war which would have been an empty threat as these nations now had their own democratically elected governments and governance which departed from their old alliances.

 

That brings us to the current day where there is no real Communist threat from the Russians. With Turkey now aligning with Russia and the Warsaw Pact having collapsed, the reasons why Turkey was drafted into NATO are no longer viable reasons for their remaining a member of NATO. The time has long passed to reconsider the reasons and current politics and whether Turkey still offers anything to NATO or are they a threat to NATO. Then there is the question of whether NATO even has a purpose in the modern world. NATO could, and maybe should, be transformed into a trade union where the nations assure the rest free trade. The one thing the United States must determine is whether or not free travel and open borders between NATO nations is a good idea, and if that is to be permitted, then United States need assess whether or not they desire to permit such travel with all of the NATO members. There are many other international organizations which perhaps the United States and some, if not many, of their allies might decide that they have become counterproductive and require replacement. We would suggest a new international organization to replace a number of organization which have fallen to some form of political correctness and place that before their mission statements as group think has replaced honesty throughout much of today’s world. So, obviously we feel that either Turkey should be required to resign from NATO or the United States should resign from NATO.

 

Let us enter into BTC World, where things are as we envision the world. The United States places a challenge before every organization in which they are members. For the sake of brevity, we decided to use the following organizations, NATO, the International Red Cross, and the entirety of the United Nations including all aligned organizations and courts. Taking NATO first, the test is very easy, take a vote on permitting Israel to join and when the vote fails, the United States should resign from NATO. Simultaneously, demand that the International Red Cross accept Magen David Adom and when they refuse once again, the United States should pull out. And as far as the United Nations, the United States need not bother and should simply resign. Then the United States with Israel could begin a new international peace organization and allow any nation to petition for membership. Of course each nation should then be carefully deliberated as to whether or not they are worthy of inclusion. This new organization could easily replace all the aforementioned groups and affiliated functions. Imagine a world organization where Israel is not condemned automatically at the opening of every session such as the United Nations Human Right Commission or the United Nations General Assembly. Do not fear; the International Red Cross has their difficulty as they accepted the Red Crescent but refused Magen David Adom. For some reason we doubt it has anything to do with their sign being blue but rather it being two triangles, one inverted being superimposed. Perhaps they fear accepting such a sign would lead to it bursting into flames. We promise that none of the Magen David Adom vehicles have spontaneously combusted; any that have caught fire had a lot of assistance in doing so.

 

 

The Israel test is a simple means of seeing if any of the plethora of international and regional organizations acts objectively. One need simply test to see whether or not the nations have chosen Israel out for particular consideration, negative consideration, and further their cooperation with the United States as a modifying test and see whether they pass that test. The sorry thing is that the vast majority of nations will be unable to pass such a threshold to enter into this new alliance. Using the United Nations General Assembly vote in reference to the United States recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel there are but nine nations who would be easily admitted; Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Togo and United States. There were thirty-five which abstained allowing them to receive additional considerations by checking other votes condemning Israel and checking their history and these nations are; Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Haiti, Hungary, Jamaica, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda and Vanuatu. The final group was those who simply decided not to even arrive and take any stand which includes these twenty-one nations which include; Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor (Timor Leste), El Salvador, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mongolia, Myanmar, Moldova, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Zambia. The remaining one-hundred-twenty-eight General Assembly nations would find joining the United States new and rather exclusive group of nations for special and favorable treatment far more difficult. We realize that such events are a pipe dream, but without dreams what is life. We hear about Dreamers from the media all the time and how they are special and need our sympathy; what makes our dreaming any different? Yes, we realize dreams that Israel be treated fairly by international organizations are deemed unacceptable by the vast majority of the world. The world loves many things which originated in Israel such as cherry tomatoes and use the medical, agricultural and scientific discoveries and high tech inventions not to mention cell phones and security and encryption programs along with discoveries in all fields of science including life saving surgeries. Many nations have received exceptional and experienced teams who carry-out search-rescue and field-hospital alleviating their distress and giving life-saving assistance in every sort of emergency be it storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos or other forms of emergencies. Unfortunately too many of these nations forget such aid when the time comes to vote to condemn Israel for virtually any reason. That is why the Israel test is such a viable test which it is sad so many nations fail such a simple test.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

If the World Was Serious About Preventing an Iran War

 

The actions over the past few weeks have once again shown the lack of any shred of serious concern over preventing Iran taking control of the Middle East and the oil resources held there. Say what you want about how Saudi Arabia can stand against Iran, that is a pipe dream and everybody knows that. The only hope the Saudi military would have against Iran would be if they held a parade contest and even then, Iran puts on a pretty good imitation of the old Soviet Union style of parade, the Saudis just look impressive in their fancy dress uniforms. The Saudis even with Israel assistance would still end up losing the oil fields as the Israeli sphere of operability has limitations which is why Israel is considered vulnerable to Iranian nuclear threats. Obviously, many of the signs that the world really was, the United States in particularly, interested in preventing a world war started due to Iranian threats well beyond simply the Middle East would be done secretively, there are still some steps which would necessarily be committed in plain sight. The first would be some passive verbal support for the response of the Kurdish referendum praising their desire to be granted the nation they had been promised by the allied victors of World War I.

