With a plan in motion to arm Ukraine with Slovakia’s S-300 air defense system, US officials are also pushing fellow NATO member Turkey to send its Russian-made S-400. The US is prepared to send the Patriot missile defense system to replace it, and possibly allow Ankara to purchase the F-35.
The idea was reportedly pitched by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman when she visited Turkey earlier this month. The State Department and the Turkish embassy have not commented on the proposal.
The Biden administration sees several benefits in the plan. It would provide Ukraine with more advanced air defense – the S-400 is a newer upgrade from the S-300 – while it would also integrate Turkey with other NATO states that use the Patriot system. Moreover, Washington believes the move would upset the relationship between Ankara and Moscow.
Turkey is currently playing a leading role in negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, hosting the highest-level talks so far. Turkey’s foreign minister reported Sunday that several points of agreement had been made between Kiev and Moscow.
Should it agree to the arms shipment to Ukraine, however, Turkey may lose its perceived neutrality in the talks and could deal a major blow to diplomacy.
Turkey bought the S-400 from Russia in 2019 over vocal objections from the US, which at one point even sanctioned Turkish officials over the purchase. Washington also responded by booting Turkey from the F-35 program, after years of joint work in developing the problematic fighter. Ankara has demanded reimbursement for the $1.4 billion it sunk into the project, but so far to no avail.
Earlier this week, Turkey’s Defense Industries President Ismail Demir – one of the officials sanctioned over the S-400 deal – said his country had all but given up on the issue, calling the F-35 discussions "closed," and added that Ankara had no plans to obtain Patriot batteries anytime soon. He made no mention of Sherman’s proposal, however.
While Washington may enjoy seeing Russian missiles shooting down Russian aircraft over Ukraine, severing ties between Ankara and Moscow could have steep consequences, risking an end to the Turkey-sponsored peace talks and even an escalation of the war itself.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. Will Porter is the assistant news editor of the Libertarian Institute and a staff writer at RT. Kyle and Will host Conflicts of Interest along with Connor Freeman. Reprinted from The Libertarian Institute.
It is hard to believe the naivety or stupidity whstever the case. With several attacks on Turkish currency — the last ending in December. the only reason Turkey is still standing. Is China. Russia and Qatar. Chinese unfinished products are completed in Turkey giving it s bealthy income from exports, and ability to merl interest rates low. I remember a victory lap in media here. Zridicing Erdogan’s crazy interest rate policy, There is still the little matter of coup in 2016. Why after working so hard to stave off economic and political turmoil – will Turkey want to tesr down its safety net?
(1) Erdogan was ***saved by Putin*** from the US-engineered coup attempt in 2016.
(2) Turkey has been been treated with contempt in its long but fruitless attempt to join the EU.
and (3) At this point, with the self-evident demise of The Empire of Lies and the rise of the Eurasian Economic Union, Turkey will surely choose go with “the future”.
Who cares? There won’t be any functional S-400 systems – or S-300 systems – in Ukraine after Russia sees them. Russia has an integrated AD system. Ukraine doesn’t and won’t. These are big vehicles – you can’t get them across the border without being destroyed. Russia has said they will start targeting these weapons convoys. This is also why it’s likely Russia will start an operation in western Ukraine to close the Polish border as well as seize Lviv. Turkey is just playing its usual game between Russia and the US for its own advantage.
AD?
Advanced Air Defence (AAD)Advanced Air Defence (AAD) ?
Ukraine has access to Starlink and it offers more than WiFi because it is an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) system that monitors and controls the launch of Every new P.A.T.R.I.O.T. we sold or upgraded. Starlink is the radar array and CO2 SDI laser Platform to identify, track and destroy ICBMS ( they did not design it for Hypersonics, it is garbage).
It can burn things in motion or bath them in microwaves “to a phased array everything is slow” ~Elon Mush on the effectiveness of Starlink to maintain a link on a speeding Swiss train.
Ukraine had Starlink Given to them, to maintain post war communications in it’s secondary and and repurposed mode.
It is a privatized global 5G solution that way.
2kitty
Out
Being shut out of the F-35 ponzi scheme is a blessing in disguise. The plane is a Turkey!
https://media4.giphy.com/media/u36Ow6jBvWCFW/giphy.gif
Turkeys can fly
But, not for long…!
Okay, okay, turkeys can fly…. But this is a laughing shark! The only reason for the shark to be laughing, as we know from the movies, is because he ate some teenagers…!
But sharks can jump above water surface and catch a turkey flying above…! 🙂
I’d pay to see that…!
Not very well. So still accurate.
***Wild*** turkeys can fly.
“Should it agree to the arms shipment to Ukraine, however, Turkey may lose its perceived neutrality in the talks and could deal a major blow to diplomacy.”
Once again: “Mission Accomplished”. There is money to be made.
If neutrality is a perception, we could get a whole lot of competition…
I am 78 I am an American. The America I see is like the shifty back alley creep that sells drugs, the drugs being war and weapons.
Vlp1730,
So, what’s the down side?….
Why do you insult shifty back alley creeps that sell drugs by comparing them to the America we all see?
I must add, off point, that drugs should be legal.
Just like the US on some of their more sophisticated military objects in case they get in the wrong hands, Russia would never sell anything like the S-400 to an unreliable country like Turkey without installing a “kill switch”, in this case even better, it fries the circuits, and the customer would never find it. S-400’s is said to be equipped with this.
And that is exactly what Russia will do if any S-XXX air defense systems get transferred to Ukraine… The only countries that lose would be Turkey and Slovakia…!
This:
“could deal a major blow to diplomacy”!!!?
Are we forcing them to take sides or to disarm?
There there there!
Turkiye would newer ever aggread to that American con-job to exchanging that system,
What would be the Turkish interest on that! Authomatically Russians and Turkey would be enemies and all the diplomatic efforts from Turkey would failed. And that’s his contribution,more problems this old Irish man wanted, nobody can aggread to that and even suggesting something like this is extremely stupid.