Chomsky noted that the Kurds have “succeeded in sustaining a functioning society with many decent elements” in Syria’s north.

“The idea that if they should  be subjected to another attack by their bitter enemies the Turks, or by the murderous Assad regime, I think is anything should be done to try to prevent that.”

Chomsky’s idea was that the US hold back Turkey with control points the border patrols, as recently set up by the US after Turkey’s latest terror bombings and incursions near Kobane. As in Manbij Erdogan cannnot afford to attack if it kills US soldiers.

Trump is pulling US Troops out of Syria. I’m not in support of this . Turkey is hungry to invade and genocide the Kurds because they are liberated and want freedom from countries like Iran and Turkey. Kurdish women are the most liberated in Middle East and we need to protect them like we did the Iraq Kurds in 90’s #boycottturkey#endwar#love#feminism#freedom#endterrorism#military#unity#kurdistan#rojava#unitedkurdistan#ypg#ypj#pershmerga#humanrights#trump#wakeup#awoke#earth#peace#nowar#nowaronsyria#womenempowerment#women#womeninspiringwomen#womenrights

“The United States could, with a relatively small presence, deter attacks against the Kurds in Syria, which could destroy the one part of Syria that is actually functioning at a decent fashion,” Chomsky added.

But Trump has done his ‘Evil Deal’ with Erdogan, for a $3.5bn of Patriot missiles and ‘many other purchases’ in exchange for selling out and betraying his SDF and Kurdish allies who conquered ISIS. We can be sure that both mafia style presidents will receive untraceable kickbacks  in anonymous offshore accounts.

And also abandoning with contempt and without consultation the ”International coalition” against ISIS including Britain and France.. The US has given Erdogan free rein to flood Rojava with his fast growing mercenary army of jihadi Syrian militias, including many ISIS and Al Qaeda and militias now holed up in Idlib. Erdogan is paying the terrorists 500 Turkish dollars a month and offering loot, land and power destroying Rojava. Especially evil is the promise to destroy the unique womens’ liberation movement, returning women to semi slavery under medieval jihadi rule and implicitly offering the terrorist mercenaries  the right to kidnap, rape and torture the heroic YPJ womens defense militia, as is already happening in Afrin.

Erdogan has already taken over Afrin, Al Bab, Azaz, Jarablus  and much of Idlib and has openly boasted he will conquer all lands once held by the Ottoman Empire …

At home he has  gained total dictatorial control, /destroyed Kurdish areas killing thousands and ordered the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of people on suspicion.

Ironically Trumps decision may be too soon for Erdogan’s war mobilization and despite his threats there may  be some delay before the promised invasion begins.

What can SDF and the Kurds do to protect their democratic, feminist, co-op revolution?.. International support is vital, but we see in Afrin that thousands of demonstrations round the world counted for nothing.

Direct Action against Turkish State and economy is a good option   but also hardly enough to stop a fascist state with a modern NATO army of 512,000 soldiers, not including its jihadi mercehnary army the FSA..

Supporters need to work with the Turkish opposition in Turkey, revive and extend the  ‎Boycott Turkey campaign and put on real pressure by any means, especially financial and boycotting tourism.

see also: Turkey’s Support for Islamist Terrorism in Syria

”One possibility would be to turn to Russia as a patron. Russia has already demonstrated that it won’t take a challenge from Turkey in Syria lying down and could economically punish Turkey severely, as Putin did in 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that was attacking Turkmen militias in northern Idlib province”.

 see also … ‘Bringing the Afrin War to European Streets’: Direct Action Catalogue

victims of Erdogan’s war crimes in illegal and genocidal invasion of Afrin

But Russia criminally betrayed the Kurds in Afrin and now has crucial arms, gas and other trade deals with Turkey to protect. Also it has strongly backed Bashar al-Assad and the decrepit Baath Party, who want to control and profit from Syrian Kurdish regions.

Another possibility, however distasteful, is for the Kurds to  turn to Bashar al-Assad himself. The hope would be that the Syrian Arab Army might be allowed by the Kurds to establish a buffer zone along the Syrian-Turkish border, which might hold back Turkey.

Al-Assad rejected this overture, saying, “There never will be in Syria any armed forces other than the Syrian Arab Army.” There has been some cooperation with the YPG and SDF in the past but in Afrin Assad demanded the Kurds lay down their arms if they wanted SAA protection  ”The Baath Party is a one party state and the al-Assad clan have sticky fingers”.Some negotiations are taking place, ”the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Ra’i is reporting that the Kurds of al-Hasakah are in negotiations with Damascus about just such an SAA buffer zone. The Kurds are alleged to ”have offered to let the Syrian Army have the border zone on condition that the YPG militiamen be allowed to retain their arms and their control inside Hasaka”.

It is also possible but unlikely that Trump will lose power to the US war Industry and the Pentagon who want to expand their bases  and build up on the Iranian border, which would be an even worse outcome.  Or faintly possible that France, Germany or the UN could intervene.

In October 2017, the US was silent and did not intervene to stop the Iraqi assault on Kirkuk – the Iraqi government’s response to the Sep. 25, 2017, referendum – leading to Kurdish anger at Washington’s inaction.

(The same thing happened with the ongoing Turkish invasion and genocidal ethnic cleansing and ‘Turkification’ in the Rojava canton of Afrin. Though in this case it was the Russians who gave Turkey air control, the US  made little protest.)

According to Chomsky, the US “pursues objectives determined by power considerations, and they lead to different positions with regard to the Kurds or others at different times.”

He reminded us that in the 1970s, “there was a time when the United States supported Kurds against Saddam Hussein.”

“Shortly after, a deal was made in which [the US] sacrificed the Kurds to Saddam Hussein,” Chomsky told the Intercept, “That led to Henry Kissinger’s famous comment that we shouldn’t confuse foreign policy with missionary activity.”

Moreover, he described the Clinton administration’s support for Turkey against the Kurds in the 1990s as “enormously destructive.”

“Clinton was pouring arms into Turkey for the purpose of carrying out massive, murderous, destructive attacks against the Kurdish population of Turkey in the Southeast,” Chomsky said.

“We don’t expect consistency in humanitarian terms from a great power because those are not the guiding principles.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany