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To: mac_truck
"Don't forget NATO partner also...Article 5 and all that."

Article 5 kicks in if a NATO ally is attacked. If the NATO ally does the attacking, they are on their own.
92 posted on 12/21/2018 8:35:20 PM PST by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Old Teufel Hunden; All
Article 5 kicks in if a NATO ally is attacked. If the NATO ally does the attacking, they are on their own.

Turkey says they're defending against a terrorist PKK insurgency with arms and support coming from Northern Syria.

NATO officially recognizes PKK as a terrorist group and despite the disclaimers, the Turkish PKK and Syrian SDF have close ties, a shared ideology, and similar aspirations.

Turkey warned the US not to provide heavy weapons to the SDF, but they did so anyway under the guise of fighting ISIS and now some of those weapons and fighters have wound up in Turkey.

So the conditions already exist on the ground for Turkey to invoke Article-5 if it wanted to, and the Turkish incursion into Syria to stamp out the cross border insurgency has the imprimatur of NATO acceptance.

Which is not to say Turkey isn't a bad actor (they clearly are), but as a member of NATO they are mostly immune from Western interference, while still being able to call on them as needed.

150 posted on 12/22/2018 12:18:12 PM PST by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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