Update below (more…)

Given the current state of relations between NATO member Turkey and the rest of the Western World it is not surprising to see our soldiers at risk in the region.   However, this is infuriating.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Anti-American protesters shouting “Yankee, go home!” roughed up three U.S. Navy sailors Wednesday in Istanbul near where their warship was docked on an inlet of the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea.

About 10 protesters shouted at them, calling them killers and said they should leave Turkey. The protesters, who carried a banner of the Youth Association of Turkey, threw red paint at the sailors and briefly succeeded in putting white sacks over their heads. (more…)

It is well known and accepted in international circles that President Obama’s BFF is President Recep Erdogan of Turkey.
It is also reasonably accepted that Erdogan is a Sunni Islamist and power thirsty Marxist who views his job to resurrect the ottoman empire.
Those of you who have followed our research into the psyche and ideology of Erdogan might be interested in the newly finished palace he built for himself.
At a cost of over $500,000,000.00 (£384,000,000.00) and boasting 1,000 rooms covering a total floor area of 3.1 million square feet, the palace is four times the size of Versailles, allowing Mr Erdogan to exceed the residential grandeur of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” of France.

Inside the palace, a majestic hallway leads up to a sweeping staircase. The quixotic architectural style seems to cross the Ottoman and Seljuk traditions with that of a modern Chinese railway station.  (see more pics and details)

Last week a U.S. journalist, Serena Shim, was murdered in Turkey for exposing the truth of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan allowing and facilitating ISIS militants going to and from Turkey into strategic positions around Kobane (Kobani).
Now an independent journalist team have used video to show Turkish police and military meeting with ISIS militants on the Turkish border.

Obviously the brutal reality of this expose’ is dangerous to Erdogan’s deceptive claims to the contrary. (more…)

Given all previous outlines this would not be a surprise….
WASHINGTON – The death of an American journalist who worked in the Middle East has come under suspicion because she had claimed days before her death that the Turkish intelligence services had threatened her over her coverage of the siege of the Syrian city of Kobani.

[…]  “We were some of the first people on the ground – if not the first people – to get that story of … militants going in through the Turkish border. … I’ve got images of them in World Food Organization trucks. It was very apparent that they were militants by their beards, by the clothes they wore, and they were going in there with NGO trucks.”

Serena Shim, an American citizen of Lebanese origin, was a journalist for Iran’s state-owned Press TV. She was killed in a car crash in the city of Suruc after she reportedly collided with a “heavy vehicle.”
She was in a rental car returning from her assignment when the crash occurred. Neither the “heavy vehicle” nor its driver has been located, although her driver reportedly was arrested. (more…)

Those who have followed the month long fight for Kobane know what’s really behind the reversal in Turkey’s position. Quite simply the Kurds in Kobane have outfought ISIS, outmatched the jihadists, and outlasted the insufferable pressure from both ISIS and the Islamic State’s ideological ally, Recep Erdogan.
Turkey, a NATO member, could no longer stand in the sunlight of the world’s scrutiny, and the pressure upon Sunni President Erdogan was building. Having just suffered an embarrassing defeat in a bid to gain a U.N. Security Council seat Erdogan reverses position and allows Turkish Kurds to go and defend their sisters and brothers in arms.

MURSITPINAR, Turkey — Turkey said Monday that it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross its border into the besieged Syrian town of Kobane, where Syrian Kurds are battling Islamic State militants.
The opening of a land corridor would be another potential boost for the Kobane defenders following U.S. airdrops of weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to them late Sunday.
But the deal, the subject of intensive U.S. diplomatic talks over the past week, also depends on whether the separate Kurdish groups can resolve their deep differences in the interest of confronting a common enemy. (more…)

This is considered a staggering, albeit splendid, defeat considering Turkey was anticipated to be a shoo-in for a non-permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

Previously Turkey had claimed letters of support from 160 countries. However, the actual voting by secret ballot showed they only had 60 countries who supported their bid. The needed threshold is 128 supportive votes. Spain won the seat with 132 votes of support. New Zealand is the other contested victor who won in a previous ballot.
As Newsweek reported: “[Last] Wednesday night, Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, hosted a posh party for diplomats at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, where many of the guests predicted an easy victory for Turkey“.
Apparently the ‘pinky swear’ diplomats partook of the ritzy digs; but when push came to shove they knew their ballots would be secret so they ditched the Turks who have become more and more unreliable as Sunni Islamist President Erdogan pushes Turkey further and further into radical Islam. (more…)

Well lookie here:  US AIR DROPS
https://twitter.com/PentagonPresSec/status/524018927324913665
After coming to the reality the Kurds were going to hold the city at all costs the Pentagon appears to be trying to save face. After reading many of the reports from the region it appears the political strategy of the White House is also coming clear.

In order to protect themselves from the natural questions which would flow from President Obama and President Erdogan’s prior position of refusing aide for the Kurds in Kobane – the White House needs a political explanation. My hunch is you’ll hear the White House claim they were intentionally luring ISIS into amassing around Kobane so they could target the enemy in one centrally located area. In addition, the ploy -per se- will be sold as pinning ISIS to a singular geography and then targeting their resupply efforts.
Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.
It’s an explanation just like the White House intentionally drawing the Syrian WMD “red line” because Secretary Kerry knew Russia would step in to take charge of removing the Assad WMD stockpiles. Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.
(more…)

The overall progress in the Kobane (Kobani) campaign has been moving towards favoring the Kurds in the last 4 days. The reporters and observers all seem to hold the same opinion – the fierce Kurdish women fighters -within the Kobane resistance- are the reason for the success.

Click images to enlarge

Additional coalition airstrikes have also been helpful in stopping ISIS forces from re-supply. A key tactical strategy which benefits the Kurdish forces and equalizes the fight.
SYRIA BBC – The Islamic State (IS) militant group has been driven out of most of the northern Syrian town of Kobane, a Kurdish commander has told the BBC.
Baharin Kandal said IS fighters had retreated from all areas, except for two pockets of resistance in the east.
US-led air strikes have helped push back the militants, with another 14 conducted over the past 24 hours. (more…)

The Kurds battling for Kobane (Kobani) continue to request resupply and additional weapons from the U.S. and Turkey. However, neither President Obama nor President Erdogan have done anything to provide reinforcements for the Kurdish fighters.
Despite their isolation, and with assistance from airstrikes in the surrounding terrain, Kurdish fighters have been able to recapture strategic locations from ISIS control.

SYRIA – Kurdish fighters have launched an unlikely comeback against Islamic State terrorists besieging the Syrian town of Kobane, amid claims the resistance forces have now reclaimed swathes of the city.
Images this morning showed Kurdish YPG soldiers triumphantly raising their flag above Tel Shair hill in the west of the city, where ISIS’ own black jihadist flag had recently been flying.
Assisted by sustained U.S. and Arab airstrikes, the massively outgunned Kurdish troops have managed to do what looking impossible only a week ago – force ISIS to abandon strategic locations in the west of Kobane and pin them back elsewhere in the city.
(more…)