Sounds like this should make Liz Cheney very happy since there never was a war she didn’t like. I am no specialist in the Middle East and others can opine on the matter. But common sense tells me picking up the phone by the incoming US President sounds like a great idea to me to avoid tensions that may lead to a war,
The bigger question is whether Biden is up to handling a phone call from someone that requires some finesse at the least. Great to get congratulatory phone calls. Something else when it requires some amount of acumen. My guess the latter for his rudeness.

VP Joe Biden with Erdogan in Ankara in better days
Easy to forget Trump did not start one war. Here we go:
A week out from Joe Biden entering the White House, few countries are on edge more than Turkey. Despite US-Turkey relations generally deteriorating over the past years, especially over the Russian S-400 issue and blocked F-35 sales, it was widely perceived that Erdogan and Trump had a ‘special relationship’ which never allowed things to get to breaking point. This is likely why the administration never pulled the trigger on significant sanctions targeting Turkey over the S-400 issue.
Biden, however, has vowed to ‘stand up’ to Erdogan, and already it appears the Turkish president is being left out in the cold, as he’s being reportedly snubbed by the Biden camp. “With just seven days until Joe Biden assumes office, the US president-elect is yet to respond to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s offer of a phone call, an unusual snub for a powerful Nato ally,” Middle East Eye reports Thursday.
….
McGurk has been both a major supporter of the Kurds while at the same time dubbing Turkish-backed Sunni militants in Idlib as al-Qaeda terrorists.
As Axios notes of McGurk, he’ll “be responsible for coordinating U.S. policies not only in Syria, but also in Iran, Iraq and Libya — all of which are of importance to Turkey.”
More at Zero Hedge
January 18, 2021 at 7:12 am
[…] Snubs Erdogan, Refuses To Answer Phone Call In Rare NATO Cold Shoulder bunkerville.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/bid… […]
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January 15, 2021 at 8:21 pm
Biden was out of commission that day. Lucidity comes and goes.
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January 15, 2021 at 8:22 pm
Annie… more truth than fiction….. He may have had to talk about a number…
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January 15, 2021 at 6:44 pm
Donald Trump is the first President in how long not to start a new war? And not only that but he brought most of the troops home, which was something the left has been promising to do. Now it is going to be back to business as usual in the Middle East and all the progress made in peace over there will fall by the wayside by the side that claims to be anti-war.
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January 15, 2021 at 7:59 pm
And the US voters – I should say Dems…. through it all away.. Not one question to Biden about foreign policy… and not one bit of credit to Trump and all he achieved.
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January 15, 2021 at 3:33 pm
AND NOW BERNIE SANDERS WILL BE IN CHARGE OF OUR BUDGET…………
I may have to get my money out of the bank and put it under my mattress…OMG!!!
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January 15, 2021 at 4:32 pm
You haven’t seen anything yet… Maxine Waters is head of something….
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January 15, 2021 at 6:50 pm
Dog pound?
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January 15, 2021 at 7:53 pm
Try this….. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/12/maxine-waters-trump-banking-436307
Maxine Waters vows to undo Trump banking rules
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January 15, 2021 at 2:09 pm
WAY OFF TOPIC:
Have you heard about the executive order that President Trump sent to Pelosi? If so, what have you heard?
I head about this through a few sources. First, I ran into Lou Dobbs from 14 January 2021 (interviewing Mr. Solomon) — where Lou mentioned this developing news. Then I found a source that had a link to the executive order.
This sounds like a bombshell and it will be exploding all over the Democrats.
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January 15, 2021 at 2:10 pm
What is it about WordPress that collapses paragraphs on eachother?
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January 15, 2021 at 2:13 pm
Don’t know…..I don’t see a problem with WP… am using the classic editor as I found a work around not to use the “block”
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January 15, 2021 at 2:18 pm
Sorry, but I was lodging a useless gripe regarding the comment box and how it just collapsed three paragraphs into one.
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January 15, 2021 at 2:22 pm
Looks like I need to do my Emily Litella impression: “Never mind.” (when I saw the “WAY OFF TOPIC” message on my side, it was compressed into one paragraph).
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January 15, 2021 at 2:34 pm
That’s interesting, Markone….Do you think it’s appropriate to have things like this in public view..? Seems like we kind of show our cards too much particularly on matters international.
By the way……does anybody on the Right YET point out that N Korea was just fine till Trump lost and is NOW threatening us?
