December 27, 2018--Trump Tower Istanbul
People are wondering why Trump is so responsive to anything the Turkish president suggests.
Especially how, after only a brief conversation on the telephone with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump "impulsively" reversed U.S. military policy in Syria and decided to withdraw all American troops, who have been allied with the Kurds, our closest partner in the region, and with whom we have been decimating ISIS fighters.
So outraged about this whipsaw change, Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, who was not consulted by Trump, resigned in open protest.
How could Trump so cavalierly reverse a policy that at relatively low cost in material and casualties ("only" five American troops have been killed in more than four years of fighting) how can such a policy be ended so abruptly after just a few minutes on the phone with Erdoğan, abandoning the field of battle to the Russians, Syria's Bashar al-Assad's butchers, Iran, Hezbollah, and ISIS, which still has at least 15,000 fighters in the region?
The answer is simple. As with so much that Trump initiates, it's all about money. Trump's money. In this case, how much he is making from real estate interests and who knows what else in Turkey, which, in Istanbul, includes a Trump Tower.
It is a twin-tower monstrosity. One tower is an office complex, the other a residential condo with 200 residences. It also includes a shopping mall with 80 shops and a multiplex cinema. These are the first Trump Towers built in Europe.
Most interesting, though, is Trump's principal business partner--
He is billionaire Aydin Doğan. He heads Turkey's largest conglomerate, Doğan Holdings, which includes ventures in energy, media, trade, and tourism in addition to a real estate empire.
As well known in Turkey as he is for his wealth and power is his tendency to evade taxation. For example, his media company, Doğan Media Holding, in 2009 was forced to pay a tax fine of about 3.8 billion Turkish Lira (nearly $2.53 billion dollars).
Sound familiar? Though this only begins to suggest how entangled Trump might be in things Turkish. Could it be that the Turks, whose intelligence operation is world class, like the Russians, who also seem to be able to make Trump dance on a string, have some goods on him?
It would help explain Trump's impulsive response to Erdoğan's "request" that he pull all 2,000 of our troops out of Syria so the Turks can focus on wiping out our erstwhile allies, the Kurds.
As prosecutors are wont to say, "Follow the money,"
Especially how, after only a brief conversation on the telephone with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump "impulsively" reversed U.S. military policy in Syria and decided to withdraw all American troops, who have been allied with the Kurds, our closest partner in the region, and with whom we have been decimating ISIS fighters.
So outraged about this whipsaw change, Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, who was not consulted by Trump, resigned in open protest.
How could Trump so cavalierly reverse a policy that at relatively low cost in material and casualties ("only" five American troops have been killed in more than four years of fighting) how can such a policy be ended so abruptly after just a few minutes on the phone with Erdoğan, abandoning the field of battle to the Russians, Syria's Bashar al-Assad's butchers, Iran, Hezbollah, and ISIS, which still has at least 15,000 fighters in the region?
The answer is simple. As with so much that Trump initiates, it's all about money. Trump's money. In this case, how much he is making from real estate interests and who knows what else in Turkey, which, in Istanbul, includes a Trump Tower.
It is a twin-tower monstrosity. One tower is an office complex, the other a residential condo with 200 residences. It also includes a shopping mall with 80 shops and a multiplex cinema. These are the first Trump Towers built in Europe.
Most interesting, though, is Trump's principal business partner--
He is billionaire Aydin Doğan. He heads Turkey's largest conglomerate, Doğan Holdings, which includes ventures in energy, media, trade, and tourism in addition to a real estate empire.
As well known in Turkey as he is for his wealth and power is his tendency to evade taxation. For example, his media company, Doğan Media Holding, in 2009 was forced to pay a tax fine of about 3.8 billion Turkish Lira (nearly $2.53 billion dollars).
Sound familiar? Though this only begins to suggest how entangled Trump might be in things Turkish. Could it be that the Turks, whose intelligence operation is world class, like the Russians, who also seem to be able to make Trump dance on a string, have some goods on him?
It would help explain Trump's impulsive response to Erdoğan's "request" that he pull all 2,000 of our troops out of Syria so the Turks can focus on wiping out our erstwhile allies, the Kurds.
As prosecutors are wont to say, "Follow the money,"
Labels: Aydin Doğan ISIS Hezbollah, Bashar al-Assad, James Mattis, Kurds, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria, Trump Tower Istanbul
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:06 AM
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