Posted on 10/02/2011 12:19:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
If Obama were a poker player holding a full house, he’d fold to let the guy across the table with a pair of twos feel like a winner. Not even Jimmy Carter was so adverse to squandering leverage when dealing with friends and foes.
Turkey has changed. During the last few months, Turkey has acted far more as an adversary than as an ally. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threw a diplomatic temper tantrum when the UN’s Palmer Commission found largely in Israel’s favor with regard to Israel’s enforcement of a blockade against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. In its wake:
•Erdoğan has promised the (U.S.-supplied) Turkish Navy would escort Turkish ships carrying supplies to Gaza in contravention of the lawful blockade. •Egemen Bağış, a close Erdoğan aide who now serves as Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs, threatened to use the (U.S.-supplied) Turkish Navy against Cyprus, an EU member state. •Turkish warplanes have bombed Iraqi territory, killing seven civilians, a strike for which Turkey neither made the apology nor paid the compensation it demands from others. •Turkey has demanded an apology from Armenia, somewhat akin to Saddam Hussein demanding an apology from Kuwait, Russia from Georgia, or China from Tibet. •Erdoğan has used his UN address to bash Israel in the crudest possible terms. So what’s Obama to do? A strategically-minded president wouldn’t hesitate to use his leverage to assert American interests and coerce countries acting against them to change their behavior or face consequences. Obama, however, isn’t strategically-minded. He doesn’t understand diplomacy and would rather play a losing hand than the hand he was dealt.
In response to Erdoğan’s recent provocations, here is what the Obama administration has done or is doing:
•It continues its drive to supply Turkey with the next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter without so much as reporting to Congress the vulnerabilities of technology transfer should the fighters be supplied. •It has agreed to provide Turkey with Predators, even as Turks suggest they want to develop their own version, again suggesting the Turks mean to reverse engineer the product we supply them. •Now, Francis “Frank” Ricciardone, Obama’s recess appointee to be ambassador to Turkey, has announced the United States would provide Turkey with three Super Cobra helicopters, a platform that Turkey could easily turn against Cyprus or Israel.
The United States and Turkey will share military relations so long as Turkey remains a NATO member. However, maintenance of military relations does not mean the United States should supply Turkey with weaponry it might share with Iran or use against American allies. Turkey’s change is ideological; it is not a country the United States can co-opt. It’s time for Congress to tell the White House: enough is enough. No more cutting edge weaponry for Turkey.
Simple, so they can use them in their coming war with Israel.
Why do you think?
Because he wants to award his radical Mooselimb buddies? I would not even give them a Huey, let alone an Apache.
At WKRP, they just dropped them from a traffic chopper....
Yepp.
Simple, so they can use them in their coming war with Israel.
Yep. Ezekiel 38 - 39
but Les thought they could fly...
Dunno.
Maybe because O is to Boeing as LBJ was to Hughes?
How much Boeing stock do he and his cronies own?
As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly.
So Obama will sell F-35’s and AH-64’s to Turkey, but won’t allow for the sale of F-16’s to Taiwan?
What the Hell is wrong with this picture?
This guy will be the end of all of us.
I was going to say conservative journalists need to stop asking simpering, rhetorical questions and courageously print the obvious answers, but then I re-read Rubin’s article.
Rubin begins with
“If Obama were a poker player holding a full house, he’d fold to let the guy across the table with a pair of twos feel like a winner”
and summarizes with
“Obama, however, isn’t strategically-minded. He doesn’t understand diplomacy and would rather play a losing hand than the hand he was dealt.”
He’s not even ready for insightful, let alone courageous.
...And from our inillustrious Congress?....
“but Les thought they could fly...”
I think it was Carlson who said that.
At the very minimum, the sale/transfer should be put on hold, until we see just how far the Turks are going to go. I am not optimistic, to say the least.
Maybe 'HELL' is what is wrong with this picture. (wish I knew what that meant).
How is God rewarding America for arming the enemies of God and Israel?
Look around.
His foreign policy is on par with his domestic policy. Just unbelievable how a president can screw up so many things.
He’s just a turkey looking out for his own kind.
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