In recent weeks, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed he was uniquely positioned to negotiate a reduction in tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Turkey is a NATO member state that purchased advanced Russian weapons, and has been at decisive odds with the Western foreign policy in Syria. Earlier this week, Turkey announced Erdogan would travel to Ukraine “to be the intermediary in this conflict.”
However, the Turkish president had other plans. The Wall Street Journal reports that Erdogan changed his peace trip into a weapons sale and inked an agreement that allows Ukraine to manufacture armed Turkish drones. Turkey has already sold Ukraine dozens of its armed Bayraktar TB2 drones, which Kiev soon deployed against separatist forces in the Donbas.
Along with the plans to build Turkish drones, Ukraine is adding to its domestic weapons manufacturing with a new missile program, pursuing multiple missile variants including a cruise missile that could be used to target Russian ships, and a second design that would put Moscow within its range.
The Ukraine-Turkey drone deal was signed as the Biden administration was making a new, evidence-free accusation against Russia. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price claimed Moscow was planning to make a graphic video – using crisis actors – of a ‘false flag’ attack on Russians to create an excuse to invade its neighbor.
While Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pushed Price to offer some evidence for the explosive claim, the spokesman insisted he had provided journalists with all the information they needed. When Lee again pressed for proof, Price snapped, suggesting Lee was promoting the Russian narrative.
“If you doubt the credibility of the US government, of the British government, of other governments and want to find solace in information that the Russians are putting out, that is for you to do,” Price said.
The accusations seem to be a new PR tactic from the Biden administration. When an NPR journalist questioned the Pentagon’s narrative about a recent raid on the leader of the Islamic State, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was indignant, asking whether the reporter was suggesting that “ISIS is providing accurate information?”
The journalists were right to question the administration in both cases, as initial claims from government officials have often proven false. Following drone strikes in Kabul on August 29 – some of the last acknowledged combat operations in the 20-year war in Afghanistan – Washington initially claimed the mission was a “righteous” success. It was later revealed that 10 civilians, and zero Islamic State terrorists, were killed in the blasts. More recently, after several senior US officials repeatedly predicted an “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine for some two months on end, the White House has now backed off from that claim.
Will Porter contributed to the article. Reprinted with permission from The Libertarian Institute.
Pepe Escobar has an article up The Saker site giving more context and background to Erdogan’s maneuvers. Apparently it seems Erdogan is striving to create a “Pan-Turkic Block” among the Central Asian ‘stans with himself as Caliph – or something pointless like that. That will bring him at loggerheads with Russia and China and the Shanghai Cooperation Council which already has most the ‘stans plus Russia, China and Iran.
As for Ukraine’s “missile program”, that is probably just another ploy to get Russia to negotiate directly or get more NATO money – neither will happen. I don’t see how Ukraine has the money for an expensive missile program and they’ll have even less once NS2 is operational. Of course, that might be what the “Ukraine crisis” is about, for them at least.
One wonders how they can even afford the Turkish drones, unless someone is supplying them money under the table (George Soros, maybe?) And if they did get some missiles, Russia would crush them even faster if a conflict arose. So that’s why I assume the missile program is bogus.
However, a thought occurs to me. If Ukraine actually has reported an attempt for a new missile program, then either those idiots are deliberately trying to provoke Russia – or the CIA and neocons have fabricated such a program as a further attempt to get Russia to attack. If so, this just is more evidence that the US is desperate to get a war going there.
So where the hell is Biden in this ongoing operation? Everything assumes he’s against a war there because he’s claimed he won’t send troops there. But that doesn’t say anything about whether he wants a war between Ukraine and Russia *without* US troops being involved – as I’ve been saying all along.