Foreign Policy Category Archive

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Turkey Pivots to the Center of the New Great Game

Pepe Escobar • December 24, 2020

• 1,200 Words • 12 Comments • Reply

When it comes to sowing – and profiting – from division, Erdogan’s Turkey is quite the superstar. Under the delightfully named Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), the Trump administration duly slapped sanctions on Ankara for daring to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defence systems. The sanctions focused on Turkey’s defence procurement agency, the... Read More

The Worst Crime of Donald Trump’s Presidency Must Not be Forgotten

Patrick Cockburn • November 28, 2020

• 1,200 Words • 62 Comments • Reply

It was the worst crime of Donald Trump’s years in the White House. In October 2019 he ordered US troops to stand aside, greenlighting Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria that led to the murder, rape and expulsion of its Kurdish inhabitants Eighteen months earlier, Trump did nothing as the Turkish army occupied the Kurdish enclave... Read More

Who's Behind the Azerbaijani Attacks on Ethnic Armenians?

E. Michael Jones • November 13, 2020

• 500 Words • 6 Comments • Reply

On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan launched a military attack on the Armenian ethnic enclave known as Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was quick to blame Turkey for Azerbaijan’s actions: Like Pashinyan, Adam Schiff, the Jew whose congressional district covers Hollywood and includes many influential Armenians, attacked Erdogan but omitted any mention of Israel’s role... Read More

The New Kings of Jihadist Terrorism: Azerbaijan and Turkey

David Boyajian • October 29, 2020

• 1,000 Words • 5 Comments • Reply

The vicious war against the Armenian Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) and Armenia by Azerbaijan, Turkey, and thousands of their jihadist terrorists has passed the one month mark. The jihadis’ presence, which includes ISIS, is consistent with the debauched political cultures and national ambitions of Azerbaijan and Turkey. It also tells us that the U.S./NATO/EU stance... Read More

The Case for Affirming the Independence of the Armenian Republic of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabagh

David Boyajian • October 25, 2020

• 1,100 Words • 18 Comments • Reply

In recent years, many territories’ declarations of independence have been justifiably affirmed through international agreements. The Republic of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabagh’s declaration of independence from Azerbaijan three decades ago is as legitimate as any of those. Artsakh is the republic’s ancient Armenian name. Artsakh and Christian Armenia have been under attack by Azerbaijan, Turkey, jihadist terrorists, and... Read More

Before the Elections

Israel Shamir • October 18, 2020

• 2,700 Words • 73 Comments • Reply

The world began its countdown to the most dramatic event of this dramatic year, to the US Presidential elections. Will Trump make it? Will this great orange man who beat Coronavirus and came back from the clutches of death manage to beat Sleepy Joe and his multitudes? Or will the Dems take us all into... Read More

Jews Are Enabling Genocide Against Armenian Christians In Nagorno-Karabakh

Eric Striker • October 15, 2020

• 800 Words • 61 Comments • Reply

The spiraling conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh has suddenly intensified. Nagorno-Karabakh is technically part of Azerbaijan, but its population is 99% Armenian Christian and has its own local military, which is backed by the Armenian state. The Azeri government seeks to assert full control over the region and violently... Read More

Can and Should Russia Stop the War in the Caucasus?

The Saker • October 10, 2020

• 3,700 Words • 218 Comments • Reply

This war is officially a war between Azerbaijan and the (unrecognized) Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (RNK) aka “Republic of Artsakh” (ROA) which I shall refer to simply as Nagorno Karabakh or “NK”. As is often the case, the reality is much more complicated. For one thing, Erdogan’s Turkey has been deeply involved since Day 1... Read More

Is Syria’s Idlib the Next Gaza Strip?

Patrick Cockburn • October 7, 2020

• 1,400 Words • 12 Comments • Reply

“Many relatives of mine were living in camps near the border with Turkey,” says Huda Husein, a 25-year-old teacher living in the rebel-held enclave of Idlib in northwest Syria. “But last month they returned home [to the cities and villages] because they prefer dying under an airstrike to dying in the camps.” A cousin told... Read More

What’s at Stake in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Chessboard

Pepe Escobar • October 1, 2020

• 2,700 Words • 116 Comments • Reply

Few geopolitical hot spots across the planet may rival the Caucasus: that intractable, tribal Tower of Babel, throughout History a contentious crossroads of empires from the Levant and nomads from the Eurasian steppes. And it gets even messier when one adds the fog of war. To try to shed some light into the current Armenia-Azerbaijan... Read More

Chess board game pieces on Turkey and Israel flag background
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America Chooses a New Mideast Policeman

Taxi • July 31, 2020

• 1,300 Words • 123 Comments • Reply

Running out of time, and desperate to gather focus and forces to fast pivot east to confront a rapidly rising Chinese superpower, America is currently arranging for its exit from the Middle East in a way that militarily secures its allies and proxies there, especially that of Israel. Naturally, it has to pick a top... Read More

Clash of Civilizations, Revisited

Pepe Escobar • July 16, 2020

• 1,800 Words • 20 Comments • Reply

Late afternoon in May 29, 1453, Sultan Mehmet, the third son of Murad, born of a slave-girl – probably Christian - in the harem, fluent in Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Persian and Hebrew, followed by his top ministers, his imams and his bodyguard of Janissaries, rides slowly towards the Great Church of St Sophia in... Read More

There Is a Dark and Dangerous Forest Behind These Burning Trees...

The Saker • July 14, 2020

• 5,200 Words • 175 Comments • Reply

Roughly half-way through the year 2020 it is becoming pretty obvious that there are a number of major developments which almost got our total attention, and for good reason, as these are tectonic shifts which truly qualify as "catastrophe" (under the definition "a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth"). These are:... Read More

George Soros in His Own Words

Philip Giraldi • April 16, 2020

• 1,500 Words

George Soros is a billionaire Hungarian-born investor who is extremely controversial due to his promotion of what he chooses to define as democracy and free-trade movements, primarily conducted through the Open Society Foundations, which he founded and has funded with $32 billion, according to one estimate. He contributed to the campaigns of Barack Obama and... Read More

More American Blunders in the Middle East: U.S. Envoys Embrace Terrorists Yet Again

Philip Giraldi • March 14, 2020

• 1,600 Words • 24 Comments • Reply

The spread of the coronavirus has meant that much of the other news about developments around the world has disappeared from the normal news cycle. The situation in Syria, which involves not only the government in Damascus but also Turkey, Russia, Iran and a remaining American force in part of the country has been proving... Read More

Is This How Europe Ends?

Pat Buchanan • March 10, 2020

• 900 Words • 133 Comments • Reply

"Fortress Europe is an illusion." So declares the Financial Times in the closing line of its Saturday editorial: "Europe Cannot Ignore Syrian Migrant Crisis." The FT undertakes to instruct the Old Continent on what its duty is and what its future holds: "The EU will face flows of migrants and asylum seekers across the Mediterranean... Read More

Putin Saves Erdogan from Himself

Pepe Escobar • March 6, 2020

• 900 Words • 11 Comments • Reply

At the start of their discussion marathon in Moscow on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with arguably the most extraordinary diplomatic gambit of the young 21st century. Putin said: “At the beginning of our meeting, I would like to once again express my sincere condolences over the death of... Read More

Showdown in Idlib: Master Statesman Putin Averts War with Combative Erdogan

Mike Whitney • March 5, 2020

• 2,500 Words • 10 Comments • Reply

The media has done a poor job of explaining what's actually taking place in Idlib Province in Syria. That's unfortunate, but the facts are pretty clear. A year and a half ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a deal in Sochi. No one twisted Erdogan's arm to sign the... Read More

Empires of the Steppes Fuel Erdogan Khan’s Dreams

Pepe Escobar • March 4, 2020

• 1,300 Words • 23 Comments • Reply

The latest installment of the interminable Syria tragedy could be interpreted as Greece barely blocking a European “invasion” by Syrian refugees. The invasion was threatened by President Erdogan even as he refused the EU’s puny “offer you can refuse” bribe of only one billion euros. Well, it’s more complicated than that. What Erdogan is in... Read More

Syria - Corona - AIPAC

Israel Shamir • March 2, 2020

• 2,000 Words • 172 Comments • Reply

The Russians feel fighting Turkey is below their dignity, and prefer to keep the fighting in Idlib as a proxy war. The dignity point is important: traditionally, the Russians go to war only with great powers. Smaller military encounters are a matter for a local commander. Even cruel Winter Campaign 1940 against Finland had been... Read More

Are Russia and Turkey on a Collision Course?

The Saker • February 28, 2020

• 3,400 Words • 407 Comments • Reply

The murder of the Iranian hero-martyr General Soleimani created a situation in which a war between Iran and the Axis of Kindness (USA/Israel/KSA) became a real possibility but, at the very last minute, Uncle Shmuel decided that he had no stomach for a full-scale war against Iran. Wise decision. This, however, does not at all... Read More

Putin vs. Erdogan: Who's Going to Blink First?

