The Guardian is reporting today that Turkey join the fight against the Islamic State and may even send ground troops into Syria, ostensibly to eliminate the threat posed by this radical organization. The real reason, however, for their involvement in this armed conflict is likely far different than the stated reason they are joining President Obama’s much heralded coalition.

After months of hanging back amid angry accusations of collusion, Turkey is gearing up for a bigger role in the fight against Islamic State (Isis) that could include sending Turkish ground troops across the border into Syria and Iraq.

But counter-terrorism aside, Turkey’s leaders have another, less altruistic motive for getting involved: preventing independent-minded Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, who have links to Turkish Kurd separatists, from further strengthening and exploiting their position as key western allies.

Read the whole article, it is well worth your time.

We have no allies in the Middle East. What we have are a group of governments with a variety of goals and purposes who, for now, are more than happy to put a US military face on a multifaceted conflict that involves differing ethnic groups and religious factions, none of whom are particularly fond of one another. We can rain down as many cruise missiles, drones and bombs as we like, but the fact of the matter is that expanding the number of parties at war in the region will inevitably lead to worse consequences for the people there, and for the American people. Only the war profiteers have anything to gain.