I feel this situation with Turkey is a big test for the Gump administration

From RT:
https://www.rt.com/news/416586-washington-arming-kurds-afrin-operation

‘US broken promises to stop arming Kurds triggered Afrin op’ – Turkey's ex-FM to RT
Published time: 21 Jan, 2018 20:59 Edited time: 21 Jan, 2018 21:24

Turkey would not have embarked on a military campaign in Afrin if Washington had honored its promises to cut off supplies and support to Kurdish militias, Yasar Yakis, Turkey's former foreign minister told RT.

It was “to a very large extent” the US policy towards the Kurds which served as the catalyst for the Turkish offensive in northern Syria, the former diplomat and ambassador to the UN Office in Vienna, Egypt and Saudi Arabia said.

“If the US wasn’t going to arm Kurds, Turkey wouldn’t have arrived to the point where it is.” Ankara “tried to draw attention of its ally, [telling the Americans] ‘You should not arm and train and provide ammunition to a terrorist group’,” Yakis said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) viewed by Ankara as a terrorist group.

With President Recep Erdogan pledging to take the military offensive beyond Afrin, extending it to Manbij, Turkey will engage the Americans, leading to the two powers clashing in a third country, he said. This would be “unacceptable in the alliance.”

Relations between the two NATO allies “have been going from bad to worse in the last several years,” noted Joshua Landis, Director at the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “The US has begun to write Turkey off as a partner and a security ally in the region. Turkey felt increasingly that the US is siding with Kurdish nationalism in Syria, in Iraq, defying Turkish interests.” Landis believes.

Washington’s announcement to create a predominantly Kurdish thousand-strong border force in Syria was “the final straw” Landis said. Although the US later backtracked on the so-called “Border Security Force,” its stated intention to maintain a military presence in Syria further fuelled the flames.

“They don’t have to stay and arm and train a Kurdish-dominated security force,” Landis pointed out. Referring to President Donald Trump's reluctance to end military support to the Kurds and Washington's recent announcement that US troops will remain in Syria, Landis said “this change in American foreign policy is what has really driven Turkey to take this step.”

With the Turkish offensive in full swing, the US is going to face “a tough sledding ahead,” while its Kurdish allies “will see America having let them down,” Landis outlined. “What this is going to demand of the Kurds, is that they sacrifice their brothers in Afrin in order to build up autonomy in the eastern part of the country.”
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What is Gump going to do? Once he's done throwing a fit over DACA and recovers with a bag of Big Macs and an extra big bowl of ice cream, that is.

 

What is there to do? Another hot spot with near insoluble problems brought on by Turkeys long running genocidal campaign against the Kurds.

 

I was really impressed when you took away the first two letters of Trump's name and replaced it with another letter. Really just blew me away and now makes me feel insecure in your presence.

This is the stuff that separates the men from the boys.

 

Good for you. Got any thoughts for how Gump will handle this situation, though?

 

You did it again! Oh man! That's great! That's really great!........











Address the president of the United States correctly and with respect and then I will take your FLAMEBAIT TROLL thread seriously.

 

Personally, I don't think President Gump is up to this. He is not CIC material and now that is being proven in a big way.

 

oh look Jeanette's alter ego is linking to RT and blaming the US... let me just google "the biggest ****ing eyeroll ever"

 

This thread is a waste of valuable bandwidth.

 

I’m searching the forum for all the times you chastised republicans on this board for calling Obama obozo and such. Can you point me to them?

 

I was a young and immature during most of Obama's time in office. We all got to grow up sometime.

 

Lol. Good one.

Anyway,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...to-syria-battle-kurdish-militia-idUSKBN1F90RQ

Turkish forces push into Syria, battle Kurdish militia
AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - Turkey’s army and rebel allies battled U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria’s Afrin province on Sunday, stepping up a two-day-old campaign against YPG fighters that has opened a new front in Syria’s civil war.

Amid U.S. calls for restraint, Turkish artillery pounded YPG positions, while rockets fired from inside Syria slammed into two Turkish border towns, wounding dozens, according to the local governor’s office and a witness.

Turkey began its push to clear YPG fighters from a northwestern enclave of Syria on Saturday when it launched artillery and air strikes against their positions in Afrin in what it called “Operation Olive Branch”.

Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization and has been infuriated by U.S. support for the fighters. Washington, which is backing the YPG in the battle against Islamic State in Syria, on Sunday said it was concerned about the situation. We better be! Sheesh.

“Our jets took off and started bombing. And now the ground operation is underway. Now we see how the YPG ... are fleeing in Afrin,” President Tayyip Erdogan said. “We will chase them. God willing, we will complete this operation very quickly.”

Intense Turkish artillery fire and air strikes continued to hit some villages, the YPG said, while fierce battles raged to the north and west of Afrin against Turkish forces and their rebel allies, said Birusk Hasaka, a YPG spokesman in Afrin.

Turkey, which is backing the Free Syrian Army rebel factions in northern Syria, wants to create a 30-km (19 mile) “safe zone” in the region, broadcaster HaberTurk quoted the prime minister, Binali Yildirim, as saying.

But it is targeting the U.S.-supported YPG at a time Turkey’s ties with NATO ally Washington are deeply strained.

“We urge Turkey to exercise restraint and ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration and scrupulous to avoid civilian casualties,” U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. What kind of limp-wristed nonsense is that??

Turkey did advise the United States before taking action, the U.S. Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, said on Sunday, adding “We’ll work this out”.

.... continued at the link.
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What a cluster. How did we let it come to this? My only conclusion is GUMP being clueless and failing at diplomacy, BIGLY. Got to like how the rebels, whom we supposedly support, are even teamed up with the Turks to attack our Kurdish buddies. I guess our arms manufacturers will be happy, at any rate, seeing as how one US-armed group is now shooting at another, and one of those is shooting at Turkey. Good grief.

 

Lol

 

The West cannot afford losing Turkey to Russia and Iran...

The West cannot afford losing Turkey to Russia and Iran
Tue August 14, 2018 - Turkey's national currency, the lira, has tumbled by nearly 40% against the US dollar so far this year.