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Friday, May 19, 2017

The Faust and the Furious

I get the feeling that by the time Turkey quits NATO it will be a mere formality rather than a great change in actual policy at the time.

The Turks are angry with Germany but are acting like they are more powerful than their actual strength justifies:

Germany's defense minister says her office has drafted a list of eight locations where it could move aircraft supporting the anti-IS mission if Turkey continues to block German lawmakers from visiting troops at the Incirlik base.

Although to be fair, it might not be that Turkey fails to appreciate the benefits of NATO common defense as much as it is that Germany (as economically successful as it is, doesn't know what its role is believing the often-resented America will defend them) provides very little of that collective defense.

Although this is encouraging on the latter issue:

The German Air Force this month sent the U.S. military a written request for classified data on the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet as it gears up to replace its current fleet of fighter jets from 2025 to 2035.

I imagine the F-35 would be the smaller high end of a high-low mix with the European-made Typhoon.