We were wondering why the White House put out last week’s meeting of the National Security Council so quickly – they never do that, ever.  Reading this lengthy Politico article the urgent optics now make sense…. there’s always a reason with this crew.

(Via Politico) When President Obama, after months of equivocation over how to respond to the takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria by radical militants, announced in September that the United States would “lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat,” the White House swung quickly into action, sending proposed legislation to train and equip Syrian rebels to Capitol Hill that same day.
Unfortunately, the White House failed to consult with the Pentagon—which would be doing most of the rolling back—on the timing or details of the announcement. (more…)

This is considered a staggering, albeit splendid, defeat considering Turkey was anticipated to be a shoo-in for a non-permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

Previously Turkey had claimed letters of support from 160 countries. However, the actual voting by secret ballot showed they only had 60 countries who supported their bid. The needed threshold is 128 supportive votes. Spain won the seat with 132 votes of support. New Zealand is the other contested victor who won in a previous ballot.
As Newsweek reported: “[Last] Wednesday night, Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, hosted a posh party for diplomats at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, where many of the guests predicted an easy victory for Turkey“.
Apparently the ‘pinky swear’ diplomats partook of the ritzy digs; but when push came to shove they knew their ballots would be secret so they ditched the Turks who have become more and more unreliable as Sunni Islamist President Erdogan pushes Turkey further and further into radical Islam. (more…)

Reminder – healthcare workers in Liberia are now on strike.

Pres Obama signs Exec Order authorizing use of Reservists to assist in US Military mission building Ebola treatment centers in West Africa.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 16, 2014

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The Daily Beast has another good recap of a speech recently delivered by the evolving wannabe head of ISIS, Recep Erdogan.   Erdogan views himself as natural heir to the recreation of the Ottoman empire – ISIS is a means to accomplish that goal…. 
TURKEY – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took on the iconic Lawrence of Arabia Monday in a furious anti-Western diatribe. The Turkish president compared the outside meddling in the region now to the role the renowned British army officer played during the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans during World War I. And Western diplomats here say the tirade bears a rather striking resemblance to some of the propaganda that has come out of the so-called Islamic State, widely known by the acronym ISIS or ISIL.

[…]  Erdoğan has been accused of at best turning a blind eye to the rise of ISIS and at worst actively encouraging it…

Last week, stung by Western criticism of Turkey’s conspicuous absence from the U.S.-led air combat against the terror organization, and the refusal of the Turkish government to rescue the besieged town of Kobani, just across the Syrian border, Erdoğan insisted he had no sympathy for the jihadists.
But on one very important point of history and geography it now appears there’s a serious convergence of views between ISIS and Erdoğan. In his speech Monday at a university in Istanbul, the Turkish president blasted the Sykes-Picot Agreement, a secret understanding (signed behind Lawrence’s back) that divided up the Middle East after World War I between British and French spheres of influence. (more…)

Charles Krauthammer pens analysis about the fraud that is Obama and Erdogan’s Sunni Syria / Iraq  strategy.   Both Islamic leaders willing to allow Sunni ISIS full control of Syria and Iraq in the grand hopes to resurrect the Ottoman empire with Erdogan at the head of the table…..   

(NRO) During the 1944 Warsaw uprising, Stalin ordered the advancing Red Army to stop at the outskirts of the city while the Nazis, for 63 days, annihilated the non-Communist Polish partisans. Only then did Stalin take Warsaw.

No one can match Stalin for merciless cynicism, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is offering a determined echo by ordering Turkish tanks massed on the Syrian border, within sight of the besieged Syrian town of Kobani, to sit and do nothing.
For almost a month, Kobani Kurds have been trying to hold off Islamic State fighters. Outgunned, outmanned, and surrounded on three sides, the defending Kurds have begged Turkey to allow weapons and reinforcements through the border. Erdogan has refused even that, let alone intervening directly. Infuriated Kurds have launched demonstrations throughout Turkey protesting Erdogan’s deadly callousness. At least 21 demonstrators have been killed. (more…)

Last night former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly he believes President Obama totally understands the situation in Syria and Iraq and will make “the right decisions”. A few hours later CNN reports the following headline:

(CNN LINK)
Think about this from a few different perspectives.
First, what message does this approach send to our allies or, even more importantly, to ISIS?
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As expected the Syrian Kurdish controlled city of Kobane (Kobani) -located near the border with Turkey- is about to fall into the hands of Sunni ISIS extremists, and Recep Erdogan is doing everything he can to insure it happens.

[…]  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the coalition air campaign launched last month would not be enough to halt the Islamic State advance and called for greater cooperation with the Syrian opposition, which is fighting both the Islamic State and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“Kobani is about to fall,” he told Syrian refugees in the Turkish town of Gaziantep, near the border.

“We asked for three things: one, for a no-fly zone to be created; two, for a secure zone parallel to the region to be declared; and for the moderate opposition in Syria and Iraq to be trained and equipped.”

Turkish tanks and other ground forces have been stationed along the border within a few hundred meters of the fighting in Kobani — also known as Ayn Arab — but have not intervened.  (link)

For two weeks we have watched Erdogan do everything he can to facilitate the falling of Kobane into the hands of his Sunni compatriots, ISIS.   Erdogan’s request for a “no-fly” zone insures that Kobane, once lost, will remain a safe haven for the ISIS extremists. (more…)

While Obama dithers and tries to create the “image of doing something” by making little Syrian rocks out of big Syrian rocks,…

… A desperate and determined Kurdish woman takes action !

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By now there is no doubt where Turkey’s Prime Minister Sunni ideology is resting…
EGYPT – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s insistent criticism of Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected president after ousting a democratically elected president via a military coup, may well come with a price tag for Turkey on various fronts ranging from the economy to diplomacy, according to concerned analysts.

“There will be a price for this [attitude of Erdoğan]. Turkey should not expect to get the support of Egypt at the election for the UN Security Council,” Faruk Loğoğlu, a deputy of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), told Sunday’s Zaman.
Turkey is among the countries competing to get a seat as a temporary member in the UN Security Council for the two-year term of 2015-2016, and it is obvious Turkey will not enjoy Egypt’s support for its bid. (more…)

Liberian officials said the U.S. case was inevitable and unsurprising. “It means the entire world is not safe,” said Liberian assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah in an interview on Wednesday.
“It means we should all be making frantic efforts to stop Ebola in West Africa,” he said.
Mr. Nyenswah and other Liberians are hoping that the U.S. case will help to mobilize more global resources to fight Ebola in West Africa, where the epidemic originated earlier this year. “It’s a clear indication that Ebola has no boundary,” said Thomas Siakor, a 32-year-old university student and bread vendor in Monrovia. “It can kill anyone.”

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