Why Is Turkey Playing Chicken?

I have to take back everything positive I said about Turkey a few posts ago.  And wonder why they're playing chicken with us with the very existence of Kobani at stake.

Is there no human decency left in the world?  Come on people, sort out your territorial issues later.  The peril of leaving IS run amok is far worse than who has possession of a piece of land - the Turks or the Kurds!

After all, Kobani is within spitting distance of the Turkish border.  They even have tanks at the ready yet they insist on playing political games.  If they send in ground troops so must we.  True.  I  don't disagree with that but they are there, we aren't and the city is hanging on by its fingernails!

They want a no fly zone.  We won't order it up. Heck we won't even order up enough air strikes to dissuade IS as they keep moving that black flag ever closer to the center of Kobani.  Turkey understands the risk yet they're willing to risk an increased IS presence because they worry about the Kurds, at some time, going back to demanding their own country.  Well, there may be nothing for any of them to claim if they don't quit playing games.

They also need to realize and accept that the U.S. effort is being micro managed by an abysmally unqualified individual and that isn't going to change for at least two years.

Biden was right even if unpolitical in saying our allies are a large part of the problem, including Turkey. They may not be letting people cross into Syria at the moment to join IS but they're doing a far cry less in keeping IS away from their border.  Never mind the human cost paid by thousands of people who want no part of this mess.

We're stuck with Obama for two more years.  The world doesn't have to be.  It's time for them to put aside their own petty interests and collate among themselves to get the job done.

If for no other reason than it's the decent and humane thing to do.  Don't follow in our footsteps.  To do so is to fall prey to the most inhumane enemy the world has faced in decades. Perhaps we can't do better.  I have higher hopes for the rest of the world.

Gray Matter

I'm going to change the subject today.  To a degree.  Instead of writing about the never ending war in the middle east I'm going to write about the never ending war on aging.

This week end seemed to be filled with too much FOX and while doing so I noticed something really weird.  Considering I'm never going to see 70 again, perhaps it's because I've learned over time there are some things that need not be changed because if they are it's not always for the best. It's self defeating.

Hair.  What's wrong with gray hair?  Especially on television personalities? Some of the most distinguished people in the world have gray hair.  President Obama does.  As with most Presidents it comes with the job. There's nothing wrong with that except one tends to age faster than normal. Stress and all that.

Lets, however, look at news anchors and reporters.  Forget about the women.  Dye is in their DNA and with modern technology it looks pretty natural.  But the men!  Wowser! Bad toups and even worse color jobs.

Fortunately there are some who haven't fallen into the trap.  Perhaps they have more progressive management.  Take Anderson Cooper. He's been gray as long as I can remember. Scott Pelly certainly looks good.  Even Brian Williams has a touch of gray showing.  You know, the distinguished kind.

But the FOX fellows. We'll do bad toups first.  George Will is letting the gray peek out below his not-a-hair-out-of-place topper.  Then there is the worst of the worst, Pat Cadell along with his dyed to match facial hair.

John Roberts used to be a nice salt and pepper then nearly white and now back to dark something or other. Bob Beckel is more often a red head then not. Even Shepard Smith shows up at work with a decidedly red tinge to his hair.  What is about men's hair coloring that turns it red?  Women got rid of the laughable blue look years ago!

Why do they do it? Do they realize it looks so unnatural it's laughable? Do they think they'll lose their jobs if they look their age?  Actually with the falsified color they do!

I don't mean to come down extra hard on FOX.  It's just they are the ones I was watching as this observation penetrated my conscious.  I'm sure there are many, many others.

It used to be it mattered more what was in your head than what's on it.  That should include what color it is too.

As for me, I'm one of the lucky ones.  With dishwater blond hair what gray I have is pretty well intermingled. The  biggest changes I've noticed is that it's thinning and getting curly.  Please, don't let that give the media moguls any more ideas on tonsorial splendor. There's no shame in hair today ~ gone tomorrow.  To which my other half will attest.

Is ISIS Safe From Itself?

I listened to interview with a criminal profiler last night where she was explaining what type of person is actually capable of beheading another.  Especially with a knife the way Jihad John goes about it.

On the positive side, there aren't many though ISIS seems to have more than it's share.  I suggest that's because they have attracted an army of the disenfranchised, misfits  and mentally unbalanced of not only their region but of the world.

It's scary that some do live among us, note the recent beheading in Oklahoma.  She explained that the process itself is not easy when using nothing but a knife, no matter how sharp. I do wonder too if the victims we've been witness to on television have been drugged to some degree.  Granted they are surrounded by armed madmen but the expressions seem void, blank and not even a twitch of resistance. Perhaps it's a state of self hypnosis knowing what's coming.

