>

It'd be right up there with 7m Pepsi points for a Harrier...
They weren’t supporting Sweden getting into NATO from the start nothing changed lol >

And if they were interested in supporting that, giving Sweden a bunch of demands that would inevitably worsen public opinion of Turkey was a pretty stupid way to go about it. >

It's all just posturing for the elections. Sweden got played, Erdogan got exactly what he wanted. The Swedish government just turned the Turkish election in Erdogan’s favour. He was trailing behind, but this could give him the necessary boost. >

The problem with the Turkish election is that every one with Turkish background can vote. So he gets a lot of votes from the millions of Turks outside of turkey. They almost all vote for him when they have no clue what is going on in Turkey >

There are about 15 million Turks living in Europe, the vast majority are very pro erdogan and they are not shy about it starting riots on his behalf. They know it, Erdogan knows it, European leaders know it. >

They sound like fucking idiots. >

The Turkish Trumpette section of the band. >

Why are the folks in Europe so much more pro-Erdogan than Turkish people in Turkey?  Why are would the ones that left like him more than those who stayed?  Genuinely curious. >

Because they get to cheer the "Turkey stronk!!!" stuff without having to live under his rule I suspect. >

The point is that this is what Turkey has wanted all along: Some justification to say "no". They've been fishing for this through this whole process. >

Except that definitively saying "no" has no tangible benefit to Turkey apart from some internal political posturing for the upcoming elections. So we can honestly expect it to be short lived, then they'll be ready to negotiate again. >

Internal political posturing is the actual thing Erdogan wants and needs as he heads into election season.
The sooner you stop visualizing states as perfectly coherent unitary actors rationally and doggedly perusing a 'national interest' and more that a state's foreign policy is a meritage, a sum of its domestic political actors' concerns, the sooner it will make sense. >

This is so true across the board. So many times I see statements form russian officials that people just say "nobody believes you" or "who is this for" or "try staying consistent." They should all be asking if that statement was made more for them, the foreign audience, or for the russian people. There is high russian support for the invasion of ukraine and that means that any public statement the russian government makes about it, to anyone, has to meet an expectation of those supporters based on what lines russia has sold them. It's obvious to us in this case because we can see the disconnect between reality and what they say, but literally every single nation does this. >

I’m honestly shocked more people don’t realize this. Literally one of the first things they teach you in any history class is that when you’re examining a source, always think about who its for. Once you know/can infer the audience, it’s a lot easier to understand the intentions behind it. >

I took a class on International Political Economy in college, and the core lesson of the class was to identify groups within a polity, and understand what they want, and understand which groups those in control of a state's decision-making need to appeal to. It's basically the same sort of analysis, only applied to the present. >

If he wants western countries to suppress dissent, that's not how it works. They can do that in front of a church as well, or in front of parliament. We don't get to be tinpot dictators about that stuff. Someone will find yet another lever to lean on here with Erdogan. >

At this point, I suspect Article 5 is basically in effect for Sweden etc, just not officially >

Sweden and Finland have received security assurances from NATO. I have to imagine that any potential aggression would be warned against with very direct language to Russian diplomats. >

They're both in the EU anyway, which has a mutual defense agreement last time I checked. Russia attacking either is game over for Russia, if only because it would finally let the Poles off the leash to curbstomp the Russians into oblivion. >

IIRC EU doesn't actually have anything like NATO article 5, the defense agreement is like the aid we give Ukraine rn meaning material aid no boots on the ground. If not we wouldn't need to join NATO.
We did however sign a defence pact with at least the UK I believe, maybe more countries. >

According to the legal faculty of Stockholm University which made an assessment about the potential application to Nato on behalf of the Swedish government before the application was made, the difference from a legal perspective to the EU defense clause and the Nato treaty is very marginal, more or less a different formulation of a similar thing. The primary difference is not in the legal text. >

So reading into this, the Turks are mad because people in Sweden are allowed to freely protest, and these particular protests were ones Turkey didn't agree with. 
It wasn't something the Swedish government did, but people just doing things they're allowed to do in a free country. >

You are reading this correctly, yes. The President of Turkey is mad at the Swedish government for something a few individuals did, who have no affiliations with the Swedish government at all. Yes. So a government is acting against another based on no action of that other government, yes.
And also Finland, for some reason. Finland is just bad generally, no reason really. >

How is this the first time I am hearing about this?  And that happened under Trump!  Conservatives were seriously okay with foreign nationals beating the shit out of American citizens and violating our own 1st amendment rights on our own soil? Jesus >

Yes, yes they were.
They'll say they weren't...but they were. >

Even worse, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis - a Republican - is allowing an international fugitive and former dictator, Jair Bolsonaro, to stay indefinitely in Orlando. The Republican Party in America increasingly supports fascist dictators.
(Florida happens to be a haven for pro-Putin Russian oligarchs as well.) >


Even worse, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis - a Republican - is allowing an international fugitive and former dictator, Jair Bolsonaro, to stay indefinitely in Orlando. The Republican Party in America increasingly supports fascist dictators.

People downvoted me when I said that Prigz could probably fly into Florida without any issue.
I wasn't joking.
Texas would allow it too. >

US says no more F-16s until Erdogan stops being a whiny little bitch.
We can keep playing this game. Erdogan won’t like the results. >

Those have to be shelved indefinitely. >

Just send them to Ukraine. >

Send some to Greece just to fuck with erdogan >

Oh, greece is buying F35s instead lol. >

Give Greece half-off if they double their order. >

Something about a BOGO deal for F-16s is the most American thing ever to me lol.