“Usually I’m on Trump’s side. But this is a bad move. It didn’t take much to protect the Kurds. All we had to do was to flex our muscles.”
Our major base in the region is inside Turkey. I don’t know how many Americans are there but probably several thousand. We had somewhere around 150 people in the Syrian Kurd region. How, exactly, would Trump flex our muscle when everyone at the Turkish base where we rent space could be rounded up and held prisoner? Trump made the only move he could under the circumstances.
On the other hand, I suspect Turkey is ripe for a civil war and substantial casualties here might kick that off.
“I suspect Turkey is ripe for a civil war and substantial casualties here might kick that off.”
This is going to play a big role in Turkish domestic politics - one way or the other.
Erdogan’s Nationalist political opponents tend to rally around putting down the Kurds. A quick victory will boost Erdogan with them. A slow stream of casualties will be a political drag on Erdogan.
There is also significant risk that domestic terrorism will increase in retaliation, and possibly the already struggling economy could take a significant hit.
And that is the problem. We are so stupidly fixated on Russia - like it is 1985 - that it warps our entire foreign policy.
Turkey is our enemy. Not Russia.
Stupid and Stupider. Come on Trump - do your own research and stop relaying on crap military advice from the JCS.
He could lob tomahawk missiles into downtown Istanbul.