Mike Whitney • February 12, 2020

• 1,600 Words • 25 Comments • Reply

An explosive situation is developing in Idlib province where the Syrian army is conducting a major offensive that has triggered a harsh response from Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to attack Syrian forces anywhere in the country if the Syrian government does not stop all military operations in the so-called Idlib "de-escalation... Read More

Gas Wars in the Mediterranean

Mike Whitney • February 5, 2020

• 1,300 Words • 83 Comments • Reply

The unexpected alliance between Turkey and Libya is a geopolitical earthquake that changes the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean and across the Middle East. Turkey's audacious move has enraged its rivals in the region and cleared the way for a dramatic escalation in the 9 year-long Libyan civil war. It has also forced... Read More

How the Pro-War “Left” Fell for the Kurds in Syria

Max Parry • December 22, 2019

• 2,900 Words • 133 Comments • Reply

The October decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from northeastern Syria did not only precipitate the Turkish offensive, codenamed ‘Operation Peace Spring’, into Kurdish-held territory which followed. It also sparked an outcry of hysteria from much of the so-called “left” that has been deeply divided during the 8-year long conflict over... Read More

The One Insurmountable Obstacle to Peace in Syria

Mike Whitney • December 4, 2019

• 2,000 Words • 137 Comments • Reply

The Turkish army did not invade Syria to attack the Kurds. That's simply not true. The actual target of the Turkish operation (Peace Spring) was a group of separatist militants (The YPG) who have waged a bloody 30 year-long terrorist war on the Turkish state killing upwards of 40,000 people. With the assistance of US... Read More

Erdogan's Ethnic Cleansing of the Kurds Is Still Happening

Patrick Cockburn • November 15, 2019

• 1,100 Words • 15 Comments • Reply

Mass expulsion or the physical extermination of an entire ethnic or religious community – ethnic cleansing – is usually treated by the media in one of two different ways: either it receives maximum publicity as a horror story about which the world should care and do something about, or it is ignored and never reaches... Read More

Rebuilding Syria – Without Syria’s Oil

Compare US pillaging with Russia-Iran-Turkey’s active involvement in a political solution to normalize Syria

Pepe Escobar • November 1, 2019

• 900 Words • 3 Comments • Reply

What happened in Geneva this Wednesday, in terms of finally bringing peace to Syria, could not be more significant: the first session of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. The Syrian Constitutional Committee sprang out of a resolution passed in January 2018 in Sochi, Russia, by a body called the Syrian National Dialogue Congress. The 150-strong committee... Read More

An Imperfect Bit of Statecraft

Trump cancels the pullout from Syria then flip-flops, threatens war with Turkey and gives money to terrorists

Philip Giraldi • October 29, 2019

• 1,800 Words • 206 Comments • Reply

The long nightmare in Syria might finally be coming to an end, but not thanks to the United States and the administration of President Donald Trump. Trump's boast that “this was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else” was as empty as all the other rhetoric coming out of the White... Read More

The Final Outcome of the Multiple Syrian Wars Is Now in Sight

Patrick Cockburn • October 25, 2019

• 1,200 Words • 21 Comments • Reply

The sectarian and ethnic civil wars that have ravaged a large part of the Middle East over the past 40 years are coming to an end. Replacing them is a new type of conflict in which protests akin to popular uprisings rock kleptocratic elites that justify their power by claiming to be the defenders of... Read More

Vladimir Putin, Syria’s Pacifier-in-Chief

Russia-Turkey deal establishes ‘safe zone’ along Turkish border and there will be joint Russia-Turkey military patrols

Pepe Escobar • October 24, 2019

• 1,000 Words • Leave a Comment

The negotiations in Sochi were long – over six hours – tense and tough. Two leaders in a room with their interpreters and several senior Turkish ministers close by if advice was needed. The stakes were immense: a road map to pacify northeast Syria, finally. The press conference afterwards was somewhat awkward – riffing on... Read More

Revisiting the Win-Win-Win-Win Outcome in Syria

The Saker • October 23, 2019

• 7,100 Words • 220 Comments • Reply

In his recent article "The Road to Damascus: How the Syria War Was Won" Pepe Escobar summarized the outcome of the war in Syria in the following way: This otherwise excellent summary overlooks two out of three members of the "Axis of Kindness", including Israel and the KSA. Of course, later in his analysis Pepe... Read More

