by Stephen Lendman

Longstanding US/Israeli plans call for redrawing the Middle East map - including balkanizing Iraq and Syria along with installing regional puppets serving Western/Zionist interests.

The ugly scheme involves endless wars - killing millions through violence and deprivation. Imperialism works this way - causing unspeakable human misery for power, resource control and profit.

America, key NATO allies, Israel and rogue Arab states like Saudi Arabia are allied in potentially embroiling the entire region and beyond in endless conflicts - wanting regime change in Iran, Syria and elsewhere. Washington wants all independent governments replaced by pro-Western puppet regimes. Israel wants all its regional rivals eliminated - Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Assad in Syria.

Former US Political Advisor for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, current Consul General to Jerusalem Michael Ratney was just appointed US Special Envoy for Syria.

It comes when Turkey joined America’s war on the Syrian Arab Republic directly - by attacking Syrian Kurds on the pretext of fighting Islamic State terrorists it actively supports - providing them safe haven in its territory, training them and funneling them cross-border to wage war on Syria as US proxy foot soldiers.

Last week, Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on letting US warplanes use Ankara’s Incirlik and Diyarbakir air bases to bomb Syrian targets - along with the first step toward balkanizing its territory by establishing a buffer and no-fly zone in northern Syria bordering Southeastern Turkey.

At Monday’s daily State Department press briefing, AP’s Matt Lee asked spokesman Admiral John Kirby “what’s going on with the Turks? (I)t seems like a really bizarre situation has unfolded over the course of the past week with them (claiming to join) the air strikes against ISIS, but at the same time bombing PKK positions” in Syria and Iraq.

“So what exactly is going on here, and doesn’t this just make an even bigger mess out of the situation than” earlier?

Kirby ducked the question saying “(w)e are grateful for Turkey’s cooperation against ISIL (America’s ally, not enemy) to include now use of some of their bases for coalition (US/Britain/Israel and now Turkey) aircraft to go against targets - ISIL targets, particularly in Syria.”

Fact: Washington provides air support for IS proxy foot soldiers. Syrian infrastructure is targeted. Easily visible columns of IS elements (via satellite imagery) move free of US attacks.

They could easily be destroyed if Washington wanted them eliminated. Just the opposite. Kirby and other US officials claiming America is at war with IS is polar opposite truth.

Matt Lee pressed Kirby on attacking PKK fighters in Iraq and YPG Kurds in Syria - “perhaps the most effective (ones) on the ground against ISIS/ISIL,” he said. “You don’t have a problem with that,” he asked?

Kirby disagreed on Kurdish effectiveness, called the PKK “a foreign terrorist organization” because Washington say so, and added “Turkey has a right to self-defense” - the same rationale as Israel’s phony claim about a Palestinian threat.

Lee pressed further asking “(i)s the US telling Turkey not to go after the PKK if the PKK in Syria are going after ISIL - yes or no?”

Kirby seemed nonplussed - interrupted by another reporter asking “(s)o you don’t know (about Kurdish elements) fighting inside Syria?”

Kirby lied saying “I have no specific information.”

Question: “Who is shooting at whom at this point?”

Kirby ducked the question - without explaining sophisticated US satellite imagery he understands well as a retired navy admiral, able to follow ground activity wherever the Pentagon wishes.

An unnamed US official said Washington and Ankara are cooperating to create “an ISIL-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey’s border with Syria.”

Fact: The last thing Washington wants is stability anywhere in Syria or other targeted countries - regionally or elsewhere. It defeats US imperial aims. Endless wars serve them.

On Tuesday, all 28 NATO ambassadors are meeting in Brussels (at Turkey’s request) to discuss Ankara’s intervention in Syria and Iraq along with US/Turkish plans for Syrian buffer and no-fly zones - escalating Obama’s war to oust Assad and perhaps enlisting greater NATO involvement even if not announced.

An Alliance statement said member states “follow developments very closely and stand in solidarity with Turkey.” Whether it suggests direct NATO involvement in Syria and/or Iraq (including ground forces) remains to be seen.

On Monday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara will press ahead with military action against PKK forces - claiming it’s part of its “war on terror” even though the secular PKK is bitterly opposed to IS extremists, engaged in combat against them.

A Syrian Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) spokesman accused Turkey of attacking its positions. Ankara claimed unidentified elements fired cross-border from Syrian territory.

US officials said they’re unaware of any such attack but support Ankara’s right to self-defense - even if its forces committed naked aggression.

Meanwhile, US/Turkish plans call for a 60-mile-long buffer and no-fly zone around 30 miles into Syrian territory, according to various reports.

If established, it’ll constitute a blatant violation of international law without Security Council authorization, besides breaching Syrian sovereignty - along with a first step toward balkanizing the country, destroying it by dismemberment.

At the same time, a shaky 2013 established Turkish/PKK truce was breached. A group spokesman said “(i)t seems Erdogan wants to drag us back into war.”

“When things reach this level and when all of our areas are bombed, I think by then the ceasefire has no meaning anymore.”

White House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes expressed support for Turkey’s “right to take action related to terrorist targets.”

So did EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Germany’s Angela Merkel - “expressing solidarity and support in the fight against terrorism.”

The region already is boiling. Turkey’s intervention ups the stakes.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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