This won’t be enough for those who are clamoring for the US to go to war with Turkey. All those who are claiming that Trump is under Erdogan’s thumb will keep on saying it.
Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Turkey is an unreliable ally, and that the alliance should be ended, and Turkey should be expelled from NATO. But right now, Turkey is officially an ally of the United States. It is supremely ironic that those who are calling for US troops to face the Turks in Syria, saying that otherwise we will be betraying an ally, the Kurds, don’t seem to care about the optics of betraying another ally, the Turks. Even granting everything that is being said about the nobility and reliability of the Kurds versus the perfidy of the Turks, betraying one alliance to favor another is not going to make the United States appear more trustworthy to the rest of its allies.
Click to enlarge.

nicu says
It’s about time to show Turkish Hitler that he cannot do anything he wants ! IN Germany we have enough Turks who act the same like him ! megalomaniacs !
Quazgaa says
Cum e turcul, și pistolul .
The unexpected voice says
f**k off you filthy muzzie.
gravenimage says
It is unclear to me precisely what Quazgaa means by this Romanian phrase, which translates to “Such master such man”–possibly a criticism of Erdogan–but it does not appear to be anything Muslim.
The unexpected voice says
I must apologise then. I mistook it for Turkish language. I’m really sorry.
Frank Anderson says
In view of the dubious record of US alliances with South Vietnam and Ukraine, I would take any US commitment for assistance with a grain of salt. South Vietnam was promised aid in the event of invasion by the North. The North invaded; Congress prohibited action that could have exterminated the North in days. The Ukraine was promised by WJC that if it gave up its Soviet era NUCLEAR WEAPONS, the US would guarantee its boundaries. Tell me about the occupation of Crimea and eastern areas? The US response has been far less than enthusiastic, as has other NATO countries. With this record of unkept promises, what value should be placed on them by others?. There are too many fingers on the scale of decisions.
It is said with a measure of truth that Israel is the only country with 6 million Prime Ministers, only one of whom is in office at any given time. The US is supposed to have one President who conducts its foreign policy, but it has 535 Senators and Representatives and countless “judges” who are ready, willing and able to limit or reverse the President at the least excuse. What the President promises there are over a thousand people who will reverse on actions they don’t like.
WW says
Wow! Read “The Defeat of Kurdistan Maoists”
https://newrightnetwork.com/2019/10/defeat-kurdistan-maoist.html/
Terry Gain says
The blowback from Evangelicals is working. This entire debacle could have been avoided if Trump had used one of any number of warnings for Erdogan not to kill America’s Kurdish allies.
Martyman39 says
I still remember the slogan from my high school Latin class: “Facta, non verba”. Deeds not words.
SAFI says
Of course nobody called for “the US to go to war with Turkey” as the strawman goes. Only to forbid Turkey from invading in the first place just like it had done for years and until last week. At first I was hesitant of calling Trumps decision a “betrayal”. That was until it came to my attention that last month the US asked the Kurds to dismantle their fortifications and demine the very same passages which the turkish army is currently using to cross into Syria in a move to appease the Turks. The Kurds complied immediately to the pentagon’s request assuming (rather naively as it turns out) that the US would continue preventing Erdogan from invading. Turkish officers were then invited by the US to inspect that fortifications were indeed destroyed (and do reconnaissance of the area they would soon end up invading!)
https://ahvalnews.com/safe-zone/turkish-us-troops-inspect-removed-fortifications-northeast-syria
Then apparently Trump got charmed/spooked/whatever by Erdogan over the phone the immediately went on his twitter and the rest is history. If he absolutely wanted to withdraw and give Erdogan free reign he should have done so a month ago and without ever telling the Kurds to lower their defences! But the way he acted can only be interpreted as either “betrayal” or extreme incompetence! I personally blame his impulsiveness and lack of training(he’s never had any experience with foreign affairs before becoming President). But whatever you call it the end result is the same.
