Turkey is no stranger to aerial conflict of late.
After months of back and forth banter between Ankara and Moscow regarding supposed Russian incursions into Turkish airspace, Erdogan finally “went there” on November 24 when Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian Su-24 near the border with Syria. One of the two pilots was killed.
According to the US State Department, Washington has succeeded in its efforts aimed at bringing peace and security to Syria this year. Writing on the agency’s official blog, the departments spokesperson John Kirby includes a bold subheadline of “Bringing Peace, Security to Syria” above a slightly more modest entry that refers to the U.S. aid for those affected by the country’s turmoil and the U.S. push for a political transition from President Bashar Assad. Meanwhile the reality on the ground is still grim and any positive change could hardly be attributed to the US alone.
Private American intelligence agency and forecaster, Stratfor, has predicted a military move into northern Syria by Turkey for 2016. President Erdogan’s policy is to strengthen his popularity and that of the AKP, Turkey’s ruling party, by becoming increasingly more assertive in foreign policy, according to Stratfor. The information gathering, distributing and forecasting business also predicts a more widening rift developing between Russia and a resurgent Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no fan-o’-Kurds, so to speak. Well, unless the Kurds you’re talking about are assisting in a lucrative business that involves the trafficking of illicit crude from Iraq to the port of Ceyhan.
Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. 1