When countries have self respect dignity and strength to withstand some pain...get respected, feared..Turkish and America

[Old_Observer]

The United States is seeking to improve relations with Turkey despite Ankara's insistence on securing its southern borders and taking an independent line on defence procurement.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that the US hopes to bring Turkey back into a joint production programme for F-35 jet fighters.

“I hope that we will be able to establish more strategic relations with Turkey, try to return them to the F-35 programme, maybe we will talk about the free trade programme,” said Graham.

He noted that Turkey is "a very important ally, not only when it comes to Syria, but for the entire region”. At the same time, the American ambassador to Ankara, David Satterfield, announced the US plans to submit a proposal to reduce customs duties on aluminium and steel to Turkey. The move could increase the volume of trade between the two countries to $100 billion.

Retired Turkish Air Force Lieutenant-General Erdogan Karakus and political analyst Ceyhun Bozkurt commented on the American statement.

According to Karakus, the reason why Washington backtracked on the issue of the F-35 programme is that the United States fears finally losing such an important strategic ally as Turkey.

“Turkey is demonstrating a firm resolve on the issue of creating a security zone in the territories east of the Euphrates. Moreover, the Americans are well aware that Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 will not lead to a data breach on the F-35. Therefore, they took this step to smooth out tensions in relations with Ankara. There are several levels of interest. Thus, America wants to bring trade with Turkey to the level of $100 billion. Furthermore, the US does not want to completely lose such an important strategic ally as Turkey due to F-35. By preserving Turkey in the framework of the F-35 programme and selling it Patriot systems, Washington hopes to keep it within a certain framework concerning further actions east of the Euphrates,” Karakus explained.

Pointing to the US desire to maintain good relations with Turkey for its interests in the Middle East, Karakus concluded:

“Since America has failed to talk Turkey out of operations in the area east of the Euphrates, it is at least trying to convince the latter of the need to implement a limited plan to creating a five-mile security zone.”



Turkish political analyst Ceyhun Bozkurt also believes that such actions by America are connected with the desire to prevent Turkey’s active actions on Syrian territory. Meanwhile, according to him, even the possible warming of relations between Ankara and Washington will not be able to change the position of Turkey regarding the territories east of the Euphrates and the security zone.

“If you look at the big picture, the United States is fast approaching to lose Turkey as its ally. It is increasingly moving away from the US and is moving closer to Russia and the Asian world. The price of completely losing such an important geostrategic player in the Eurasian region as Turkey is incredibly high for the US. In this case, the balance of power will change in favour of the Asian world. Therefore, the United States was forced to back down to prevent such a scenario. Another question is what exactly is behind the statements of the American side. This question can be answered after the details become clear,” said Bozkurt.

Determining the focal point of the current situation, Bozkurt believes that Turkey will take a balanced approach in any case:

“The important point is that even if Turkey goes to strengthen relations with the United States in this context, it will not spoil relations with the Eurasian countries but will continue its policy of maintaining balance based on its experience. This situation will not change Ankara’s position regarding the territories east of the Euphrates and the creation of a security zone. Washington is also aware of this determination by the Turkish side. In general, it can be assumed that new processes will begin to occur in the region in late September or early October. This is indicated by the increased F-16 flights and increased activity at the border,” he concluded.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

[Old_Observer]

The proud Japanese now are showing openly that the Americans have broken them.

 

Japan replaced its no.1 threat North Korea by China. So now America and Japan have same no.1 threat in Asia and pacific, that is China.

Yet much poorer Philipinnes did not do that.

[Old_Observer]

Saudi Arabia's recent arrest campaign against Hamas members shed light on the deteriorating relations between the Palestinian resistance movement and the kingdom amid warming Tel Aviv-Riyadh ties.

Observers told the Middle East Eye (MEE) news portal that the detention campaign, which began in February, was actually meant to target the Palestinian cause and serve Israel.

Rafat Morra, the head of Hamas's foreign media department, stressed that the group had tried to resolve the crisis quietly, but its attempts did not yield results.

Hamas made “unremitting political and diplomatic efforts” to deal with the Saudi campaign of arrests, including asking several regional and international actors such as Kuwait to mediate, he noted.

However, he added, such efforts were met with more arrests, including the detentions of Mohammed al-Khudari, who is the most prominent Hamas official in Saudi custody.

Morra also described the detentions as part of a broader plan to target “Hamas, the resistance and the Palestinian cause”.

“There are Israeli attempts to target Hamas and weaken it because it represents the spearhead of the resistance," he stated, warning that any targeting of Hamas - through arrest campaigns or political and financial pressure - serves Israel.

“Hamas is a resistance movement and enjoys wide support in the Arab and Muslim world,” Morra said, adding, "Regardless of the explanations for the arrests in Saudi Arabia, this is regrettable and the authorities in the kingdom should not have been dragged into it.”

Meanwhile, Abdulmajid al-Khudari, the brother of Mohammed al-Khudari, complained that Palestinian detainees have been denied visits from relatives or lawyers.

Abdulmajid, whose son Hani, a lecturer at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca, has also been arrested by Saudi authorities, stated that his brother's US-based daughter had twice appealed to the US Congress for help, to no avail.

Dozens of the arrests were "not justified" as the detainees had not committed any crime, Abdulmajid said, adding that the campaign was aimed at pressuring Hamas and the Palestinians into accepting US President Donald Trump’s so-called "Deal of the Century".

Additionally, Palestinian political writer Fayez Abu Shammala emphasized that the arrests were one aspect of a "total war" waged by Saudi Arabia against Hamas that includes also financial sanctions, “sacrificing the resistance on the altar” of an improved relationship with Tel Aviv.

“The danger of the arrests in Saudi Arabia is that they coincide with an unprecedented Saudi opening to Israel, a fevered engagement in the promotion and marketing of the ‘deal of the century’ to distort the Palestinian cause and demonize the resistance,” he said.

"If Saudi Arabia seeks to curb Hamas and blackmail it politically, it will fail, just as Egypt has failed to pressure it on similar issues," he added.

Hamas currently runs the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip independently of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

For years since its formation in 1987, the resistance movement enjoyed good relations with Saudi Arabia. Later, however, ties soured over a range of issues.

In May 2017, Trump called Hamas a terrorist group during an Arab-American summit in Riyadh.

Almost a year later, in February 2018, then Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir echoed Trump's hostile position by referring to Hamas as a terror outfit during a meeting with the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels.