© Getty Images/Ibraham Hatib/Anadolu Agency
Turkish armed forces in Idlib de-escalation zone, February 20, 2020
Having been hit by the Syrian Air Force in Idlib,
Turkey has called on NATO's protection, but as much as the alliance would like a fight with Assad and his ally Russia,
it's refused to back Ankara's questionable adventure.
Turkey engaged NATO in Article 4 consultations, seeking help regarding the crisis in Syria. The meeting produced a statement from NATO condemning the actions of Russia and Syria and advocating for humanitarian assistance, but denying Turkey the assistance it sought.
The situation in Idlib province has reached crisis proportions. A months-long military offensive by the Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Air Force and pro-Iranian militias, had recaptured nearly one-third of the territory occupied by anti-Assad groups funded and armed by Turkey. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dispatched thousands of Turkish soldiers, backed by thousands of pieces of military equipment, including tanks and armored vehicles, into Idlib to bolster his harried allies.
The result has been a disaster for Turkey, which has lost more than 50 soldiers and had scores more wounded due to Syrian air attacks. For its part, Russia has refrained from directly engaging Turkish forces, instead turning its attention to countering Turkish-backed militants. Faced with mounting casualties,
Turkey turned to NATO for assistance, invoking Article 4 of the NATO charter, which allows members to request consultations whenever, in their opinion, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.
Comment: The 'populist pattern' is repeating even in small countries: 'deep state' elements interfering in electoral politics because people are gathering around and being galvanized by 'the wrong candidate/party/idea'.
In Ireland's case, the fallout from its recent election result - even though it ostensibly was not about Irish unity, nationalism, and the past century of pseudo-independence charted by its leadership - is bringing into sharp focus the thoroughly corrupt and increasingly irrelevant mandate of its establishment parties.
The establishment parties are so frightened of what has taken place that they're running a major media campaign - with the help of British intelligence and the above British top cop they hired to run Ireland's police force - to paint Sinn Fein as 'still terrorists' (coz that worked so well BEFORE they won the election!)
So Mary-Lou McDonald speaking to large crowds up and down the country isn't Sinn Fein being a normal democratic political party, it's a "campaign of bullying and intimidation."
The question is how far will the the British security services and its lackeys in the Dublin state go?
In the 1980s, they worked hand-in-glove with 'reasonable' IRA figures to convince them to disarm and become fully political. But now that the Republican movement in the form of Sinn Fein has become the only all-Ireland political party and the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland... will the British shift the goalposts once again?
Ireland has watched them do so for hundreds of years, so it would be wise to expect them to continue doing so.