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Re: Georgian-South Ossetian conflict
Oooooops........
Poor, poor America....
From Yahoo News:
As of late Thursday, Ankara , a NATO ally, hadn't cleared any U.S. naval vessels to steam to Georgia through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, the narrow straits that connect the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, the officials said. Under the 1936 Montreaux Convention , countries must notify Turkey before sending warships through the straits.
U.S. officials said the Turks hadn't cleared U.S. naval vessels to transit the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
"The Turks haven't been helpful," said a State Department official. "They are being sluggish and unresponsive."
The Russian invasion of Georgia has almost certainly unnerved Turkey because it has huge energy and trade interests in adjacent Central Asia.
Turkey also may be reluctant to jeopardize the $24 billion in annual trade it does with Russia , which provides around 70 percent of its natural gas supplies. The Turkish Navy also shares the Black Sea with Russia's powerful Black Sea Fleet, which in part has prompted Ankara in recent years to restrict U.S. and NATO naval operations and exercises there.
The current situation echoes the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq , when the Bush administration tried to send thousands of U.S. troops into northern Iraq through Turkey — a Muslim nation where most people opposed the war— without first obtaining Ankara's permission.
The Turkish parliament refused to allow the United States to use its territory.
Turkey block US Navy!....
Oooooops........
Poor, poor America....
From Yahoo News:
As of late Thursday, Ankara , a NATO ally, hadn't cleared any U.S. naval vessels to steam to Georgia through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, the narrow straits that connect the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, the officials said. Under the 1936 Montreaux Convention , countries must notify Turkey before sending warships through the straits.
U.S. officials said the Turks hadn't cleared U.S. naval vessels to transit the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
"The Turks haven't been helpful," said a State Department official. "They are being sluggish and unresponsive."
The Russian invasion of Georgia has almost certainly unnerved Turkey because it has huge energy and trade interests in adjacent Central Asia.
Turkey also may be reluctant to jeopardize the $24 billion in annual trade it does with Russia , which provides around 70 percent of its natural gas supplies. The Turkish Navy also shares the Black Sea with Russia's powerful Black Sea Fleet, which in part has prompted Ankara in recent years to restrict U.S. and NATO naval operations and exercises there.
The current situation echoes the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq , when the Bush administration tried to send thousands of U.S. troops into northern Iraq through Turkey — a Muslim nation where most people opposed the war— without first obtaining Ankara's permission.
The Turkish parliament refused to allow the United States to use its territory.
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