Turkey Threatens To Revoke US Nuclear Base In Incirlik After Sanctions Bill Advances To Senate

[Swordsmyth]

On Wednesday morning the GOP-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance Turkey sanctions legislation on an 18-4 vote, despite strong objections from the Trump administration. Senators Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Ted Cruz, and Tom Udall vote against it.
At the same time, Ankara has threatened to take back US military bases at Incirlik and Kurecik in Turkey, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has announced, saying it would "reevaluate" their status.
Sanctions legislation had been stalled by the Republican majority Senate, with the Rand Paul leading the charge against the bill, in order to give Trump more time to make a deal with Turkey over its controversial purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-air defense system.


The House had passed its own sanctions legislation in October following Erdogan's ordered military incursion into northern Syria targeting US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces.
The bipartisan bill sponsored by Republican Chairman Jim Risch and ranking Democrat Robert Menendez along with 16 other senators.
"I was willing to let the people talk," Risch told reporters last week, "Very shortly thereafter it changed, and it has gotten worse instead of better." Risch added of the next vote: "I suspect that bill's gonna pass 98-2 on the floor."
The measures will including not only sanctions over the S-400 acquirement, but will target specific Turkish officials and institutions as well, including a ban on arms sales tied to operations in Syria.

BREAKING — If US Congress sanctions Turkey, Ankara will re-evaluate the status of US bases Incirlik and Kurecik in Turkey, Turkish FM announces
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) December 11, 2019​

Just ahead of the vote, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu promised "retaliation" if it passes, which apparently now includes the serious potential escalation of booting US personnel from vital Turkish military bases.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopoliti...es-after-sanctions-bill-advances-senate-floor

Rand should switch and support it now, getting us thrown out of Turkey would be a very good thing.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Getting out of Turkey is a good idea. And if we still have nuclear weapons there, there are some damned fools making these decisions.

As far as these bipartisan neoconservative sanctions go, best to oppose them.

 

[Swordsmyth]

Getting out of Turkey is a good idea. And if we still have nuclear weapons there, there are some damned fools making these decisions.

As far as these bipartisan neoconservative sanctions go, best to oppose them.

Do you know of any other way to get us out of Turkey considering the current composition of Congress?
They are already doing their best to block Trump from pulling out of S. Korea.

 

[Swordsmyth]

Getting out of Turkey is a good idea. And if we still have nuclear weapons there, there are some damned fools making these decisions.

As far as these bipartisan neoconservative sanctions go, best to oppose them.

Which is the better option? A few sanctions on Turkey but we leave there and maybe break up NATO?
Or staying in Turkey and NATO but no sanctions?

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Which is the better option? A few sanctions on Turkey but we leave there and maybe break up NATO?
Or staying in Turkey and NATO but no sanctions?

The bipartisan neoconservatives who sponsored this have no intention of breaking up NATO. Won’t happen.

 

[Swordsmyth]

The bipartisan neoconservatives who sponsored this have no intention of breaking up NATO. Won’t happen.

Trump has NATO rattling and cracking already.
And Congress has no intention of pulling us out of Turkey but this might get us thrown out.

 

[Swordsmyth]

The bipartisan neoconservatives who sponsored this have no intention of breaking up NATO. Won’t happen.

Trump has NATO rattling and cracking already.
And Congress has no intention of pulling us out of Turkey but this might get us thrown out.

Legislation to stop Donald Trump from withdrawing the US from Nato has been approved for a Senate vote, amid uncertainty over the president’s intentions towards the alliance.
The Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday voted unanimously for the bipartisan bill which will now await a slot to go to the Senate. Senator Tim Kaine, the draft legislation’s lead Democratic sponsor, said it was a response to fears that the Trump administration is actively considering withdrawal.
“We’re aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,” Kaine told the Guardian. Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, reportedly warned last month that, if re-elected in 2020, Trump could go “full isolationist” and withdraw from the 70-year-old North Atlantic alliance.


Kaine predicted his bill to block a Nato withdrawal would gain overwhelming support from the House of Representatives and win a veto-proof majority in the upper chamber of at least 67 votes.
“I don’t think [Trump] would veto this bill if it came to his desk because of the signal that it would send would be such an unfortunate one,” Kaine told the Guardian. “It would be seen as so destabilizing by our allies that I don’t think he would do it. And furthermore, I don’t think the president would veto a bill if he thought he’s going to be overridden, and I think he would be overridden on this one.”
The bill aims to close a loophole in the US constitution, which requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate to ratify a treaty, but is silent on what it takes to exit a treaty. Kaine’s bill requires the president to seek the advice and consent of the Senate to pull the US out of Nato. The president would have to notify Congress of any effort taken towards termination of US membership, and any no congressionally mandated funds could be spent on withdrawal. Congressional legal counsel would be authorized to challenge the White House in the courts over any presidential attempt to withdraw.


