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Sunday, July 8

"Erdogan is an Ottomanist who aims to regain the Ottoman empire"

Podcast - Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs, and John Batchelor of the John Batchelor Show, July 6, 2018.

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10 comments:

bdoran said...

If he sticks to the Islamic world then that's their issue.
If he has designs outside the Islamic world such as Europe then he's our problem.

The Truth is until there is a Caliph the Hole in the Sunni Heart will not be healed.
Like Catholics if The Vatican were demolished and we were denied a Pope.
This is not to justify their horrible choices or Erdogan-just to explain.

Pundita said...

Since when has the Islamic world been "their" issue? But if you listened to Copley's report you'll know that Erdogan wants it all back, including a chunk of Europe. Which is to say he's already our problem.

As to the Caliph -- the Ottomans almost wiped out the Saudi tribes and would have finished the job until the British intervened. No way will the Gulf Sunni Arabs accept a Turkish caliph, and the same would be true for Jordan's Hashemite kingdom.

As to the hole in the heart -- I am not sure the comparison with Catholicism applies, but it would take a lot of study before I could form an opinion and I have neither the time nor inclination for it. I have a hard enough time keeping up with American/NATO machinations in Syria.

Pundita said...

Correction: He's already Europe's problem not "our" problem. His moves in Europe are "our" problem only because Europeans plan to stand up to Erdogan to the last drop of American blood.

bdoran said...

Which is why we have Trump.

Who's trying hard to extricate us from the world without having to declare Dictatorship and win the ensuing Civil War first...

Without being deposed by the Deep State* - see again Civil War.

As far as the Euros they're American now. They'll do the right thing - fight - after trying everything else first.

Or perish. If so good riddance if they won't be men. But it's STILL not our problem.

Enjoy your week Madam!

bdoran said...

Machinations in Syria etc:

Step Back.
What's important to you?
To us?

It's not Syria.

Or Turkey.

Or if they're this weak Europe.

America is what matters. America is at risk at home. From Americans.

Focus on what's core - not margins.

Pundita said...

Turkey is a member of NATO. NATO is controlled by the US. That means the Europeans can and will dump the Turkey problem on the US.

I'll agree that Trump wants to extricate the US from a mass of foreign entanglements but it's not enough to want to do something; it's a matter of doing it without making matters worse. So far Trump has repeatedly made the same mistake: he's applied business negotiating tactics to dealing with foreign governments. The upshot: one mess after another, which is only more deeply entangling the US.

Syria is not on the margin; study the Syrian war and you'll learn everything you need to know about the present era in foreign relations and US defense policy. That's why I've given so much attention at my blog to the war. My focus is not on Syria per se; it's on American actions in Syria.

In my view the core is the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. republic. It's this core which is important to me.

Many Americans, however, confuse the office of the presidency in a democratic republic with an individual. Such Americans are unwittingly looking for a monarch. That's the way things are. Don't like the way things are? File your complaint with human nature.

bdoran said...

Trump is not making a mistake applying his methods of negotiating with foreign governments.

Good grief. He has an excellent record.

That he can't straighten out the mess in Syria and ME is testament to the area's nature.
Also he has to do so in the teeth of his own government - which is corrupt. Treasonous.
Makes war for profit, takes money from all sides including foreigners.

And YOU ARE missing the main point: the major challenge to Trump comes from where?
His own government.

What branch?

>The Executive Branch.

The President does not control the Presidency. That's the main story.
The Presidency aka Executive Branch is trying to jail or depose the President - as they did Nixon.

There is no story in Foreign Policy that compares to that.
There is no Defense story that compares to that.

Moreover your precious Syrians suffer at our hands against not only Trump's will but OBAMA'S. Obama didn't want war in Syria; he avoided full scale ground war with artful Parliamentary maneuver; when the UK Parliament voted down war in Syria preemptively Obama then punted to Congress - which did nothing. > this bought much heat and mockery to Obama and much anger from the Contractor War Bucks world.

The President does not control "The Presidency." That's the main story.

Even FDR lost control [Humphrey's Executors]. Nixon defied "The Presidency" over Vietnam [Joint Chiefs were angry] and was going to re-organize the Executive Branch into 4 Super-Cabinet Officials reporting to the President. DCI was going to lose Cabinet status.
Suddenly CIA contractors get caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel and...

...and what happened to Mossadegh happened to Nixon. Same people.
Same organizations now.

Now if Trump is deposed then what happened in Syria will happen here. Trump knows this.
So if he moves with less than instant gratification speed to avoid Civil War here if he can then perhaps you can cut him some slack.

Conversely if he openly said the Executive Branches Bureaucracy and the Beltway are in open treason and moved to act as The President of The United States acting to defend the Republic to uphold his Oath: we also get War in America. Again Trump wishes to avoid this.

So turn the same analysis you apply to Syria to America and see if it makes more sense.

America: it's just the job now.

Pundita said...

You need to take your argument to Trump, not me. When he was elected he gave the distinct impression that he would be focused on America, and I cheered him on for that. But he's managed to get so entangled with foreign relations and defense matters that he's been running around the world like a chicken with its head cut off.

That's what the State Dept. is for. If they're working against him at State or not doing what he's telling them, that's the problem for the Secretary of State. If the secretary can't or won't do the job, that's no call for Trump to substitute for his foreign office.

As for his foreign policy triumphs -- nobody involved cares if he's taking credit for the breakthrough with Pyongyang -- which has only been trying to break through since the time of Kim's father. But while I'd prefer not to discuss it in any detail, it wasn't Trump who created the breakthrough.

As to Syria -- first, don't insult the blogger. If the Syrians were my precious people I'd be blogging from Damascus, not Washington, DC.

Second, even kidnap victims with their wrists tied together have managed to pick up a phone and call for help if they can get to a phone. There has been nothing to prevent Trump from picking up the phone and ordering U.S. troops out of Syria and ordering State to stop funding militias in Syria. There has been nothing preventing him from lifting the horrific sanctions on Syria.

And there was nothing preventing him from waiting a few days for evidence about alleged chemical weapons use against Syrian civilians. Instead, he ordered cruise missiles shot at Syrian facilities. He did that twice, in two separate years. Even when the Pentagon cautioned him the second time that there was no evidence that the Syrian military had used chemical weapons in those instances.

Trump didn't care about evidence. He used the first missile strike in an attempt to impress China's Xi that he would be a tough negotiator in trade talks. He used the second strike to impress the whole world that he would be tough in his negotiations with North Korea's Kim.
In other words, he treated the Syrians as if they were chess pieces.

As for Syria being a 'Middle Eastern' problem -- go tell that to the French, the Germans, the British and the American goons and their bosses in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE. Syria is not a local problem. In fact, so many foreign governments have meddled in that country, it's become a symbol of all that's wrong with Western defense policies in the present era.

The truth is that Americans -- including Trump -- who defend America's right to have borders find nothing strange about ignoring any other country's borders. That's where we are today, so do not ask why America's borders keep coming under greater and greater threat. The wheels of divine justice may grind slowly, but they do indeed grind very fine.

As for the American 'civil war' you speak of -- what do you think the US across at least two regimes, Republican and Democratic, has been instigating and supporting in Syria all these years?

So if there is a civil war in the USA, this would be our chickens finally coming home to roost.


Pundita said...

Finally, you want me to turn the same attention to American domestic affairs that I apply to Syria. Gee, I must redouble my efforts to explain the Syrian War because America is deeply engaged in Syria and has been, going back perhaps as far as Dubya's regime. But I understand your point. What I hope you understand is that Americans can't have it both ways -- present ourselves as a people who stand on principles, while at the same time acting in the manner of the West European colonialists. At some point the excuse 'All for a good cause' is seen for what it is.

So in my view I am focused on my country by pointing out what it's doing in Syria. That a rotten system supports the machinations -- yes that's true. But it's also true that the majority of Americans would be horrified if they knew the true story of their government's actions in Syria. The story has been kept out of the mainstream media but it's coming out, slowly, through sheer dint of effort by a handful of blogs and websites and some very brave journalists.

It was the same with the Bush and Obama regime's complicity with Pakistan's regime, which got many American troops maimed and murdered in A'Stan for no good reason. It took time and tenacity but eventually, the 'general' American public learned the truth -- and learned it in a very spectacular way with the raid to kill bin Laden.

I was there every step of the way, as you might recall. Only when I was certain that Americans could no longer claim they didn't know what was going in A'Stan did I leave the topic.

It will be the same with Syria. However, not until it gets on the telly will the majority of Americans know what's really been happening in Syria. But that breakthrough could be soon. I'll just have to keep trying until then.












bdoran said...

Madam I agree with all of what you say except the part about focusing their attention on the horrors of Syria or Pakistan or Mali or Libya or Yemen or...

No Madam. They don't care. It's not their problem.

It's a problem for the American families who's son's die there...but as long as we have Civilian Control aka utter enslavement of the military no matter what treachery, corruption, treason and madness the civilians engage in foreign and domestic their caring, tears, burials also mean nothing. We're as alone in true allies as the foreigners who suffer from said machinations.

They care about Pakistani treachery because Pakistanis wiped out a day care center in California. They care that a Pakistani bombed Time Square. They care that people from Pakistan were killing Americans IN AMERICA.

You see it's not a fault-it's a feature of Human Nature. They care about the flames tickling their skin. They care when they feel fear. Or perhaps anger [useless if not accompanied by action].

You madam did not catch up to Pakistan. Pakistan caught up with and began to crop the sheeple. That was noticed in a dull animal way.

They care about Mexicans in the Street more than Pakistanis or Jihadi or Yemen...and why not? They live here.

The issue will not be fixed until the corrupt abscess at the heart of DC is lanced.
They care because it does unto us here as it does unto foreigners - it's a question of how much they can get away with.

The Abscess does for interest have an interest in Syrian refugees: they bought them here under visa's and bought in the worst they could find - see their many crimes.
Somalia same.

You see we're already in conflict - it's just that the people are only very slowly awakening to their plight HERE.

You can't fight human nature.

As for Trump he's their Champion to fight and fix all this.

Which is the extent of their civic virtue: they voted. Back to sleep.

Trump may - MAY - pull a Gorbachev/Reagan/Thatcher/John Paul II on DC.
But it's unlikely.

If you want to awaken the sheep tell them how this affects and hurts THEM.
Trump connected brilliantly on these points.
We can all see Mexicans.
We can all see drugs.
We can all see crime.
We can all see shuttered factories.

We can't see, smell, hear Syria. Or Yemen. Or the rest.
NOR CAN THEY CARE ABOUT STRANGERS. Just human that's all.

Show them how this HURTS THEM. Then they care.

Live in Hope: because not a moment goes by they aren't informed their deplorable, racist, stupid scum for voting Trump - and they are now dimly aware of what DC is....

Want to save America? Raze DC.
Want to save the world from America? Raze DC.

Good day!