"Russia says it has proof..."

 

"Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.

Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a war of words since last week when a Turkish air force jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Russian border, the most serious incident between Russia and a NATO state in half a century.

In a briefing in Moscow, defence ministry officials displayed satellite images which they said showed columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey.

The officials did not specify what direct evidence they had of the involvement of Erdogan and his family, an allegation that the Turkish president has vehemently denied.

"Turkey is the main consumer of the oil stolen from its rightful owners, Syria and Iraq. According to information we've received, the senior political leadership of the country - President Erdogan and his family - are involved in this criminal business," said Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov."

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 Well, pilgrims, the US has quite adequate overhead reconnaissance means.  We know all about the "columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey."

So, who is it that Obama and his girls think they are kidding when he claims that Sultan Tayyip is going to seal the existing border gap against IS?   Who do they think they are kidding?  pl   

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/02/us-mideast-crisis-russia-turkey-dUSKBN0TL19S20151202#w8wfPF7PS2Fyc4v5.97 

Comments

[Babak Makkinejad]

Thank you for your comments.

In 1948, in connection with the Azerbaijan Crisis (Stalin's machinations to which Truman responded by convening UNSC) - the crowds in Tehran at one point were shouting "Long Live America".

I do not think we can ever go back to those days in the ordinary course of normal events.

I think we will see correct and productive relations between US and Iran but, in my opinion, that would have to wait until everyone that has experienced or witnessed the Iranian Revolution & Iran-Iraq War in both countries to have been long dead and buried - say around 2060.

Just look at the US-Cuba normalization that took place after 54 years; the rupture between those two countries never assumed the emotional, nationalistic, civilizational, and religious heights, intensities, dimensions that obtained between Iran and the United States.

[Jack]

All

Not all Republicans are kooky when it comes to Syria.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-03/us-lawmaker-sees-ample-evidence-turkeys-complicity-isiss-murderous-rampage

[Kunuri]

War is a racket.

[Kunuri]

And I love the Mini Me reference, I think in visual film frames. If I only had a little time, what I could do with Photoshop.

[Kunuri]

About time Tyler, and somebody has to do the screwing, tightening or otherwise.

[Kunuri]

I am in that war, sticking out my neck in a police state, hoping nobody has the ability to monitor the net in English. Otherwise, most of what I have written here would land me in jail. Many in Turkey are already in big trouble for a tenth of what I expressed freely here, luckily they monitor in Turkish, which they can read. But I have serious doubts that anyone of them can comprehend English, hoping that that Davutoglu is the most fluent of them all.

[Kunuri]

And who would that be, in control of state banks thoroughly integrated to the world banking system and ran by crony appointees?

[Kunuri]

I doubt it, who knows why gas prices rise or fall anywhere, there is no rational explanation that I have ever seen. One day the price of oil is 100$ a barrel, next day its 50. Does the price of oil come down by 50%? No. Its 50$ one day, and 100$ next day. Does it go up by 30% next day? Yes. So the price of gas at the gas pump is a phenomenon, and RTE is good at managing phenomenons. But I will let you know if it happens.

[Kunuri]

Really, Cee, you made me laugh, which is hard to do when reading this post. More likely I get new wrinkles on my forehead, thanks though.

[kodlu]

All true, and one of the trails originate in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the US installed Barzani clan takes its cut at the source.

[different clue]

Kunuri,

Perhaps not just complacent. Perhaps Obama actively supports ISIS as much as he feels he can get away with . . . to hold it in reserve for toppling Assad if the other alphabet jihadis can't topple Assad. That might translate to Obama's active encouragement and enthusiastic blessing ( off camera where we of the Great Uncleared can't hear it) for keeping the border open and ISIS staffed and supplied. It would make sense given Obama's position as Leader of the Global Axis of Jihad.

[different clue]

charly,

I don't think the Kurds have any access to routes of shipment-out for that oil. And certainly jihadi-allied smugglers were shipping it out before EUrope decided to drop its embargo on oil from Syria. Given all the other oil in the world there is to buy, and buy cheap, why would EUrope be so desperate to "legalise" the purchase of stolen oil from Syria?

