McClatchy reported on Friday:
"President Bush Wednesday promised that U.S. naval forces would deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia before his administration had received approval from Turkey, which controls naval access to the Black Sea, or the Pentagon had planned a seaborne operation, U.S. officials said Thursday.
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.
Pentagon officials told McClatchy that they were increasingly dubious that any U.S. Navy vessels would join the aid operation, in large part because the U.S.-based hospital ships likely to go, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy, would take weeks to arrive.
'
The president was writing checks to the Georgians without knowing what he had in the bank,' said a senior administration official."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/48293.html The 1936 Montreaux Convention (another one of those irksome international agreements W & Co. are trying to get annuled.)
TURKSAM, March 9 2008:
"One of the main obstacles in the way of the U.S. ambition to be more active in the Black Sea region are the Montreux provisions. There are various scenarios of amending and dissolving this convention. In the short run, if the U.S. can not enter the Black Sea under its own flag, an alternative 'soft passage' under the NATO flag is on the agenda. Kremlin is deeply concerned about such aspirations. Kremlin is also concerned that if this region comes under NATO influence, Crimea will come under Turkish control. Today, competition in this region is not only between the U.S. and Russia; the strategic importance of the region has also led to competition among corporations and other countries of the region. . .
Turkey is one of the major military forces in the Black Sea region; involvement of foreign forces in the region and developments that may lead to the revision of the Montreux Convention conflict with Turkish interests. In efforts to get the Montreux Convention annulled, the U.S. is in direct contact with Romania, a signatory state of the agreement that maintains the 'right to annul' it.
Russia, like Turkey, does not want such U.S. influence in the region. In contrast, new members of NATO, Bulgaria and Romania, support the United States. Georgia and Ukraine are sympathetic towards the United State’s position. Hence, there is split among the littoral states of the Black Sea about U.S. proposals for the region."
http://www.turksam.org/en/a195.htmlMcClatchy reports the Turks are reprising their "unhelpful" ways vis the US 4ID going through Turkey in the run-up to the Iraq invasion.
"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."
End
An interesting sidelight to this article:
"The U.S. officials requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, because the issue is diplomatically sensitive or because
the administration takes a dim view of officials who reveal its internal deliberations. (my italics)
What's that all about? Who are these administration officals saying the president wrote a check before he knew what was in the bank?
Seems like dicipline within the administration is crumbling a bit. Maybe, someone his worried about W. getting us all blown up?
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