Continued tensions over the May 16 brawl in Washington D.C. in which Turkish security forces attacked demonstrators has fueled a new resolution in the House, sponsored by Rep. Dave Trott (R – MI), aiming to condition arms sales to the Turkish government on prosecution of those forces.
The brawl between Turkish forces and protesters have raised tensions between the US and Turkey since the Erdogan visit, with Turkey complaining that the US shouldn’t have allowed public protests in the first place, and many in the Congress saying it was unacceptable.
The House resolution appears to be mostly symbolic, pressuring the State Department to do something regarding cooperation with the prosecution efforts before the sale is formally announced. The resolution notes that other NATO states have had to take “extraordinary steps” related to Turkey lately, and says the State Department should do the same.
It’s entirely possible, though, that the State Department may choose to ignore this, though Erdogan has been reacting with unrestrained fury at every perceived criticism from abroad, and is likely to get riled by this move as well, particularly since he’s maintained the US protesters were “Kurdish terrorists” and deserved a beating.
Bismarck’s strategy of paying for his war preparations and actual wars was pretty standard. You win the war (against Austria; France) then make the losers pay for your expenses. When the Allies forced Germany to pay reparations under the Versailles treaty it backfired. Hitler envisaged paying for his wars by plundering all occupied countries, especially the Soviet Union. That of course was not a new strategy either.
Now that nuclear arsenals have made these strategies harder if not virtually impossible the compensation for defense/war expenses is sought in weapons sales. Stealing crude oil from Iraq is not allowed.
Hitler paid his reparations by inflating his money supply.