but, yeah - the narrative is that the turks are sending terrorists from idlib to azerbaijan, and all i can say is that the russians (and syrians) could only hope they'd be so fortunate. i mean, i don't know who these people are; i concede it's possible. but, the turks are....the turks are stupid, the propaganda on that point is right. don't think they aren't. but, they're not that stupid.

or, at least, i don't think they are.

the sad, unfortunate truth is that the turks simply haven't had a hard time recruiting wave after wave of fundamentalist idiots to fight their proxy wars for them. look at the poverty in the broader region - so long as people are starving, they will take an opportunity to be fed. that's why there's no end to this stupidity until the region finds some kind of redistributive solution, and they were closer to that 100 years ago than they are now.

so, maybe these idiots look like the other idiots, but i'd guess they probably aren't. if they are, though, the turks just took the most obvious bait possible, and the russians should take advantage of it and move into idlib.

my suspicion is that it's russian propaganda, rooted in wishful thinking. but, we can figure this out - what's happening on the ground in idlib, right now? are there less fighters? is it clearing out? i doubt it. 

so, the russians will still need to flatten it. nice try, though.