Are we siding with those who fight ISIS, or with those who protect them??

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Not that black and white at all

there are over 100 identified militias, groups whatever you want to call them in Syria. Some are as small as a few dozen heavily armed men who control a patch of land.

Some are clearly allied with DAESH, others clearly allied with Assad, a few fighting Assad, and most making alliances of convenience.

The Free Syrian Army is actually kind of a coalition with many splinter groups, and many of these groups will ally with the stronger militias operating near them for survival sake. So if today it is the Syrian army (wherever remains of it) and tomorrow it is the FSA, guess what? Loyalties are that mercurial.

The problem is that our lovely media has not gone into any of this or the fact that some are Turkmen (like the people who shot the Russian pilots today) who have far more in common with Turkey than Syria, Others are Shia, others are sunni, there are Christian Mennonites, and other Christians.

And then there is the tribal element, and tribes that at times span across international borders. Some have been at war with each other for hundreds of years.

I hope I managed to confuse you even more. Because quite frankly I do not think our news media, and at times I fear our Intel people, understand this. For that matter, this goes for all other Western powers and the Russians themselves.

So who our allies are? Well... it depends.