If NATO can not control a megalomaniac autocrat with empire-building dreams, then it is its fault no matter what Putin is doing. A NATO having members actively attacking other NATO members is a very weak alliance indeed and Putin is clever enough to understand it. Fix NATO so that it can mediate and resolve conflicts within its ranks and then Putin will not be able to do anything.
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At least the Syrians are not affected by Covfefe-19.
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Turkey is funding and supporting Wahabi jihadist groups in idlib. Turkey so called Syrian National Army/national Liberation Front/Free Syria Army proxy are all made up of remnants of ISIS and Al Nusra front. They still wear ISIS shoulder patches.
There is hardly any indigenous Syrians in the group to begin with as they are all made up of Wahabi Radicals from the surrounding Sunni Gulf countries, sent there by Imams from their religious schools to do Jihad in Syria.
A lot of the Turkish deployed APC in Idlibs seem to be mysteriously ending up on the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or Turkistan Islamist Party or Hurras al-Din and Faylag al-Sham as they launch attacks. Those Terror Militants seem to have an endless supply of ATGM Tow missiles.
Turkey have been openly supporting those Wahabi Terror groups with Artillery and drone support attacks in Idlib.
Turkeys support for those Wahabi Militants have been well documented. Even US military Spokesperson for operation inherent Resolve colonel Myles Caggins gave a recent interview in which he observed that "Idlib was a magnet for all Al Qaeda terror groups" This is the same sentiment echoed by previous Senior special Envoy for Syria Brett McGurk.
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Thank you, Russia, for winning WW2; forgive us for stealing all countries on your borders, and congrats for your survival following the complete collapse of your entire financial and governmental systems, under the guidance of Putin. May our country retreat from military control of the world and may we all turn toward peace as the natural world leads us toward new priorities.
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And the president glibly advertises bringing the troops home and staying out of foreign entanglements except those that guarantee oil. Not that bringing troops home and staying out of foreign entanglements are necessarily bad things, except there has to be a long-term strategic goal and he can't see beyond his next Twitter comment!
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All of these developments can be changed quickly once Erdogan loses power in Turkey as the country is in deep economical crises along with ascending unhappy populace with millions of undocumented immigrants and losing beloved soldiers in another country that is almost all of it Erdogan's strategy and fault.
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I find it a bit rich to make much fuss about 50 killed Turkish troops when Erdogan is bragging about having killed thousands of Syrian, Iranian and possibly also Russian troops.
It is Erdogan who has enabled Syria's rebel groups in Idlib to keep attacking the areas around. It is his decision to send thousands of Turkish troops into Idlib. It was his decision to abuse command center coordinates that had been giving to Turkey as an observer of the armistice to bomb those locations.
Just as on Greek border Erdogan is behaving inside Syria as if rules of behavior don't apply to him. It is good seeing some people standing up to him.
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@Wim Roffel: perhaps you might consider that Assad is the third generation of his family to conduct a war of random mass murder against any and all dissidents in Syria. If there were a just God, the entire Assad family would be genetically eliminated from Earth.
An accord like this is only good as long as it lasts and in the Middle East such accords have rather short shelf-life. Usually by the time the article is written they are history.
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Putin knows, he just have to unhinge something to get his objectives. He has created a lot of options and is utilizing them whenever it pleases him.
Erdogan has narrowed his option to some pipe-dreams. Erdogan wants to control parts of syria, Putin just wants to scorch it.
But Erdogan is just a curve-ball for a bigger incentive of Putin. And that is why it doesn't matter what will become of Turkey, Idlib or Syria. Putin will use them to destabilize the ME, Europe and the NATO. He is just waiting for the right momentum. Erdogan has become just another pawn, who has been deluded to think, he is still in control. And Europe is paralyzed and will immediately turn at each other as soon as the angry sultan of the bosporus open the gates for million of desperate people.
And the US - doesn't matter anymore.
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@Mathias Weitz: remember that over the past 500 years, Russia and the small countries on Europe's SE border have spent generations of lives defending Europe against invasions from Turkey. Russian literature has plenty of stories concerning wars with Muslim armies on the southern borders. As recently as the 1683, Turkish Muslim armies surrounded Vienna, and the city was saved only by the appearance of a Christian army under the Polish King John Sobieski, that broke the siege and sent the Turkish army packing. Americans need a better education in western and world history before 1775.
