Connect with us

Politics

Biden’s Hopes for Sweden and Finland in NATO Are Stuck on Erdogan’s Demands

Published

on

Biden’s Hopes for Sweden and Finland in NATO Are Stuck on Erdogan’s Demands

WASHINGTON — When President Biden hosted the leaders of Finland and Sweden on the White Home this yr, he spoke in triumphal phrases about their determination to hitch NATO after many years of neutrality, in the most recent blow to President Vladimir V. Putin’s efforts to undermine the alliance. It was, Mr. Biden stated, “a momentous day.”

That was greater than six months in the past. Because the yr winds down, the 2 Nordic international locations are nonetheless ready for admission to the 30-member alliance. Twenty-eight members have authorized their membership and one other, Hungary, plans to vote early subsequent yr.

However one holdout stays: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who has raised objections to the plan and, Western officers worry, could also be keen to delay it for a number of extra months. In a nightmare state of affairs, he would possibly block the growth solely — all member international locations should approve of additives to the bloc.

Both means, they are saying, the Turkish strongman is cynically complicating a significant step within the showdown with Russia, trying to extract concessions from NATO and america earlier than Turkish elections deliberate for subsequent spring.

Assembly along with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts in Washington on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated he was assured that the 2 nations could be admitted, vastly increasing NATO’s border with Russia and giving Mr. Putin, as Mr. Biden has put it, “precisely what he didn’t need” in his confrontation with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.

Advertisement

At a information convention with the visiting officers, Mr. Blinken stated that Finland and Sweden “absolutely perceive what’s at stake for Ukraine, for NATO, for your entire world at this important second” and had been prepared to hitch the alliance.

He added that each international locations had taken concrete steps to satisfy their commitments, “together with these associated to the safety issues on the a part of our ally Turkey.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Sweden’s international minister, Tobias Billstrom, stated, “We’re fulfilling our components.”

“So I believe that the route is sort of clear,” he stated. “We’re shifting this ahead along with the Finns, and we consider that we will ship on this.”

Analysts and officers stated that behind the veneer of easy diplomatic speak is a grubbier effort to placate Mr. Erdogan, who has seized on a second of leverage created by the truth that NATO governs by unanimous consensus.

Advertisement

Most NATO leaders have celebrated the historic import of Finland and Sweden becoming a member of the navy alliance. However the Turkish president has targeted on points nearer to residence as he tries to bolster his picture as a robust worldwide chief amid skyrocketing inflation and home unrest.

Mr. Erdogan has fixated on what he calls the Nordic international locations’ help for the P.Okay.Okay., a Kurdish nationalist group in Turkey that the Turkish authorities, together with america and the European Union, considers a terrorist group. Mr. Erdogan has accused Sweden specifically of being “a nesting floor for terrorists” and has demanded the extradition of dozens of Kurds he says have P.Okay.Okay. ties.

Since reaching a joint settlement at a NATO summit this summer time, Turkey, Sweden and Finland have been negotiating in an effort to fulfill Mr. Erdogan’s calls for. However Turkish officers have continued to complain. On Tuesday, the international minister warned that his authorities was nonetheless ready for Finnish leaders to publicly promise to carry an arms embargo their nation had imposed on Turkey after it invaded northern Syria in 2019, an operation aimed toward combating Kurdish allies of the P.Okay.Okay.

A number of analysts and officers stated that in the long run, they anticipate that Mr. Erdogan will in all probability comply with the growth however declare an act of political dominance over his Western allies, with whom he’s in near-constant stress over the Kurds and his on-again, off-again relationship with Mr. Putin.

“Turkey will ultimately ratify, however Ankara doesn’t really feel time stress,” stated Alper Coskun, a former Turkish Overseas Ministry official who dealt with NATO affairs till he retired in 2019.

