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Thursday, December 22, 2016

Behold the Glory of the Smartiest of Smarty Smart Diplomacy

Recent talk from the left about whether President Trump will inflame jihadis because he calls them "Islamist terrorists" is bizarre given that we report that 50,000 ISIL jihadis alone have been killed in the last 2 years of fighting.

The Left claimed that Bush inspired jihadis and that President Obama, with his middle name of "Hussein," an outreach speech to the Islamic world, and the status of not being Bush would restore our relations with the Moslem world. So what happened? How is it possible for there even to be 50,000 ISIL fighters killed--conservatively estimated--just in Iraq and Syria?

Heck, President Obama even prioritized relations with the "tame" Islamist-friendly Erdogan government of Turkey to make that country the pillar of our regional diplomacy to undermine the appeal of "wild" Islamist ideology.

About that:

The US was not invited to a meeting held Tuesday in Moscow between Turkish, Russian, and Iranian officials aimed at solving the crisis in Syria — and it's not the first time Washington has been left out in the cold.

Turkey, a NATO ally I'll add, despite the attention our president had given Erdogan, is turning toward Russia:

Much of the Washington foreign policy community stood aghast Tuesday as top officials of NATO ally Turkey sat down with leaders of Russia and Iran in Moscow to forge a new way forward for Syria, without the United States in the room. The scene was not only a turning point in the Syrian crisis but also a stunning display of Turkey’s shifting orientation towards Russia and away from America and the West.

Good Lord people, an off-duty Turkish policeman assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey, and Turkey managed to blame America (because some critic of Erdogan is in exile in Pennsylvania) for it; and now Turkey is turning toward Russia, of all countries!

How many wars have Turkey and Russia fought over the centuries? That would be 12 for those keeping count. Add in the Cold War if you like. And consider that Turkey contributed troops for the Korean War where Russia backed North Korea. And just a year ago the Turks shot down a Russian warplane operating over Syria that appeared to cross into Turkish air space.

And while Turkey has been angling to unseat Assad since the Arab Spring revolt began in Syria, Russia is a pillar of the Assad regime keeping it from falling.

Yet Turkey is still turning toward Russia, unsure of just what the Hell we are thinking in Washington, D.C.

How is it possible to conclude anything other than that our president could eff up a wet dream?