Please note that Turkey today, still, is the only modern, secular muslim nation in the world who is an ally of the west. It’s different to be from Norway and say you are part of NATO. As Turks, we paid large prices over the decades for being an “active” western ally, i.e. we faced SOVIET union in Cold War, two GULF wars as Saddam’s Neigbor, face constant terrorism from PKK, fought ISIS, and Syrian civil war now. When I read the press today, It’s as if Turkey is this spineless country led by a radical muslim.. that is false. Sure Erdoğan has made mistakes but nothing close to what is printed. But media has been bashing Turkey nonstop. I hear no positives about Turkey. Here are some facts, We took in 4 million people 8 years ago from Syria, on our own dime, to this day we still protect them. Greece received only thousands last week and they are shooting them. No one says one word about that. Regarding being an ally to West, We have to balance being a NATO ally and being a decent neigbor to actual countries like RUSSIA, IRAN etc. whom we have to share borders with, whom we have to buy gas from so we can warm the country in winter and do trade and so forth. Do we have mistakes, absolutely, but Erdoğan has been in power since November 2002, why all of a sudden, in the last few years he is considered a bad child by the west? What changed?? Before you get excited, let me add that I didn’t vote for him. TURKEY is a true US ally who is only doing what it can to survive in the world.
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@Pasha
Turkey didn't fight ISIS, they supported them for most of their time. Turkey fought the kurds, the only reliable ally of the west, which by the way i consider the most advanced democratic muslim society in the middle east.
And turkey still support sunni radicals everywhere.
Turkey did take a share of the mess in the middle east, but they also contributed to it. And above all, everything they do is not for altruism, but for the dream of another ottoman empire.
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@Mathias Weitz: don't tar an entire nation with the same brush. Turkey today is not the empire of the sultans.
For Goodness sake, Higgins, that’s all you got?
That Putin wants to divide NATO?
The poor Syrians didn’t ask for their country - be it as imperfect, as it was - to be ripped apart by foreigners streaming in and financed/supported from abroad screaming ‘democracy’ in between chopping heads.
Any steps, any ceasefire, any agreement to halt the hostilities should be welcomed, not criticised.
Russia’s presence there is a stabilising factor; Turkey’s not so much.
I am glad that Putin and Erdogan managed to cut a deal.
Seems the ex-KGB guy is quite an apt negotiator.
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Al Qaeda lives to fight another day.
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Erdogan and Putin have relegated Trump to the taxi squad in the Middle East game.
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No, Trump resigned from the Varsity to join the JV team. Wait until Bernie pulls all 75,000 troops back from overseas and discharges them to pay for Medicare for All. We will have another Munich agreement, this time the EU caving in to Moscow instead of 1938 Germany. No one wants to pay for their own defense so they will cave.
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@Tom its only Syria and not the whole Middle East ... rest assured US have got thousands of G.I. boots on the ground in Saudi Arabia and if the Saudi King do not toe the line, We can always crash his Palace gates with M1 Abhrams and install a new Crown Prince .. that is once we make the current MBK disappears quietly.
Erdogan went to see Putin in Moscow with a tail between his legs. He didn’t even have the guts to lodge a protest against the Russian airstrike last week in Idlib that killed at least 34 Turkish soldiers.
Fearing an all-out confrontation with Russia in Syria that Turkey can’t afford, Erdogan has to swallow a bitter pill, that he reaps what he has sowed – the worst casualties in years.
Erdogan’s hubris proves his undoing, alienating the West and regional players in the Middle East, and embarking on military forays in Libya and Syria, that pit Turkey against Russia which backs Ankara’s rivals in both countries.
He has tested Putin’s patience and resolve in Syria and learned a harsh lesson last week.
But the two leaders need each other. Looking at Assad, Erdogan knows he’d survive with Putin’s backing. And Putin needs Erdogan as his Trojan Horse within NATO.
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@J. von Hettlingen
Get your facts straight. It was a Syrian airstrike, not Russian. and it happened, because the Turks didn’t communicate their troop movements in an area, where the Nusra rebels were launching attacks against the Syrian army from.
