Turkey has finally joined the fight against the Islamic State

GlobalPost

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NEED TO KNOW:

Turkey has finally joined the war against the Islamic State. And as one American official said, it's a “game-changer.”

Turkish warplanes, for the first time, thrashed Islamic State targets on Thursday. Turkey also announced that it would allow the American military to use Turkish bases to launch both unmanned drones and its own manned airstrikes. American officials said access to the bases, which are much closer than the bases the Americans use now in Iraq and Jordan and elsewhere, would allow for more frequent sorties and better response times.

The road to the Syrian conflict began in 2010 with a peaceful protest movement calling for increased democratic freedoms. A government crackdown then sparked an armed rebellion. A revolution began. A sweeping and brutal response from the Syrian government pushed the revolution into a ruinous civil war. The chaos was just what the Islamic State needed to take hold, which it did with ease in 2012. That was three years ago.

So what took Turkey so long? That is one of the great debates of our time. Not only was Turkey reluctant to engage directly in the Syrian conflict, it failed — some would say it willingly failed — to secure its border, allowing foreign fighters and weapons to pass through in huge numbers. These fighters and weapons have helped the Islamic State grow.

There are several possibilities. One is that Turkey simply wasn't able to secure the border. No one really believes that, though. Another is that Turkey allowed fighters and weapons to cross the border because it believed they would further weaken Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They might have. Or perhaps Turkey thought the fighters would weaken Kurdish rebels in Syria's north. The Turkish government has long fought calls for Kurdish autonomy in its own country.

Whatever Turkey's reasons, one thing is clear: The porous border strengthened the Islamic State. And, recently, Turkey started paying the price. The Islamic State has recently launched several attacks against Turks, including a devastating suicide bombing on Turkish soil earlier this week that killed 32 people.

WANT TO KNOW:

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama is due to arrive soon in Nairobi, Kenya. From a security perspective, this is significant.

Al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda, has plagued Kenya in recent years. Most significant was the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi in 2013 that killed almost 70 people, and the horrific attack on a Kenyan university in April that killed almost 150. Al Shabaab has said the attacks are in retaliation for the Kenyan military's role in fighting the militant group in Somalia.

While generally Kenya is a pretty safe place — and certainly is not the “hotbed of terror” CNN called it — security is a major concern there. Discussions about security in Kenya and throughout Africa are expected to be a significant part of the US president's agenda during his visit.

But the trip is significant for a whole other, and far more wholesome, reason: Obama's father was born in the Kenyan village of Kogelo. The president still has relatives who live there, including his step-grandmother Sarah Obama. Many Kenyans feel a special closeness to the US president.

As a result, Kenya has spared no expense in preparing for the visit. It spent millions of dollars to clean up trash, plant flowers and ease traffic before Obama's arrival. The government has also launched one of the biggest security operations in Kenya's history. The country as a whole is really, really excited.

GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Erin Conway-Smith is there to cover the visit. You can follow her on Twitter to get the latest.

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

There's an intense Australian reality show called “Go Back to Where you Came From,” which gives you an idea of its subject matter.

Its producers say the idea behind the show is to stir some discussion about Australia's policy toward refugees. Right now, Australia's policy is about as harsh it can be. When boats of asylum seekers reach Australian waters, the country's military tows them back out to sea. It's hard to see the humanity in that. These refugees are often starving, and many of them die en route. Towing them back out to sea can be a death sentence.

The show's latest season is a three-part reality series that sends six Australians to see refugee conditions firsthand. It's an interesting idea. But the producers may have taken it a little far. In a trailer for the show, several participants are taken across the Iraqi border, into Syria, where they come under fire from Islamic State positions. The Kurdish fighters acting as their guides rush the group through a damaged village to take cover.

One participant later remarked that it was “a lot more than we bargained for.”

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