 

Please do understand that much of the problems in the Middle East stem directly from the results imposed after World War I and much of that blame lies with two men whose names are on the very treaty behind these problems, the Sykes-Picot Agreement. British diplomat Mark Sykes and a French counterpart, François Georges-Picot, with some small input and suggestions from Russia and the complete hands-off support of the United States trying to stay above the fray which adds their name to the perfidy, drew the lines of control for much of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) dividing the lands into areas of control with no regard for tribal and ethnic regions. This action was intentional as they were attempting to assure themselves that the Middle East would never become a major power in the world. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran were the three places which were not affected as they remained as they were or were beyond the scope of the Allied powers. The Allies performed a similar arrangement when dividing up the Austria-Hungarian Empire just as they did the Ottoman Empire. The British and French went a step or two further by making the chance for an opportunity for the Jews and the Kurds to gain independence and have the nation that each was promised all but impossible, and undefendable if either managed to gain their necessary foothold. To restrict the Jews, this was accomplished by having the British all but strangle their ability to make Aliya to the Holy Lands; and to the Kurds, they divided their populations between Iraq, Syria and Turkey leaving a fourth in Iran. If these areas had been permitted the Kurdish People, there is a good chance that Kurdistan would have a democratic form of governance and would be providing a perfect staging area for much of the problems over the past century in the Middle East. They also would likely have been an inspiration to the peoples of their neighboring nations to pursue a more liberal and democratic path after World War II, but that would have empowered the Middle East; and the British and French were seeking anything but such an occurrence.

 

Still, it is not yet too late to mend long ago made mistakes and grant things promised in bad faith. If only the advisors from the United States State Department were not infected with an anti-democratic bend and steeped in the sour soil of Arab oil and Islamic supremacy. The State Department is neutral as it cares not which form of Islam, Shiite or Sunni, wins, just as long as there is an Islamic Arab force with which to try and impose their view of a just world. Their current favors bow to Iran thanks to the previous eight years of having their positions sold to the Iranians first. Still, there is the beating of a Saudi Arabian old heart and a soft spot for Egypt and the Palestinians and a culture steeped on anti-Israelism, anti-Zionism and thus anti-Semitism. For the Department of State, the only good Jew is one completely devoted to the State, the Democrat Party and completely ignorant in the Constitution, Bill of Rights and associated ideals of freedom. The State Department is probably the most anti-Trump area in the entirety of the government and the most intractable as well. Trump gave the job of Secretary of State to an old friend and we hope they have an understanding that as Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson is supposed to talk the talk and walk the walk completely in agreement with the garbage spouted by the State Department “deep state” and add his own Saudi Arabian twist as this is expected from one who spent their life being entertained, wined and dined by the Saudi Royals. Secretary Tillerson was likely told not to get upset if it appeared he was being ignored often, his job was to engage the “deep state” people in the State Department and make it appear they had a voice and were being effective while Trump went his own way. That would be the perfect situation of management control and if such is the case; it will be studied in business and political science classes in the future.

 

We have already heard how the State Department wants the Kurds to just shut their mouths, sit down and allow the adults to trample them into the dust of the Middle East. Thus far, the only nation to support the Kurdish referendum was Israel. Israel also has strong and good relations with the Syrian faction of the Kurds. The Kurds were the fighters who stopped ISIS, back when Islamic State was ISIS, in the battle for Kobane where the Kurds had stopped the ISIS advance and were the first to do so and then, with some United States air support, the Kurds turned the tide and then cleared Kobane of ISIS presence and pushed them southward, again with marginal American air support. This was the story in Syria which has one last piece in the puzzle, when the Syrian Kurds turned the tide; they received some assistance from the Iraqi Kurds which quickened their push. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga Militias stopped the spread of the Islamic State in two crucial battles in Kirkuk and Erbil turning them back and, in a long and brutal series of assaults; the Kurds opened the route into Mosul and established a foothold in this crucial city. With Peshmerga Kurdish assistance, the Iraqi Army with America air support, tactical planning, artillery support, and America Special Forces implanted within and with an undisclosed number of American troops taking the south flank and the Kurdish Peshmerga taking the north flank, the Iraqi Army, according to all media reports, took Mosul in a valiant effort showing great heroism and resourcefulness in a brutal fight of uncommon ferocity lasting almost three days. The Kurdish Peshmerga Militias then spent the next two weeks clearing the remainder of Mosul in door-to-door fighting mostly in the northern regions. The absolute bravery and valor of the Iraqi Army is most definitely unquestioned, or so the media tells. There was a reason that the State Department and the Pentagon insisted that the Iraqi Army be credited with taking Mosul, and now for the revelation.

