BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
Credit where credit is due:
President Barack Obama has personally warned Turkey’s prime minister that unless Ankara shifts its position on Israel and Iran it stands little chance of obtaining the US weapons it wants to buy.
Mr Obama’s warning to Recep Tayyip Erdogan is particularly significant as Ankara wants to buy American drone aircraft – such as the missile-bearing Reaper – to attack the Kurdish separatist PKK after the US military pulls out of Iraq at the end of 2011. ...
Washington was deeply frustrated when Turkey voted against United Nations sanctions on Iran in June.
When the leaders met later that month at the G20 summit in Toronto, Mr Obama told Mr Erdogan that the Turks had failed to act as an ally in the UN vote. He also called on Ankara to cool its rhetoric about an Israeli raid that killed nine Turks on a flotilla bearing aid for Gaza.
Watch and learn, David Cameron.
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Aug '10
Re: BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
I trust you aren't getting your hopes up, Claire. In the next 24 hours he'll very likely "clarify" his statement.
"Let me be perfectly clear. I didn't mean to imply that....."
His main job on earth is to sow chaos, confusion, and strife in the world. He never misses an opportunity to do that.
May '10
Re: BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
I'll believe it when I see follow-through.
Jul '10
Re: BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
They don't need no stinkin' infidel weapons. The Islamic world is reknowned for its scientific, technical and manufacturing prowess.
They invented the zero or something.
And taffy.
Re: BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
One thing I want to keep in mind is that Obama is not our foreign policy emperor. There's a whole foreign policy apparatus at work day in and day out, and though I am somewhat justifiably concerned I think about its ability to conceive of a grand strategy, on several key issues the truth is a lot of very smart and very aware people are guiding us through some difficult, difficult waters. Without reading too much into the arms sales situation these days, it sure looks like the US and Russia are moving in complex fashion toward some sort of grand bargain or shared understanding about Iran. Russia tightens its military alliance with Armenia; the US gets tough with Turkey; Israel buys our first-rate fighter jets; Russia's S-300 umbrella goes to Abkhazia, not Iran. What's the big picture that emerges from these kinds of moves? Russia won't lift a finger to help Iran, I think, once push comes to military shove. It's a dangerous game we're playing, but we could be doing a lot worse.
May '10
Re: BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
James, whay could possibly make you think this apparatus is not on the same page as the President? The bureaucracy (i.e. the career non-political appointees at the State Department) is as reflexively anti-Israel as he is.
Ask a Statie what the goal of foreign policy should be and they will say it's "stability." But to them Israel is the destabilizing influence in the region. Why, if Israel went away, so would all of their problems. It is only the domestic politics of the situation that forces them to take a pro-Israel position on anything.
Re: BREAKING: Obama Does Something Right
You're absolutely right, James. And Erdogan seriously miscalculated with that "no" vote on sanctions and the Mavi Marmara business. Many Congressmen who until then had been willing to give the AKP the benefit of the doubt--or who simply weren't paying attention--suddenly snapped wide awake. But the significance of having the US president say this very publicly and very clearly (instead of giving one message in public and another in private, as, presumably, Cameron is doing) is massive. These messages are really heard in Turkey. There are a lot of people here who will be pretty patient with the AKP's shenanigans if they think its foreign policy is kind of clever--if they think its getting away with playing from both sides of the deck. But if they get the message, "Hey, we might lose the US, for real," they will not be so amused. The question "Who lost Turkey" is of passing interest to Americans. The question "Who lost America" would be of massive interest here. It's really important to make it clear that this is what Turkey is now facing--dealing with its dubious new friends without any help from us.