Saturday, July 29, 2017

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 257

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 257





During the week ending on Sunday, July 30, 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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. 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 ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures as TURKEY’s escalation of words with GERMANY has led to the two countries approaching a breaking point in their strained relationship. Although TURKEY and GERMANY have been long codependent, the two countries have been battling over human rights and democratic values excessively unable to bridge their differences while continuing to do business together as both sides have a lot to lose if ties are formally severed. It is important to note that GERMANY and TURKEY have deep economic and cultural ties with millions of ethnic TURKS living in GERMANY, millions of GERMANS flocking to TURKEY’s beaches and historic cities and almost 7,000 German companies establishing operations in TURKEY such as giants such as DEUTSCHE BANK, SIEMENS and VOLKSWAGEN to tiny importers of textiles and food that translates into trade between the two countries in excess of $ 36 billion per year. However, an escalating war of words over democratic values has strained the ties between TURKEY and GERMANY, after a year and a half of tension, to the point where the relationship between the two countries has reached an apparent breaking point in late July after TURKEY detained a group of human rights activists, including Peter Steudtner, a GERMAN national that GERMAN President, Angela Merkel, denounced as completely unjustified. Subsequently, GERMAN Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel announced a reorientation of relations between TURKEY and GERMANY, warning GERMAN companies about doing business in TURKEY and cautioning GERMAN travelers about visiting TURKEY. As a result, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called GERMANY’s actions unforgivable and suggested that some form of retaliation would be coming. Thereafter, it was revealed by TURKEY that GERMANY’s federal police had received a list of 678 GERMAN companies suspected by TURKEY of supporting terrorism which GERMAN officials denounced as outrageous.

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 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. On a positive note, this week in a series of lightning fast advances, ALLIANCE forces seized complete control of most of western MOSUL from ISIS as IRAQI forces put pressure on ISIS to the point of ISIS relinquishing control of MOSUL as the world watched the scenes of jubilation as IRAQI forces liberated the OLD MOSUL City from ISIS. However, with 40,000 feared dead in the battle to take back OLD MOSUL City from ISIS, the scale of civilian casualties reveals a massacre with many bodies still buried under the rubble and the level of human suffering immense. However, ISIS is far from eradicated in IRAQ as several strongholds still remain such that the final battles to push ISIS out of these places will be more complicated than the previous straightforward fights in places such as FALLUJAH and TIKRIT. Today, ISIS still controls three towns consisting of TAL AFAR, west of MOSUL; HAWIJA, south of KIRKUK; and AL QAIM, west of ANBAR whereby each fight will have its own set of complicated political, military and foreign policy issues. In addition, many ISIS militias have taken to the hills and began to wage a classic rural guerrilla war, while some ISIS sleeper cells have also been activated at the border of Baghdad, the IRAQI capital. Thus, ISIS has now returned to the status of an insurgent or terrorist group as the Islamic State of IRAQ and SYRIA can no longer call itself a state as ISIS has lost all capacity to act as a state but rather ISIS now stands exposed as a GANGSTER sham.

Moving on to SYRIA, 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 although TURKEY, IRAN and RUSSIA signed an agreement at the SYRIAN cease-fire talks in KAZAKHSTAN several weeks ago calling for the creation of four de-escalation zones in SYRIA that represent the latest attempt by all key players in the region to reduce the violence in SYRIA including the commitment by President Bashar al-Assad that the SYRIAN air force will halt flights over the designated areas in SYRIA. Unfortunately, the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt albeit Russia and the U.S. continuing to discuss the situation in round-the-clock mode anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control. However, tensions seemed to deescalate slightly this week as the U.S. warned its ALLIANCE partners in SYRIA to focus their efforts exclusively on the fight against ISIS and not the SYRIAN regime forces under the control of President Bashar al-Assad as the U.S. aim in SYRIA and IRAQ is to fight ISIS and primarily ISIS at this stage. On a positive note, U.S. backed fighters have surrounded the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA whereby the ALLIANCE fighters consisting of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly KURDISH and ARAB coalition, have cut off all routes into and out of RAQQA. As a friendly reminder, nearly 200,000 people and 5,000 ISIS militants live in RAQQA such that the efforts to retake the SYRIAN city has now drawn dozens of U.S. military advisors deployed directly inside RAQQA city itself with U.S. Marines providing artillery support against ISIS from the surrounding countryside. It appears that these coordinated efforts are paying off as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have made yet another huge advance across the southern countryside of RAQQA liberating approximately half of the RAQQA enclave. However, the KURDISH People’s Protection Units (YPG), the largest component of the US backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) may leave the ALLIANCE operations in RAQQA if TURKISH military forces continue to attack KURDISH dominated regions in northern SYRIA.



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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. Ironically, TURKEY ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures, as TURKEY’s escalation of words with GERMANY has led to the two countries approaching a breaking point in their extremely strained relationship. However, in my opinion, TURKEY and GERMANY are too interdependent to allow for their business and cultural relationships to be permanently severed as both sides have a lot to lose from any potential severing of ties between the two countries. In my opinion, GERMANY needs TURKEY’s help to keep the flow of refugees into GERMANY under control while TURKEY relies on GERMANY for tourist visits and as a market for TURKISH exports as GERMANY represents TURKEY’s largest trading partner. In my opinion, TURKEY and GERMANY can escalate words to their hearts content but at the end of the day with trade between the two countries in excess of $ 36 billion per year, both countries will have to live with their respective differences as concerns human rights and democratic values. That is, GERMANY and TURKEY have such deep economic and cultural ties with millions of ethnic TURKS living in GERMANY, millions of GERMANS flocking to TURKEY’s beaches and historic cities and almost 7,000 German companies establishing operations in TURKEY such as giants such as DEUTSCHE BANK, SIEMENS and VOLKSWAGEN to tiny importers of textiles and food that these deeply rooted ties cannot be severed without excessive agony, pain and strife suffered by both sides. Therefore, in my opinion, to the extent differences in human rights and democratic values do not hinder the business at hand, GERMANY and TURKEY need to accept the realities at hand and agree to disagree for the sake of continuing to have two strong economies. In my opinion, the days of altruistic dealings between countries, let alone business and people, are remnants of a distant past that disappeared with the days of chivalry such that today’s realities are all about personal, financial and political interests like a modern day tug of war such that to the extent GERMANY and TURKEY are able to balance the rope with equal and opposing forces at work, the GERMAN and TURKISH alliance can still work albeit perpetual wars of words.

