White House Threatens Turkey With Crippling Sanctions

[flibbitygiblets]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday belatedly threatened new sanctions against Turkey that officials said could cripple Turkey’s economy in response to its military offensive against Kurds in northern Syria.

President Trump will sign an executive order giving the Treasury Department new powers to punish Turkish government officials if Turkey targets ethnic and religious minorities in its operations against the Kurds. The White House also warned that if any Islamic State fighters being held in prisons in the area were allowed by Turkey to escape, the United States would respond forcefully.

“We can shut down the Turkish economy if we need to,” the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said in a briefing at the White House.
The Trump administration said, however, that it was not yet moving ahead with any new sanctions against Turkey.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/us/politics/turkey-sanctions-syria-kurds-trump.html

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I'm sure those threats are of great comfort to those being slaughtered right now.

[Thomas Hurt]

1. I don't claim to be an expert on Turkey, just how the f*** is the US going to cripple the economy?

Donnie going tariff em into submission?

We have been sanctioning NK and Iran for years and it doesn't crush their economies.

[flibbitygiblets]

5. It kind of does, but dictators are cool with their people starving

So there's still plenty of $ for themselves, and F* the little people.

Pretty much sums up the Republican strategy here at home, actually.

[PSPS]

2. "if Turkey targets ethnic and religious minorities in its operations against the Kurds" Say, what?

[unblock]

4. i think that means he can slaughter all the kurds, he just can't slaughter only the christian kurds.

we live in surreal times....

[unblock]

3. yet he's not even willing to let the u.n. condemn turkey for this.

so i'm sure erdogan is cowering in fear of president back-down.

[flibbitygiblets]

7. Link below on that. Proving this is just a PR stunt with no intention of carrying out

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212572102

[yaesu]

6. Crippling Sanctions no more stay one night, get one night free coupons at tRump Hotels nt

[Iliyah]

8. Is this dated today?

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive"

[flibbitygiblets]

13. Yes, posted at 2:46pm Eastern. Mnuchebag just had a lame presser about it.

It's all smoke and mirrors though to quiet people who are justifiably horrified by this disastrous betrayal of our allies.

Literally at the same time, Trump admin sided with RUSSIA to veto a UN Security Council resolution sponsored by our European allies — France, Germany, Belgium, the UK and Poland — condemning Turkey's invasion of Syria. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212572102

[KPN]

9. This is so much pure bullshit. tRump is just

trying to have it both ways. This is what he does. Like everything else: steals your money than says we’ll get those bastards who stole your money! We’ll hit them harder than anything ever seen before.. And then nothing different happens and the media and most people just forget all about it when the next catastrophe unfolds.

[rurallib]

10. I understand Mnuchin stated this without breaking into gales of laughter

decades of lying can really prepare one for that ultimate appearance where control is needed.

[Midnightwalk]

11. We wound up in iraq when bush 1 screwed up diplomatically

And our ambassador gave saddam what he thought was a green light to invade kuwait.

What is happening now is part of the fallout from that blunder 30 years ago.

I don’t think this can be charitably called a blunder but the long term impact is going to last decades.

[comradebillyboy]

12. All Erdogan has to do is produce a tape of their phone call...

[flibbitygiblets]

14. Speaking of which, didn't a-hole Trump sign in a "Transparency in Government" order THIS WEEK?

Irony is not just dead, it's a funkin' Zombie Apocalypse.

[Firestorm49]

15. Trump twin tower hotels in Istanbule. Crippling Turkey's economy hurts Trump business.

I call BS! Perception management. Trump’s greed is more important to him. The sanction blurb is a smokescreen.

[brush]

16. What pieces of shit. trump allows Erdogan to attack the Kurks now threatens sanctions to make...

it look like the slaughter of the Kurds wasn't the predictable outcome of whatever deal he made with Erdogan over the phone.

It's like an arsonist who starts a fire then rides in to try to put it out.

[SergeStorms]

17. Crippling Sanctions to Include....

a small, round pebble in the toe of Erdogan's left shoe.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

18. recommended to publicize