The Mother of All Messes in Syria

Eric Margolis • October 19, 2019

• 700 Words • 16 Comments • Reply

What a mess. The imperial cooks in Washington have turned poor Syria into a poison pit of warring factions, with disastrous results for all. Henry Kissinger once quipped that it is more dangerous being America’s ally than its enemy. A good example is how Washington used the Kurds in Syria to fight ISIS and then... Read More

Turkey's Syria Invasion Rapidly Backfiring for Ankara

Patrick Cockburn • October 16, 2019

• 700 Words • 46 Comments • Reply

Turkey’s Syrian venture is rapidly turning sour from President Erdogan’s point of view. The Turkish advance into the northeast is moving slowly, but Turkey’s military options are becoming increasingly limited as the Syrian army, backed by Russia, moves into Kurdish-held cities and towns that might have been targeted by Turkish forces. It is unlikely that... Read More

Kurds Face Stark Options After US Pullback from Northern Syria

Forget an independent Kurdistan: They may have to do a deal with Damascus on sharing their area with Sunni Arab refugees

Pepe Escobar • October 15, 2019

• 1,800 Words • Leave a Comment

In the annals of bombastic Trump tweets, this one is simply astonishing: here we have a President of the United States, on the record, unmasking the whole $8-trillion intervention in the Middle East as an endless war based on a “false premise.” No wonder the Pentagon is not amused. Trump’s tweet bisects the surreal geopolitical... Read More

Is the Interventionists' Era Over for Good?

Pat Buchanan • October 15, 2019

• 900 Words • 47 Comments • Reply

President Donald Trump could have been more deft and diplomatic in how he engineered that immediate pullout from northeastern Syria. Yet that withdrawal was as inevitable as were its consequences. A thousand U.S. troops and their Kurdish allies were not going to dominate indefinitely the entire northeast quadrant of a country the size of Syria... Read More

Cautious Optimism on Turks and Kurds

Israel Shamir • October 13, 2019

• 2,600 Words • 155 Comments • Reply

Amid the usual hysterics of ‘impending genocide’ and ‘brutal betrayal’, the long-expected Turkish operation in northeast Syria is rolling, and Turkish troops accompanied by their Syrian rebel allies quickly advance into the former US occupation zone east of the Euphrates River, pushing the Kurdish nationalist militias away from the border. The American soldiers withdrew from... Read More

Turkey Beats the War Drums

Eric Margolis • October 12, 2019

• 800 Words • 15 Comments • Reply

More war in wretched Syria. Half the population is now refugees; entire cities lie shattered by bombing; bands of crazed gunmen run rampant; US, French, Israeli and Russian warplanes bomb widely. Now, adding to the chaos, President Donald Trump has finally given Turkey, NATO’s second military power, the green light to invade parts of northeastern... Read More

Hidden Hands in the Middle East

Exploring Geopolitical Trends in the Region

Charlie O'Neill • August 12, 2019

• 2,200 Words • 84 Comments • Reply

The Western public has been so poorly served, in recent years, by its supposed world-class media organisations that any semblance of a coherent narrative explaining world events and tying together their deeper, underlying, causes to one another, has almost completely disappeared from the programming of the major networks. More often than not, international affairs are... Read More

Is a New US Mideast War Inevitable?

Pat Buchanan • July 19, 2019

• 900 Words • 80 Comments • Reply

In October 1950, as U.S. forces were reeling from hordes of Chinese troops who had intervened massively in the Korean War, a 5,000-man Turkish brigade arrived to halt an onslaught by six Chinese divisions. Said supreme commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur: "The Turks are the hero of heroes. There is no impossibility for the Turkish Brigade."... Read More

Turkey Calls Trump's Bluff

Eric Margolis • July 13, 2019

• 700 Words • 64 Comments • Reply

Turkey has just called Donald Trump’s bluff by going ahead with the purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles. The outrage in Washington is volcanic. Trump is vowing to rain fire and brimstone sanctions down on the disobedient Turks. The S-400 is Russia’s premier anti-air missile. It is believed highly effective against all forms of aircraft... Read More

Turkey’s Erdogan Meet’s China’s XI: Sultan Shines in the Court of the Dragon King

Erdogan looks set to buy Russian missile defense system in defiance of US and NATO, tying his cart to China and Russia

