Posted on 10/15/2019 8:22:53 AM PDT by C19fan
That was 150 years ago.
Russia has the ability to take out every power plant, water purification center, dam, highway junction and railway bridge in Turkey within a week, without a single Russian soldier needing to set foot there. Erdogan knows that.
The Russians would not try to invade or occupy, they learned that lesson in Afghanistan. They would simply turn Turkey into Afghanistan, then walk away.
I am not insensitive to the USA putting the screw to allies in the past, the handing over of Eastern Europe to the Soviets at Yalta, the stabbing in the back of Draza Mihailovic who opposed Tito, the abandonment and open hostility towards Chinese Nationalists and Chiang Kai Shek who were opposing the bloodthirsty Mao, the betrayal of South Vietnam and the Montagnards, we could go on and on.
Black marks on our national conscience, to be sure.
But I don’t know what to think about these Kurds. I have been sympathetic to them overall, but...these specific Kurds are PKK Kurds who are communists, and antithetical to most things we believe in. I am inclined not to want to ally with them, and even more so, since the Left REALLY appears to want us to.
If they are friends of the Left, they aren’t friends of mine.
Dont no nuthin. Bout ennything.
The architect of the program was Zbig Brzezinsky. It took place under Carter’s administration.
That’s impossible. Despite turbulent past Turkey and Russia has very special relations since 1990s.
About 5 million Russian tourists are coming to Turkey every year, a great number of retirees are living there. A million of Turkish citizens work in Russian construction industry. Two of three oranges and tomatoes are coming to Russia from Turkey.
And I’m sure that there were a lot of German tourists in France in the 1930’s, and that Germany conducted a lot of trade with them too.
Turkey’s trade relationships with Russia may reduce Putin’s DESIRE to open a can of whup-ass on Turkey. It does not affect Russia’s ABILITY to open up a 55-gallon drum of whup-ass at any time they choose, which is something that Turkey needs to remember.
I think I'll keep to my knowledge of hitting a baseball.
;-)
No, no, no! Don’t keep to your baseball!
This is the reason why we come to FR...even if you get a few pieces from someone here, that is going to put you far ahead of those who view CNN or the other alphabet news outlets.
I am willing to bet the vast majority of people you speak to on this subject think of the Kurds in the same way the Montagnards were viewed: as being under the thumb of a repressive regime we are at odds with, who helped us and then we abandoned to their fates.
Generally, the Kurds in Syria are Sunni Marxists (PKK) with a minuscule smattering of Christians mixed in.
I believe many of the Kurds in Iraq were KDP Kurds, who we might view as “Secular” muslims. They are not as focused on the calls to prayer or muslim strictures, and are more likely to separate government from religion, whereas devout muslims do not generally accept that kind of separation of government and religion. They were more closely aligned with Turkey, although I suspect that is because Saddam persecuted them pretty rigorously.
The Left probably thinks of Kurds as being one monolithic entity, and they happen to like the Communist variety IMO.
Thank you for that.
You bet...I enjoy your posts, so when I am able to return the favor...
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