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January 15, 2021 at 3:11 pm
Well, it was on Lou Dobbs last night. Since having information on Fox News might constitute keeping it secret, I don’t know if I could be charged with releasing a secret. Still, I have heard some analysis on this on other sources.
This might be a fun exercise.
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January 15, 2021 at 3:32 pm
Bill Hemmer just mentioned N Korea’s situation. I LOVE Bill Hemmer….
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January 15, 2021 at 9:56 am
A caption for the photo in your post might be, as Biden leans across the table to speak in a low tone of voice, “Tell you what, Erdogan, if you’ll hire my son as …”
My guess is that if you were aghast at the amount of corruption in Obama’s administration, and particularly that of Hillary’s State Department, you haven’t seen anything yet. Biden is a deeply flawed man, who besides having what I think are serious psychological problems, will redefine the concepts of unscrupulousness, avarice, and dishonesty. I saw a video once of Biden in a bar setting, no doubt campaigning, orally attacking someone who had either asked a question or expressed some doubt about Biden … and he was really out of control telling this poor chap how great Biden is, about all his accomplishments, and following that up with castigating whoever it was he was ranting at. This didn’t surprise me, since I’ve always had Biden pegged as a blowhard — but I was amazed that the fellow he was talking to failed to slap Biden silly.
And so now, the American people, in mustering all of their wisdom, chose Biden to lead this country — and lead it he will … right into oblivion. Biden is somewhat reflective of far too many past US officials who knew far too little about the people they were dealing with, unjustifiably self-confident to the point of insufferable arrogance — and you are correct to suggest that this is exactly the sort of thing that leads to irreparable diplomatic difficulties.
I’m no fan of Erdogan, so I question why anyone should imagine Turkey is a reliable ally. I don’t understand why the Turks were offered membership in NATO, for example. Turkey’s decision to send Syrian mercenaries into Azerbaijan (against the wishes of NATO) seems to have illustrated that Turkey’s NATO membership was more intended to reap the organization’s benefits than its obligations.
Turkey’s primary danger is that it seeks to reestablish an Ottoman-type influence over the Middle East and, I believe, competes with Iran to dominate the Muslim world. There could be a positive aspect to this vis-a-vis US strategic diplomacy, but (a) not as a NATO member, and (b) only if the morons at the foggy bottom were smart enough to use it to our advantage. I’m not holding my breath. In fact, I will be surprised, owing to Biden’s gross ineptitude, if NATO even exists in four more years.
As a matter of protocol, since Biden has yet to assume office, he may have been advised “not to accept the phone call,” particularly since Biden doesn’t have all his handlers in place and who knows what the moron would say. And there may be an issue of the Logan Act (1799), although since the law doesn’t apply to the political elite, that question may never have come up at all.
US diplomacy has been a “keystone cops” comedy since 1913, so my advice is to everyone who shudders to think of four years with Biden at the helm — enjoy the show. At least it isn’t Obama (unless Biden dies).
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January 15, 2021 at 10:21 am
Are you sure that we are not already experiencing a “Weekend at Biden’s?”
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January 15, 2021 at 10:33 am
@Mustang:
Where does President Harris fit into the equation? With Biden retired from whom do you see her taking marching orders, Obama perhaps?
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January 15, 2021 at 11:13 am
Harris = Obama Part Deux.
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January 15, 2021 at 11:29 am
Mustang. – Harris = Obama… if we are lucky….otherwise she will just giggle away.
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January 15, 2021 at 2:38 pm
Valerie Jarrett
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January 15, 2021 at 10:51 am
As we focus on the nonsense here… because for now that is where the money is…far more dangerous to us in the long run is whatever foreign policy or lack thereof will cause us to rue the day we elected this misfit… I recall as well Biden’s short temper and don’t question me…. typical of those with advancing years and diminished capacity.. It has been reported he is happily taking calls of congrats for some time…. but what would the man say to Erdogan?
I am no fan of Erdogan either…. but…… a call wouldn’t hurt.
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January 15, 2021 at 2:06 pm
Stupid people always get mad very easily. Much easier to get mad than come up with the answer to any simple question.
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January 15, 2021 at 2:04 pm
I imagine we will again relax our monetary participation requirements of NATO members so back to pre-DJT.
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January 15, 2021 at 8:42 am
We need to be packing up and getting out of Incerlik and our other shared facilities in Turkey.
