Pence Warns U.S. Will Sanction Turkey Unless American Pastor Freed: AP

[demmiblue]

Source: Bloomberg/AP

Washington (AP) -- Vice President Mike Pence is threatening NATO ally Turkey with economic sanctions over a detained American pastor held on terror and espionage charges.

Pence said Thursday that if Turkey does not take immediate action to free Andrew Craig Brunson, "the United States of America will impose severe economic sanctions on Turkey." He spoke at the close of a three-day conference on religious freedom.

Brunson, 50, an evangelical Christian pastor originally from North Carolina, was let out of jail Wednesday, after 1 1/2 years, to serve house arrest because of "health problems," according to Turkey's official Anadolu news agency.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded Brunson's release and said on Twitter last week that the pastor's detention was "a total disgrace."

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/pence-us-will-sanction-turkey-unless-american-pastor-freed?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business

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Link to tweet

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Protect the Pastor but ship the former Ambassador to Moscow

are these people making any sense? I know, they're not going to do it, but they did need 3 days to think it over.

[montanacowboy]

2. Did Pencey check this with his boss?

Dump is in love with Erdogon

Looks like Pencey is overstepping his bounds

[ChiTownDenny]

4. Yup.

Beyond that, Turkey is the most strategically located ally America has in that part of the world. Over the years America has made clear it doesn't see Turkey's atrocities.

[Berlin Expat]

5. No, this is coming

from Trump too.

President Donald Trump says the United States will impose sanctions on NATO ally Turkey over a detained American pastor held on terror and espionage charges.

Shortly after the possibility of sanctions was first announced by Vice President Mike Pence Thursday, Trump wrote on Twitter that the U.S. "will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pence-us-sanction-turkey-unless-american-pastor-freed-143515153--politics.html

So it looks like this is now official policy.

[Initech]

6. Yes isn't Erdogan another Pooty stooge?

[forgotmylogin]

3. But stealing an election is A-OK. NO SANCTIONS if you do that...

In fact, you'll get mancrushed by our Traitor in Chief and invited to the White House.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

7. It would not be the first time

That the CIA had planted a field officer in a Muslim nation to collect humint and report back. Brunson has lived in Turkey for over two decades. It also strikes me as odd that a "pastor with a congregation of only 25 people" in ANY foreign nation would be on the radar of this administration for no other reason. This man is not the only clergyman to have been arrested or swept up by another government, but I don't hear any fuss being kicked up over anyone else.