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 IRAQ dies. 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 most parts of Western MOSUL. In my opinion, the new IRAQI offensives in MOSUL whereby IRAQI government forces put enough pressure on ISIS to finally force ISIS to relinquish control of MOSUL has shattered the ISIS dream for its self declared caliphate albeit the challenge now facing the IRAQI forces to make the victory over ISIS in MOSUL last. That is, after almost nine months of fierce fighting, the campaign to recapture MOSUL from ISIS has drawn to a bitter end but the struggle for IRAQ’s future is far from over as the fall of MOSUL exposes ethnic and sectarian fractures that have plagued IRAQ for over a decade. That is, the victory risks triggering new violence between ARABS and KURDS over disputed territories or between SUNNIS and SHIITES over claims to power fuelled by outside powers that have shaped IRAQ’s future since the 2003 U.S. led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s SUNNI minority rule and brought the Iran backed SHIITE majority to power. In my opinion, it will be extremely difficult to eradicate ISIS completely from IRAQ as ISIS still controls three towns consisting of TAL AFAR, west of MOSUL; HAWIJA, south of KIRKUK; and AL QAIM, west of ANBAR whereby each fight will have its own set of complicated political, military and foreign policy issues. In my opinion, taking out ISIS in TAL AFAR will be complicated because TURKEY is worried that SHIITE militias will also take revenge on ethnic TURKS living in the town. That is, both SUNNI Muslim and SHIITE Muslim TURKS lived in TAL AFAR before ISIS took over while the SUNNI Muslim TURKS who remained are considered by many to be supporters of ISIS such that they may also be attacked as part of the liberation of TAL AFAR. In my opinion, taking out ISIS in HAWIJA will be complicated because it is located in KIRKUK that is known as a disputed territory because IRAQI KURDS believe HAWIJA should be part of their nearby semi-autonomous region but IRAQI ARABS believe it is part of IRAQ. That is, if the SHIITE Muslim Arabs stay in HAWIJA after ISIS is expelled, this dilutes the KURDISH claims on the area. In addition, the SUNNI Muslim tribal leaders in this area are worried that if the IRAQI KURDISH military or the SHIITE Muslim militias take part in the battle against ISIS for HAWIJA, then the SUNNI Muslim tribes will be attacked as well as they are considered by many to be supporters of ISIS. In my opinion, taking out ISIS in AL QAIM will be complicated because AL QAIM is located on an international border, between IRAQ and SYRIA such that due to its strategic geographical location, AL QAIM is by far the most secure city held by ISIS. Thus, both SYRIA and IRAQ would have to coordinate a military campaign against ISIS in AL QAIM. However, 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 while officials from TURKEY that backs the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and IRAN and RUSSIA that backs the current regime under President Bashar al-Assad watched as the cease-fire agreement that establishes four de-escalation zones was violated. In my opinion, although the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt, I believe that RUSSIAN and U.S. round-the-clock discussions anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control should be welcomed as a positive development in fully implementing the de-escalation zones. In my opinion, it is better for RUSSIA and the U.S. to try to work together to implement something in terms of de-escalation zones as opposed to sitting back and insuring that both parties achieve nothing. Thus, in regards to the Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreement on a ceasefire deal covering south-western SYRIA during talks at the G20 summit of industrialised and developing nations in Hamburg, Germany, this showed that the US and Russia are able to work together in SYRIA such that they should continue to do so until this brutal and savage war is finally ended once and for all. In my opinion, U.S. President Donald Trump made the right decision to warn its ALLIANCE partners in SYRIA to focus their efforts exclusively on the fight against ISIS and not the SYRIAN regime forces under the control of President Bashar al-Assad as the U.S. aim in SYRIA and IRAQ is to fight ISIS and primarily ISIS at this stage. In my opinion, after RUSSIA decided to throw RUSSIA’s military support behind the current regime under President Bashar al-Assad resulting in their ability to hold on to power after over six-years of one of the most brutal civil wars that has left more than 300,000 people dead and displaced more than 11 million others, RUSSIA made it clear that any additional wars waged by the ALLIANCE forces against the current regime would be futile. In my opinion, when there are two equal and opposing dominant powers on two respective opposing sides, entering into a full fledged war for control would trigger a THIRD and FINAL World War as everybody would be forced to take a side and all hell would break loose that nobody would ever again be able to subside. In regards to U.S. backed fighters surrounding the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA, capturing RAQQA would be a major achievement in the battle against ISIS and help bring an end to ISIS’s reign of terror trying to create a so-called Caliphate. In my opinion, ISIS has used RAQQA for over three years to stage deadly attacks on the Middle East and further overseas such that capturing RAQQA from ISIS would significantly reduce ISIS’s terrorist capabilities in the future. I believe that the coordinated efforts are paying off as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have made yet another huge advance across the southern countryside of RAQQA liberating approximately half of the RAQQA enclave. Unfortunately, the KURDISH People’s Protection Units (YPG), the largest component of the US backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) threat to leave the ALLIANCE operations in RAQQA if TURKISH military forces continue to attack KURDISH dominated regions in northern SYRIA comes at a horrible time as the YPG have been instrumental in liberating RAQQA. In my opinion, the U.S. lead ALLIANCE needs to put appropriate pressure on TURKEY to cease its strikes on KURDISH positions in SYRIA while the KURDISH YPG is fighting to liberate RAQQA from ISIS as TURKEY’s actions threaten to derail the liberation of RAQQA from the ISIS wrath of terror.