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January 15, 2021 at 9:48 am
Yep……. NOW…
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January 15, 2021 at 2:32 pm
I am a Middle East expert/defence analyst with over 30 years in the region.
For you old fellers (like me) let’s cast our thoughts back…hmmm…17 years ago.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-mar-02-fg-iraq2-story.html
In the run up to the 2003 Iraq invasion Turkey (Prime sponsor of ISIS) surrounded American bases and held servicemen and @200 U.S. nukes hostage, denying access to the U.S. military. Logistics and pre-positioned ordinance was denied Americans on the eve of the invasion. Without an all out war, even today the United States cannot move their nuclear ordinance from Turkish territory.
‘ISIS Sees Turkey as Its Ally’: Former Islamic State Member Reveals Turkish Army Cooperation
http://tinyurl.com/l9qp4qb
“Top Secret” Turkey http://tinyurl.com/lkof4ke
Former CIA Director Porter Goss Registers to Lobby for Turkey http://tinyurl.com/o9gsc9c
Meet The Man Who Funds ISIS: Bilal Erdogan, The Son Of Turkey’s President
In addition to son Bilal’s illegal and lucrative oil trading for ISIS, Sümeyye Erdogan, the daughter of the Turkish President apparently runs a secret hospital camp inside Turkey just over the Syrian border.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/211624-2/211624/
The good news is…….Barack Hussein O’Bama and Erdogan love each other!
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January 15, 2021 at 2:42 pm
Obama Hearts Turkish Leader Erdogan As He Oppresses His Own People and Stabs America in the Back http://tinyurl.com/nrg8lwq
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January 15, 2021 at 8:42 am
My guess is that Turkey was unwilling to deposit the 300 million in a numbered account that would qualify them to talk to Biden.
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January 15, 2021 at 9:47 am
More truth to that than fiction…. he is waiting for Hunter to pass his way apparently.
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January 15, 2021 at 2:43 pm
Biden cannot remember who “Mad Dog” Erdogan is.
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January 15, 2021 at 4:30 pm
lol….true enough…
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January 15, 2021 at 7:42 am
You know, it is not as if Erdogan wasn’t supplying ISIS in Syria. That would make Turkey the one rogue state that we didn’t really have a plan to deal with. Therefore, it would be perfect that Biden would set this guy off.
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January 15, 2021 at 7:56 am
Trump in some cases just used the “chill pill.” Meanwhile organizing the other states who might have to take care of business. Sounded good to me.. Let them take care of business over there.
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January 15, 2021 at 9:59 am
My guess is that Erdogan thought that if McCain and Graham could provide Al Qaeda in Libya with M-16s, then he should be able to supply ISIS. You know, good for the goose and all.
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January 15, 2021 at 10:54 am
Point well made Mustang.
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January 15, 2021 at 7:39 am
Now that Trump has gotten the Saudis and most of the rest of the Middle East to play nice, maybe Biden will pull at the one loose string.
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January 15, 2021 at 7:57 am
Biden will figure out a way to heat things up so we can get our military out there.. Susan Rice is now back in town. That should work.
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January 15, 2021 at 10:02 am
Let’s all reflect, too, on the fact that the Saudis are a dangerous player inside the sandbox. It was the Saudis who created and benefitted most from the Syrian civil war. Ah, secret alliances and dalliances. No danger to that, is there?
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January 15, 2021 at 10:18 am
Maybe this can counteract Biden’s promised banning of fracking. If the Saudi, Syrian, and Turkish fields are all shut down due to flying bombs, that might benefit the Cheney oil sector as well as the “military-industrial complex.”
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January 15, 2021 at 10:55 am
Frankly my dear… to coin a phrase… at this point I don’t give a damn. At the right time if they are enough of a headache .. Blast away to eternity… I for one am sick of it. Its been going on forever…
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January 15, 2021 at 11:20 am
Biden hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and already the gas-at-the-pump prices are going up. Look for more of this because Hunter will be in charge of the Dept of Energy, and Cheny will increase her net worth by gazillions. We should ask Kid about Liz … he knows here intimately.
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January 15, 2021 at 11:23 am
Liz and her “Institute for the Study of war”. — I almost trotted out a post of it for the 20th time… but I restrained myself…all of the war machine players contributing huge bucks to her…and her “Institute.”
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January 15, 2021 at 12:59 pm
Calling the Saudis dangerous could be an understatement.
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