 

The crux of the situation is that around Mosul are numerous critical items. There is the Mosul Dam and hydroelectric generation facility. The dam is in need of upgrading and desperately in need of repair which it will hopefully receive before it breaks. This would be best handled by some governance which actually cares about the people. Then there are the Mosul oil fields which produce the second greatest amount of oil in Iraq. Finally, Mosul is a central point where the majority of roads meet and thus makes it the Bastogne of the Iraqi battlefield. In Bastogne, Colonel McAuliffe commanding the 101st Airborne Division was surrounded by German armor who pounded the city for twenty-four hours plus. When offered to surrender and save his troops, the Colonel answered “Nuts!” Nuts is what the United States and the Kurds are if they permit Iran and Iraq to retain control over the Mosul area. This was a Kurdish area which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attempted to denude it of its Kurdish population and move Sunni Arabs into the former Kurdish homes. The Kurds have permitted their people to return to their homes with their intent on retaining Mosul. The West and the World would sleep a lot sounder with Mosul firmly in Kurdish hands. For this and a myriad of other reasons, the United States would be best served to ignore the State Department and their claim that in the name of peace, Iran, through Iraq, should be permitted their claim on Mosul and the Kurds denied such lands or any lands and be left split between four nations, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey to live under the cruel rule of their oppressors. The State Department gives the Kurdish the same treatment as they have the Jews, believing them both to be merely capricious little children too ignorant or unintelligent to know what is best for them.

 

The reality, as usual, is the complete opposite of the State Department advice. The Kurds could and would be an ally to the forces of freedom, liberty, capitalism and democratic rule. They would also be a friend of Israel, which we admit does cloud our vision, but such a clouded vision is still a far bit clearer than those at the State Department. The next path at present would be to make plans for the recognition of a Greater Kurdistan (map below). That would include northeastern Syria, Northern Iraq reaching southward to include the Mosul areas, northwestern Iran and parts of southern Turkey. In order to make such a nation possible, the United States would need to provide the basic aircraft for the Kurds to have their own airborne protection. The training should be provided by either the United States, Israel or both, for the pilots to fly these aircraft with the most capable given actual air defense dogfighting training. They would need armored vehicles which some might be provided by Israel and the rest by the United States as well as some training in their use and how to defend them against anti-armor weapons and how to implement them into a combat scenario. Finally, imbedding some Special Forces trainers initially plus air assistance as the initial founding of Kurdistan, no matter the promises or treaties involved, will result in a combined assault of the nascent nations by at the least four and as many as twelve Arab, Turkish and Iranian armies attempting to drive them into the ground, there is no sea this time, and murder every single Kurdish person they can find. The reason that all the Kurdish areas must be included in the founding of Kurdistan is because any left outside of the country will be slaughtered by their own countrymen as an example to the Kurds as to what will happen to them if they lose their war to keep their nation. Israel can attest to the fury that will be shown any Kurdish nation once founded, and it matters not when such may occur, the vile spite which will be shown as violence is unfurled against the Kurdish People wherever they may be found, will be equal to the fury thrown against Israel and which still fills many Arab and Islamic hearts towards Israel and the Jews. With American and Israeli assistance, this idea of a real and honest Kurdistan which will be free, democratic in nature, and with a vibrant economy can and will be established. Should Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan become enraged and threaten to quit NATO, that would simply be one more advantage of our proposal, one that should be gladly and immediately accepted.

 

Our Idea for a Proposed Greater Kurdistan

 

Additional advantages of establishing the promised Kurdish nation is it would provide Israel with an emergency airbase which would place some needed cooling on the Iranian eagerness to destroy Israel. The Kurds would necessarily be allied with Israel and the West as the Arab world and Arab League would treat them as a pariah and constantly be a threat to their survival. A Kurdish State would also work to keep a check on Turkey and perhaps the Sunni Muslims in Iraq might seek the Kurdish protection from their Shia dominated government in Iraq, though perhaps protecting the Sunni in Iraq might be a stretch. In the end, a Kurdish nation in the heart of the Middle East with democratic governance and a capitalist economy and the standard of living which such provides, they would be an example of what each of these Arab states could be with a government which serves the people instead of enslaves the people. Kurdistan could be the beginning of the reformation which so many have written about but none have shown any means by which such could occur. Those who have claimed that an effective example would be Israel missed the mark as Israelis are seen as outsiders, intruders and anything but what the Arabs should emulate. The Kurds are Sunni Muslims, not Jews, nor Catholics, not Buddhists but real and longstanding followers of Islam and amongst those who surrendered to Allah and they could show that surrender to Allah and following Islam does not mean one must live off the crumbs doled by a dictator but that one can be modern and enjoy the spoils of life while still being good and practicing Muslims. That might just be the greatest prize which might come from Kurdistan, and that could change the world.

 

Beyond the Cusp