Kikapu wrote:Pyrpolizer wrote:The truth is there is absolutely no evidence Turkey is even needed by the Americans to be their "ally". What sort of an ally is she anyway, against who is she an ally? Against the Russians?? But she is already flirting with the Russians as we speak! The Americans only needed her just once (in the Iraqi war) and even in that case she refused to deliver.
Just wait until the Americans realize all this "ally" story is just bullshit.
True they have some airbases in Turkey. Has anyone ever checked how many airbases the Americans have in Afganistan and Iraq already? Have you compared their number to what they have in Turkey?
Imo as soon as the Americans stabilize their presence in Iraq and Afganistan Turkey's "ally role" will just become history....
Perhaps the above voting in the US Congress is just the prelude of what will follow. Patience....
Welcome back Pyro, you have been missed.!!Has anyone ever checked how many airbases the Americans have in Afganistan and Iraq already?
Totally agree with you with your post. The US now has 4 MEGA size Military Bases in Iraq that they occupy. Those bases worth a great deal more than the one in Turkey. The Kurds are also an ally with the US. One always needs to be careful if you make friends with the US. Once your usefulness has been reached, you are pushed aside like an "old shoe". Remember the phrase my old girlfriend used, "if you can't fuck a friend, who can you fuck". Remember when Saddam was given the "Green Light" by the US Ambassador to attack Kuwait back in 1991, then we hit him with everything we had. Now the US is giving the "Green Light" to Turkey to attack positions in Northern Iraq against the PKK. I let the readers decide on the similarities.
Just to add to Kikapu and Pyrpolizer, see this snippet from the bill linked to:
"Whereas overlooking Turkey's occupation of Cyprus injures the moral standing of the United States internationally and doesn't help the image of the United States in Turkey, which recently ranked last in a 47-nation Pew survey for favorable views of the United States:"
U.S. politicians know full well that, in a general sense, Turks dislike Americans and there really isn't anything they can do to change that. Somewhere, the relationship went bad for the Turks; it now appears to be going bad for the Americans too. Regardless, there are strategic infrastructural elements that Turkey controls at the moment (oil pipelines feeding Europe, etc) so I don't think an invasion is going to happen against Turkey. Turkey could always elect to shut down the pipelines if ever in a suicidal mood, but no government is so altruistic...
This brings me to one of the worst facets of American foreign policy: Once an ally, you are above the law and basically beyond reproach. While the 1991 and 2003 Iraq invasions were justified (in part) by failure to make good on some UN resolutions, the US has basically protected Turkey from honoring some 23 violated UN resolutions. Eventually, this type of thing can go to one's head and corrective actions become necessary. It happened with Hussein (he got the green light to go into Kuwait, but advanced too far) and looks like it's starting to happen again with Turkey now (they got the OK to hit some positions in Iraq, but have also made some unannounced air raids that have pissed off the Americans).
All this said, this bill is from August; it's nothing new and may be little more than arm-twisting by the US government to generate compliance out of Ankara for something. (Why else would they move the Armenian Genocide Resolution through committee, only to let it languish without a vote in congress?) It appears that the US is publicly letting Turkey know that things aren't sitting well right now and waiting to see how they respond.
