Posted on 11/27/2015 7:14:27 AM PST by Michael van der Galien
A few days ago, Turkish F16-jets shut down a Russian jet. Ever since, tensions between Turkey and Russia have been on the rise.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly threatened Turkey, and has taken action against Turkish citizens inside Russia. Some construction companies owned by Turks have been raided, trucks delivering flowers have been sent back at the border, and the Russian government has warned Turkish food producers that their goods may no longer be welcome in Russia.
At the same time, Putin has spoken out against Turkey's Islamist ruler, President Erdogan, by accusing him of supporting terrorism. The Russian president said in a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande yesterday that Turkey has supported all kinds of Islamist groups in Syria, ISIS being one of them.
President Erdogan has now shot back. He warns Putin not to "play with fire," adding that Putin and Assad, not Turkey, are supporting ISIS:
"Putin says ‘those who have double standards on terrorism are playing with fire.’ I totally agree with him. Indeed, supporting the [Bashar] al-Assad regime in Syria, which has killed 380,000 people, is playing with fire. Striking opposition groups that have international legitimacy with the excuse of fighting against Daesh [an acronym of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL] is playing with fire. Using an incident in which Turkey’s righteousness is accepted by the whole world as an excuse to torment our citizens who were in Russia to attend a fair is playing with fire. Irresponsibly hitting trucks in the region that are there for trade or humanitarian reasons is playing with fire. We sincerely advise Russia not to play with fire." He went on to say that the United States has documented the oil trade between ISIS, Russia and the Syrian regime.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Erdogan will find out he is the one playing with fire.
Don’t poke the bear
LOL! I’m guessin’ erdogan hasn’t seen the video of Vlad killin’ a bear with his bare hands. When he was 3. Or horseback riding shirtless.
Erdogan believes he has his bully standing behind him.
He may be wrong.
This is not de-escalating.
What a load of crap...
Erdogan leaning a little too hard on NATO.
**Erdogan believes he has his bully standing behind him.**
Exactly
Turkey is about the size of Washington state. Russia is the size of .... well you get it.
If he considers him a bully to anyone other than his less than marxist countrymen then Erdogan’s judgment is sadly lacking.
True.
In the Obama - Erdogan dynamic, the Muslim is definitely giving the orders.
Guess who wins?
True, see post #13.
LOL!
Putin’s hackers should get to work on those ISIS bank accounts in Turkey.
Putin would flatten your Muslim *ss, Erdogan.
I recognize that there are people who have an unrealistic view of Putin and think that he is stupid enough to go to war with the West, but he is not that stupid. He knows that Russia's best interests lie in cooperating with the West and that is what he will be aiming for. But, there remains the problem of Iran.
Do you really think that Russia wants to trust Iran? Do you really think that Russia would be comfortable with a nuclear Iran?
In the end, Russia will side with the West.
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