Advertisement

Mr. Erdogan may not get every thing he desires however will look to win concessions “that may be showcased because the product of Erdogan’s masterful management and statesmanship,” stated Mr. Coskun, who’s now a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace. Mr. Erdogan would search for “the appropriate second within the election cycle to deploy so successful story,” he stated, earlier than agreeing to the NATO growth.

Mr. Erdogan has almost definitely been emboldened by a mid-November bomb assault in Istanbul that his authorities has attributed to the P.Okay.Okay., together with what it calls harmful new Kurdish exercise throughout the border in Syria, Mr. Coskun stated. “They’ve added additional legitimacy to Erdogan’s calls for, particularly within the public’s eye,” he stated.

Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish Analysis Program on the Washington Institute for Close to East Coverage, agreed that Mr. Erdogan would in all probability approve the NATO growth subsequent yr but in addition predicted that he would take advantage of his leverage.

He famous that Mr. Erdogan has been urging america to promote him upgraded F-16 fighter jets to modernize Turkey’s ageing air pressure and that Mr. Biden was more likely to stress Congress to agree. Some key members, together with Senator Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Overseas Relations Committee, are harshly important of Mr. Erdogan and would possibly oppose such a sale, compounding the White Home’s political headache.

“It’s a fairly large deal for the Biden administration,” Mr. Cagaptay stated. “It’s a major international coverage win that the Biden administration desires to flaunt.”

Advertisement

NATO’s failure to succeed in an settlement to confess Sweden and Finland — who utilized for membership in tandem and say one won’t be part of with out the opposite — could be a significant ethical victory for Mr. Putin, who works exhausting to divide the Western alliance. Some have speculated that Mr. Erdogan may be keen to do the Russian chief such a favor, on condition that the invasion of Ukraine has introduced the boys nearer in some methods: Russian cash has helped hold Mr. Erdogan’s monetary system afloat, and Turkish commerce with Russia has boomed.

However Mr. Cagaptay stated {that a} veto by Mr. Erdogan “would end in a rupture with NATO, and that’s an excessive amount of even for Erdogan.”

“I believe the sport for him is to play Turkey and NATO in opposition to one another,” he added.

Consultant Chris Pappas, Democrat of New Hampshire, stated NATO members “ought to be keen about two Western nations wanting to hitch the alliance.”

“Hopefully the objections that the Erdogan regime continues to deliver up and the obstacles that they proceed to place in the way in which might be dispatched quickly,” he stated.

Advertisement

Hungary’s authoritarian chief, Viktor Orban, who is comparatively pleasant with Mr. Putin, has additionally dragged his toes on approving NATO’s deliberate growth. However Mr. Orban allayed issues when he instructed reporters final month that Hungary’s parliament would approve membership for Sweden and Finland early subsequent yr.

Lara Jakes contributed reporting from Rome.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Politics

Judge rules illegal immigrants have gun rights protected by 2nd Amendment

Published

on

Judge rules illegal immigrants have gun rights protected by 2nd Amendment

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

Please enter a valid email address.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided.

Having trouble? Click here.

A federal judge in Illinois has found that the Constitution protects the gun rights of noncitizens who enter the United States illegally.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman on Friday ruled that a federal prohibition on illegal immigrants owning firearms is unconstitutional as applied to defendant Heriberto Carbajal-Flores. The court found that while the federal ban is “facially constitutional,” there is no historical tradition of firearm regulation that permits the government to deprive a noncitizen who has never been convicted of a violent crime from exercising his Second Amendment rights.

Advertisement

“The noncitizen possession statute … violates the Second Amendment as applied to Carbajal-Flores,” the judge wrote. “Thus, the Court grants Carbajal-Flores’ motion to dismiss.”

Coleman, a President Obama appointee, cited the landmark Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which established a new standard to determine whether a law violates the Second Amendment. Since Bruen, a multitude of federal and state gun control measures have been challenged in courts with mixed results. 

