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Title : Let's talk Turkey
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Let's talk Turkey

Eric Swawell:

"The question we have to ask is, would Donald Trump sell America's secrets to protect his own secrets? I think it's likely this guy's always looking to protect himself."

Indeed. Let's talk Turkey.

That country -- run by the authoritarian Tayyip Erdogan -- has purchased the S-400 missile system from Russia. They also bought some stealth jets from us. That's a problem, because those missiles were designed to shoot down those jets.

US officials were concerned that Ankara's purchase of the missile system would put advanced stealth F-35 fighter jets, which Turkey has also ordered, at risk because Moscow could steal sensitive information through the system's radar.

Confident of their assessment on the dangers posed by the missile system, US defence officials had refused to participate in the study group multiple times over the course of the past two months.

"Moscow could steal sensitive information through the system's radar"...? I'm not quite sure what that means, and I'm not sure that I want to know the specifics. But the basic point is clear enough. This situation is dangerous. According to the Russian news site Sputnik,

Ever since Ankara inked an agreement with Russia to buy S-400 defence systems in December 2017, Washington has been pressuring it into abandoning the deal. The US has threatened to halt the delivery of F-35 jets ordered by Turkey and even to boot it out of NATO, if it doesn't follow the demands.

To resolve this problem, Russia and Turkey wanted to create a study group. In all likelihood, this study group would have allowed the Russians to plumb the secrets of our F-35. That's why the DOD has resisted pressures to participate in this study group.

At least, that's the story told by most sources, including the Middle East Eye, quoted above. Sputnik gives a slightly different account:

Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on 31 May that he is unaware of plans to create a joint working group with Turkey on the S-400 issue, which were reported on earlier in the day.

"I haven't heard of the joint study group", he said during the Asia Security Summit in Singapore.

Shanahan reiterated his stance on the problem with Turkey's acquisition of Russian air defence systems, arguing that the S-400 is incompatible with the F-35 and that therefore the US shouldn't sell the latter to Ankara.

"The S-400 is designed to shoot down the F-35. They are natural enemies, that's the fundamental reason", he said.

With one phone call, Trump overcame all resistance. The study group will proceed. In all likelihood, Turkey will acquire both the Russian weapon and the F-35.

Turkey and Russia are not partners -- there are serious points of contention, particularly in Syria -- but that doesn't mean that Turkey should be considered a reliable ally of the US.

This isn't the first time Trump has acted abruptly and impulsively in his relations with Turkey. You may recall that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quit when Trump, against the advice of his military advisers, told Erdogan that the US would pull out of Syria.

You may also recall reports that Michael Flynn, while working for the Trump campaign, had hoped to arrange the kidnapping (and likely execution) of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania and whom Erdogan considers a threat. The BBC says that the Turkey offered Flynn $15 million. Flynn was an unregistered Turkish lobbyist during this period.

Are similar "behind the scenes" arrangements at work today?

Most Americans don't know that Trump does a substantial amount of business in that country. One (or is it two?) of the largest skyscrapers in Istanbul are the Trump Towers, which are two conjoined structures bearing his name. The property is actually owned by Turkish billionaire Aydın Doğan, who has a licensing deal with Trump. During a low spot in Turkish/American relations, Erdogan asked for the removal of Trump's name from the building, but the sign remains.

The exact nature of the deal between Doğan and Trump remains maddeningly opaque, as is ever the case with all things Trump. However, Trump himself admits that a conflict of interest exists. From a November, 2016 L.A. Times article:

Trump admitted in a radio interview last December that he had a conflict of interest in dealing with Turkey because he has property there.

"I have a little conflict of interest, because I have a major, major building in Istanbul," Trump said. "It's called Trump Towers. Two towers, instead of one. Not the usual one, it's two. And I've gotten to know Turkey very well."

Does this admitted conflict of interest have any connection to Trump's willingness to go along with a deal which, according to our military experts, will expose important secrets of our stealth technology?

How would the rightwingers react if Obama did such a thing?

When will people in the DOD recognize the danger posed by a president whose loyalty to the United States is, to put it mildly, questionable? 

A final note on gerrymandering. I am increasingly convinced that the Trump administration is founded on a Big Damn Secret. This Secret has little to do with Russia. It's something else.

This Big Damn Secret explains why all Republicans have bent the knee, and why Bush and Trump (who hate each other) worked together to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.

The Big Damn Secret is the GOP's history of election manipulation. I believe that the problem goes beyond the caging tactics that Greg Palast talks about, although those tactics are definitely important. I also believe that the problem goes beyond gerrymandering, though gerrymandering is also very important.

I believe that actual rigging of voting equipment has occurred. Key Republicans understand that, if Trump is ousted, he will blab about The Secret, and history will label more than one president as illegitimate. That's why so many Republicans who otherwise dislike the Great Vulgarian are willing to do as he demands.

I state this as my personal theory, not as established fact. Some will consider me a left-wing analog to Alex Jones. Still, the recently-uncovered gerrymandering files go a long ways toward demonstrating that my theory is not so far-fetched as it may seem.

In February, attorneys challenging North Carolina’s legislative gerrymander notified the defendants, a group of Republican leaders in the legislature, that they’d issued a subpoena. The lawyers had asked Stephanie Hofeller Lizon to provide “any storage device” containing redistricting-related documents left by her estranged father, Thomas Hofeller, a Republican consultant who specialized in gerrymandering. Republican legislators did not object, and Lizon turned over the requested materials: 18 thumb drives and four hard drives containing more than 75,000 files—many related to her father’s consulting work. The voting rights attorneys had uncovered a vast trove of information exposing the inner workings of GOP gerrymandering across the country.

This race-based gerrymandering plan may not be the only bombshell on those thumb drives. Will we learn about other forms of election tampering? Perhaps not; gerrymandering was Hofeller's specialty. Nevertheless, I remain convinced -- for a host of reasons -- that election tampering is real.

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