Quartz: The US is rethinking the 50-plus nuclear weapons it keeps in Turkey
Turkish forces are pushing into northern Syria, replacing and sometimes even firing on the US troops retreating at Donald Trump’s orders.
The question of whether Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is really a US ally was put to US defense secretary Mark Esper on Fox television this morning. “No, I think Turkey, the arc of their behavior over the past several years has been terrible,” he said.
Which brings up a problem: The US is storing perhaps 50 air-dropped thermonuclear bombs at its Incirlik Airbase in southern Turkey, less than 100 miles from the Syrian border where this conflict is taking place.
The nuclear stockpile dates back to the Cold War, when the US sought to keep a sufficient supply of atomic weapons deployed in Europe to deter potential Soviet aggression. Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy also host similar arsenals, and the US trains the participating nations in the use of the doomsday devices.
Today, these bombs remain in place largely because of inertia, and the hope that countries like Turkey will see the depot as sufficient reason not to develop nuclear weapons of their own. It doesn’t seem to be working: Last month, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he could “not accept” efforts to prevent Turkey from developing its own atomic bombs.
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WNU Editor: I see zero value in having U.S. nuclear weapons in Turkey. So why are they still there, and who is making the case to keep them there?
9 comments:
The base has been there for a long time. How it would fare in a war that starts with a Pearl Harbor rerun is a question that has never been answered for me. Sitting duck seems to be an apt description with the higher speed weapons being created nowadays.
Turks are not civilized. My father met 4 Turkish officers in Eastern Europe while on vacation. As is normal names were given, when everyone introduced themselves. Immediately afterwards they asked my father, if he was Jewish.
Editor
There could be some value in having the nukes stored there in Turkey that is if they are able to be detonated remotely their presence could be considered part of the overall delivery process should the time come.
Trolling hard this morning aren't you. If you are not trolling, then you have to be dumber than Goop Seller Paltrow and she is really, really dumb.
I've known a good few Turks in my time. Very good blokes & tough as nails. You don't want to pick a fight with a Turk. Especially one in a tank!!!
Way past the time to remove them.
Bob, don't you mean launched remotely, not detonated?
No just set them off if Turkey is the enemy, or perhaps if Turkey is invaded and taken over by some other country that is an enemy. 50 going off at once ought to cover a lot of ground and, enemies.
And Bob lays another brown egg pretending to be flippantly blasé. Bob comes across as another dunce leftist gaslighting.
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