CNN reports that thousands of Kurdish, Arab, & Assyrian civilians are fleeing the border towns in turmoil after the Turkish ground invasion & heavy airstrikes. They report the streets are choked with people fleeing in a panic, six to seven people piled on motorcycles, stuffing belongings & mattresses in cars. With Idlib to the west under Syrian & Russian bombardment, there is no place for them to run.

Stand with the Kurds. Demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces & mercenaries from Syria.

(Photo from Western Kurdistan from several sources on Twitter)

Turkey & its supporters are calling ‘Operation Peace Spring’ against the Kurds a fight against terrorism. Erdogan tweeted: “Operation Peace Spring will neutralize terror threats against Turkey & lead to the establishment of a safe zone, facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their homes. We will preserve Syria’s territorial integrity & liberate local communities from terrorists.” That is exactly what Syria, Russian, Iranian, & US-coalition forces claim to justify carpet bombing of civilians. It’s ‘war on terror’ stuff combined with anti-Semitic claims that the Kurds are trying to create another Israel in Syria.

At this point in time, if you support the bombing of Idlib & the Turkish slaughter of Kurds, you are on the side of barbarism, war, & genocide. The only principled demand is for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign military forces & mercenaries from Syria. Those who continue to call for US military intervention to assist the Kurds only demonstrate that they are incapable of learning from experience.

(Photo is Turkish air strikes on Ras al-Ain city of al-Hasakah countryside, Syria)

As Turkish troops & war planes converge on the Syrian Kurds, Syrian & Russian bombers intensify their genocidal onslaught on Idlib. Those who refuse to understand US policy goals in Syria continue to play stupid by looking to the US Pentagon to address the issues of war & genocide in Syria.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/08/horrors-idlib-white-helmets-syria?CMP=share_btn_tw

Assadist ideologues are openly & gleefully applauding Turkey’s genocidal onslaught against Syrian Kurds just as they have always applauded Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians. It doesn’t matter that Syrian Kurds collaborated with the US & also periodically attempted to collaborate with the Assad dictatorship. It was of course a monstrous betrayal of the Syrian Arab Spring by the Syrian Kurd leadership but those who stand for justice never endorse the methods & politics of the oppressors & always without compromise oppose genocide. It’s not a question of karma or chickens coming home to roost. The US is standing aside to facilitate a genocide & anyone with an ounce of human decency opposes that.

We stand with Syrian Kurds & do not demand US troops remain to protect the Kurds but demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of Turkish, US-coalition, Iranian, Russian, Hezbollah forces & mercenaries from Syria.

London, UK #StandWithKashmir protest, October 27th, 2019.

A profile of one of the little boys arrested & beaten by Indian forces in Kashmir:

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/kashmir-9-year-old-out-to-buy-bread-beaten-locked-up/cid/1710267?

Over one million Kashmiri workers lost their jobs as a result of India’s blockade. Commerce losses in the two months of blockade are US$703,600,000 (Rs 5,000 crore). India calls this ‘normalcy’. & ‘development’.

https://kashmirobserver.net/2019/10/04/kashmir-clampdown-over-10-lakh-workers-lose-jobs/?

Boys of the Cave by Zulekha Adam & illustrated by Rollie Mukherjee is now available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0620851317/ref=cm?fbclid=IwAR20-S8PVm1vfrgP3tpxRTabmW2S6bx9NdB6g_UMYnV_v6mCKYQ8RbZswPQ

This isn’t the best report on the issue of Kashmiri political prisoners sent to prisons in India hundreds of miles from their families. It barely scratches the surface of the problem, including not mentioning the kidnapping, incarceration, & torture of young boys. But we can still use it to build the Kashmiri solidarity movement.

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/10/07/world/asia/07reuters-india-kashmir-detentions-insight.html?

If there had been a principled international antiwar movement to oppose all foreign military intervention in Syria, the Syrian Kurds might have chosen other options than maneuvering & flip-flopping between the US-coalition & the Assad dictatorship. They might have chosen to stand with the Syrian Arab Spring & advanced their own struggle for self-determination. Assadists support Iranian ground forces & Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians. Many who oppose Assad support US military intervention. No one is coming out smelling like a rose here & only the shameless are gloating over the Turkish onslaught against the Kurds as an “I told you so” moment.
The Syrian Kurdish leadership made a disastrous & corrupt alliance & the two million Syrian Kurds will pay the price for that betrayal.

This is not a moment for triumphal postmortems but a time to stand with the Syrian Kurds who now face a genocidal siege at the hands of Turkish troops & bombers.

Demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of Turkish, Russian, US-coalition, Iranian forces & mercenaries from Syria.