In summary, I refer to “World Peace Lennon Ivan Style – Part 257” as the belief that IRAQ and SYRIA victories are critical to ISIS decimation but SYRIAN ceasefire between ASSAD and FSA also key while SYRIAN negotiations must result in peace albeit the new rules of the modern days whereby altruistic dealings between countries, let alone business and people, are remnants of a distant past that disappeared with the days of chivalry such that today’s realities are all about personal, financial and political interests like a modern day tug of war whereby to the extent countries are able to balance the rope with equal and opposing forces at work, alliances can still work albeit perpetual wars of words.





Spirit of John Lennon – Kurdish Guerrilla Song:


July 30, 2017

Friday, July 21, 2017

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 256

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 256





During the week ending on Sunday, July 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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. 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 ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures as TURKEY’s state-run news agency leaked the positions of 10 U.S. military posts in northern SYRIA resulting in rapid criticism from the U.S. military. TURKEY’s state-run news agency, ANADOLU published a map of 10 locations ANADOLU said were U.S. military posts that are usually hidden for security reasons but then listed the bases including two airfields and eight military outposts anyways. The ANADOLU report also lists the specific districts where the U.S. military is stationed and in one case, ANADOLU revealed the number of U.S. soldiers and French Special Forces stationed at a post in AYN ISSAH. The locations are all in an area controlled by SYRIAN KURDISH forces known as the Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) that the U.S. supports as they are currently fighting ISIS in IRAQ and SYRIA but TURKEY considers the YPG as a terrorist organization.

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 IRAQI forces put pressure on ISIS to the point of ISIS relinquishing control of MOSUL as the world watched the scenes of jubilation as IRAQI forces liberated the OLD MOSUL City from ISIS. However, with 40,000 feared dead in the battle to take back OLD MOSUL City from ISIS, the scale of civilian casualties reveals a massacre with many bodies still buried under the rubble and the level of human suffering immense. It appears that residents of the besieged OLD MOSUL City were killed by ISIS but also by IRAQI ground forces attempting to force ISIS militants out and by U.S. led air strikes. Although the IRAQI government has won a major victory by destroying ISIS as a state structure controlling extensive territory, ISIS has shown that ISIS is capable of adapting themselves to new realities as the arms and heavy equipment from three IRAQI army divisions that ISIS captured when it seized MOSUL in June of 2014 have never been fully accounted for. It seems that ISIS hid a lot of the arms and heavy equipment in tunnels, gorges and valleys in western IRAQ and eastern SYRIA where ISIS initially came from when ISIS started their attacks. Thus, ISIS has now returned to the status of an insurgent or terrorist group as the Islamic State of IRAQ and SYRIA can no longer call itself a state as ISIS has lost all capacity to act as a state but rather ISIS now stands exposed as a GANGSTER sham.

Moving on to SYRIA, 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 although TURKEY, IRAN and RUSSIA signed an agreement at the SYRIAN cease-fire talks in KAZAKHSTAN several weeks ago calling for the creation of four de-escalation zones in SYRIA that represent the latest attempt by all key players in the region to reduce the violence in SYRIA including the commitment by President Bashar al-Assad that the SYRIAN air force will halt flights over the designated areas in SYRIA. Unfortunately, the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt albeit Russia and the U.S. continuing to discuss the situation in round-the-clock mode anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control. However, tensions seemed to deescalate slightly this week as U.S. President Donald Trump decided to halt the U.S. covert program to equip and train certain SYRIAN rebel groups fighting against the government of SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad that was requested by RUSSIA who obviously supports President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. decision is part of an effort by the U.S. to improve relations with RUSSIA that along with IRANIAN backed groups has largely succeeded in preserving President Bashar al-Assad’s government in power during the six plus years of civil war. On a positive note, U.S. backed fighters have surrounded the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA whereby the ALLIANCE fighters consisting of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly KURDISH and ARAB coalition, have cut off all routes into and out of RAQQA. As a friendly reminder, nearly 200,000 people and 5,000 ISIS militants live in RAQQA such that the efforts to retake the SYRIAN city has now drawn dozens of U.S. military advisors deployed directly inside RAQQA city itself with U.S. Marines providing artillery support against ISIS from the surrounding countryside. It appears that these coordinated efforts are paying off as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have made yet another huge advance across the southern countryside of RAQQA liberating the town of AL-RAMIYLAN, the AL-RAMIYLAN dam, some fifteen oil and water wells as well as the DABIYSAN pumping stations.



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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. Ironically, TURKEY ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures, as TURKEY’s state-run news agency leaked the positions of 10 U.S. military posts in northern SYRIA resulting in rapid criticism from the U.S. military. In my opinion, the U.S. does not disclose the locations where U.S. led coalition forces are in SYRIA for operational security reasons such that the release of this sensitive U.S. military information exposes ALLIANCE forces to unnecessary risks in SYRIA and has the potential to disrupt future operations in SYRIA against ISIS. As a friendly reminder, the U.S. and TURKEY have had a rocky relationship in recent months with TURKISH President, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, strongly criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to arm SYRIAN KURDS in the fight against ISIS. In my opinion, this type of sharing of sensitive U.S. military information could endanger the lives of U.S. and ALLIANCE military personnel such that it is quite disturbing that TURKISH government media wilfully shared it. However, this clearly illustrates the realities of the new complexities of the geopolitical landscape in the region whereby personal, financial and political interests take center stage such that when the U.S. backs the KURDS in their fight against ISIS, the TURKS who hate the KURDS more than they hate ISIS choose not to strike the U.S. and the KURDS directly but by feeding U.S. military positions via the TURKISH government held media sites, ISIS indirectly has been fed with valuable information to launch a counter assault. In my opinion, although TURKISH media have not violated any democratic laws on the basis of freedoms of the press, it is quite ironic that the TURKISH media did not exercise any professional judgement consisting of common sense restraint such that it seems to me that this was an intentional slap to the U.S.’s face. However, TURKEY views the U.S. backing of the KURDS as a slap to TURKEY’s face such that the new rules of the modern day hunger games centered on interests is quite simply for every slap received reciprocate in kind but blame it on gusts of wind during turbulent times.

