World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 243

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 243

During the week ending on Sunday, April 23, 2017, TURKEY retreated from their days of aggressive sieges of CIZRE, SILOPI, DIYARBAKIR and NUSAYBIN, predominantly KURDISH, which TURKEY had converted into a suburban war zone area as TURKEY was on the defense as they were subject to an internal military “Coup D’État” that failed as gunfire and explosions erupted in which 265 people died, 161 of them civilians during July of 2016. As a result of the failed “Coup D’État”, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency, extended the period during which suspects can be detained without charge to 30 days, closed more than 1,000 private schools and closed more than 1,200 associations. A wide scale purge led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his governing AKP finally continued to de-escalate slightly more this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on celebrating the victory of the YES side in the referendum that was held on Sunday, April 16, 2017 whereby the majority of the TURKISH population voted in favour of TURKEY’s parliamentary system to be converted into a presidential system effectively consolidating power into one executive branch with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its primary executor. The referendum will allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who served as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2014 before becoming President to stay on as President until 2029. Therefore, those opposing the vote say the proposed constitutional changes will give “Free Reign” to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has already been pushing the boundaries of his power as his governing AKP has been utilizing an increasingly authoritarian style since the failed “Coup D’État” attempt which led to an intense crackdown leading to the arrests of over 47,000 government critics, academics, journalists, military officials and civil servants. Nonetheless, TURKEY will be heading into the future under the direction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the governing AKP with the support of the majority of the TURKISH population regardless of the anguish experienced by the minorities under the iron clad fist of the governing AKP. However, it is important to note that it was hardly the win President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had expected with his YES camp crawling away with just 51.4% of the popular vote with the opposition accusing TURKEY’s electoral authority of foul play. Meanwhile, outside observers charged the TURKISH government with stacking the odds in the AKP’s favour while anti-government demonstrations broke out in a number of TURKISH cities with TURKEY awakening the following morning even more divided than ever before.

Moving on to IRAQ, IRAQI and US-led ALLIANCE forces continued with their offensive against ISIS on MOSUL as IRAQI and ALLIED forces managed to push ISIS militants back from MOSUL, their last major stronghold in IRAQ, whereby IRAQI special forces appear to have liberated the eastern half of MOSUL from ISIS in its entirety. As a friendly reminder, MOSUL is divided by the Tigris River with both east and west sides respectively making up about half of the population of MOSUL. Elite ALLIANCE forces managed to fight through an elaborate defense system formed by ISIS over the past two years, that kept ALLIANCE forces out while contemporaneously keeping the residents of MOSUL trapped in as captives, by recapturing east MOSUL in its entirety while being at the cusp of controlling west MOSUL in the short-term. On a positive note, this week in a series of lightning fast advances, ALLIANCE forces seized further control of most of western MOSUL from ISIS as five ISIS leaders, including Russian nationals, were killed when U.S. led coalition fighter jets pounded ISIS locations. ISIS has now lost most of its senior commanders since operations were first launched to retake the western side of MOSUL as officials from the U.S. led coalition now estimate the remaining number of militants in MOSUL to be less than 1,000. In addition, IRAQI troops have freed AL-THAWRA and AL-NASR districts in western MOSUL ending intense encounters with ISIS militants. Furthermore, IRAQI forces recaptured 30% of the Old City and it now seems that only six districts in western MOSUL are still held by ISIS as Iraqi troops have liberated most of the other districts in Western MOSUL.