“It specifies clearly, that the the law of the land will now be that a president cannot withdraw from Nato absent a congressional vote,” Kaine said. “So he could announce he was withdrawing, but that would be an illegal action, and we would feel completely confident that a court would uphold us.”
Trump has raised doubt over whether he would order the US to fight if certain Nato allies were attacked, as required by article 5 of the alliance’s founding document. The president has suggested that collective defence should be made conditional on member states meeting the alliance goal of spending at least 2% of GDP on defence.
At a leaders’ meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of Nato in the UK earlier this month, Trump defended Nato against criticism from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, but did little to allay fears that he did not fear bound by Nato’s collective defence obligations.
“We may not change Donald Trump’s minds about these things. But I think what our allies are looking for is some assurance that the American public still finds value in the alliance,” Senator Kaine said. “And I think a bill like this, in addition to having some practical effect, would start to answer that question positively.”
Constanze Stelzenmueller, the Kissinger chair on foreign policy and international relations at the Library of Congress, said the legislation, if passed, might go some way to steadying European nerves ahead of the 2020 US elections.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-committee-passes-bipartisan-bill-230358166.html

 

[TheCount]

Saudi Arabia has already offered Dhaharan as a replacement.


And you know who loves the Saudis....

 

[Swordsmyth]

Saudi Arabia has already offered Dhaharan as a replacement.


And you know who loves the Saudis....

We already have troops there so one less country we have troops in would be a good thing even if they all went to SA.

 

[sparebulb]

Incirlik should be closed.

It is a dangerous place.

Every time that I would spend the night there, I had to be mindful whilst stumbling back to the VOQ from the bar to avoid falling into the deep concrete ditches along the roads.

Oily kabobs, Turkish beer and expired Budwiser were the ritual of our layovers there.

And the place is overrun with feral cats.

Although the cats were probably a good thing to control the vermin because the place was generally filthy.

The last time I was there, the civilian Turkish workers were on strike and the garbage was stacking up everywere.

The morning we left, a group of about 50-60 striking turks surrounded our van taking us to the flightline. They were about to get hostile with the driver, who they assumed was a scab. They reluctantly let us through when they saw that it was an airman driving us. It was kind of surreal seeing those dark and very angry faces pressed up against the glass knowing that these guys are the ones who are vetted and trusted.

We are the ones who shouldn't be there.

 

[unknown]

Congress is scariest when they act in unison.

"Bipartisan" anything = shit.

 

[unknown]

What exactly are "US sanctions"?

Is it just us or does this somehow prevent other nations as well?

 

[TheCount]

We already have troops there so one less country we have troops in would be a good thing even if they all went to SA.

More troops into the combat zone, of course. Not that I'm surprised...

 

[Anti Globalist]

Getting out of turkey is a great idea.

 

[Swordsmyth]

More troops into the combat zone, of course. Not that I'm surprised...

SA is not a combat zone.

 

[TheCount]

SA is not a combat zone.

More things that you just made up.

 

[Swordsmyth]

More things that you just made up.

Turkey is just as much a combat zone as SA is.

Yemen is the combat zone.

But Trump is going to put an end to that:



And you still haven't explained how reducing the number of countries we have troops and bases in would be bad.

 

[TheCount]

Turkey is just as much a combat zone as SA is.

The Arabian peninsula is a declared combat zone.

Turkey is not.



This is what happens when you try to just imagine some bullshit, Wormtongue. Your word does not make things true, no matter how large your collection of seer stones.

 

[Swordsmyth]

The Arabian peninsula is a declared combat zone.

Turkey is not.



This is what happens when you try to just imagine some bull$#@!, Wormtongue. Your word does not make things true, no matter how large your collection of seer stones.

SA is at war in Yemen and Turkey is at war in Syria, the Houthis sometimes attack SA and the Kurds sometimes attack Turkey.

There is no significant difference.

 

[Swordsmyth]

The Arabian peninsula is a declared combat zone.

Turkey is not.



This is what happens when you try to just imagine some bull$#@!, Wormtongue. Your word does not make things true, no matter how large your collection of seer stones.

You need another reminder?

Stop insulting each other...