Opposition to Turkey’s presence in Kurdistan builds
Turkey deployed troops into Kurdistan, which is still legally part of Iraq, in order to defend a business partner. Kurdistan is at war with ISIL but there have also been skirmishes between Kurdish troops and Arab-Shia militias aligned with Baghdad – and Iran. Baghdad is objecting strenuously to the Turkish presence. Shia Ayatollah Sistani has joined in the denunciations. Moscow and Tehran are backing the Shia claims. This will worsen.
al Nusrah Front leader dismisses Syrian peace talks
The international effort to find a political solution to the Syrian civil war has been rejected by the leader of the al Nusrah Front, which is an al Qaeda affiliate that the Saudis, Qataris, and Israelis have hoped to “de-radicalize.” The leader rejects the talks as a treasonous conspiracy to crop up the Assad regime. They certainly aren’t that, but talks will indeed lead to a settlement that allows the Assad regime to stay in power, though Assad himself may have to go.
The al Nusrah leader also made the intriguing comment that his organization had no intention of undertaking operations outside of Syria. That is a break with his parent organization’s global ambitions.
Ethnic fighting continues to build in Burundi
A political crisis based on presidential power is building in the Central African country of Burundi. Violence is escalating and we may be on the brink of an outbreak of slaughter between rival tribes – the sameness that resorted to slaughter twenty years again neighboring Rwanda.