Moving on to SYRIA, SYRIAN government forces have retaken full control of ALEPPO, since the uprising began, after nearly six years of bloody fighting for Syria’s most populous city and SYRIA’s economic hub that has been the most prized and fiercely contested city throughout the Syrian conflict. As a friendly reminder, since the Syrian army’s assault against rebel held ALEPPO began in late September of 2016, RUSSIAN and SYRIAN government bombardments killed more than 1,000 people, including over 250 children while injuring over 5,000. Now, a ceasefire across SYRIA appears to be broken after its brokers, RUSSIA, TURKEY and IRAN obtained approval of the plan from the UN Security Council overriding all previous failed peace proposals and finally ending the six-year conflict. Although these talks represented the most serious diplomatic efforts in months, U.S. President, Donald Trump’s authorization of the firing of 59 TOMAHAWK cruise missiles at the SYRIAN Armed Forces in response to what the U.S. believes was a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 100 people authorized by President Bashar al-Assad has derailed the entire peace process. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could not agree on who was responsible for the chemical attacks. Although the 80 plus deaths from the chemical attacks have been widely blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, RUSSIA has denied the SYRIAN regime carried out the chemical attacks. Therefore, the U.S. and RUSSIA agreed for the moment to disagree as the war raged on this week as US troops targeted and killed a leading member of ISIS in a commando raid near the town of MAYADIN in eastern SYRIA. Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, who was believed to be from Uzbekistan, is said by the Americans to be a close associate of ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and is said to have played a key role in an attack on a nightclub in TURKEY on New Year’s Eve that killed 39 people. Meanwhile, SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad Syrian blamed JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM, formerly the Nusra Front, for being behind the attack on a SHIA convoy that killed 126 innocent civilians including 68 children. The blast hit the RASHIDIN area on ALEPPO’s outskirts, where militants were evacuating dozens of buses carrying mostly SHIA residents of the IDLIB towns of FUA and KAFRAYA as these towns have been under siege from groups including JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM.


In my opinion, TURKEY’s participation in the military battle against ISIS is a positive addition to the ALLIANCE albeit TURKEY’s negative stance against the PKK that in my opinion is currently unwarranted and deteriorating. However, with the majority governing AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it appears that TURKEY’s future is heading for more war and bloodshed. Unfortunately, the governing AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have chosen the path of war with the PKK as opposed to diplomacy via the KURDISH HDP political party which secured close to 11% during the last TURKISH elections. Therefore, in my opinion, the governing AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will learn the hard way that nobody on the outside world looking in is stupid but rather everyone chooses to close their eyes and allow TURKEY to continue with its ethnic cleansing campaign of the KURDS in exchange for TURKEY signing a deal with the European Union (EU) to stem the flow of refugees arriving in GREECE. In exchange for reducing human trafficking and improving living conditions for 2.5 million refugees within its borders, TURKEY was supposed to receive Euro 3 billion in financial aid in return, the possibility of visa-free travel for its citizens, and a reopening of EU membership talks. In my opinion, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the governing AKP will learn the hard way that the failed “Coup D’État” exposes the deep discontent within the TURKISH military ranks as the governing AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan persist with their quest to annihilate the HDP and the KURDS as the AKP is converting itself into a majority fascist regime with its house cleaning exercises whereby virtually all dissidents have been fired. In my opinion, the European parliament vote to halt TURKEY’s EU accession backed by a resolution condemning the TURKISH government’s disproportionate repressive measures after the failed “Coup D’État” in July was long overdue as TURKEY has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt, with its repressive measures over all opposition, that TURKEY does not share common values, morals, principals, ethics and views as the EU such that TURKEY does not fit into the EU mould. However, in my opinion, TURKEY still represents a major player on the European economic stage such that the EU will nonetheless have to negotiate deals with TURKEY as an independent NON-EU member country regarding the huge refugee crisis. In my opinion, in exchange for reducing human trafficking and improving living conditions for 2.5 million refugees within its borders, TURKEY should only receive Euro 1.5 billion, half of the initial proposed 3 billion, in financial aid along with visa-free travel for its citizens who do not pose any significant risks outside of TURKISH borders.

