Shit, just realized why the turn in the Syrian conflict seems so uncannily familiar. It rhymes very strongly with the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in the 80s (which led, among other things, to the Kashmir insurgency).
This is not a good rhyme.
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Roughly, the 1980s/now mapping would be (purely structural balance of power, with no value judgments of politics/ideologies in play)
US = USSR
Russia = US
Kurds = Mujahideen
Syria = Afghanistan
Turkey = India
Pakistan = Iraq+ISIS
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Still trying to understand where the Kashmir analog would be
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Turkish Kurds basically. They're already labeled terrorists by Turkey.