Pepe Escobar • July 10, 2019

• 900 Words • Leave a Comment

Turkey is a key hub in the emerging New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative. Erdogan is a master at selling Turkey as the ultimate East-West crossroads. He has also expressed much interest in joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), led by Russia-China, whose annual summit took place in Bishkek a few days before... Read More

Trump's Plan to Stay in Syria Leaves Erdogan No Good Options

Mike Whitney • March 6, 2019

• 1,900 Words • 4 Comments • Reply

In the last 24 hours, the Trump administration has intensified its attacks on Turkey which has significantly strained relations and increased the prospect of a military confrontation. The present situation is extremely tense and could explode without warning and without the American people having any idea of the dramatic events that preceded the clash. As... Read More

Trump Is Right About Syria. It's Time to Pack Up and Go Home

Mike Whitney • February 27, 2019

• 1,400 Words • 12 Comments • Reply

Here's what most people don't understand about the war in Syria: The combat-phase of the war is largely over. What's left is an arduous mop-up operation in the Idlib demilitarized zone and a potentially explosive standoff between the United States and Turkey in the north. For a while it looked like the US-Turkey confrontation would... Read More

Will Trump's Dithering Trigger a Turkish Invasion?

Mike Whitney • February 25, 2019

• 2,700 Words • 10 Comments • Reply

The Turkish government is not going to let terrorists occupy territory on their southern border any more than the United States would allow al Qaida cells to occupy camps along the US-Mexico border. Turkey simply cannot allow the current arrangement to continue, mainly because these groups (The Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF) pose a clear... Read More

Jamal Khashoggi Died for Nothing

Let the cover-up begin

Philip Giraldi • October 30, 2018

• 1,500 Words • 175 Comments • Reply

The angst over the Jamal Khashoggi murder in the Saudi Arabian Consulate General building in Istanbul is already somewhat fading as the media has moved on in search of fresh meat, recently focusing on the series of attempted mail bombings, and currently on the mass shooting in Pittsburgh. But the affaire Khashoggi is still important... Read More

Khashoggi, Erdogan and the Truth

Craig Murray • October 24, 2018

• 1,200 Words • 115 Comments • Reply

The Turkish account of the murder of Khashoggi given by President Erdogan is true, in every detail. Audio and video evidence exists and has been widely shared with world intelligence agencies, including the US, UK, Russia and Germany, and others which have a relationship with Turkey or are seen as influential. That is why, despite... Read More

Idlib Residents Declare Hatred for All Sides in Syria's Civil War

Patrick Cockburn • October 12, 2018

• 1,200 Words • 5 Comments • Reply

“People in Idlib hate all those with power over them,” says Ahmad Abu Omar, 33, a history teacher living in the province, the last opposition enclave in the west of Syria. He says that the three million people of Idlib fear a return of government forces, but are almost equally hostile to the armed opposition... Read More

The Syrian Ceasefire Proves How Far Putin Has Come Out on Top

Patrick Cockburn • September 23, 2018

• 1,200 Words • 9 Comments • Reply

A ceasefire seldom gets a good press. If it succeeds in ending violence or defusing a crisis, the media swiftly becomes bored and loses interest. But if the fighting goes on, then those who have called the ceasefire are condemned as heartless hypocrites who either never intended to bring the killing to an end or... Read More

Turkey Now, America Later?

Ron Paul • August 27, 2018

• 500 Words • 4 Comments • Reply

President Trump recently imposed sanctions on Turkey to protest the Turkish government’s detention of an American pastor. Turkey has responded by increasing tariffs on US exports. The trade war is being blamed for the collapse of Turkey’s currency, the lira. While the sanctions may have played a role, Turkey’s currency crisis is rooted in the... Read More

America the Punitive

Philip Giraldi • August 17, 2018

• 800 Words • 10 Comments • Reply

There has been a dramatic shift in how the United States government carries out its business internationally. Admittedly, Washington has had a tendency to employ force to get what it has wanted ever since 9/11, but it also sometimes recognized that other countries had legitimate interests and accepted there was a place for diplomacy to... Read More

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"Turkey" Items Across Entire Archive

Category Classics

American Pravda: Our Coronavirus Catastrophe as Biowarfare Blowback?

Ron Unz

• 1,638 Comments • Reply

9/11 Was an Israeli Job

How America was neoconned into World War IV

Laurent Guyénot

• 444 Comments • Reply

John McCain and the POW Cover-Up

The “war hero” candidate buried information about POWs left behind in Vietnam.