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| Erdogan saved NATO. And framed Ukraine |
| 2023-07-12 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Irina Alksnis [RIA] The intrigue surrounding the NATO summit in Vilnius that began today has finally been resolved. The fact is that on the eve of it, the United States and Europe found themselves in a rather unpleasant position. Thanks to many months of efforts by Western politicians and the media, colossal expectations turned out to be wrapped around the event. They were connected, first of all, with the success of the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which seemed inevitable, like the sunrise. This, in turn, was supposed to give a new impetus to the despondent transatlantic unity with the adoption in Vilnius of strategically significant decisions for further joint action. Ukrainian hopes, of course, were entirely aimed at launching the process of the country's entry into the Alliance, which was not entirely fantastic, since this idea has its supporters in the ruling elites on both sides of the ocean. However, as they say, something went wrong. Not only that, over the past weeks, Kiev has not demonstrated any impressive military successes. The development of events at the front forced a part of the Western establishment to open their eyes to reality, which realized that the bet on a military victory over Russia was at least erroneous, and at most fatal. And this means that all efforts in this direction represent a useless and senseless loss of money, resources, scarce military equipment (together with the reputation of the manufacturers of this very equipment). As a result, in the last days before the summit, confusion and vacillation in the already completely discordant transatlantic ranks became apparent. The non-Western world froze in anticipation, as the Vilnius summit threatened to turn into a grandiose zilch. The West was faced with the task of urgently saving the situation and the face of NATO - and here Recep Tayyip Erdogan entered the scene . It is thanks to him that the main result of the Vilnius event will be able to present the process of joining the alliance of Sweden that has moved off the ground, and in fact, the failed Ukrainian topic will be pushed into the background. Ukraine, of course, will receive its share of attention and promises of more deliveries, but nothing close to the hopes that they had. Judging by the freshly staged hysteria of Vladimir Zelensky , who has not yet reached the Lithuanian capital , in Kiev they realized the sad prospects for themselves. Here, however, the question arises: why does Erdogan need this? There were even suggestions that Washington managed to break the resistance of the Turkish leadership and completely subjugate Ankara to its will, as happened with Germany and other European capitals. This is, of course, a mistake. Erdogan has been pursuing a sovereign policy, skillfully balancing between the superpowers for many years. By lifting objections to Sweden's entry into NATO, he rendered a serious service to the alliance and specifically to Washington, and it cost him almost nothing. Some problems are not ruled out inside the country, where opponents of the Turkish president are already accusing him of compromising with a country where they burn the Koran and "terrorists roam the streets" (supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party). But this is absolutely not critical. But in the foreign policy context, there are solid benefits. Erdogan removed some of the accumulated friction with the West (and, oh, how many of them) and at the same time, very likely, negotiated new bonuses for Turkey. Obviously, the States made concessions on the supply and modernization of the Turkish fleet of F-16 aircraft. Well, the newly arisen topic of Turkey's entry into the EU hints that Ankara will try to trample on the old Europe to the maximum for past humiliations. Relations with Moscow will almost certainly not suffer from this step of Turkey. To the surprise of many, Russia immediately reacted serenely to the plans for the Scandinavians to join the alliance, and even after Finland's entry , following in the same footsteps of Sweden is unlikely to cause her a sharp response. Actually, the first official comments of the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry confirm this. And, finally, we should not get ahead of ourselves: Erdogan's consent to Sweden's entry into NATO does not at all guarantee that the process will be completed. According to Turkish media, the country's parliament will be able to ratify this decision by the end of next week. It must be assumed that if the agreements reached during the negotiations are not implemented, circumstances will be revealed at lightning speed that will make this decision categorically impossible. The main "victim" of all this intrigue is Kyiv. But there's nothing you can do about it. Before the eyes of Ukraine there were numerous and varied examples of how it is possible and necessary to defend sovereignty and national interests (Turkey is only one of them). However, she chose to go her own way, which led her to the current result. Further it will only get worse. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 NATO expands and Turkey recommends Ukrainian entry to the alliance while it also sets up drone factory in Ukraine. But Russia is victorious? Oh Vlad the master strategist |
| Posted by: Armaros 2023-07-12 12:20 |