With Syrian peace talks around the corner, stakeholders have become notably less concerned about concealing their behind-the-scenes dealings with warring parties. The United States, for instance, no longer denies its partnership with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), in northern Syria. Having confirmed in October that it had airdropped 50 tons of weapons and ammunition to the YPG, the PYD's military wing, the Obama administration now wants to establish a military base in al-Hasakah.In recent years, Washington's close cooperation with PYD forces caused a rift between the United States and Turkey. In the past, Turkish officials refused to work with the organization which, as the PKK's Syrian wing, has been accused of ethnic cleansing and war crimes by Amnesty International. The PYD's relationship with the PKK, Turkey argues, goes beyond ideological proximity. According to Turkish intelligence, the PKK leadership in northern Iraq has been directly involved in a number of decisions within the PYD and its armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG). Other aspects of the PKK's ties to the PYD are more obvious: Turkish officials claim that a number of militants, who fought among the YPG ranks in Syria, have returned to Turkey and actively participated in assaults against Turkish servicemen and civilians. The discovery of U.S. weapons in PKK safehouses, furthermore, dealt a heavy blow to the Turkish-American partnership.The issue most recently came up during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's Turkey trip. Although President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu vocally criticized Washington's Syria policy, Biden carefully refrained from describing the PYD as a terrorist organization while reiterating the Obama administration's support for anti-PKK operations in southeastern Turkey.Despite Turkey's objections, the United States argues that it must support the PYD forces in order to weaken DAESH. Many people in the government, however, find this argument unconvincing. DAESH has effectively become a convenient excuse for the Obama administration and others to ignore objections against controversial policies. Washington's partnership with the PYD, likewise, has little to do with DAESH: The United States simply wants to play their cards right in order to reach certain goals in post-Assad Syria.Needless to say, media reports about Russia's interest in establishing a military base in northern Syria further complicates the picture. Until recently, the Kremlin's Syria policy was largely focused on Bashar Assad's future. Simply put, Moscow wanted to either keep Assad in power or carve out a piece of land around Latakia to protect vital interests in the region.The downing of a Russian jet in November arguably marked a turning point for Moscow. In recent weeks, Turkish intelligence intercepted a number of messages between the PKK leadership and the Russian government. According to security sources, Turkey also seized a large number of Russian weapons and ammunition from PKK safehouses inside the country. The findings notably coincided with alarming claims that the Kremlin had started supplying PKK militants, in addition to the PYD forces, with military equipment. Russia's motives are complex: First, the Kremlin desperately wants to punish Turkey for refusing to ignore systematic airspace violations. Another objective is to challenge the United States in northern Syria by pursuing a closer relationship with Syria's Kurds. Finally, the Russians believe that the PYD, which the Assad regime claims to have actively supported in the past, could contribute to the military effort to weaken the moderate opposition.