Biden just secured a big win from his Europe trip

[Chicks]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/11/polit...ato/index.html

President Joe Biden has already secured a powerful deliverable from his Europe trip – one that will weaken Russia’s strategic position in another detrimental consequence of its invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey’s lifting of its blockade on Sweden’s entry into NATO was a significant and stunning move on the eve of the NATO summit in Lithuania. The reversal by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came hours after he warned Sweden would be out in the cold until Turkey got its long-delayed membership in the European Union.

Once Sweden finally joins NATO, it will bolster Biden’s reputation as a US leader who reinvigorated and expanded the bloc. Finland – which decided to sign up, like Sweden, after the invasion of Ukraine – has already added hundreds of miles of NATO territory on Russia’s border. Biden’s lifeline of arms and ammunition for Ukraine and leadership of the alliance has made him the most significant president in transatlantic affairs at least since George H.W. Bush, who presided over the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany. His legacy will ultimately depend, however, on the outcome of the war in Ukraine and his capacity to avoid a direct clash with Russia.

Imagine if Whell's Dear Leader, the orange buffoon, were still mucking up the works. Thanks, Joe! You're a real leader.

[Rajoo]

Erdogan is also tempted from a great financial opportunity for Turkey to rebuild Ukraine and this is a huge carrot that Biden used to twist his arm without any major concessions from Sweden.

[Ike Bana]

Seems to me there's gotta be a way to deal with world problems without kissing Erdogan's ass all day long.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Seems to me there's gotta be a way to deal with world problems without kissing Erdogan's ass all day long.

What happened behind the scenes is that Biden said he would consider selling Turkey the F-16's they've been coveting as their air fleet ages (the sale of these planes was cut off when Turkey chose to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles. I suppose Erdogan is having second thoughts after seeing how poorly Russian jets and SAM's are performing in Ukraine.

[bobabode]

Sweden is a huge get for Joe Biden. Well done for a doddering old fool who can't even tie his shoes... (rolls eyes)

[Ike Bana]

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also had a negative impact on the persistent portrayal of NATO as wicked and threatening by Russia. NATO appears to have the most positive standing that it has had in a long time. Its also bad news for Trump and his constant assaults on NATO. The Democrats need to keep this in mind and beat that pro-NATO drum to death in the 2024 election. Biden needs to hammer away with his participation in the NATO membership of Sweden and Ukraine in next year's election.

[Ike Bana]

One last thing regarding the Turks...this asshole Erdogan needs to end the persecution of Kurds in Turkey. Anybody remember how the Kurdish PKK is a terrorist organization in Turkey, but the same PKK are "Freedom Fighters" in Iraq and Syria. The labeling of PKK as a terrorist organization is some of the worst hypocrisy in the history of this country. The Bush State Department tagged the PKK as a terrorist organization in 1997, for one reason only, kissing the ass of the Turks. We had eight years of Obama, and so far two and a half years of Biden, and the PKK continues to be identified as "terrorist" even though they fought on the same side with us in Iraq, and against ISIS in Syria. We continue to kiss Erdogan's ass.

And when the time comes to actually make Ukraine, or whatever is left of an independent Ukraine, a NATO Member State, Erdogan is going to have a bunch of the bullshit demands or he will oppose it.