John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Shocking: Perfidious Turks Stab US in Back to Buy S-400s, Join Belt and Road Initiative
“Erdogan looks set to buy Russian missile defense system in defiance of US and NATO, tying his cart to China and Russia”
Erdogan is quite the performer.
Tough, sticking to his principles, even though they may not always be the most admirable, and surprisingly open to new big initiatives.
I say "surprisingly" because there is also a definite unbalanced element in Erdogan's make-up.
He can be hard to predict. And anyone who builds a one-thousand room palace, as Erdogan did, shows some eccentricity, although it could be argued that his massive palace represents a modern effort to do what France’s Louis XIV did at Versailles, bringing together in one spot all the powerful people under his very observant eye.
Often, history is made, great changes are achieved, by rather difficult people like Erdogan.
Erdogan, at least in part, is likely still reacting to that big, attempted coup. It knocked him off into new directions, and the expert, careful diplomacy and assistance of Russia and China are offering new opportunities.
I am pretty sure he privately holds the United States responsible for the coup, and I think that may be right, given many suggestive bits of evidence. Of course, as in all such matters, American intelligence would have worked diligently to cover its trail.
But America had the motivation and the connections and the opportunity – as, for example, in many important, high-level contacts with Turkish officials and military at the huge Incirlik Air Base – and, frankly, some of its responses after the events left a bit of lingering odor.
America seriously dislikes independent-minded heads of state, and that is just what Erdogan very much is, and in a large and strategically important country.
Erdogan’s purchase of the Russian S-400 system is a brilliant move. He gets a world-class air-defense system, he gets Turkish participation in future defense projects with Russia, and he waves a red flag right under Washington’s nose, effectively telling them “Tant pis!” - all while, I’m sure, chuckling and privately enjoying Washington’s squirming and efforts at maneuvering and fairly hollow threats.
Not too many leaders are capable of making such moves.
NOTE ON POSSIBLE AND PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN CONSIDERATIONS IN TURKEY’S PURCHASE OF RUSSIA’S S-400
I’ve learned the following from reading an interview with a man named Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based security analyst. They are not widely-known facts but likely play into Turkey’s S-400 purchase.
During the Gulf War with Saddam Hussein, his French-made air defense system was shut down remotely. They can’t do that with a Russian system.
During the Turkish coup, air force pilots in Western fighters tried to shoot Erdogan. The Turkish Western-made air defenses wouldn’t work against their Western planes. A Russian air system would.
Turkey’s air force is one of the most Westernized parts of its military because it uses a lot Western equipment and receives a lot of training in the West.
The S-400 is a way to help protect against Erdogan’s own military.
And who ever knew that scoundrels like France could sell you a costly air-defense system and then switch it off when they wanted?