To me its seems logical to think that EUrope specifically and overtly wants to aid and support ISIS and the alphabet jihadis . . . and is afraid that if IS's Turkish collaborators lose access to their Israeli market, then less money will flow back to ISIS. The EUropean governments want ISIS's petro-revenue stream to stay as big as it now is, so EUrope has decided it will buy oil from ISIS or the alphabet jihadis to make sure they don't run out of money. This is because EUrope is still against Assad and Putin, and still with the terrorists.

[annamaria]

Sure. But as the revelations show, the US have ben providing protection for the oil-smugglers and head-choppers that constitute the core of ISIS. Add to that the US have been arming both the fanatical jihadis and Ukrainian neo-nazi formations; moreover, the US have even sent military personnel to the ME as a help for the jihadis and neo-nazis. It seems that the US army personnel was used as the mercenaries-on-order by the thuggish Erdogan and the dirty banker Yatz.

[Degringolade]

Colonel:

http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/39961

Please tell me that this is bullshit

[Mike]

Seems legit. AP & BBC also had similar stories on that date.

[different clue]

Cee,

Erdogan is not the resigning kind.

[confusedponderer]

"Just look at the US-Cuba normalization that took place after 54 years; the rupture between those two countries never assumed the emotional, nationalistic, civilizational, and religious heights, intensities, dimensions that obtained between Iran and the United States."

Well, consider this: Chuck Norris yet has to make a film in which he ritually (and single handedly) defeats an Iranian invasion of the US heartland.

Or take Red Dawn. If pop culture is any indication, you probably underestimate the extent to which Cuba and Commumism captured the US imagination, and US fears.

From what I can observe, despite the residual anger over the embassys seizing, and despite the hostility emanating from US politicos notwithstanding, Iran is not placed on the same level of threat as Cuba was during the Cold War.

[confusedponderer]

Good for him. Let's hope he has a safe district since such views won't make him popular amongst the Borg or the raving nuts in the Republican party.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I always wondered about why the bad guys are North Koreans in a number James Bond movies; I am offended, are we less than those Koreans?

[Babak Makkinejad]

How many times did the Kemalists send Aziz Nesin to jail over his satire?

You would be in a distinguished company.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Nah, until & unless the European banks are prevented from supporting Turkey, there will be no noticeable change.

Erdogan and AKP know that EU and NATO need them, they know that they can get away with a lot of things, and he is doing what he wishes.

[turcopolier]

Degringolade

It does appear to be BS. There was some delay on Russian ship passages but that seem to have ended. Turkey and NATO know that if Turkey tries to bar passage through the Bosporus it will mean war between Turkey and Russia. pl

[confusedponderer]

Babak,
"I am offended, are we less than those Koreans?"

You should be offended.

Clearly the most evil Bond villains are the Germans, with Auric Goldfinger (... wait? Latvian?!) being the most memorable. The North Koreans are distant also-rans, which in turn, indeed, makes Iran an even lesser evil.

[Matthew]

Kunuri, the price fluctuation is not surprising. The fact that global daily production exceeds daily consumption means that that excess oil has to be stored. So the slack in demand also produces a new storage costs for the producer. Commodities are notoriously price elastic.

By analogy, are you familiar with Wilkins Micawber in David Copperfield? Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 19 pounds. Result: happiness. Annual income 19 pounds. Annual expenditure, 20 pounds. Result: Ruin.

[Valissa]

CP, good news... there are more sane Republicans.

AP Conversation: Cruz: US more secure with Assad in power http://news.yahoo.com/ap-conversation-cruzs-ambitious-foreign-policy-limits-083815355--election.html
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz says the U.S. is more secure with Syrian President Bashar Assad in power, accepting one of the Middle East's most brutal dictators as an unfortunate ally in the fight against the Islamic State.

The tea party favorite said in an interview with The Associated Press that America and the world would have been better off retaining deposed dictators in Iraq, Egypt and Libya — who committed crimes against their own people but also helped prevent the spread of violent extremism.

... While Assad is undoubtedly a "bad man," removing him from power would be "materially worse for U.S. national security interests," he says. He is unwilling to send more U.S. ground forces into the Middle East and rejects the idea that torture can serve as an appropriate interrogation tool.

"We can defend our nation and be strong and uphold our values," he says. "There is a reason the bad guys engage in torture. ISIS engages in torture. Iran engages in torture. America does not need to torture to protect ourselves."
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