As during the first Cold War, in recent months Egypt has become a pressure point for geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Moscow. President Sisi's government has sought to maximize the amount of aid it receives from the Americans and Russians against ISIS terrorists presence in the Sinai peninsula and neighboring Libya (where Russia is backing Gen. Haftar against Daesh and other jihadist groups).
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President turned neo-Ottoman dictator of Turkey, is unmasking himself as an Islamist fanatic who cannot accept the crushing defeat of his proxies in Aleppo, by announcing 'we entered [Syria] to end the rule of the tyrant Assad'. Or is he just bluffing with a weak hand, judging by Moscow, Damascus and Tehran's calm reactions to the latest Turkish threats?
Nothing is quite as it seems in Syria. Jihadists who vowed to fight to the bitter end in east Aleppo crumbled in the span of 48 hours this past weekend. ISIS, which fought tooth and nail to hold Palmyra against the Syrian Arab Army and Russian advisers, after melting away before the Turkish invasion into the Syrian border town of Jarablus, is suddenly fighting the Turkish Army again. The Daesh-bags allegedly captured two Turkish soldiers embedded with Ankara's 'moderate rebel' allies. Or did they? Given the increasingly Islamist bent of the post July coup Turkish military, perhaps the Turkish infantrymen actually defected to Daesh?