Remember when New Hampshire had a travel ban, but then Gov. Maggie Hassan ‘Traveled to Turkey on a Trade Mission?’ Afterward, State Trade with Turkey dropped off a cliff. Maybe she could lead a “war delegation” that would inevitably lead to peace.
Because Syria has invaded Turkey, it’s so serious that Syria has decided to drop its disregard for the Kurds to fight alongside them against Turkey.
Meanwhile, back in America, President Trump – having pulled US troops back to avoid getting out soldiers killed over their pissing match – has taken action as well. Sanctions.
I will soon be issuing an Executive Order authorizing the imposition of sanctions against current and former officials of the Government of Turkey and any persons contributing to Turkey’s destabilizing actions in northeast Syria. Likewise, the steel tariffs will be increased back up to 50 percent, the level prior to reduction in May. The United States will also immediately stop negotiations, being led by the Department of Commerce, with respect to a $100 billion trade deal with Turkey.
And here’s an excellent analysis of the problem within a problem and why sanctions are probably the right way to go.
Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Turkey is an unreliable ally, and that the alliance should be ended, and Turkey should be expelled from NATO. But right now, Turkey is officially an ally of the United States. It is supremely ironic that those who are calling for US troops to face the Turks in Syria, saying that otherwise we will be betraying an ally, the Kurds, don’t seem to care about the optics of betraying another ally, the Turks. Even granting everything that is being said about the nobility and reliability of the Kurds versus the perfidy of the Turks, betraying one alliance to favor another is not going to make the United States appear more trustworthy to the rest of its allies.
Sanctioning a fellow member of NATO is something new. Let’s see who freaks out over that?
