...the Nailer of NAFTA...
’s pick for Pentagon chief plunged straight into business as he made his NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
debut Wednesday, confronting
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor...over its purchase of Russian air defense missiles.
Mark Esper, nominated as defense secretary last Friday, reiterated Washington’s warning that buying the Russian S-400 missile system would mean it would be booted out of the US F-35 jet fighter program.
Making his first appearance at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, Esper had what a Pentagon front man described as a "frank and transparent" meeting with his
The US and NATO are alarmed that Turkey may acquire the missiles, which are designed to shoot down planes like the F-35, America’s new generation multi-role stealth fighter that Turkey also wants to buy.
But Turkey has so far rebuffed all efforts to persuade it to drop the deal, and President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
insisted on Tuesday that delivery would take place in July.
"The two leaders had a frank and transparent discussion where Secretary Esper reiterated that Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air and missile defense system is incompatible with the F-35 program and that Turkey will not be permitted to have both systems," Pentagon front man Jonathan Hoffman said.
Erdogan has said he will use his good relations with Trump to defuse tensions when they meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan later this week.
But the US has set a July 31 deadline for Ankara to drop the purchase or face sanctions and expulsion from the F-35 program.
This would mean an end to Turkey’s current plans to buy 100 F-35s and the loss of lucrative contracts to build parts of the jet.
Esper, who is yet to be confirmed in the post by the Senate, is the third man to lead the Pentagon in six months after Jim Mattis and Patrick Shanahan.