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VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Kurdish, Syrian, and Turkish Ironies
NationalReview ^ | October 16, 2019 | By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

Posted on 10/20/2019 12:19:34 AM PDT by Jim Robinson

Outrage met Donald Trump’s supposedly rash decision to pull back U.S. troops from possible confrontational zones between our Kurdish friends in Syria and Recep Erdogan’s expeditionary forces.

Turkey claims that it will punish the Syrian Kurds for a variety of supposed provocations, including aiding and abetting Kurdish terrorist separatists inside Turkey. But what they say they can so easily do and what they really can do inside Syria are, of course, two different things.

~~skip~~

Otherwise, our presence in the firing line could raise the specter that we’d either refuse our Article V (collective defense) commitments to Turkey that Erdogan might cynically invoke in a larger war in Syria, or we’d find ourselves actually killing Turks to save Kurds. Either of these scenarios is theoretically quite possible, and both would be far more injurious to the spirit and cohesion of the presently composed NATO alliance than asking Germany and its followers to pony up the contributions that they had long promised.

As I understand the present outrage, the logic goes like this: It is a sellout to leave the Kurds vulnerable to the Turks, and it undermines our noble promises and our credibility in a way that ignoring our ignoble, legal commitments to Turkey do not. That may be a legitimate assumption that we all would like to embrace, but it is not yet the policy of the United States.

~~skip~~

Any current critics calling for the use of American trip-wire soldiers to protect Kurds from the Turkish military — in the current stated mission to defeat ISIS and keep it defeated — should at least make the case that de facto fighting against Turkey means that it is therefore no longer a friend and should no longer be a NATO ally, and thus, in extremis, can be opposed militarily...

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: kurds; nato; syria; trump; turkey; vdh
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1 posted on 10/20/2019 12:19:34 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: Jim Robinson

mcconnel and the rest of the gopE in congress have been undermining Trump since before he was sworn in. They are no different then the dems. They just have the cowardly luxury of sitting back and letting the dems do the heavy lifting.


2 posted on 10/20/2019 12:26:40 AM PDT by JoSixChip (I'm an American Nationalist)
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To: Jim Robinson

VDH nails it...again...as always!


3 posted on 10/20/2019 12:56:14 AM PDT by Eagles6
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To: Jim Robinson

Anyone that discusses the Kurd ‘war-machine’, has to contend with the PKK which is funneling the money into the system. Between money-laundering, drug-distribution, and kidnapping...they are a unwise ‘friend’ and you can’t allow yourself to be partnered to something like this.


4 posted on 10/20/2019 1:44:41 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Jim Robinson
I'm rather bummed out. He didn't mention the myriad tentacles the defense industry (also known as the "military industrial complex") has grasping many politicians in the form of campaign contributions and, more subtly, votes.
That is the nitty gritty of a politician's actions/decision.

This is just Northrop Grumman.
Employees of Northrop Grumman Political Action Committee (ENGPAC) 2018 Contributions
Employees of Northrop Grumman Political Action Committee (ENGPAC) 2017 Contributions

Plug in the name on your "Find" function of those raising a stink about Syria and you are probably going to find them there.
(and some you probably thought you wouldn't find there as well)

California's recipients should be of interest to you, Mr. Jim.
$297,50 in 2017 and $193,500 in 2018...State totals.

5 posted on 10/20/2019 2:02:45 AM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Eagles6

He is definitely my ‘go to’ guy when I want a clear explanation!
So unassuming, modest and gracious!


6 posted on 10/20/2019 4:05:19 AM PDT by Guenevere
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To: Jim Robinson
Do we really wish to risk a shooting war with a NATO ally while 5,000 American airmen are inside its country equipped with 50 nuclear weapons?

My question: Why do we still have nukes in Incirlik? I'd like to see our Commander-in-Chief order all of those nukes removed, all at once and without making it public until they are gone (or ever, except that the Deep State would leak the decision immediately - even if they knew that would risk the security of those nukes in transit).

7 posted on 10/20/2019 4:27:23 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: Pollster1

I’ve been asking that question for years. And there were some rumors that they were removed a couple years ago.


8 posted on 10/20/2019 4:37:15 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Jim Robinson

As for the Turks holding “hostage” our 50 nukes (that we stupidly haven’t retrieved from Incirlik Airbase yet), not a problem.

Every cargo plane that flies out of Incirlik needs to carry an extra “passenger” or two. Every flight, every day.

It won’t take long to ship 50 nukes. Just don’t tell anybody, ESPECIALLY the Turks. They probably have plans for those warheads.


9 posted on 10/20/2019 4:38:18 AM PDT by DNME (The only solution to a BAD guy with a gun is a GOOD guy with a gun.)
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To: Pollster1

We could always make a silent statement by moving the military personnel and weapons to Fort Trump in Poland.


10 posted on 10/20/2019 4:50:40 AM PDT by Bernard (We will stop calling you Fake News when you stop being Fake News)
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To: FreedomPoster

I hope those rumors are true (and that no one who know the facts links the decision to President Trump and then leaks the truth).


11 posted on 10/20/2019 4:59:05 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: Jim Robinson

If being involved in whatever Kurdish separatism is going g on is such a good idea, then Nancy Pelosi should call a vote and declare war. I’m sure Romney and Graham will support such a vote in the Senate.

So alll the chicken hawks can go have their war and own it.

Of course, they won’t because. (1) no clue who to declare war against and (2) all they really want to do is attack Trump.

But this is the line. If it’s such a great idea, declare war Nancy.


12 posted on 10/20/2019 5:21:43 AM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: Jim Robinson

Victor Davis Hansen is an exemplary historian and researcher. I place more weight in his opinion that others. THank you, Jim.


13 posted on 10/20/2019 5:28:51 AM PDT by SueRae (An administration like no other.)
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To: Jim Robinson

Start here: “The chief problem is that the Kurds are our friends but not our legal allies. In contrast, the Turks are not really our friends anymore but are legal, treaty-bound allies.”

I don’t know the mechanism and I understand there currently is no way to de-list a NATO member. This has to be a multi-national effort or none at all, otherwise, all of our treaties are pointless.


14 posted on 10/20/2019 5:37:13 AM PDT by SueRae (An administration like no other.)
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To: DNME
As for the Turks holding “hostage” our 50 nukes (that we stupidly haven’t retrieved from Incirlik Airbase yet), not a problem.

Every cargo plane that flies out of Incirlik needs to carry an extra “passenger” or two. Every flight, every day.

It won’t take long to ship 50 nukes. Just don’t tell anybody, ESPECIALLY the Turks. They probably have plans for those warheads.

Considering the size and weight of these old style weapons, moving them in this manner would not be practical. Also, the base is full of Turkish workers and most of them are likely government workers. Secrecy is out of the question. Our options are very limited.

15 posted on 10/20/2019 5:54:07 AM PDT by etcb
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To: etcb

It’s my understanding these nukes are tacticals, not big strategic devices, so they probably aren’t all that big. You can probably fit a few of them into a single truck.

Getting those nukes from their bunkers to the flight line might be tricky, but only if we let the Turks see what we’re doing. I’m convinced the Turks want those nukes to stay, and not for deterrent effect.


16 posted on 10/20/2019 6:19:22 AM PDT by DNME (The only solution to a BAD guy with a gun is a GOOD guy with a gun.)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: Jim Robinson
The following passage strikes me as the money shot:

[....] Those on the left now screaming about loyal allies, and the ignominy of selling out friends, had no problems abandoning the Vietnamese and Hmong to Communist retaliation. They have demanded abject withdrawals from both Afghanistan and Iraq, which could lead to slaughter in the former case, and actually did in the latter, by creating a void that birthed the mass-murdering ISIS in Iraq.

It's pure political pandering by the leftist pukes (apologies for the alliteration).


18 posted on 10/20/2019 6:51:47 AM PDT by Sarcasm Factory (Being a friend of the Clintons is like being bosom buddies with a great white shark.)
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To: Jim Robinson

L8R


19 posted on 10/20/2019 7:15:58 AM PDT by Romans Nine
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To: Jim Robinson

Hanson is about the only historian I trust now.


20 posted on 10/20/2019 7:31:51 AM PDT by odawg
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