Wednesday, November 25, 2015

The chaos of war in Syria: What is going on here?

Syria is a classic proxy war for many groups and governments. With all the different groups fighting plus those who are providing financing, the complexities have become a real monkey fist of a knot. There will always be tensions of violence when competing interests clash. At the moment, there is a complete lack of understanding as to what the interests are of every group involved in the Syrian war. As the groups talk and seek paths of co-operation within Syria there are outside pressures also being fought under the Syrian war banner. In absolute truth there is no such thing as a new war. As always, there is a deep history of issues being brought to this war. For simplicity sake the world has taken the Arab Spring movement as the initial point of the Syrian war. A request for a change in government, an opportunity to take land and a strong grasp to both hold on to power and grab power. That sentence is exactly what is taking place in Syria at its most simplistic essence. From there we can mix in politics, religion and human rights. Mix into the issues (why are groups fighting), there is very little trust or understanding of each others goals or reasons why the fight has taken place. Due to that lack of trust, understanding and knowledge, tensions are boiling over. This is how we have a Russian bomber shot down by Turkey. As crazy as it sounds, we now have to add disrespect within the context of the Syrian war. One of the little known issues being waged deals with the area known as Kurdistan. This is a long standing claim of sovereignty rights. The most notable people are known as the Pashmerga and the Parti Karkerani Kurdistan (PKK). The territory span includes the eastern half of Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran. As you can imagine, these countries are not willing to give much support to the idea of a sovereign Kurdistan. With that opposition, there are going to be some uneasy background issues. This background story is indeed complex. In the realm of international law, the people who are seeking an independent Kurdistan to have a legitimate claim. Sadly having a legitimate claim does not mean anyone will listen or determine what will happen. Furthermore, the very act of fighting (war) to stake that claim can be viewed as a terrorist act since Kurdistan is not a recognized country. The government of Turkey has fought the PKK for decades. Due to this, Turkey has worked very hard to get the PKK listed as a terrorist group. The drama of this war is very interesting. Who knows where it will take us. I do feel that there is no one in control at the moment.

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