Finally, the wide scale purge led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his governing AKP continued to de-escalate further this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on celebrating the victory of the YES side in the referendum that was held on Sunday, April 16, 2017 whereby the majority of the TURKISH population backed the referendum for TURKEY’s parliamentary system to be converted into a presidential system effectively consolidating power into one executive branch with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its primary executor. In my opinion, this represents a very dangerous step backwards for democratic principals to be upheld in TURKEY as the governing AKP has already been ruling with an authoritarian dictatorship style ever since the failed “Coup D’État” in July of 2016. In my opinion, those who voted on the YES side are democratically delusional but they seem to have been effectively brainwashed to believe that voting for the YES side in the referendum will enable President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stabilize a TURKISH nation with a sluggish economy, a huge refugee crisis and a brewing resurgence of the 30 plus years conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Meanwhile, the NO side appears to be completely stressed out as they do not see a bright future for TURKEY now that all power will become even more concentrated in the hands of the governing AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In my opinion, the crushing of the KURDISH HDP under the existing political system clearly demonstrates that the governing AKP already has a stranglehold on the TURKISH government such that a YES win will in essence grant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan absolute and complete control of TURKEY with virtually no opposition. Given that five thousand KURDISH HDP supporters have already been jailed, including their leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag who have been imprisoned since November 2016, based on accusations that the KURDISH HDP is supporting the PKK, which is designated by the US and the EU as a terrorist organization, I can only imagine the further decimation of any and all opposition movements by this win by the YES side in the referendum. However, in my opinion, it is the democratic free will of the majority of the TURKISH people that desires to have an authoritarian dictatorship style of leadership in place whereby there is only one voice such that there is minimal disagreement as the majority imposes its will upon all minorities. However, it is important to note that it was hardly the win President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had expected with his YES camp crawling away with just 51.4% of the popular vote with the opposition accusing TURKEY’s electoral authority of foul play. In my opinion, after fresh elections in 2019, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will rule uncontested with unlimited abilities to appoint senior officials, judges and members of his own cabinet, with little oversight by a weakened parliament as the office of the prime minister will cease to exist. In my opinion, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is off to a bad start albeit his victory as the constitutional changes are already tainted in controversy as the main opposition movement, the Republican People’s party (CHP) has asked for the referendum results to be annulled. It appears that a last-minute decision by TURKEY’s electoral board to accept unstamped ballot papers created the risk of mass fraud. In addition, claims of vote rigging, especially in the KURDISH southeast, have been pouring in while in a shocking assessment by observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the acceptance by TURKEY’s electoral board of unstamped ballot papers undermined an important safeguard and contradicted TURKISH laws. Unfortunately for TURKEY, there was no real decisive victor in this referendum with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just crossing the 50% threshold by 1.4% which could very easily be tainted with irregularities due to the controversial decision by the TURKISH electoral board to accept unstamped ballot papers such that TURKEY after this referendum finds itself even more divided although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the governing AKP argue that TURKEY will now become more united.

Moving on to IRAQ, the recent successful attacks on ISIS by IRAQI security forces in MOSUL, has clearly sent the message to ISIS that it is just a matter of time until the ISIS Empire in MOSUL dies. However, the IRAQI led troops on the ground are essentially forced to fight ISIS style, which is slow and brutal for any other type of heavy artillery attack on ISIS, will result in significant collateral damage in terms of human casualties. Therefore, the ALLIANCE forces recapture of eastern MOSUL in its entirety has triggered a lightning fast momentum as ALLIANCE forces managed to seize control of major parts of Western MOSUL although in my opinion, the last of the fighting will most probably be a lot more difficult. In my opinion, ISIS will cling on to the oldest parts of MOSUL city where streets are narrow making it hard to manoeuvre military convoys and thus increasing the risk of ambushes and civilian casualties. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that ALLIANCE forces are having a difficult time to fully retake control of central MOSUL’s OLD CITY but this struggle is unfortunately necessary to secure the entire province of MOSUL such that patience is of utmost importance as ALLIANCE forces must continue with their relentless yet prudent attacks until ALL ISIS snipers have been eliminated. In regards to recent assessments following multiple successful attacks launched by IRAQI forces whereby IRAQI forces have now recaptured 30% of the Old City with only six districts in western MOSUL still held by ISIS, it is obvious that the ISIS reign of terror in IRAQ is nearing the grand finale albeit the reality that the last six districts and of course the Old City will be the most difficult to retake from ISIS. ISIS has once again shown in Western MOSUL its resolve and determination to fight until death rather than surrendering to IRAQI forces such that the remaining battles will likely be the deadliest ever seen in IRAQ as the heart of the ISIS snake is crushed with one final blood spewing gush from the ALLIANCE rush. In my opinion, assuming that the KURDISH peshmerga, IRAQI army, SHIITE militia and some SUNNI militia forces continue to overlook their differences and stick together, ISIS will inevitably be decimated in IRAQ, although ISIS will likely survive as an incognito terrorist organization throughout the world. In my opinion, with ISIS inevitably nearing its downfall in IRAQ, IRAQI security forces need to be prepared for a different kind of war against ISIS, shifting away from ground offensives to intelligence work and surgical airstrikes to counter an expected move by ISIS away from holding territory and back to a more terrorist role of a dispersed underground terror organization. In my opinion, ISIS is already laying the groundwork for a new terrorist strategy of hiding in remote areas, carrying out attacks in IRAQ and abroad and resorting to organized crime to bankroll future operations.

