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My Enemy's Enemy's Enemy's...
Friday, July 25th, 2014
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
You're of course familiar with the aphorism "The enemy of my enemy is
my friend." A logical upshot of this is also that "the friend of my
enemy is my enemy," "the enemy of my friend is my enemy," and "the
friend of my friend is my friend." Laid out formulaically, we have:
E= enemy
F= friend
E x E= F
F x E= E
E x F= E
F x F= F
Lately, there's been much laughter at some absurd contradictions that
have come of this mindset in the context of what's been happening in
parts of the Near East-- Turkey, Syria, Kurdistan, Israel/Palestine,
Iraq, Iran. Inevitably, Armenians, given it's our neighborhood, have
been dragged into this, too.
The easiest situation to mock is U.S./Western support of the "rebels"
in Syria. The Assad regime is supposedly an "enemy", so the rebels
fighting it become "friends"... (because E x E= F) Yet the rebels
include extremist Islamists who hail from the al-Qaeda sector of
humanity, who are well established as "enemies" from the Afghanistan
and Iraq experiences. But, of course these people were formerly
"friends" when fighting against the Soviet Union. So which is true?
It gets even better. That same extremist crowd is now becoming much
better known as the ISIS--Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and of
course even more recently as the "caliphate" reborn. The juiciest part
is that ISIS is a (much denigrated) "friend" in Syria but crosses the
border into Iraq and becomes an enemy to the U.S./West. Here's more.
Even though the U.S./West loudly denies supporting ISIS in Syria,
Turkey has no such ability to deny its ties to these extremists, who
are therefore "friends" of Turkey. Turkey is the U.S./West's "friend"
which means that ISIS must also be the U.S./West's friend. (because F
x F= F) Yet we already know that ISIS is and is not the U.S./West's
friend depending on which side of the Iraq/Syria side of the border we
happen to be on. So which is true?
Turkey is also Hamas' friend, therefore Hamas must be the U.S./West's
friend (because F x F= F). Yet we already know that Hamas is not
U.S./West's friend because Hamas is Israel's enemy and Israel is the
U.S./West's friend (because E x F= E). So which is true?
The Kurds and Kurdistan, at least formally, are neither clearly enemy
nor clearly friend to anyone. Yet because they oppose ISIS, they are
friends to the U.S./West, Turkey (depending on the moment), the Shiite
dominated Iraqi government (because ISIS is Sunni and opposed to the
Iraqi government), and Israel (because Israel is opposed to Hamas
which is supported by ISIS), because E x E=F. Here comes the fun:
Israel is the "enemy" of Syria so it should be friends with ISIS
(Syria's enemy), but that's not the case because ISIS is also friends
with Hamas which is Israel's enemy. Iran and ISIS are enemies (Shiite
vs. Sunni) but Iran and the Kurds are enemies but so are the Kurds and
ISIS, so we get a new equation, "E x E x E= unknown".
Finally, we have the Shiite government of Iraq which has as "enemies"
both ISIS and the Kurds (because they are selling oil independently of
Iraq's government and they want independence from Iraq), meanwhile
ISIS and the Kurds are enemies even though both would like to see Iraq
dismembered and by that logic should be friends, "E x E x E= unknown".
I hope you haven't tried to follow too closely, because something much
worse than vertigo would afflict your brain! And, there are a few more
examples, but I won't bore you anymore.
Unfortunately, Armenians have been dragged into this cauldron of
nonsense. We are enemies to ISIS because they see us as Christians and
want to massacre us. Turkey is our sworn enemy. The Kurds are very
slowly becoming our friends. Turkey is playing nice with SOME Kurds
(in Iraq) while beating up on others (internally and in Syria). We
have a fundamental commonality with Israel--the experiences of genocide
and dispossession from our respective homelands. Yet, that same
dispossession experience is shared with the Palestinians as well. But
the Palestinians, at least those affiliated with Hamas, are friends
with ISIS and Turkey, both of which are our enemies. Simultaneously,
some of Israel's supporters in the U.S. have covertly fought against
us in the halls of Congress for years and have been very friendly with
Turkey (even though that is slowly changing now). The Palestinians and
Israelis are enemies. Speaking up in favor of one gets us in trouble
with the other.
What's worse, even though our primary concern should be addressing
Armenian issues--the crisis in Syria and Iraq caused by
Turkish/extremist Islamist actions, political issues in the U.S.,
liberation of occupied Western Armenia, etc., because of our
commonalities with both Jews and Palestinians, we have come to "enjoy"
internal discord as some Armenians argue in favor of Israel while
others argue for Hamas in the latest round of bloodshed between those
two entities.
I've got no solutions for this kind of absurdity which surrounds us. Do you?
http://asbarez.com/125336/my-enemys-enemys-enemys/
Friday, July 25th, 2014
BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
You're of course familiar with the aphorism "The enemy of my enemy is
my friend." A logical upshot of this is also that "the friend of my
enemy is my enemy," "the enemy of my friend is my enemy," and "the
friend of my friend is my friend." Laid out formulaically, we have:
E= enemy
F= friend
E x E= F
F x E= E
E x F= E
F x F= F
Lately, there's been much laughter at some absurd contradictions that
have come of this mindset in the context of what's been happening in
parts of the Near East-- Turkey, Syria, Kurdistan, Israel/Palestine,
Iraq, Iran. Inevitably, Armenians, given it's our neighborhood, have
been dragged into this, too.
The easiest situation to mock is U.S./Western support of the "rebels"
in Syria. The Assad regime is supposedly an "enemy", so the rebels
fighting it become "friends"... (because E x E= F) Yet the rebels
include extremist Islamists who hail from the al-Qaeda sector of
humanity, who are well established as "enemies" from the Afghanistan
and Iraq experiences. But, of course these people were formerly
"friends" when fighting against the Soviet Union. So which is true?
It gets even better. That same extremist crowd is now becoming much
better known as the ISIS--Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and of
course even more recently as the "caliphate" reborn. The juiciest part
is that ISIS is a (much denigrated) "friend" in Syria but crosses the
border into Iraq and becomes an enemy to the U.S./West. Here's more.
Even though the U.S./West loudly denies supporting ISIS in Syria,
Turkey has no such ability to deny its ties to these extremists, who
are therefore "friends" of Turkey. Turkey is the U.S./West's "friend"
which means that ISIS must also be the U.S./West's friend. (because F
x F= F) Yet we already know that ISIS is and is not the U.S./West's
friend depending on which side of the Iraq/Syria side of the border we
happen to be on. So which is true?
Turkey is also Hamas' friend, therefore Hamas must be the U.S./West's
friend (because F x F= F). Yet we already know that Hamas is not
U.S./West's friend because Hamas is Israel's enemy and Israel is the
U.S./West's friend (because E x F= E). So which is true?
The Kurds and Kurdistan, at least formally, are neither clearly enemy
nor clearly friend to anyone. Yet because they oppose ISIS, they are
friends to the U.S./West, Turkey (depending on the moment), the Shiite
dominated Iraqi government (because ISIS is Sunni and opposed to the
Iraqi government), and Israel (because Israel is opposed to Hamas
which is supported by ISIS), because E x E=F. Here comes the fun:
Israel is the "enemy" of Syria so it should be friends with ISIS
(Syria's enemy), but that's not the case because ISIS is also friends
with Hamas which is Israel's enemy. Iran and ISIS are enemies (Shiite
vs. Sunni) but Iran and the Kurds are enemies but so are the Kurds and
ISIS, so we get a new equation, "E x E x E= unknown".
Finally, we have the Shiite government of Iraq which has as "enemies"
both ISIS and the Kurds (because they are selling oil independently of
Iraq's government and they want independence from Iraq), meanwhile
ISIS and the Kurds are enemies even though both would like to see Iraq
dismembered and by that logic should be friends, "E x E x E= unknown".
I hope you haven't tried to follow too closely, because something much
worse than vertigo would afflict your brain! And, there are a few more
examples, but I won't bore you anymore.
Unfortunately, Armenians have been dragged into this cauldron of
nonsense. We are enemies to ISIS because they see us as Christians and
want to massacre us. Turkey is our sworn enemy. The Kurds are very
slowly becoming our friends. Turkey is playing nice with SOME Kurds
(in Iraq) while beating up on others (internally and in Syria). We
have a fundamental commonality with Israel--the experiences of genocide
and dispossession from our respective homelands. Yet, that same
dispossession experience is shared with the Palestinians as well. But
the Palestinians, at least those affiliated with Hamas, are friends
with ISIS and Turkey, both of which are our enemies. Simultaneously,
some of Israel's supporters in the U.S. have covertly fought against
us in the halls of Congress for years and have been very friendly with
Turkey (even though that is slowly changing now). The Palestinians and
Israelis are enemies. Speaking up in favor of one gets us in trouble
with the other.
What's worse, even though our primary concern should be addressing
Armenian issues--the crisis in Syria and Iraq caused by
Turkish/extremist Islamist actions, political issues in the U.S.,
liberation of occupied Western Armenia, etc., because of our
commonalities with both Jews and Palestinians, we have come to "enjoy"
internal discord as some Armenians argue in favor of Israel while
others argue for Hamas in the latest round of bloodshed between those
two entities.
I've got no solutions for this kind of absurdity which surrounds us. Do you?
http://asbarez.com/125336/my-enemys-enemys-enemys/