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 IRAQ dies. 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 most parts of Western MOSUL. In my opinion, the new IRAQI offensives in MOSUL whereby IRAQI government forces put enough pressure on ISIS to finally force ISIS to relinquish control of MOSUL has shattered the ISIS dream for its self declared caliphate albeit the challenge now facing the IRAQI forces to make the victory over ISIS in MOSUL last. That is, after almost nine months of fierce fighting, the campaign to recapture MOSUL from ISIS is drawing to a bitter end in the ruins of MOSUL’s historic quarter but the struggle for IRAQ’s future is far from over as the fall of MOSUL exposes ethnic and sectarian fractures that have plagued IRAQ for over a decade. That is, the victory risks triggering new violence between ARABS and KURDS over disputed territories or between SUNNIS and SHIITES over claims to power fuelled by outside powers that have shaped IRAQ’s future since the 2003 U.S. led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s SUNNI minority rule and brought the Iran backed SHIITE majority to power. It is critical to remember that ISIS has slaughtered SUNNIS by the hundreds and displaced SUNNIS by the thousands but ISIS’s greatest hatred and violence was directed against those belonging to other faiths, mainly Shia Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and others. Unfortunately, with 40,000 feared dead in the battle to take back OLD MOSUL City from ISIS, the scale of civilian casualties reveals a massacre with many bodies still buried under the rubble and the level of human suffering immense. However, in my opinion, there was no other way to liberate MOSUL from ISIS’s rule as ISIS was intentionally entrenched amongst the civilian population like rats such that it was inevitable for civilians to be caught in the crossfire as collateral damage that is a by-product of civil wars. 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 while officials from TURKEY that backs the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and IRAN and RUSSIA that backs the current regime under President Bashar al-Assad watched as the cease-fire agreement that establishes four de-escalation zones was violated. In my opinion, although the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt, I believe that RUSSIAN and U.S. round-the-clock discussions anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control should be welcomed as a positive development in fully implementing the de-escalation zones. In my opinion, it is better for RUSSIA and the U.S. to try to work together to implement something in terms of de-escalation zones as opposed to sitting back and insuring that both parties achieve nothing. Thus, in regards to the Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreement on a ceasefire deal covering south-western SYRIA during talks at the G20 summit of industrialised and developing nations in Hamburg, Germany, this showed that the US and Russia are able to work together in SYRIA such that they should continue to do so until this brutal and savage war is finally ended once and for all. In my opinion, U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to halt the U.S. covert program to equip and train certain SYRIAN rebel groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) against the government of SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad, that was requested by RUSSIA, was the right decision as the program that began in 2013 as part of efforts by the U.S. administration under President Barack Obama to overthrow SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad produced little success. In my opinion, this program was miniscule from the outset with the goal to only arm a few hundred SYRIAN rebel fighters a month such that when RUSSIA entered the conflict in 2015 with its oversized military capacity behind SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. program became a futile military embarrassment. In regards to U.S. backed fighters surrounding the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA, capturing RAQQA would be a major achievement in the battle against ISIS and help bring an end to ISIS’s reign of terror trying to create a so-called Caliphate. In my opinion, ISIS has used RAQQA for over three years to stage deadly attacks on the Middle East and further overseas such that capturing RAQQA from ISIS would significantly reduce ISIS’s terrorist capabilities in the future. I believe that the coordinated efforts are paying off as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have made yet another huge advance across the southern countryside of RAQQA liberating the town of AL-RAMIYLAN, the AL-RAMIYLAN dam, some fifteen oil and water wells as well as the DABIYSAN pumping stations in what get best be described as a shock and awe attack. Unfortunately, dead bodies all over the place in some of the more devastated neighbourhoods rotting in the heat on the streets and amongst debris with a repugnant, vial and nasty stench of a civil war from hell that nobody will ever be able to forget. In my opinion, ISIS and other various Radical Gangster Terrorist organizations consisting of HAYAT TAHRIR AL-SHAM, JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM, AL QAEDA, NUSRA FRONT, AHRAR AL-SHAM and ALL FULL OF SHIT GANGSTER SHAM are all run old school GANGSTER style except that they all hide behind ISLAM as a smokescreen to convert their criminal organizations into religious sanctuaries. However, it is clear to me that none of these groups practice ISLAM, which translates to peace, but rather all of these groups practice their own self-created religion of capitalist opportunistic SHAM SCAM BRAINWASH RAM. Therefore, in my opinion, whenever there is an uprising by one of these Radical Gangster Terrorist organizations, there is a need for rapid intervention to contain the poison before it spreads and the mass at large become psychologically brain dead.



In summary, I refer to “World Peace Lennon Ivan Style – Part 256” as the belief that MOSUL and RAQQA victories are critical to ISIS decimation but SYRIAN ceasefire between ASSAD and FSA also key while SYRIAN negotiations must result in peace albeit the new rules of the modern day hunger games centered on interests whereby for every slap received reciprocate in kind but blame it on gusts of wind during turbulent times.



Spirit of John Lennon – Kurdish Guerrilla Song:

July 23, 2017

THE ROCK’S Web Market – 50% International Cousins Great Upheaval Sale To All To Join THE ROCK & Stand Tall

THE ROCK’S Web Market – 50% International Cousins Great Upheaval Sale To All To Join THE ROCK & Stand Tall 



Purchase A Subscription Between June 25 to July 24 of 2017 & Get A 50% Discount Up To July 24, 2018 By Choosing Amongst One Of Our 6 Options Currently Available Utilizing Discount Code “07242017” & Make A ROCK Solid Investment For The Future!
https://www.therockswebmarket.com/membership-account/membership-levels

OR 

Try Us Out By Subscribing Now For Free & Deciding Later………. 
https://www.therockswebmarket.com/membership-account/membership-checkout/?level=7 

Together We Create A Pot Of GOLD, A SILVER Lining Or A BRONZE Footprint! 