Moving on to SYRIA, the SYRIAN government forces recapture of the entire former rebel stronghold of east ALEPPO in an offensive that left bodies in the streets and sparked global outrage managed to lead to a ceasefire across SYRIA that appears to now be broken after its brokers, RUSSIA, TURKEY and IRAN obtained approval from the UN Security Council. In my opinion, RUSSIA that invested much political time and energy in ending the fighting after bombing the opposition relentlessly for 15 months was the critical player in this ceasefire as RUSSIA managed to control the uncontrollable consisting of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, IRAN and SHIITE militias like Lebanon’s Hezbollah whereas TURKEY managed to control the Free Syrian Army (FSA) along with their affiliated rebel factions. Meanwhile, peace negotiations have stalled after TURKEY and ASSAD’s two main allies, RUSSIA and IRAN, initially backed these peace talks as guarantors of a fragile ceasefire. However, the allegations by Amnesty International that over thirteen thousand people were hanged at a SYRIAN prison in a secret crackdown on dissent by the current regime under the authority of President, Bashar al-Assad were excluded from the agenda for the fifth round of negotiations that concluded at the end of March. In my opinion, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's future should be off the agenda for now and the main focus of the talks should be governance, a new constitution and elections as the primary goal of these meetings should be to end the war in SYRIA and to implement a long-term sustainable solution for peace.

In regards to the derailed peace talks, the derailment is obviously due to U.S. President, Donald Trump’s authorization of the firing of 59 TOMAHAWK cruise missiles at the SYRIAN Armed Forces in response to what the U.S. believes was a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 80 people authorized by President Bashar al-Assad. That being said, RUSSIA has now formally denied any involvement by the SYRIAN Armed Forces and RUSSIA in these chemical attacks and has gone so far as to accuse the SYRIAN rebels to be behind these chemical attacks on their own people. Therefore, the U.S. and RUSSIA agreed for the moment to disagree as the war raged on this week as US troops targeted and killed ISIS leader Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a close associate of ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who played a key role in an attack on a night club in TURKEY on New Year’s Eve which killed 39 people. In my opinion, these targeted strikes on ISIS leaders who are the masterminds behind the terrorist strikes, such as those in TURKEY, are critical to the decimation of ISIS as these ISIS leaders have the most evil and demented of minds, that anyone can attempt to surmise, such that the only way for these ISIS leaders to be rehabilitized is with the U.S. approach of commando bullets straight through the head of targets to formally demilitarize and deradicalize. In regards to JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM attacking a SHIA convoy that killed 126 innocent civilians including 68 children, there needs to be a strong coordinated strike back on the masterminds behind these attacks as when dealing with RADICAL GANGSTER TERRORISTS, diplomacy is useless while bullets straight through their heads insures no further similar incidences. In my opinion, whether it is ISIS, HAYAT TAHRIR AL-SHAM, JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM, AL QAEDA, NUSRA FRONT, AHRAR AL-SHAM or ALL FULL OF SHIT GANGSTER SHAM, for every terrorist action there must be an equal and opposing reaction to insure that the masterminds behind the terrorist attacks never have the opportunity for a second at bat whack.

In summary, I refer to “World Peace Lennon Ivan Style – Part 243” as the belief that MOSUL victory is critical to ISIS decimation but SYRIAN ceasefire between ASSAD and FSA also key while SYRIAN negotiations must result in peace albeit necessity for U.S. style commando bullets straight through terrorist target heads to formally demilitarize and deradicalize masterminds behind the attacks to insure that never have the opportunity for a second at bat whack.

Spirit of John Lennon – Kurdish Guerrilla Song:

April 23, 2017