To do this, however, it was explained that one must be basically dead inside.  No conscience.  No emotion other than the thrill,  the high gotten from the act.  It's hard to imagine such a void in a human body.

It was also explained that the recruiting sites on the Internet don't cater to that side of ISIS and few that join expect to be engaging in that end of it.  It's hard to understand what the appeal may be when this is the only side we see.

The leadership of ISIS, however, has it's group of maniacal thugs and uses them well for their purposes.  What happens, though, when the bombings don't cease and the military action escalates and most importantly when they run out of western  and non-compliant captives?  What will they do to satisfy the blood lust of their self-cultivated monsters?

It would of course be just if they turned against those very ones who have enabled them.  It would only be better if one of those doing the beheading was a woman and she was let loose against al-Baghdadi.

I'll settle for one of the men though.  I cannot imagine any woman, any woman, being capable of such unspeakably cruel violence.

I Owe Turkey An Apology

Not so long ago I wondered what kind of trade off the Turks made with IS to get their diplomats back.  Whatever it was it worked. The diplomats were freed.

Now, they're doing the work we should be doing. Plus they're going to allow foreign units to utilize their bases.  This is huge.  They're going to help the Kurds.  Where is every one else who has promised?  They're going into Syria but they won't stop with IS, they'll go after Assad.

It's too late for what ifs, but if we had punished Syria for crossing the 'red line' and armed the Free Syrian Army back when it first became an issue, a lot of what's happening now could well have been avoided.  IS would not have been able to get a foothold.

If we hadn't insisted on passing arms through the still tenuous Iraqi government, the Kurds wouldn't have to be hanging on by their nails. If we'd quit exempting ourselves from putting boots on the ground maybe others would be willing to follow suit.

What's notable to me is the Turks got their people out before taking action.  Maybe we should have tried harder to get ours out.  The failed rescue only emboldened the enemy.  One more hapless action by the no-longer-so-great-Satan.

As of right now we're being given credit for the coalition even if they're stumbling all over one another.  If Turkey takes the lead, and they are militarily capable of doing so, it will be interesting to see if the middle east participants begin to follow their lead rather than ours.

As long as IS is eliminated, I don't care who gets the credit. If Turkey leads the way we may also get Assad. That would help ease the over all situation.

The fight might turn strictly regional.  I wonder if Turkey would join forces with Israel to deny Iran their centrifuges.  It would be in both their national interests. And ours.  Perhaps we could reshuffle our interests out of the region to more friendly and less war like nations.

At some point after all that if they want to continue bickering among themselves as to who has the correct interpretation of Islam, let them go at it. Never mind the earth will be scorched beyond repair. That would be their problem.  They will have done it to themselves.

The biggest irritation to me would be watching the administration swaggering to the mic with a self congratulatory smirk claiming victory over impossible odds.  After all, the legacy must be protected no matter the cost.

We Doze, People Die

I realize there is a lot going on in Washington these days and little of it good.  The incompetence of cabinet level people is enough to take your breath away. Maybe we should have cleaned our own house before engaging in another war no matter how justified.  But we have.

We also know that our own house won't be cleaned until after the November elections if then.  Some things can't wait.  Or can they?  I haven't seen the President call Congress back to get his war vote nor have I seen them volunteer to do so.  Heanven forbid their vote may come back to haunt them in future elections.  Who cares what's right?

I hear great bragging about this marvelous coalition we've pulled together - mostly with our own enemies.  They aren't in the fight because of the inhumanity of the IS but because of their own governmental and territorial interests.

Yes.  They'll fly with us but will only hit targets of their choice, not ours.  Like us they won't put boots on the ground.  I can't help but wonder about the commitment.  Well, you say, many of them have said they would send modern arms and armor to the Kurds, the only ones willing to fight.  On the ground.  They're still waiting.  Why?  Don't give me a big song and dance about delivery logistics.  It's not that.  It's politics.  Anything that can slow involvement is being done.  After all, elections loom.

In the meantime what about the Kurds?  They're still fighting with weapons from the Soviet era.  Give them an A+ for keeping what should be in a junk pile functional.  Such as it is against the modern weaponry of IS.

The IS is annoyed with the air strikes you can be sure but they're flicking them off like an irritating fly.  They've taken cover among civilians just as Hamas did against Israel.  Of course they're basically the same.

They continue with the ethnic and religious cleansing attacking villages, hospitals and schools.  Recruiting mere children.  Beheading women they don't sell into slavery. Sending more and more refugees into Turkey who like other neighboring countries will soon find themselves on overload.

Yet our politicians continue the opposition bashing campaigns while ignoring the state of the world.  No one is pressuring the coalition to step it up, the action is in "negotiations" with Iran.

The entire world could use some leadership.  It won't happen here with this administration.  Do we really have two years to wait for someone to emerge?  The Kurds, the only ones really willing to fight, don't.