As things stand right now the biggest loser by far is the US. They lost their strategic “investments”, their de facto proxy / buffer against Iran East of the Euphrates and most importantly they utterly ruined their credibility as a partner (without even succeding at winning Ankara back!). Everyone else earned something. Not just Edogan. Assad(and by extension Iran) will regain control the eastern half of the country. Even the Kurds it seems will earn some limited autonomy for themselves (at least if Assad sticks to the bargain they struck yesterday, which is a big IF). But of course the biggest winner of all is clearly Russia who not only drove out the US but he even managed it seems to bring the Kurds, US’s proxies until a week ago, under her wings. Ironically, Putin was the first to ostensibly “greenlight” Erdogan’s operation, by feigning to sympathize with Ankara’s “security concerns”. What a brilliant ruse. And Trump with his impulsiveness, apparently without even bothering to consult his advisors twitted right into the trap. Well done Vlad, you understand how chess is played. The biggest reason however for Putin’s ultimate victory is that he didn’t sell his ally until the end.
Martin says
OCT 15 2019 – Sky News – Turkey’s vice president says there will be no ceasefire
The unexpected voice says
Then may its economy crumble.
CogitoErgoSum says
Erdogan wants a part of Syria so he can send the Syrians in Turkey back to Syria. Let him do it. It’s better than sending them to Europe and causing more trouble there. Fighting is part of their religion. Their god loves it. Muslims fighting Muslims is better than having them fighting against us.
The unexpected voice says
I don’t care about the Kurds bacause they’re Mohammedans after all, but it semm like Turkey is beging its quest to rebuild Ottoman empire and its won’t stop at Syria for sure if we let them, so I think its better to stop them.
Infidel says
It’s not our role to get our troops involved in internecine Muslim wars. But I do agree on one thing – that Turkey is out to rebuild an empire – using Turkic nationalism whenever possible (like the Turkic Council), and other pan-Islamic appeals wherever it works – be it the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Malaysia. In other words, they are after claiming the leadership of Islam, so that they get recognized as a superpower.
In that aspect, Turkey today is as much a geopolitical threat as China (especially to Europe and the Arab world), and certainly more of a geopolitical threat than Russia (whose only international stooge is Belarus, and maybe, just maybe, Serbia)
Lilith Wept says
If Islam gets stronger that’s not good for the rest of the non Moslem world. Islam is way too strong and confident right now.
Mario Alexis Portella says
These sanctions will have the same effect as it it with Iran or North Korea – absolutely none! Incredible how Trump hasn’t that Russia, China, France, and others will complement Turkey as it did with the Ayatollah and Kim
gravenimage says
Sadly, this will probably be the outcome of these sanctions.
Angemon says
Indeed.
The unexpected voice says
While its good that The US imposes sanction on Islamonazi Turkey. I think its about time to destroy its economy expel it from NATO and stop its attempt to get a nuclear weapon. one of the muzzie already have nuke : Pakistan.
Frank Anderson says
Voice, there are several reasons I think it is more likely than not Iran has nuclear weapons:
1. Iran is financing and participating actively with North Korean nuclear and missile development activities. Anything NK has, Iran has. NK is graduating from ponderous liquid fuel missiles to solid fuel.
2. Iran has been practicing shipboard launching of long range rockets for more than a decade. They have basing agreements in Central and South America.
3. Iran has more or less 19,000 centrifuges, far more than are needed to make low enriched uranium for the 1 reactor it has working and the second still under construction. We have no way of knowing how many of those centrifuges are running and the level of enrichment being achieved.
4. Whatever the enrichment level in Iran, the small mass of uranium that would need to be taken to NK for final enrichment and fabrication is incredibly small. The crudest design of nuclear weapon, the Little Boy bomb used on Hiroshima, takes about 10 kilograms of 90 plus percent pure U-235, about the size of a solid softball. How hard would it be to fly 30 low enriched uranium soft balls to NK? More modern designs cut the amount of U-235 required by half. And that was before 1950.
5. The one reactor operating in Iran produces about enough Plutonium as a natural consequence of its operation to make between a bomb every 2 weeks and a bomb every week, in addition to any bombs made from enriched U-235. This is the same breeding process used by the US at Hanford, Washington and Barnwell, SC. Plutonium bombs can be made as small as a basketball, using a “pit” of Plutonium about the size of a hollow baseball. See for yourself at the Atomic Weapons Museum in Albuquerque, NM.
6. Testing bomb designs in NK avoids Iran announcing it has weapons, postponing action by its opponents in a standard action of deception that dates back 1400 years.
7. Standard teaching for 1400 years encourages lying whenever advantage can be obtained over non-believers.
Infidel says
I doubt that the US can get the EU members of NATO to back us in expelling Turkey. Which is why the US needs to be the one to voluntarily leave NATO, and then do whatever’s necessary vis a vis Turkey
Turkey is an Eurasian problem – of its European neighbors like Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Armenia and Russia, as well as its Arab neighbors, like Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia. It’s not our problem
gravenimage says
Jihad has a way of becoming everyone’s problem, unfortunately.
Infidel says
Just expand the travel ban to cover the likes of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, et al, and it won’t be ours. Oh, and try and get the OAS to ensure that they don’t go there either.
That way, we potentially quarantine Islam outside our borders. The ones already in – are another story
gravenimage says
I agree that ultimately we should be isolating Islam as much as possible.
SAFI says
Mr Spencer I haven’t so far seen anyone “calling for the US to go to war with Turkey”. That is only a strawman used by those who are engaging in damage control on Trump’s behalf. I just wish he would at least consult the Pentagon, his Intelligenge, his Secretary of State and preferably his own Party also before tweeting(!) major foreign policy “decisions” that he ends up regreting 5 minutes later!
What his critics are saying is that he should have told Erdogan the same thing he’s been telling him for the past 2+ years “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING IT”. It had worked perfectly so far…
Unless Erdogan treatened him on the phone to “ottoman-slap” the US if Trump didn’t buckle (and Trump got spooked and fell for the bluff). But if that’s how it happened then perhaps we deserve to know the truth.
However you’re absolutely right about that part, “betraying one alliance to favor another is not going to make the United States appear more trustworthy to the rest of its allies” !!!
That’s why Trump should not have expected any gratitute from Ankara. Everyone took notice of how easily Trump threw the Kurds under the bus, including the Turks!
Nobody trusts a traitor not even the one who directly benefits from the treason.
And this happened right after the Kurds finished dismantling their fortifications in Northern Syria at USA’s request as part of US brokered deal in order to “build confidence” with the Turks!
https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20191009/editorial-does-trump-know-what-his-syria-policy-is
Now all the countries that didn’t help storm Omaha beach in Normandy will live in fear of being double-crossed by Trump!
https://fox2now.com/2019/10/09/republican-anger-grows-as-pres-trump-disavows-kurds-by-saying-they-didnt-help-during-wwii/
Marigold says
Turkey has never admitted to the Armenian holocaust so they are not to be trusted. Life is cheap to them.
Mel Middleton says
The sanctions should be capital market sanctions. Those have real teeth and they target the real culprits — those corporations and nations which are aiding and abetting Turkey. This would make them back off their genocidal adventure in a hurry, or lose power in a hurry. No American military “collateral damage”, no bombing of babies, no escalation of the conflict, no endless quagmire, and no lightening rod for jihadists to trumpet another crusade against Islam.
somehistory says
://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/dont-be-a-tough-guy-trumps-extraordinary-letter-to-erdogan/ar-
“Dear Mr. President,” the Oct. 9 letter began, “Let’s work out a good deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will.”
“I have worked hard to solve some of your problems. Don’t let the world down. You can make a great deal,” Trump wrote, asserting that the commander of the Kurdish forces is “willing to negotiate with you.”
“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”
gravenimage says
Trump has called this “fake news”. I’m not sure if he sent this letter or not–parts of it don’t sound like him at all.
Frank Anderson says
GI, does this letter remind you of the letter FDR sent Hitler asking him to promise not to attack a list of countries? Do you remember Hitler’s mocking response, that in my opinion was well deserved for the absurdity of FDR’s letter. I would hate to be sent on a mission if a letter such as this preceded me. My credibility as a negotiator with a message would be weakened to the level of being destroyed and set me up for mocking to my face. Bad move. Between Chamberlain, Daladier and FDR, Hitler was shown he had no determined opposition to his dreams of conquest. Another of Santayana’s failures of memory if this letter was sent. If not, if the letter is a fabrication, then someone should really pay for the falsehood. When dealing with mental issues such as Erdogan is displaying, professional guidance would be a real benefit..