Posted on 09/10/2018 9:29:08 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
The trilateral summit in Tehran between the presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia was one of the most unusual parades of international diplomacy yet. It was televised live. Lets remember the scenes: All who watched it saw how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blundered and how Russian President Vladimir Putin ridiculed him. Then it was a rare if not unique case of international diplomacy where a trilateral partnership considered detrimental to the interests of the West displayed signs of failure on a burning international issue.
What has had the West the transatlantic security system worried for some time is NATO-member Turkeys partnership with Russia and Iran in Syria. However, the looming military campaign of the Syrian regime and Russia, with the support of Iran, to take back the jihadi haven of Idlib has begun to put the nail in the coffin of the Turkey-Iran-Russia partnership. Turkey has established 12 military observation posts in the province as part of the implementation of the Astana accord reached with Russia and Iran. And Turkey is energetically against a military operation in Idlib. So are the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Does this mean that the disagreement between Turkey on the one side and Russia and Iran on the other concerning a cease-fire demanded by Erdogan will steer Ankara back to the West that Turkey has been showing every sign of deserting over the past two years? No. The Tehran summit just revealed the loneliness and isolation of Turkey.
Of course, that was not the perception that the Turkish media almost 100% under the control of Erdogan conveyed to the Turkish public.
(Excerpt) Read more at al-monitor.com ...
Now it is clear why Erdogan was invited. I'm sure by now he realizes what dealing with his "friend" Putin is like.
This is a well written article and appears very accurate. Al-Monitor has a good reputation and this author is very experienced. Have read his material before.
Photo at the link. It is worth the read.
I don't think the US is opposed. Trump only asked Putin to do it carefully. Trump has said from the beginning his only interest is killing ISIS, and making sure Assad doesn't use chemicals. He can use all the lead he wants.
Turkey deserves to rot in this sewer they created. Let us hope the US stays out.
On Sep. 8, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that there had been a meeting between leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Turkistan Islamic Party) and the White Helmets. According to the ministry, Scenarios for staging and filming of incidents with the alleged use of chemical agents by the Syrian government forces against civilians were discussed.
A special team of some “foreign friends of the Syrian revolution” will give a signal for the start of the provocation in Idlib province, the ministry warned on Twitter.
And today’s news is that Assad has approved using chemical weapons again. Sounds fishy to me.
The Zionist regime cannot be seen as an aspiring fighter against terrorism. The occupant regime of Israel should immediately leave occupied Syrian territories, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said.
Neither the US nor Israel will allow Iran to threaten Israel. Iran's language about Israel being occupiers of Israel? is of course totally insane.
I’m not sure Turkey does, but Erdogan the Islamist and his supporters do.
Yes, I agree with your statement.
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Hassan Rouhani should take a quick strategic read of the Word of Yehova!
Israel gets everything from the Euphrates to the “river in Egypt.”
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I do agree with you that the chemical weapons being “authorized” by Assad does sound fishy.
Remember, chem weapons kill people (and animals) and largely leave physical surrounding untouched. But kill all human life often those not actually targeted.
Yes.
And Israel’s attackers are destroyed.
Erdogan said, We know that within the Astana meetings our interests have converged on major directions.
With this in mind and with lives and blood of our soldiers in Jarablus, al-Bab and Afrin we cleaned the territory of terrorists. Syrian lands have been provided with peace and calm and by this we sought to create conditions for return of refugees.
Yes, I noticed. Everything that comes out of his mouth is BS. Is he still in NATO?
Yes, I guess technically he is. But effectively he is not.
There is a huge nato base in turkey. Needs to be moved to a usa freindly, like poland.
There is talk of moving some of our German bases to Poland. I’m for it.
There are options in the ME that would work for replacement of Incirlik.
Yes, it should be considered.
Erdogan is in trouble, Turkey could shift, but won’t be soon.
Temporary alliances of convenience among blood enemies may seem illogical to an ordered Western mind, and even more so to us black hats bad, white hats good Yankees, but it's commonplace in that region.
ISIS, ISIL, DAESH, Al Qaeda, whatever name of the month is applied to the forces opposing Asaad, are entirely Sunni operations with the occasional collaborations of convenience, for America's and Israel's detriment, with Shia Iran. Their real back door support remains our "friends", the Saudi's, whose own claims of preeminence are based on Sunni control and protection of the Islamic "Holy Sites".
Like I said, by Middle East standards things are pretty straight forward. But that doesn't mean they're not complex and fluid. It's never easy to sort out, but watching complete imbeciles like Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kerry, and the late Senator Songbird of Arizona get involved before some sanity was restored in 2017 was scary.
Largely agree with what you said.
I believe that Putin and Trump have an unspoken understanding of both of their interests and neither wants a direct conflict with each other.
If some stability is restored, it will be done by common will of the US and Russia to have it happen. I hope it can.
Do I trust Putin? No. But I do trust them to act in their own interests. They have disappointed me by what they allowed in Efrin (Afrin). Now that is largely past and Turkey looks terrible from the exposure of their actions.
Will there be an alliance between Turkey and Russia? Not in a traditional sense, but in a sense of mutual interests. Oil, the strait, bases and regional influence. I don’t think Putin likes Erdogan and I think he will play with him for a while before using him.
I don’t believe a word of the article.
September 10th article, irrelevant,
In the meantime, Erdogan and Putin AND NO IRAN met to forestall any attack on Idlib...
So, yeah, now, we get some article almost 2 weeks old saying Putin abandoned his Turkish partner.
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