As for who pays the bills for the lavish weaponizing, talk to the proverbial "pious wealthy donors" -- incited by their clerics -- in the GCC, the petrodollar arm of NATO. None of these goon squads could possibly thrive for so long without full, multidisciplinary "support" from the usual suspects.
So the hysterical/apoplectic/paroxystic rage enveloping the "Empire of Chaos" betrays the utter failure, once again, of the same old "policy" (remember Afghanistan) of using jihadis as geopolitical tools. Fake "Caliphate" or "rebels," they are all NATO-GCC's bitches.
To add insult to injury, a frustrated "Sultan" has also been forced to annex himself to a slightly changing Washington position -- which now rules that "Assad must go," yes, but it may take some time, as part of a yet to be defined "transition."
"The Sultan" will remain a pile of nerves. He does not give a damn about ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Washington now does -- sort of. He wants to smash the PYD and the PKK. For Washington, the PYD is a helpful ally. As for Moscow, "the Sultan" better watch his neo-Ottoman step.
"The Sultan" simply cannot afford to antagonize "The Bear." Gazprom will expand the Blue Stream pipeline into Turkey. It would be by 3 billion cubic meters; instead it will be by 1 billion cubic meters. According to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, it's due to technical capabilities.
Yet Ankara better get its act together, because even that extension may evaporate if there's no agreement on the commercial terms of TurkStream, the former Turkish Stream. Ankara is under tremendous pressure from the Obama administration. And "the Sultan" knows very well that without Russia all his elaborate plans to position Turkey as the key energy transit hub from East to West will vanish in Anatolian scrub. In the end, he may even get regime-changed himself.
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