DELAWARE BILL REQUIRING GUN BUYERS TO BE FINGERPRINTED, TRAINED, SET TO BECOME LAW

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (iStock)

In this case, U.S. v. Carbajal-Flores, the court considered whether people who enter the country illegally can be banned from owning firearms.

Advertisement

Carbajal-Flores is an illegal immigrant who, on June 1, 2020, was found to be in possession of a handgun in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. He was subsequently charged with violating a federal law that prohibits any noncitizen who is not legally authorized to be in the U.S. from “possess[ing] in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.” 

In an April 2022 decision, Coleman denied Carbajal-Flores’ first motion to dismiss his indictment, finding that the ban was constitutional. However, Carbajal-Flores asked the court to reconsider that ruling following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen and appellate decisions in the Third and Seventh Circuit that considered whether people convicted of non-violent crimes can be prohibited from possessing firearms. 

CONGRESS POISED TO ROLL BACK ‘VETERAN GUN BAN,’ WITH RELUCTANT BIDEN BACKING

U.S. District Judge Sharon J. Coleman presents award to attorney Paula E. Litt

U.S. District Judge Sharon J. Coleman, left, presents an award for Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service to attorney Paula E. Litt, on May 1, 2019. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division)

Upon review, Coleman concluded that Carbajal-Flores’ illegally present status was not sufficient to deny him Second Amendment rights. The judge said the “plain text” of the Constitution “presumptively protects firearms possession by undocumented persons.” 

“Carbajal-Flores has never been convicted of a felony, a violent crime, or a crime involving the use of a weapon. Even in the present case, Carbajal-Flores contends that he received and used the handgun solely for self-protection and protection of property during a time of documented civil unrest in the Spring of 2020,” the judge wrote. “Additionally, Pretrial Service has confirmed that Carbajal-Flores has consistently adhered to and fulfilled all the stipulated conditions of his release, is gainfully employed, and has no new arrests or outstanding warrants.”

Advertisement

The court determined that because there is insufficient evidence to suggest Carbajal-Flores is a danger to society, there is no historical analogue that would permit the federal government to deny him his gun rights. 

NRA SLAMS BIDEN’S SOTU SPEECH AS ATTACK ON ‘THE VERY FABRIC OF AMERICAN FREEDOM’

Gun store customer

A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that the Second Amendment protects the gun rights of illegal immigrants. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“The Court finds that Carbajal-Flores’ criminal record, containing no improper use of a weapon, as well as the non-violent circumstances of his arrest do not support a finding that he poses a risk to public safety such that he cannot be trusted to use a weapon responsibly and should be deprived of his Second Amendment right to bear arms in self-defense,” Judge Coleman wrote. “Thus, this Court finds that, as applied to Carbajal-Flores, Section 922(g)(5) is unconstitutional.”

The ruling has divided gun rights activists, with some arguing that noncitizens should not have rights protected by the Constitution.

Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America (GOA), told Fox News Digital his group “has historically recognized the dangers unchecked illegal immigration presents, chiefly of which is a serious potential to swing the balance of power into the hands of anti-gun politicians.” 

Advertisement

Pratt reiterated GOA does not support amnesty for illegal immigrants. 

“In this underlying ruling, the Second Amendment community undoubtedly has mixed feelings, because while illegal aliens are most certainly not part of ‘the People,’ everyone has a God-given right to defend themselves against violent acts like rape and murder,” he said. 

“Of course, the courts wouldn’t have to decide this question if Joe Biden and the Democratic Party would simply secure our borders.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Trump sues ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation

Published

on

Trump sues ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation

Former President Trump is suing TV journalist George Stephanopoulos and ABC News for defamation for saying he raped advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

On a March 10 edition of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” the anchor said Trump was “liable for rape” during his interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). Stephanopoulos was pressing Mace, a rape victim herself, on how she could rationalize supporting Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy.

Trump’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Miami, said the jury in the Carroll case found him liable for sexual abuse — not rape — and that Stephanopoulos defamed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee by using the term.

