Turkey lifts its objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO

Oh, and another brick in the wall for Vlad.

Between this and the more than SEVEN-FOLD increase in the NATO rapid reaction force (so much for that land corridor through Lithuania), it’s almost as if Vlad’s bad ideas are coming back to bite him.

Hurray.

But I thought Putin and Erdogan had cut a deal? Was the person who said this just wrong? Again

Great news! The more (democratic countries), the better!

But I thought Putin and Erdogan had cut a deal? Was the person who said this just wrong? Again

Would seem so. “They” are nothing if not consistent…..

Great. Next Ukraine and Japan.

Maybe Erdogan was paid handsomely. I don’t believe he will just roll over, unless his country was threatened with expulsion from NATO.

You have to wonder who had the more worse week....

Putin who now has two more countries and a million more troops in NATO and Russia defaulting on its debt....

Or Trump who was proven to be a liar, a fraud, and a criminal in the Jan 6th committee hearings...

I'd say they were both Losers...

No wonder they have such high regard for one another...

Putin who now has two more countries and a million more troops in NATO and Russia defaulting on its debt....

Like deadbeats who lost their job and can't pay the bills.

With the addition of Sweden and Finland, the Baltic Sea will be turned into a NATO lake.

If Ukraine re-secures its coast, it, not Russia, will control shipping in and out of the Bosporus.

Wonderful strategic planning by Vlad the modern iteration of Peter the great. More like Yuri Andropov….

Wonderful strategic planning by Vlad the modern iteration of Peter the great. More like Yuri Andropov….

Or Yakov Smirnov.

Or Yakov Smirnov.

Thats not fair! Yakov is funny (and not a murdering sociopath…)

One step closer to official WW3.

Bosporus access is covered by the 1936 Montreux Convention which requires free access to all civilian shipping and limits military ships by size, number and black sea origin country with prior notification required. Other military ships can traverse the straits also with prior notification, but Turkey can refuse access. There is a size limitation which prevents most (all?) NATO aircraft carriers access to the black sea.

Turkey has thousands of years of practice in threading the political needle, just right in international relations.

Maybe Erdogan was paid handsomely. I don’t believe he will just roll over, unless his country was threatened with expulsion from NATO.

A bit too late on this one, considering Erdogan rolled over so fast, we could hook him up to the grid and use him to generate power.

One step closer to official WW3.

Considering how poorly things are going for Russkies in their little “special operation” against a single, far smaller neighbor, I doubt it would be much of a war. I mean, unless this is all some kind of plot by Putin to use NATO weaponry to demilitarize his own country, one popped turret at a time, in which case, war with NATO would probably be better for him by just cutting out the Ukrainian middleman.

More like Yuri Andropov….

Consider what organization both Andropov and Putin ascended to power from.

Turkey has thousands of years of practice in threading the political needle, just right in international relations.

Perhaps, but Mr. Erdogan has a history of painting himself into corners and then having to spit shine is putative enemy's shoes with his tongue to extricate himself from his self created isolation. Look how he is trying to kiss and make up with the Saudis after years of condemning them over the Kashoggi killing? Before that he was on the outs with Israel over the killing of some Turks in that convoy that tried to run the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Now he trying to kiss and make up with them. Why? Because his overtures to Iran failed and now he finds his army confronted by the Iranians in both northern Iraq and in Syria. He is also in a stand off with the Russians in Syria, Azerbaijan and Libya where the Turks blatantly violate the UN arms embargo (same thing in Somalia). In both Syria and Azerbaijan there remains a small but real chance of Russian and Turkish forces coming into armed conflict. So he tries to cultivate a little slack from Ivan by holding up the ascension of Finland and Sweden to NATO.