The old “will the problem die with its host organism?” question.
14 Likes
NATO won’t expand immediately, Sweden and Finland first need to agree with the Turkish position on Kurdistan.
5 Likes
So much for the “Open door policy.” In all the talk about it that we’ve heard recently, nobody mentioned that the door can be held shut by an aspiring dictator. What next? Can we expect Putin’s ally in Hungary to throw up a roadblock as well?
9 Likes
I imagine that depends on whether Hungary has to declare its position straight away. If Orban says yes, knowing that Erdogan will say no, he won’t be able to reverse himself if/when Turkey lifts its objections.
8 Likes
If I was in the State Department I’d totally trade Turkey away for Sweden, it’s not even close
I’d drop Turkey even if we didn’t get anything for it
and yes, NATO is absolutely a bunch of grownups playing RISK
13 Likes
Is that really a prerequisite? NATO is a defensive pact, and it’s hard to imagine Turkey needing to defend itself from a unilateral attack from Kurdistan.
7 Likes
14 Likes
A country joining NATO needs approval from all existing members because the North Atlantic Treaty must be amended. Turkey doesn’t need to convince other members that its objections are reasonable.
14 Likes
So, prospective members need to stay on the good side of current members, but is Turkey really going to push for some kind of non-binding statement (which is all that it would be) from Finland and Sweden on Kurdistan in return for their membership, which is already in Turkey’s interests to begin with?
5 Likes
IIRC Turkey wants Sweden to declare the PKK to be a terrorist organisation.
11 Likes
I cannot agree with you more. You express my frustration with the military-industrial parasite that has been leeching thew USA to a tee. We learned in 1990 and 1991 that Soviet threats were overblown, but gave the analysts the benefit of the doubt. When all along their financial and social status depends upon the world being a scary place.
And it’s not unique to the USA either. I think the whole “the world is a scary place” attitude is what drives people like Putin, paranoid that the rest of the world will get them, that Ukraine really was going to diminish his place in the world.
11 Likes
Fortunately, it’s a diplomatic problem that can be solved by diplomatic means (replace “diplomatic” with “BS” to clarify). Sweden can discuss Westphalian sovereignty, point out that the PKK is a non-state actor and is in their view an internal issue for Turkey to handle without interference from other nation-states, and that Sweden joining NATO won’t change its own status quo either way. And besides, dear Erdogan, Sweden is a member of the EU, which has designated the PKK a terrorist organisation – is that not enough? Will Turkey now demand that Germany’s continued membership in NATO be dependent on their declaring the PKK a terrorist organisation independently, too?
Which is all really a polite way of Sweden (or Finland) telling that little tinpot dictator to piss up a rope with his demands.
16 Likes
I see two possibilities here:
The first is that it is true, and that it is an attempt to explain why he is panicking, trying to get done what he believes God has told him to do. It fits the narrative of Putin believing only he can bring about the Russian world as it should be.
The other possibility, the one that I find even more plausible, is that it’s a campaign to make him look even weaker. A situation that David Tennant’s Doctor demonstrated with the famous “don’t you think she looks a bit tired?” whispered in the right ears.
9 Likes
I read this may be trying to pressure the US to approve arms sales to Turkey. Surprised Hungary hasn’t objected, out of deterrence to Uncle Vlad.
13 Likes
12 Likes
Interesting. I was on prednisolone (same stuff, UK nomenclature) for years and I do not recall ever being told anything about cinnamon or coconut.
They aren’t really.
The issue is that Kurdistan refugees/immigrants are fairly numerous in those countries (indeed, even in their parliament in one case) and Turkey sees these Scandinavian-resident Kurds as sources of terrorism against Turkey and Turkish interests.
Membership of Nato would require ratification by all existing members, and Erdoğan remarked to journalists after leaving Friday prayers in Istanbul that Turkey would not welcome either.
“We are currently following developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t feel positively about this,” he said.
Turkey has been a Nato member since 1952 and its membership remains a cornerstone of its foreign policy towards western countries. The comments appeared directed at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey regards as a terrorist organisation, although they appeared to encompass the communities of Kurdish origin in Scandinavia as a whole.
and
Sweden has a large Kurdish diaspora, and prominent Swedish citizens of Kurdish origin currently include six members of parliament. The Turkish authorities have not provided any evidence for claims that the parliamentarians have links with the PKK or similar groups outside Sweden.
The Kurdish-speaking population of Finland was estimated at just over 15,000 people as of 2020, less than 0.3% of the population.
Probably.
Indeed. They should. And if Erdogan really lets himself be seen as the sole barrier to Sweden and Finland joining, he may find that a bit more uncomfortable than he anticipates.
10 Likes
I learned by eating a (real) cinnamon roll at breakfast for a few days. The doctor hadn’t mentioned it to me, either. The inflammation started in the T-zone of my face, and spread around to the back of my head over the course of a few days. You know how some folks swell up after a bee sting? That was my face.
17 Likes
10 Likes
You’d trade away control of the Bosporus?
18 Likes
Nearly 90 days into Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian troops have apparently become so demoralized and desperate to quit they’ve begun deliberately injuring themselves.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate on Saturday released audio of what it said was an intercepted call revealing the batshit new trend.
11 Likes