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"[Putin's] primary goal is to protect his long-term project of dividing NATO."
And he can count on Sultan Erdogan's support.
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What happened to USA. At one time in history USA cared about our allies, even other countries that were not close allies. Now our fearful leader denies any need for US involvement in world affairs unless there is personal advantage to him or his family of oligarchs. SAD ! !
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@M USA is tired of going to one war after another. US is realising that they are good at starting Wars, but just not good at finishing it.
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Noam Chomsky knows a little about geopolitics. He is on record saying, "The single biggest threat to peace in Europe is the expansion of NATO." This comports exactly with the generally diametrically opposed geopolitical giant Henry Kissinger who is on record that, "For the peace of Europe to be maintained, Ukraine, like Finland, must remain non-aligned."
The anti-Russian horde of neocons/neoliberals is best read by it's actions since the USSR disbanded: they like wars. The love of a bull in the world china shop is the backstory of the US all-enlistee military, and it's deficit-spending floated Pentagon budget. Citizens won't oppose wars of choice when their kids don't have to serve in them, and the money costs are buried. War love is also the story behind unfounded US security state anti-Russian agitprop re election interference. The glaring irony of various billionaires Adleson, Steyer, or Bloomberg smashing our elections without a peep out of the media is telling.
The eminent American scholar of geopolitics Stephen Kotkin is on record with the not-so-funny riddle,
Q. What's the difference between the US State Department and the Russian State Department?
A. The Russians have one.
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"For Putin, loyalty is the most important thing.” Substitute Trump for Putin and this statement is exactly the same. How can Trump be Putin's best buddy [or vice versa] when they both expect total loyalty? Those relationships will 'never' work since each expects the other to cow-tow and neither will ever submit to bow down since each believes is a king.
@MadasHelinMD: The difference is that Putin is smart and experienced, while Trump is tangled up in a spider-web of narcissism.
The so-called "loyalty" that Mr. Putin expects from Turkey and others is better described as "obedience." The relationship of Mr. Putin to any asset he recruited, as "handler" rather than "partner," is a microcosm of the Soviet foreign policy he has continued by recruiting national leaders during his twenty-plus years in power. Russia has only client states, potential client states, and enemies. Mutual alliances are an unknown concept for a nation grown so paranoid over decades of suffering.
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This presents what Russia and Turkey do in Syria as all about American primacy in NATO and what Americans want.
It isn't. It is about what Russia and Turkey want in Syria. Those are different, but can be put together like puzzle pieces. Putin called it, "to find common ground on the disputed issues that have arisen, and come to acceptable solutions.”
The American-centric vision obscures.
Russia's national interests in Syria and with Turkey are of course many and complex. It is a lot of people over large areas with a lot happening. But always it is what they need, not just defying what Americans want.
Russian fears are of a short overland distance from jihadists, some from Russian Muslim areas, going overland back to cause more of the past troubles in Russian Muslim areas. Those were serious problems, and Putin is now holding them down.
Erdogan fears Kurds from his 40 year terrorist war with them. He also fears instability that crosses over his own border. He also fears refugees in number that cause domestic troubles. He also fears secular/military dominated politics in the Muslim world, which is a direct challenge to how he runs his own country much like what came before him.
Erdogan both fears and uses Israel. He is concerned about rivalry for gas under the Med. He is also embarrassed in his Muslim politics by what Israel so freely does to Muslims despite him. This is the real reason for the antiaircraft missiles from Russia, that could possibly hit Israeli planes.
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@Mark Thomason I've long thought it's quite plausible that Higgins is Company.
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@Mark Thomason
When I read this reply from M. Thomason ( the only reply so far) I realize how unaware i am of these interwoven interests of Russia, Turkey, Syria, USA in this complexity.
Then I ask myself, what should I believe is the position of my Gov. ? I don't really know and I wonder if there is a clear policy.
I'm trying to understand virus scare and how to react. I fear that we are now in remote control for Nat. policy while the amateurs scream and shout.
Nov. needs to come quickly.
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@stuart -- Maybe.
But if not that, then it is "reporting" living by press release and insider access.
They are all direct from the Company. It amounts to the same thing, and I wonder if it matters which way it gets to the same place.
There are other sources out there, but they'd require hard work reporting and a budget for reporting.
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