"Putin and Hollande Go After Erdogan’s Racket"--Escobar

[KoKo]

Putin and Hollande Go After Erdogan’s Racket

By Pepe Escobar

November 28, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "RT" - It all started with French President Francois Hollande, after the Paris attacks, having the temerity to advance the idea of France working together with Russia in the same coalition against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip “no excuse” Erdogan thought NATO and Russia by this time would be at each other’s – Cold War 2.0 – nuclear throats, while Washington had brushed off Hollande’s idea with a cascade of platitudes and distortions.

And in less than 17 seconds, Prime Minister Ahmet “I ordered it myself” Davutoglu had authorized Turkey to shoot down a Russian Su-24 - only a few hours before Hollande met with President Obama.

So everything seemed to be falling into place. No chance of a new détente between the Atlanticist powers and NATO. On the contrary. Erdogan was sure he had sabotaged for good the Hollande-Putin face-to-face meeting in Moscow.

Not so fast, Sultan.

In Moscow, Hollande and Putin confirmed that France and Russia will not be torn apart. The French leader declared: "What we agreed, and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and Daesh and to not strike forces that are fighting terrorism. We will exchange information about whom to hit and whom not to hit."

Now that unveils a thrilling horizon. In the “to hit” section we already find Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, which the Vienna negotiations have already branded as terrorists.

And considering that al-Nusra has gobbled up, co-opted or instrumentalized an array of Salafi outfits, “moderate” or otherwise, it won’t be hard for the Russians to convince the French these are all legitimate targets.

Also significant is that France will increase support to “rebels” fighting Daesh on the ground; that’s code for the YPG Syrian Kurds – one of Erdogan’s nemeses alongside the PKK.

So the Sultan’s risky shoot down investment is not paying too many dividends. What if Hollande came up with the same old scratched Obama CD, as in “Assad just go”, while Putin re-emphasized that “the fate of the president of Syria must stay in the hands of the Syrian people"? Everyone knows this is not the main priority of the Vienna negotiations. The main priority – as reiterated by the declaration of war inbuilt in UNSC resolution 2249 - is to smash ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.

And then the clincher, as Putin and Hollande reached a consensus: there will be a barrage of air strikes against the fuel tanker truck convoys transporting stolen Syrian oil across Daesh-controlled territory on the way to Turkey.

There goes in flames the profitable racket of ‘Sultan’s’ son Bilal Erdogan, a.k.a. ‘Erdogan Mini Me’, one of three shareholders of marine transportation corporation BMZ.

Continued at:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43565.htm

[pscot]

1. Pepe is following the Russian line

but this is stuff we haven't heard anywhere else and it needs to be heard. Anyone who thinks there are simple explanations for ME political manoeuvers is delusional. The Turks are working both sides of the street, it seems.

[840high]

2. Both sides of the street - yes.

[bemildred]

3. Turkey’s ex-EU minister sees ’Russian plot’ in downing of jet

Beril Dedeoğlu, an academic who was appointed to serve as the minister for EU affairs after the June parliamentary election, said Russia had deliberately sent its warplanes to the Turkish-Syrian border even though it was well aware of Turkey's rules of engagement, which instruct the military to automatically respond to any ground or aerial violation on the Syrian border.

“If you look at it, Russia did not even say ‘What happened? Let's talk.' It reacted swiftly with pre-planned measures,” she told the pro-government Star daily. Moscow's purpose, she said, was to send a message to NATO to keep away, that the border area was under Russian control.

Turkish F-16s downed a Russian Su-24 near the border with Syria on Nov. 24, sparking a dramatic crisis between the two countries. Russia bolstered its military presence in Syria, reinforcing a military base in Latakia with an S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, and promising a range of measures in retaliation against Turkey, including a decision to scrap visa-free travel, imposition of restrictions on food imports from Turkey and warnings to its citizens not to travel to Turkey.

Dedeoğlu said Russia had a plan from the outset to create a missile shield within Syria with its S-400 system. Deployment of the S-400 missiles has created a de facto no-fly zone, she said.

http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_turkeys-ex-eu-minister-sees-russian-plot-in-downing-of-jet_405571.html