Assad is laughing at the Gutless West

[kalerab]

PKK doesn't seem to mind Al-Assad though. I read a few months ago the PKK is keeping down Kurdish dissenters in Syria.

Because they are sell-outs. 15 months ago they were being crack down by Assad because he made a deal with Erdogan and now they are kissing his feet. However it is questionable how much of a Kurdish territory is under their influence and how much is under influence of KNC and Iraqi Kurdistan. Qamishli certainly isn´t their area of operations.

[OrangeWolf]

Interesting, that fits in with my theory that the minorities support Assad (on the most part) and the Alawite hegemony as they fear what will happen after his fall.

Well the PKK doesn't equal the entire Syrian community. The Kurds have plenty of reasons to dislike the current regime. But the PKK thugs were supported by the Assad family (the Syrians even trained them in Lebanon back then). My impression is that the PKK considers Turkey hostile to al-Assad and so it's an enemy-of-my-enemy principle. And I am sure the Kurds are reluctant to join the Arab-dominated opposition if their demands aren't met.

Because they are sell-outs. 15 months ago they were being crack down by Assad because he made a deal with Erdogan and now they are kissing his feet. However it is questionable how much of a Kurdish territory is under their influence and how much is under influence of KNC and Iraqi Kurdistan. Qamishli certainly isn´t their area of operations.

You are right of course, but I was talking about the PKK right now, and their possible influence on the Kurdish (lack of) participation in the uprising.

[Pruxa]

The... "West"... isn't to blame here.
Frankly, the world would be a better place if Russia and China weren't members of the United Nations Security Council.

What prevents the "Western" countries to withdraw from the UN, as a relic of a totalitarian-Yalta era of the 20th century?

[EITAN88]

Well the PKK doesn't equal the entire Syrian community. The Kurds have plenty of reasons to dislike the current regime. But the PKK thugs were supported by the Assad family (the Syrians even trained them in Lebanon back then). My impression is that the PKK considers Turkey hostile to al-Assad and so it's an enemy-of-my-enemy principle. And I am sure the Kurds are reluctant to join the Arab-dominated opposition if their demands aren't met.

Erdogan and Assad seemed to be best buddies until Assad started to kill Sunnis by the hundreds.

[Universals]

Because they are sell-outs. 15 months ago they were being crack down by Assad because he made a deal with Erdogan and now they are kissing his feet. However it is questionable how much of a Kurdish territory is under their influence and how much is under influence of KNC and Iraqi Kurdistan. Qamishli certainly isn´t their area of operations.

Sell-outs? do tell...definitely not as brave as those detonating 2000lb bombs in rush hour.

[kalerab]

Sell-outs? do tell...definitely not as brave as those detonating 2000lb bombs in rush hour.

I did. If you do not know the definition of that word, google can help you. But yeah, let´s celebrate PKK now, that will certainly show how we deal with terrorists.

[Universals]

I did. If you do not know the definition of that word, google can help you. But yeah, let´s celebrate PKK now, that will certainly show how we deal with terrorists.

You call them sell outs simply because they preferred to sit this one out? celebrate whom? you do need a dictionary.

[OrangeWolf]

Erdogan and Assad seemed to be best buddies until Assad started to kill Sunnis by the hundreds.

The Assad family is only best buddies with people who are interested in keeping them in power. The PKK is used and abused by Syria for decades, I think Turkey threatened them over it once or more times.

[OrangeWolf]

You call them sell outs simply because they preferred to sit this one out? celebrate whom? you do need a dictionary.

He calls them sell outs because they went from being friends of the Assad family, to enemies, to being cracked down on, to being friends again. That's what he said.

EDIT: The PKK isn't sitting this one out either. They side with Assad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/wo...pagewanted=all

His post is actually still there to read:

Because they are sell-outs. 15 months ago they were being crack down by Assad because he made a deal with Erdogan and now they are kissing his feet. .

[Universals]

He calls them sell outs because they went from being friends of the Assad family, to enemies, to being cracked down on, to being friends again. That's what he said.

EDIT: The PKK isn't sitting this one out either. They side with Assad.

His post is actually still there to read:

That's life in the ME, Erdogan's relationship with Assad goes in the same cycles; doesn't make you good or bad or so called "sell out"...there's no street cred to protect, it's all about interests survival and playing it by the ear.

[kalerab]

You call them sell outs simply because they preferred to sit this one out? celebrate whom? you do need a dictionary.

PKK was bud-bud with Hafez. He even gave them training camps in Bekka valley which Syria occupied, in Kurdish territories of Syria etc. what nearly escalated into war with Turkey which had prepared troops on Syrian borders. Than in 99 Hafez kicked PKK with Ocaland out of the country and Bashar continued in the trend. Army was cracking down on them, cooperating with Turkish military and intelligence in its fight against PKK and now they are best-buds again, completely forgetting that decade ago they were sold out by the same regime and were being hunted since than. Hell, they even declared all Kurdish leaders associated with either KNC or SNC as traitors, including Tammoo who was assassinated in Qamishli by Assad forces. That sure did not give them popularity boost among Kurdish community. Fits perfectly to dictionary definition of sell out.

[Universals]

PKK was bud-bud with Hafez. He even gave them training camps in Bekka valley which Syria occupied, in Kurdish territories of Syria etc. what nearly escalated into war with Turkey which had prepared troops on Syrian borders. Than in 99 Hafez kicked PKK with Ocaland out of the country and Bashar continued in the trend. Army was cracking down on them, cooperating with Turkish military and intelligence in its fight against PKK and now they are best-buds again, completely forgetting that decade ago they were sold out by the same regime and were being hunted since than. Hell, they even declared all Kurdish leaders associated with either KNC or SNC as traitors, including Tammoo who was assassinated in Qamishli by Assad forces. That sure did not give them popularity boost among Kurdish community. Fits perfectly to dictionary definition of sell out.

It's a complex case much like the rest of the ME... never simple as calling one group a sell out. Toeing that line, Syria is a sellout as far as PKK is concerned over the years, Turkey is a sellout as far as Assad's Syria is concerned over the years, Assad's Syria sold out on turkey and the beat goes on. It's a complex game of "enemy of my enemy is my friend" at any given time.

[EITAN88]

The Assad family is only best buddies with people who are interested in keeping them in power.

Doesn`t change the fact that Turkish-Syrian relations were quite warm prior to the uprising.

[Bloo]

Assad isn't "laughing", more like relieved. This is the worst catastrophe to hit the Assad dynasty, and after Gadaffi was murdered in the streets by his own people Assad is probably panicked and distraught.

[Al-Bundy]

Arab rulers think that once in power forever in power.
The scenario of them of giving up the seat never occurs to them.