Anthony J. Blinken, who used to be deputy secretary of state
in a previous incarnation, wrote an article in which he advises the Trump
Administration to arm yet another group in the Middle East .
In fact, the title of the article he wrote reads as follows: “To Defeat ISIS,
Arm the Syrian Kurds.” The article was published on January 31, 2017 in the New
York Times.
What's wrong with that?
What's wrong is that it is an American idea. This means it
is subjected to the vagaries of a peculiar culture; one that suffers from
serious defects in some of its parts. To understand this point, we need to
recall a few things about the evolution of cultural trends in general, and how America is
different in that regard.
Whether it is art, technology or social mores, a new trend
starts tentatively and develops cautiously – nurtured by those who conceived it
till it can stand firmly on its own. It flourishes rapidly after that, and
races towards a definitive expression; usually recognized as being its logical
conclusion. This is how things happen just about everywhere in the world.
What happens in America , however, is that every new
trend hits the ground running. From there, it develops – not cautiously – but
at a high speed. This happens without the nurturing of its creator because
other people jump into the fray and seek to become co-parents of what is
considered a desirable fad. But despite the initial euphoria, the trend quickly
becomes an old idea. It is considered a throw-away product and replaced before
developing a firm footing. It is then encouraged to self-terminate and make
room for the next trend.
Amazingly, this American phenomenon also serves to guide the
country's international relations. All that's needed for America to fall in love with a
foreign country is for its leader to charm the editors of one major
publication. As if competing for the grand prize, everyone else enters the
race, gathers the superlatives and showers them onto the object of their
admiration. Of course, the opposite effect can also happen. That is, if a major
publication reviles someone, and gives a convincing reason for holing such
point of view, they all rush to the copycat amateur hour carrying bags full of
insults and false accusations.
Loving the Kurds has become the latest obsession in America . All
that was needed to start the trend was for someone to say that the Kurds were
great warriors, were allied with America and were fighting against
her enemies. Now, everyone speaks of the Kurds as if they were icons of human
perfection. At least in the eyes of the elites in the media and the halls of
power, the Kurds can do nothing wrong therefore must not be denied anything
they ask for.
This is the mentality with which Anthony Blinken – currently
an opinion writer – approaches the Kurdish issue. What he could not do while in
government because his boss, Barack Obama, was opposed to the idea of sending
weapons to an already charged Middle East; he now gives as free advice to the
new administration. He tells the White House to send arms to the Syrian Kurds.
Without mentioning Obama's reluctance to send more weapons
to the region, Blinken attributes the difficulty in arming the Kurds to Turkish
opposition. And despite the fact that he admits Raqqa is on the verge of being
liberated with or without new weapons from America ,
he continues to argue that liberating Raqqa is an urgent matter, therefore America must
send weapons to the Syrian Kurds right away.
But what to do about Turkey 's opposition to the idea?
This is a member of the NATO alliance, and one that is playing a major role in
the fight against ISIS . It would not be wise
for America to antagonize Turkey .
Even though Blinken admits he tried and failed to convince
the Turks they should drop their opposition to arming the Syrian Turks, he
believes that President Trump has a better chance at succeeding where he failed
because “there is an art to this deal”.
He lists six points around which, he says, Donald Trump can
negotiate a deal with the Turks – the last being to rethink the executive order
the President issued on immigration.