Kareem Shaheen, The Guardian: Syrian rebels gamble on Turkish alliance to fight Kurds and Assad
Ankara is retraining a core of fighters to wage its own war against Isis and Kurdish expansion
The young rebel from Idlib rolled down his sock to reveal a deep, blackened gash, a grim memento of weeks as an Islamic State captive. The man who tortured him in that prison was on his mind when he heard that Turkey was offering military training to 500 men, and decided to sign up.
Like all the recruits to Ankara’s latest experiment, he was a seasoned anti-Assad rebel with battlefield experience but no military education. Turkey promised to drill and discipline them, creating the nucleus of a new Syrian rebel army.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 29, 2018
What's Next for Turkey, the U.S. and the YPG After the Afrin Operation? -- Ranj Alaaldin for Brookings Doha Center/Stratfor
Why is Russia helping Turkey in Afrin? -- Leonid Issaev, Al Jazeera
Time to Kick Turkey Out of NATO? -- Michael J. Totten, World Affairs
Iran is setting itself up to shape the next Iraqi government from the inside -- Amir Toumaj and Romany Shaker, The Long War Journal
Iran, the hollow hegemon -- Shlomo Ben-Ami, The Strategist
Israel and the Arab States: A Historic Opportunity to Normalize Relations? -- Moshe Yaalon and Leehe Friedman, Foreign Affairs
In case I die: Why Afghans keep notes in their pockets -- Shereena Qazi, The Guardian
How Can America Change Pakistani Behavior? -- Brahma Chellaney, Project Syndicate
A look inside North Korea's propaganda stories, including fictional tales like first lady Rosalynn Carter loves Kim Il Sung -- Meredith Shaw, The Conversation
India takes fight to China via SEAsia -- Richard Javad Heydarian, Asia Times
Australia is Not on the Fence Between America and China -- Arzan Tarapore, War On The Rocks
Ukraine’s Tunisia Moment -- Diane Francis, The American Interest
Central planning in Haiti has been a miserable failure -- Michael Kastner, CAPX
Kremlin and U.S. Circle Each Other in Warming Arctic -- Levi Maxey, The Cipher Brief
The head of the Coast Guard says Russia has 'all the pieces on the chessboard' in the Arctic — but the US has 'only got a couple of pawns' -- Christopher Woody, Business Insider
Would America Really Start a Nuclear War over a Cyber or Satellite Attack? -- Michael Peck, National Interest
The 2018 Grammy Awards Was a Tone-Deaf, Out-of-Touch Mess -- Marlow Stern, Daily Beast
I think the Russians will use this Turkish incursion as an excuse to roll further into Idlib. Earlier today there was a report of Turkish armor/observers heading towards western Aleppo but were halted by Russian airstrikes in the vicinity. This whole SAA advance in Aleppo has been rather easy, my sneaking suspicion is that Turkey pulled the bulk of the FSA up to the north for the Afrin offensive leaving behind sparse defenses that are getting overwhelmed by Assads troops. It might be that Putin is playing Erdogan right now.
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