Power of Social Media – Thank You! ;

Le Pouvoir Des Médias Sociaux – Merci! ;

El Poder de los Medios Sociales – Gracias! ;

Moc Medije Socialne – Hvala Vam! ;

THE ROCK’S Web Market / Marché Web THE ROCK / Mercado Web THE ROCK / Tržišta Web THE ROCK 

Tel: (514) 585-6553 

E-mail: info@therockswebmarket.com 

Website: www.therockswebmarket.com 

GST #: 86425 5179 RT0001; PST #: 1208479926; NEQ #: 1162632369; CBC #: 630626-8 

We Will ROCK You! / Nous Allons Vous ROCKÉ! / Lo Haremos Vosotros ROCAR! / Mi Ćemo Vas ROKATI! 

Saturday, July 15, 2017

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 255

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 255 





During the week ending on Sunday, July 16, 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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. 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 ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures as TURKEY has agreed to pay $ 2.5 billion for RUSSIA’s most advanced missile defense system in a deal that signals a shift away from the NATO military alliance that has linked TURKEY to the West for more than sixty years. Turkey has been in NATO since the early years of the COLD WAR, playing a key role as a frontline state bordering RUSSIA. However, ties with fellow NATO members have been strained in recent years, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursuing a more assertive and independent foreign policy as war raged on in neighbouring IRAQ and SYRIA. In addition, tensions with the U.S. mounted over U.S. support for KURDISH militants in SYRIA that TURKEY considers terrorists. Lastly, the relationship with the EU soured as the EU pushed TURKEY back against what the EU sees as TURKEY’s increasingly autocratic governing shift. Meanwhile, TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave an interview with the BBC whereby he stated that TURKEY would find it comforting if the EU formally states that TURKEY will not be accepted as an EU member because TURKEY can stand on its own two feet. As per Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the majority of TURKS do not want the EU anymore and believe the EU’s approach to TURKEY is insincere. 

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 IRAQI forces put pressure on ISIS to the point of ISIS relinquishing control of MOSUL as the world watched the scenes of jubilation as IRAQI forces liberated the OLD MOSUL City from ISIS. Although the Godfather of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced a caliphate from the Grand Mosque of AL-NURI in MOSUL three years ago, whereby the Godfather of ISIS made the perceived strength of the ISIS movement dependent on the expansion and preservation of that caliphate, the ALLIANCE has now shattered that dream such that the consequences of losing the ISIS caliphate is now psychologically crippling for ISIS. Thus, ISIS has now returned to the status of an insurgent or terrorist group as the Islamic State of IRAQ and SYRIA can no longer call itself a state as ISIS has lost all capacity to act as a state but rather ISIS now stands exposed as a GANGSTER sham. 

Moving on to SYRIA, 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 although TURKEY, IRAN and RUSSIA signed an agreement at the SYRIAN cease-fire talks in KAZAKHSTAN several weeks ago calling for the creation of four de-escalation zones in SYRIA that represent the latest attempt by all key players in the region to reduce the violence in SYRIA including the commitment by President Bashar al-Assad that the SYRIAN air force will halt flights over the designated areas in SYRIA. Unfortunately, the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt albeit Russia and the U.S. continuing to discuss the situation in round-the-clock mode anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control. However, tensions seemed to deescalate slightly last week as Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on a ceasefire deal covering south-western SYRIA during talks at the G20 summit of industrialised and developing nations in Hamburg, Germany. President Donald Trump took to social media to praise the deal, as it seems to be holding stating that now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia. On a positive note, U.S. backed fighters have surrounded the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA whereby the ALLIANCE fighters consisting of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly KURDISH and ARAB coalition, have cut off all routes into and out of RAQQA. As a friendly reminder, nearly 200,000 people and 5,000 ISIS militants live in RAQQA such that the efforts to retake the SYRIAN city has now drawn dozens of U.S. military advisors deployed directly inside RAQQA city itself with U.S. Marines providing artillery support against ISIS from the surrounding countryside. The U.S. troops, many of them special operations forces, are working in an advisory, assistance and accompaniment role to support U.S. backed fighters as they battle ISIS. The U.S. troops are not in a direct combat role but are calling in air strikes and are working closer to the fight than did U.S. forces supporting the IRAQI military in MOSUL such that they are much more exposed to ISIS contact than those in IRAQ. 



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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. Ironically, TURKEY ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures, as TURKEY has agreed to pay $ 2.5 billion for RUSSIA’s most advanced missile defense system in a deal that signals a shift away from the NATO military alliance that has linked TURKEY to the West for more than sixty years. In my opinion, the missile deal with RUSSIA is a clear sign that TURKEY is disappointed in the U.S. and Europe but until the advance is paid and the assembly begins, nothing is certain. Furthermore, the RUSSIAN system would not be compatible with other NATO defense systems but also the RUSSIAN system would not be subject to the same constraints imposed by the NATO alliance which prevents TURKEY from deploying such systems on the hotspots around the TURKISH region consisting of the ARMENIAN border, AEGEAN coast or GREEK border. However, the RUSSIAN deal would allow TURKEY to deploy the missile defense systems anywhere in TURKEY. In my opinion, for TURKEY, the critical success factor of any deal is the transfer of technology or know how as TURKEY wants to be able to produce its own advanced defense systems such that the Russian agreement to allow two of the S-400 batteries to be produced in TURKEY would serve that aim. In my opinion, RUSSIA has pounced on the opportunity to provide TURKEY with a viable alternative to NATO by giving TURKEY the opportunity to produce the defense system in TURKEY while being very well apprised that there are a lot of different levels of technology transfer such that any offer to TURKEY would probably be limited in terms of sophistication as for TURKEY to be able to copy the S-400 system, TURKEY would need to spend billions to create a whole new industry which most probably will not justify any incremental return on TURKISH investment in such a project. In regards to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stating that the majority of TURKS do not want the EU anymore and believe the EU’s approach to TURKEY is insincere, I believe that the difference in approach to governing whereby TURKEY is authoritarian as opposed to EU democratic cannot be bridged as TURKEY continues to live in a façade. That is, TURKEY believes that because its government was elected democratically to govern autocratically, by default TURKEY is a democratic government legally although in substance TURKEY has become authoritarian style. A perfect example of the TURKISH façade is the fact that although some 160 media outlets have been closed down in TURKEY and 2,500 journalists or media workers have been fired from their jobs, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, making TURKEY the biggest jailer of journalists in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan disputed this figure by stating that no one is jailed because of journalism in TURKEY such that just two journalists are actually jailed right now. 

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 IRAQ dies. 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 most parts of Western MOSUL. In my opinion, the new IRAQI offensives in MOSUL whereby IRAQI government forces put enough pressure on ISIS to finally force ISIS to relinquish control of MOSUL has shattered the ISIS dream for its self declared caliphate albeit the challenge now facing the IRAQI forces to make the victory over ISIS in MOSUL last. That is, after almost nine months of fierce fighting, the campaign to recapture MOSUL from ISIS is drawing to a bitter end in the ruins of MOSUL’s historic quarter but the struggle for IRAQ’s future is far from over as the fall of MOSUL exposes ethnic and sectarian fractures that have plagued IRAQ for over a decade. That is, the victory risks triggering new violence between ARABS and KURDS over disputed territories or between SUNNIS and SHIITES over claims to power fuelled by outside powers that have shaped IRAQ’s future since the 2003 U.S. led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s SUNNI minority rule and brought the Iran backed SHIITE majority to power. It is critical to remember that ISIS has slaughtered SUNNIS by the hundreds and displaced SUNNIS by the thousands but ISIS’s greatest hatred and violence was directed against those belonging to other faiths, mainly Shia Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and others. Furthermore, while ISIS ruled by terror, ISIS drew some support from SUNNIS who felt abandoned by an IRAQI government that they believed discriminated against SUNNIS and cared only for SHIAS such that it is these people that IRAQ must now bring onside if IRAQ is to have any hope of making this victory against ISIS last. 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 while officials from TURKEY that backs the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and IRAN and RUSSIA that backs the current regime under President Bashar al-Assad watched as the cease-fire agreement that establishes four de-escalation zones was violated. In my opinion, although the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt, I believe that RUSSIAN and U.S. round-the-clock discussions anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control should be welcomed as a positive development in fully implementing the de-escalation zones. In my opinion, it is better for RUSSIA and the U.S. to try to work together to implement something in terms of de-escalation zones as opposed to sitting back and insuring that both parties achieve nothing. Thus, in regards to the Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreement on a ceasefire deal covering south-western SYRIA during talks at the G20 summit of industrialised and developing nations in Hamburg, Germany, showed that the US and Russia are able to work together in SYRIA such that they should continue to do so until this brutal and savage war is finally ended once and for all. In my opinion, while the new ceasefire deal covering southwestern SYRIA has several advantages, it falls short in complicated ways. The new ceasefire deal requires forces loyal to the SYRIAN government and those belonging to the non-terrorist opposition, generally under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), to halt attacks. However, foreign fighters, including forces mobilized by IRAN, are not allowed in areas near the SYRIAN borders while humanitarian aid is to flow into the area and refugees are to be permitted to return to their homes. Ironically, to make these things happen, U.S. President Donald Trump delegated responsibility to Russian President Vladimir Putin, relying on him both to quell the bloodshed throughout SYRIA and broker a political settlement that SYRIA cannot deliver on its own. Another impediment to implementation is that the new ceasefire deal also circumvented IRAN, ignoring on-the-ground realities and guaranteeing opposition from IRAN to support this new ceasefire deal. In my opinion, this new ceasefire deal represents a strategy that could offer benefits in the short term but will not resolve the larger SYRIAN cancer eating away at stability in the Middle East consisting of ingrained deep rooted hatred amongst rivals after years of atrocities in the name of survival leaving behind trails of blood triggering perpetual conflict revivals. In regards to U.S. backed fighters surrounding the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA, capturing RAQQA would be a major achievement in the battle against ISIS and help bring an end to ISIS’s reign of terror trying to create a so-called Caliphate. In my opinion, ISIS has used RAQQA for over three years to stage deadly attacks on the Middle East and further overseas such that capturing RAQQA from ISIS would significantly reduce ISIS’s terrorist capabilities in the future. I believe the U.S. needed to enter the fight in RAQQA more aggressively in an advisory, assistance and accompaniment role to support U.S. backed fighters as they battle ISIS who now seem to have gone completely mad after their humiliating defeat in MOSUL, IRAQ. In my opinion, scores of civilians are fleeing RAQQA traumatized with families torn apart and conditions worsening as the battle to oust ISIS intensifies knowing full well that ISIS will fight until death to defend their last stronghold of their self declared caliphate. Unfortunately, dead bodies all over the place in some of the more devastated neighbourhoods rotting in the heat on the streets and amongst debris with a repugnant, vial and nasty stench of a civil war from hell that nobody will ever be able to forget. In my opinion, for the estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people who remain trapped in RAQQA, with ISIS holding them against their will, shooting at those trying to escape, the realities of this civil war is that there are no holds barred including killing your own. In my opinion, ISIS and other various Radical Gangster Terrorist organizations consisting of HAYAT TAHRIR AL-SHAM, JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM, AL QAEDA, NUSRA FRONT, AHRAR AL-SHAM and ALL FULL OF SHIT GANGSTER SHAM are all run old school GANGSTER style except that they all hide behind ISLAM as a smokescreen to convert their criminal organizations into religious sanctuaries. However, it is clear to me that none of these groups practice ISLAM, which translates to peace, but rather all of these groups practice their own self-created religion of capitalist opportunistic SHAM SCAM BRAINWASH RAM. Therefore, in my opinion, whenever there is an uprising by one of these Radical Gangster Terrorist organizations, there is a need for rapid intervention to contain the poison before it spreads and the mass at large become psychologically brain dead. 



In summary, I refer to “World Peace Lennon Ivan Style – Part 255” as the belief that MOSUL and RAQQA victories are critical to ISIS decimation but SYRIAN ceasefire between ASSAD and FSA also key while SYRIAN negotiations must result in peace albeit ingrained deep rooted hatred amongst rivals after years of atrocities in the name of survival leaving behind trails of blood triggering perpetual conflict revivals as civil war spiralled out of control with no holds barred including killing your own. 






Spirit of John Lennon – Kurdish Guerrilla Song:  

July 16, 2017

Saturday, July 8, 2017

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 254

World Peace “Lennon Ivan Style” – Part 254





During the week ending on Sunday, July 9, 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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. 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 ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures while thousands journeyed by foot from TURKEY’s capital ANKARA to its largest city ISTANBUL with many carrying banners that say “ADALET” or “JUSTICE” literally crying that they have lost democracy in their own TURKISH country and want it back. Many protesters wore shirts bearing the images of NURIYE GULMEN and SEMIH OZAKCA, two teachers who were jailed last month after more than 70 days on a hunger strike over their arbitrary dismissal by a TURKISH government decree. As a friendly reminder, tens of thousands of people have been dismissed or detained in a broad TURKISH government crackdown in the aftermath of the failed “Coup D’État” last July after TURKEY declared a state of emergency. Furthermore, the TURKISH government’s purge went beyond the direct perpetrators of the failed “Coup D’État” to encompass a large swathe of TURKISH civil society, political opposition groups, academics, journalists and civil servants. In addition, TURKEY’s judiciary has been reshaped with a quarter of the TURKEY’s judges and prosecutors dismissed or jailed over alleged connections to Fethullah Gulen, the exiled TURKISH preacher whose opposition movement is widely believed in TURKEY to have orchestrated the failed “Coup D’État”. Also, senior opposition politicians have been imprisoned with Enis Berberoglu representing the latest lawmaker with the People’s Republican party (CHP) jailed for 25 years after leaking information to the press on TURKISH intelligence regarding the transfer of weapons across the border to SYRIAN rebels. It seems that this arrest of Enis Berberoglu sparked the JUSTICE march, a 450 kilometers walk, led by the CHP’s chairman, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, which set off from ANKARA on June 15, 2017. In summary, organisers were ecstatic to see the march culminate in a large rally in INSTANBUL on July 9, 2017 whereby supporters were drawn along the way from across TURKISH society, despite the scorching summer heat, in order to force TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to return to the days of democratic reign and relinquish the authoritarian style operations of the TURKISH government since the failed “Coup D’État”. Contemporaneously with the unrest in TURKEY, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed TURKEY’s support for QATAR in QATAR’s dispute with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain saying that their demands against tiny Gulf nation of QATAR were unacceptable. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt accuse QATAR of supporting terrorism and allying with regional foe IRAN such that they have cut diplomatic and commercial ties with QATAR although QATAR categorically denies all allegations levelled by the four ARAB neighbours against QATAR. The four ARAB nations’ foreign ministers refrained from slapping further sanctions on QATAR but voiced disappointment at QATAR’s failure to comply with their 13 demands after the expiry of the deadline. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stood by QATAR and stated publicly that the list of 13 items is not acceptable under any circumstances as some of the terms were tantamount to stripping QATAR of its statehood. Among the demands of the four ARAB neighbours is for QATAR to end an accord under which TURKEY maintains a military base in QATAR. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that TURKEY remains loyal to their agreement with QATAR such that only if QATAR requests TURKEY to leave will TURKEY do as such. TURKEY, the most powerful regional country to stand by QATAR, has sent 100 cargo planes with supplies since its four ARAB neighbours cut air and sea links. TURKEY has also rushed through legislation to send more troops to the military base in QATAR including two contingents of TURKISH troops with columns of armoured vehicles that arrived since the crisis erupted on June 5, 2017. 

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 IRAQI forces put pressure on ISIS with IRAQI government troops finally capturing the ruined AL-NURI Mosque and AL-HADBA minaret, at the heart of ISIS’s de facto capital MOSUL, with IRAQI Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, declaring ISIS’s self-declared caliphate ended after more than eight months of grinding urban warfare. Furthermore, IRAQI troops expect the long battle for MOSUL to end in the coming days as remaining ISIS fighters are surrounded in just a half dozen or so neighbourhoods of the Old MOSUL City. 

Moving on to SYRIA, 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 although TURKEY, IRAN and RUSSIA signed an agreement at the SYRIAN cease-fire talks in KAZAKHSTAN two weeks ago calling for the creation of four de-escalation zones in SYRIA that represent the latest attempt by all key players in the region to reduce the violence in SYRIA including the commitment by President Bashar al-Assad that the SYRIAN air force will halt flights over the designated areas in SYRIA. Unfortunately, the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt albeit Russia and the U.S. continuing to discuss the situation in round-the-clock mode anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control. However, tensions seemed to deescalate slightly this week as Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on a ceasefire deal covering south-western SYRIA during talks at the G20 summit of industrialised and developing nations in Hamburg, Germany. Russian and American experts agreed on a memorandum of understanding to create a de-escalation zone in the regions of DARAA, QUNEITRA and SUWEIDA from midday DAMASCUS time on July 9, 2017. On a positive note, U.S. backed fighters have surrounded the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA whereby the ALLIANCE fighters consisting of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly KURDISH and ARAB coalition, have cut off all routes into and out of RAQQA. As a friendly reminder, nearly 200,000 people and 5,000 ISIS militants live in RAQQA such that the efforts to retake the SYRIAN city comes as ISIS faces a likely defeat on another front as IRAQI forces are closing in on completely seizing MOSUL, ISIS’s last major stronghold in IRAQ. 



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 re-escalated this week as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused his attention on another purge of the Fethullah Gulen opposition movement supporters on the heals of 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. Ironically, TURKEY ignored all criticisms from foreign powers and went straight ahead this week with further crackdown measures, as the TURKISH opposition march that set off from ANKARA on June 15, 2017 continued to gain momentum and speed, as organisers were ecstatic to see the march culminate in a large rally in INSTANBUL on July 9, 2017. In my opinion, it is extremely impressive how the TURKISH opposition movement has drawn supporters along the way from across TURKISH society, despite the scorching summer heat, and I believe this march will force TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to return to the days of democratic reign and relinquish the authoritarian style operations of the TURKISH government since the failed “Coup D’État”. In my opinion, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will eventually find himself with his back up against the wall by his own people as the TURKISH authoritarian regime has now entered the realm of squeezing blood out of a rock which will either lead to a return to democracy or another civil war. In my opinion, the governing AKP has taken its crackdown measures under the auspices of a state of emergency way too far such that TURKEY is now at a crossroads in its history whereby it will either return to democratic rule or the opposition will resort to tactics of civil war that will inevitably destabilize TURKEY and return TURKEY to the days of military rule which is not sustainable under the method of operations of the evolved TURKISH middle class that have developed deductive reasoning techniques that I like to refer to as New School. In regards to TURKEY rejecting a key demand by several ARAB states involved in a major dispute with QATAR to shut down TURKEY’s military base in the small GULF country, I agree with TURKEY’s decision to side with QATAR in this dispute where tiny, gas-rich QATAR found itself on the defense against its much larger neighbours consisting of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. In my opinion, TURKEY made the right decision to side with QATAR as otherwise QATAR would have been crushed by the sheer might of its neighbours and from my point-of-view, it looks like QATAR’s neighbours are trying to force QATAR to bend to their will on a much broader set of issues. Furthermore, there appears to be ulterior motives behind the moves of QATAR’s neighbours who want QATAR to align itself politically, economically and otherwise with the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional club that has focused on countering the influence of IRAN. In my opinion, QATAR has been supplied with an impossible list to be met because the list interferes with QATAR’s foreign policy while QATAR rightfully considers QATAR’s foreign policy a sovereign matter that is not negotiable. However, this further reflects the complexity of the geopolitical landscape in the region as everyone is perpetually jockeying for power and control under the new principals of, what I refer to as, “Democratic Communism” whereby everybody has freedom of choice while their choices are significantly restricted by the resources under their respective control. That is, a new form of political system seems to have emerged whereby democratic principals exist in theory while communism is applied in practice whereby the mass gang up on the underdog ass and significantly constrain their resources to in essence control their brass. 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. In my opinion, the new IRAQI offensives in MOSUL whereby IRAQI government forces put enough pressure on ISIS to finally seize the nearly 850-year-old GRAND AL-NURI Mosque from where ISIS proclaimed their caliphate nearly three years ago represents a huge symbolic victory. In my opinion, the return of the AL-NURI Mosque and AL-HADBA Minaret to the IRAQI nation marks the end of the ISIS reign of terror in IRAQ. That is, after almost nine months of fierce fighting, the campaign to recapture MOSUL from ISIS is drawing to a bitter end in the ruins of MOSUL’s historic quarter but the struggle for IRAQ’s future is far from over as the fall of MOSUL exposes ethnic and sectarian fractures that have plagued IRAQ for over a decade. That is, the victory risks triggering new violence between ARABS and KURDS over disputed territories or between SUNNIS and SHIITES over claims to power fuelled by outside powers that have shaped IRAQ’s future since the 2003 U.S. led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein’s SUNNI minority rule and brought the Iran backed SHIITE majority to power. 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 while officials from TURKEY that backs the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and IRAN and RUSSIA that backs the current regime under President Bashar al-Assad watched as the cease-fire agreement signed last week that establishes four de-escalation zones was violated. In my opinion, although the new cease-fire deal including the four de-escalation zones have been the subject of numerous violations from the outset as tensions seem to continue to erupt, I believe that RUSSIAN and U.S. round-the-clock discussions anticipating that eventually the de-escalation zones will be fully under control should be welcomed as a positive development in fully implementing the de-escalation zones. In my opinion, it is better for RUSSIA and the U.S. to try to work together to implement something in terms of de-escalation zones as opposed to sitting back and insuring that both parties achieve nothing. Thus, in regards to the Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreement on a ceasefire deal covering south-western SYRIA during talks at the G20 summit of industrialised and developing nations in Hamburg, Germany, showed that the US and Russia are able to work together in SYRIA such that they should continue to do so until this brutal and savage war is finally ended once and for all. In my opinion, previous ceasefires in SYRIA have collapsed or failed to reduce violence for long such that it is unclear whether this deal will do any better. However, the fact that it was sealed with a handshake between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump puts a lot of political capital on the line as the world watched the handshake in awe such that both President’s reputations to deliver will be lost if this ceasefire does no go into effect without any flaws. In regards to U.S. backed fighters surrounding the Syrian city of RAQQA as they try to oust the ISIS militants from their de facto capital in SYRIA, capturing RAQQA would be a major achievement in the battle against ISIS and help bring an end to ISIS’s reign of terror trying to create a so-called Caliphate. In my opinion, ISIS has used RAQQA for over three years to stage deadly attacks on the Middle East and further overseas such that capturing RAQQA from ISIS would significantly reduce ISIS’s terrorist capabilities in the future. In my opinion, ISIS and other various Radical Gangster Terrorist organizations consisting of HAYAT TAHRIR AL-SHAM, JABHAT FATEH AL-SHAM, AL QAEDA, NUSRA FRONT, AHRAR AL-SHAM and ALL FULL OF SHIT GANGSTER SHAM are all run old school GANGSTER style except that they all hide behind ISLAM as a smokescreen to convert their criminal organizations into religious sanctuaries. However, it is clear to me that none of these groups practice ISLAM, which translates to peace, but rather all of these groups practice their own self-created religion of capitalist opportunistic SHAM SCAM BRAINWASH RAM. Therefore, in my opinion, whenever there is an uprising by one of these Radical Gangster Terrorist organizations, there is a need for rapid intervention to contain the poison before it spreads and the mass at large become psychologically brain dead. 



In summary, I refer to “World Peace Lennon Ivan Style – Part 254” as the belief that MOSUL and RAQQA victories are critical to ISIS decimation but SYRIAN ceasefire between ASSAD and FSA also key while SYRIAN negotiations must result in peace albeit new geopolitical landscape in the region of “Democratic Communism” whereby democratic principals exist in theory while communism is applied in practice whereby the mass gang up on the underdog ass and significantly constrain their resources to in essence control their brass by limiting their resources and squeezing their cash. 





Spirit of John Lennon – Kurdish Guerrilla Song: 

July 9, 2017