Turkey is moving forward with a purchase of Russian SAM batteries, despite warnings from the U.S. and NATO that the integration of Russian defense technology is not consistent with NATO’s security requirements.
We’ll discuss:
- How did we get here? Is this mostly due to President Erdogan, or is it evidence of a longer-term megatrend that may be more difficult to reverse?
- What would be the implications of lesser Turkish involvement in NATO (either by the Turkish government’s choice or NATOs)?
- How important is Turkey to the NATO “European shield”?
- What should be done (if anything)…
- By the U.S.?
- By other NATO allies (or NATO in its own right)?
I hope we’ll be joined by Bob Sargent, who has some experience with Turkey. All depends on Bob’s availability and Mike Wolf’s ability to get the “Owl.”
Here’s an opinion piece from the Ellsworth American to get you thinking…but feel free to Google and add more sources in the comments.