It was once again seen that the US targetted not only Assad, but also Turkey. The United States is seeking to regain Turkey at the earliest opportunity and is not alone in this regard. Its acting in common solidarity with the European Union and NATO are not avoiding the attention. The aftermath of the attack on targets in Syria confirms this once again.
Utterance of Emmanuel Macron, President of France, who said the attack was perfectly successful that “With those strikes we have separated the Russians and the Turks on this. The Turks condemned the chemical weapons,” and statements by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and a breaking news report on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) all amount to the same thing in this context.
Macron’s description is briefly just like the mentioned above. The NATO Secretary General outlines the following: 1) The air operation conducted by the US, France and Britain in Syria was the clear message given to the Assad regime and its backers, Russia and Iran. 2) Turkey’s support for operation is gratifying. 3) Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense system is a national decision. 4) We will continue to work with Turkey.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the United States plans to establish a contingent of Arabs following the withdrawal of troops from Syria. Moreover, the Arab contingent will be implemented after the cleaning of terrorist organization ISIS in the region. Meanwhile, it should be noted in this context the news that the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) has requested weapons and ammunition for a group of 60 to 65 thousand people, including the PYD terrorist organization in Syria in 2019 budget.
Well, what are all these developments pointing to, how to read them. Let’s sort:
US/West is seriously uncomfortable with the Turkey-Russia-Iran trio; in other words, the Astana-Sochi processes, from its reflection into the field and diplomacy table in operational terms, its spoiling the game.
The US/West seeks to disrupt the co-operation between this trio. In many respects, Turkey is seen as the weakest link here. The resultant experiences that the US/West has in this respect play an extremely encouraging role.
The ongoing “trust issue” between the Turkish-Russian-Iranian trio is seen as an important opportunity that should be considered until the end. As a matter of fact, the main goal of Macron’s post-attack remark and NATO Secretary-General’s statements is to further deepen the issue.
Turkey-Russia-Iran trio is still moving on a delicate ground. The crisis on 24 November 2015 continues to be very encouraging in this regard. The United States/West is pursuing such a new crisis. Russia and Iran are trying to be provoked for this.
US/Western threat perception has a decisive place on the basis of the difficulty and fragility in the tripartite relationship especially in the Turkish dimension. To break this perception, the US/West is taking some steps recently. At the beginning of this, there are constant calls for “cooperation” and “unity” messages.
The 2019 budget and an Arab Army output instead of US troops remain a warning about the emergence of a bigger problem involving the “Kurdish-Arab Alliance” if Turkey continues its current stance.
In other words, the “Arab power” to be placed in the south of Turkey and in the north of Syria is another version of the plan to force Ankara to co-operate since 2013 (since the military coup and later in Egypt).
This plan, as with Turkey and the Arab world been confronted once again, it is desired to deepen the problem with the Kurdish regionalism. This point brings to mind the two-state formation of the Greater Middle East (GME) and their patron powers. (Meanwhile, when Turkey said to the US to clean ISIS, “We do this, with the Jeddah-based “Islamic Army” you just forget the PYD-YWG/PKK terrorist organization”, then Washington said “no”. So, what’s now changed?)
What is France doing to overtake its role?
Another actor in this crisis that attracts as much attention as China was undoubtedly France. Though France has been trying to play a part in it since the Arab Spring. And because he knows that he can’t do it alone, he is making a crisis opportunity and attaching much importance to himself.
Even the dogs in the street know that France can not do anything despite the USA and Germany, how to evaluate these outputs of Macron? Actually the answer is simple: Complex! It is unlikely that France will be left out of this position at a time when Britain has drawn a new road map for a multi-polar world and Germany is resolutely pursuing this policy.
Obviously, France wants to be a pole; but he has no power. Moreover, no one is taking him seriously, especially Trump. So it is not possible for France to play a role on his own. He wants to achieve this goal by demonstrating himself as a stronger and more important actor than he is. That’s what the “obligation” to act with Trump is.
Therefore, France is trying to achieve an area of interest in itself by displaying an attitude of “jackal-hyena mixture”. But these attitudes can push him into the role of the West’s usable, unwanted man; especially in terms of the US-Germany duo. At the very least, Germany can not keep up with such statements of France for a long time.
And one last point: Macron’ utterance that the attack of his country with the United States and Britain on Syria separated Turkey from Russia, is a clear admission that the US does not want much. Moreover, his demonstrating the image of directing the US politics or Trump is like the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Frankly, France had never fallen in these cases. Pity!
