Reading
this account of Trump's deal making highlights the danger of rash
decisions, like tarrifs on steel and aluminum or sourcing some key
components of the F-35...
Trump is not being a more fair ally to his fascist friends than he is to Canada or Europe. Good luck with air base:
Incirlik Air Base has a U.S. Air Force complement of about five
thousand airmen, with several hundred airmen from the Royal Air Force
and Turkish Air Force also present, as of late 2002.
The primary unit stationed at Incirlik Air Base is the 39th Air Base Wing (39 ABW) of the U.S. Air Force.
Incirlik Air Base has one 3,048 m (10,000 ft)-long runway, located among about 57 hardened aircraft shelters.
Tactical nuclear weapons are stored at the base.
Libk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incirlik_Air_Base
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Trump Blocks Fighter Jet Transfer Amid Deepening U.S.-Turkey Rift
The decision is a blow to Ankara but could also complicate matters for Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Alan B. Norman, director and
chief test pilot, and Marillyn A. Hewson, the chairman, president, and
chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin, next to an F-35 at the White
House on July 23. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
U.S.
President Donald Trump has signed into law a defense policy bill that
will hold up the transfer to Turkey of 100 F-35 fighter jets, deepening a
rift between the two countries over the ongoing imprisonment of an
American pastor in Turkey.
The move amounts to a sharp blow to
Ankara, which is already reeling from Trump’s decision last week to
double down on tariffs on Turkish aluminum and steel.
Turkey planned to
take possession of the jets over the next decade, which would make it
the third-largest operator of F-35s in the world.
But
its cancellation will also complicate matters for the United States.
Several key components of the jet are manufactured by Turkish companies,
and the U.S. Defense Department estimates it will take two years to
find and qualify new suppliers to replace any Turkish firms that are
kicked out of the program.
Meanwhile, the main European hub for the
F-35’s engine repair and overhaul is in Eskisehir, in northwestern
Turkey.
Turkey jailed the American pastor, Andrew Brunson,
almost two years ago in a widespread crackdown that followed a military
coup attempt.
Ankara maintains that Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for
more than 20 years, had ties to the plotters.
For a time, it
seemed the Trump administration would reach a deal to defuse tensions
and secure Brunson’s release.
But the talks are said to have fallen
apart in the past month.
Now Trump, who has been personally
engaged in cultivating the U.S.-Turkey relationship, feels betrayed and
wants retribution, analysts said.
“Trump … did want to make
things nice with Turkey, and he by all accounts invested personally in
the relationship,” said Aaron Stein, an expert on Turkey with the
Atlantic Council.
“Now that he feels like the Turks have reneged on an
agreement that they reached with him, the U.S. position is now an
ultimatum.”
The Turkish Embassy in Washington did not respond to
questions about the decision.
But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, writing in the New York Times over the weekend, warned that
Trump’s punitive measures against Turkey would ultimately backfire on
the United States.
“At a time when evil continues to lurk around
the world, unilateral actions against Turkey by the United States, our
ally of decades, will only serve to undermine American interests and
security,” Erdogan wrote in an opinion piece.
“Failure to reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect will require us to start looking for new friends and allies.”
So far, the spat has mainly harmed Ankara. Trump’s
tariff increases on aluminum and steel, which he announced via Twitter
and which effectively priced Turkey out of the U.S. market, sent Turkish
lira tumbling to a new low on Friday.
“I
hate [that] it came to this point, but President @realDonaldTrump
really had no other choice,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote in a
Friday tweet.
But senior U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, have warned against removing Turkey from the F-35 program.
Ankara
is a critical geopolitical partner and cornerstone of the NATO
alliance, and the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey is a key
launching pad for operations in the Middle East, particularly the
campaign against the Islamic State
It is also home to a U.S. stockpile
of B61 nuclear bombs, a linchpin of nuclear deterrence in Europe.
Ankara
is also a crucial partner in rebuilding Syria as the West, Russia, and
Iran jockey for power in the war-torn nation.
The sale of the
F-35 to Turkey is particularly controversial, because Ankara also plans
to purchase the sophisticated Russian-built S-400 missile system.
Officials say integration of the S-400 with the F-35 and NATO air
defenses could compromise closely guarded U.S. and allied military
secrets.
“Unfortunately, we now have the egos of both leaders
engaged, and that makes it difficult to finesse the situation,” said
Loren Thompson, an analyst with the Lexington Institute, a think tank
that receives funding from Lockheed Martin, among other defense
contractors.
The language Trump signed into law on Monday,
included in a $717 billion bill that sets defense policy for the year,
is watered down from its original form and mostly symbolic regarding
Turkey.
But it sets the stage for congressional appropriators to take
more decisive action.
The legislation blocks the transfer of
F-35s to Turkey until the Pentagon submits an impact assessment,
particularly regarding U.S. military operations from Incirlik Air Base
but also focusing on overall U.S.-Turkish relations.
Lawmakers also want
the Pentagon to assess the ramifications of Ankara’s planned purchase
of the S-400 system.
A provision in a draft version of the
defense appropriations bill, which is expected to move forward in the
next few weeks, would expressly prohibit funding for the transfer.
Lara Seligman is Foreign Policy's Pentagon correspondent.
Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/13/trump-blocks-fighter-jet-transfer-amid-deepening-us-turkey-rift-f35/
Turkey
has been a very longstanding ally. Putin is pushing for the break up
of NATO and these actions look like Trump is doing Putin's bidding.
Were these actions discussed in Helsinki?
NATO is an international alliance that consists of 29 member states from North
America and ... and the United States.
In 1952, Greece and Turkey became
members of the Alliance, joined later by West Germany (in 1955) and Spain (in
1982).
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Trump-Putin Summit Is Over. The Head-Scratching? Not So Much.
Asked
whether he believes his own intelligence agencies, which say that
Russia interfered in the 2016 United States election, or Mr. Putin, who
denies it, Mr. Trump refused to say, but he expressed doubt about
whether Russia was to blame.
“They think it’s Russia,” he said. “I have President Putin — he just said it’s
not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