A jury ruled in January that Trump must pay Carroll $83.3 million in damages after finding Trump liable for defamation, the second case related to a 1996 incident that occurred when the two met in a New York department store.

In May, jurors rejected Carroll’s allegation that she was raped but found Trump responsible for the lesser charge of sexual abuse, along with defamation, and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages. Trump, who denied that the incident occurred, repeatedly mocked Carroll over her claims.

Advertisement

Trump’s suit cites how Stephanopoulos himself reported that Trump was not liable for rape when he reported on the verdict of the previous Carroll case on May 10.

The suit also noted that the headline on an ABC News online story on the Mace interview first used the word “rape” and was later changed to “sexual abuse.”

Trump’s suit is asking for unspecified damages.

ABC News has not issued a comment on the matter.

The tense “This Week” interview was widely shared on social media. Mace took umbrage at Stephanopoulos’ question, claiming he was “rape-shaming” her by bringing up her own experience as a victim, which she has publicly discussed.

Advertisement

Trump has previously sued media outlets, including the New York Times and CNN, with no success.

Trump sued the Times over its investigation of his finances, which led to the recent New York civil court ruling that has him on the hook for $454 million. The suit was dismissed in March and Trump had to reimburse the Times legal cost.

In 2022, Trump sued CNN for $475 million claiming the news network was waging a campaign against him by booking guests critical of his policies and speeches. The case was dismissed in 2023.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

Mark Milley and former CENTCOM commander to face grilling in Congress over Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal

Published

on

Mark Milley and former CENTCOM commander to face grilling in Congress over Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

Please enter a valid email address.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided.

Having trouble? Click here.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday for the first time since retiring, potentially freeing him to offer new details about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Joining Milley will be retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who served as United States Central Command (CENTCOM) commander during the 2021 withdrawal. The pair have appeared before Congress to discuss failings in the operation before, but Republicans say they may have been more tight-lipped then because they were still serving under President Biden.

Advertisement

Both Milley and McKenzie testified in 2021 that they had advised Biden to maintain a small U.S. force in Afghanistan, rather than committing to a full U.S. withdrawal. Milley himself has described the operation as a “strategic failure,” saying he has “lots of regrets.”

“It didn’t end the way I wanted it. That didn’t end the way any of us wanted it,” he told ABC News in September. “In the broader sense, the war was lost.”

OBAMA LIED TO AMERICANS ABOUT WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN: BOOK

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, left, will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee for the first time since retiring on Tuesday, potentially freeing him to offer new details about the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Tuesday afternoon hearing comes after months of Republican investigations into Biden’s handling of the withdrawal. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas., has repeatedly demanded the State Department turn over documents relating to the operation.

Advertisement

BIDEN’S BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL HAUNTS 2024 ELECTION AS BOOK CLAIMS ‘13 AMERICANS NEVER HAD TO DIE’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has so far refused to offer interview notes relating to the Afghanistan after action report, which blamed senior officials for failing to prepare for all outcomes in the operation.

General McKenzie Afghanistan Pentagon

Retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, former commander of the United States Central Command, listens during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan. (Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Despite the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers and the abandoning of tens of thousands of Afghan allies to Taliban rule, Biden strongly believes behind closed doors that he made the right decisions during the operation, according to an upcoming book.

THINK THE US EXIT FROM AFGHANISTAN WAS BAD? LOOK WHAT’S BREWING IN THE PACIFIC

Following the withdrawal, “no one offered to resign, in large part because the president didn’t believe anyone had made a mistake. Ending the war was always going to be messy,” author Alexander Ward writes in the book, “The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore Foreign Policy After Trump.”

Advertisement
President Joe Biden

Despite the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers and the abandoning of tens of thousands of Afghan allies to Taliban rule, President Biden strongly believes behind closed doors that he made the right decisions during the operation, according to an upcoming book. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Biden allegedly told his top aides, including White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, that they had done their best given the situation and vowed to stand by them.

Fox News’ Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending