ISIS has taken center stage in the global effort to establish Islamic supremacy, surpassing jihadist networks such as al-Qaida and Hamas in prominence. But what if a force is coming that will dwarf the self-declared caliphate and its army, known for its savage brutality against anyone who stands in its path.
One author is warning that’s a possibility. In fact, he’s suggesting ISIS is simply a tool for the “neo-Ottoman” pretensions of America’s supposed NATO ally, Turkey, a power that eventually could surpass Hamas, al-Qaida and ISIS.
Author Joel Richardson notes the fact that ISIS is facing a serious challenge to its authority, as Kurdish forces in Syria have retaken almost a dozen villages with help from coalition air support.
What’s getting Turkey’s attention is the growth of Kurdish military power.
Richardson, author of the New York Times bestseller “Mideast Beast: The Scriptural Case for an Islamic Antichrist,” argues the Kurds make up the only reliable pro-American forces in the region actually winning victories against ISIS. He criticizes President Obama for not doing enough to aid them in their struggle against Islamic extremists.
He told WND: “Of all of the various factions fighting ISIS, only the Kurds are achieving any legitimate success. The Kurds are also the only legitimate group worthy of our support. So why are we not arming them? Why are we not giving them sufficient training and support? Worse yet, why are we going so far as to frustrate and block the efforts of some of the moderate Arab regimes to arm the Kurds?”
Richardson said the answer lies in Obama’s “abominable” foreign policy.
He explained: “After George W. Bush left office, the Obama administration undertook a massive shift to begin supporting so-called moderate Islamist regimes and movements, while pushing for the overthrow of the various regional dictators such as Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi, Egyptian President Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad. In place of these dictators, Obama opted instead to support the Libyan revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian rebels, and the Turkish AKP party, which in many ways is a Turkish version of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The surging Turkish AKP (Justice and Development) Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now appealing to the country’s Islamic heritage and its history as the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate, he said.
Speakers from the party have urged crowds to work for the “liberation” of Jerusalem, and the country’s leadership has openly spoken of pursuing a new regional order based on the country’s Ottoman past.
Standing in the way so far, however, are the Kurds, who make up a substantial portion of the country’s population, especially in the east and the southeast.
Turkey also has been plagued by separatist movements agitating for Kurdish independence.
Arabs, Turkmen and other minorities in the conflict zone also charge Kurdish forces are using the struggle against ISIS to change the demographics of the conflict zone and create the conditions for an independent Kurdistan.
Kurdish victories in recent weeks have forced ISIS to launch savage counter-attacks to retake its lost territories. The United States is increasing air support to the Kurds, but Turkey refuses to join the coalition against ISIS and is even considering military action to prevent an independent Kurdish state.
A Kurdish state could pose a formidable challenge to Turkish dreams of regional hegemony.
“From the perspective of Turkish President Erdogan, the Kurds are a worse threat than ISIS. The reason is because to Erdogan, Turkish regional dominance, essentially a revived Ottoman Empire, is much more important than the atrocities carried out by ISIS against tens of thousands of non-Sunni Muslims,” Richardson said.
Richardson believes Turkey is using ISIS to prepare the geopolitical groundwork for Turkish control over the entire region.
See his comments:
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Richardson, who explores the intentions of the Turkish government in his documentary “End Times Eyewitness,” says: “There is a Turkish proverb which says, ‘Show the people death and they will gladly embrace malaria.’ Erdogan is allowing ISIS to do its dirty work in its backyard. He is using them in his war against Assad, the Kurds and Iran. But then the time comes, he will dispose of ISIS, (or allow others to do so) and he will step forward, as a far more appealing Caliph.”
Get the free WND special report, “ISIS Rising: Prelude to a Neo-Ottoman Caliphate,” now!
Richardson argues Americans should not underestimate the hunger of Sunni Muslims in the Middle East for a reconstituted caliphate under Islamic law.
“The people clearly want a caliphate, the people clearly want Islamic law, but they do not want it under the oppressive and brutal face of ISIS. Turkey will then set itself forward as the far more appealing alternative. Unfortunately, if the past six years are any indicator, the U.S. will support such a so-called moderate alternative.”
Turkey is not the only major Sunni player in the region. Richardson foresees eventual conflict between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
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He especially is concerned about the prospect of instability in Saudi Arabia, which has aggressively funded a radical version of Sunni Islam around the world but remains under the control of a wealthy, dissolute and ostensibly pro-American ruling class terrified of its own population.
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Furthermore, in what Richardson terms the “multiple level chess match” of Middle Eastern politics, largely Shiite Iran is moving to aggressively counter bids by the Sunni powers to secure control over the region. Iranian forces have been combating the ISIS for months, and Shiite militias comprise some of the most dedicated fighters on the battlefields in Iraq. And as Richardson notes, these Shiite forces, including those of the Iranian regime, are driven by their own apocalyptic beliefs.
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In the end, Richardson, whose most recent work is “When a Jew Rules the World: What the Bible Really Says About Israel in the Plan of God,” believes the geopolitics of the end times are unfolding before the eyes of the current generation. And the multifaceted battle between ISIS, the Kurds and other factions is setting the stage for a larger and potentially far more destructive conflict.
“There is a war that is breaking out right now in the Middle East. It’s a conflict between Turkey and Iran. It hasn’t become a full-fledged military conflict. But I think there’s a strong series of reasons that very well could get there in the future. So this is one of the big issues those watching the Middle East need to be paying attention to in the days ahead.”
