Eastern Mediterranean Basin-Energy, Politics and more.. Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Israel through to the Black Sea

As mentioned yesterday Cyprus is being armed and readied for battle– Greece looks to be prepping for wider war

Arming Cyprus, the next step to deterring Putin and Erdogan – Analysis

Greece is acting very, very confident and assured. One could characterize it as bravado. Their leadership believe the US is firmly behind it’s recent activities-

*An interesting podcast about 25 minutes in length- What’s triggered the latest tension between Greece and Turkey?

*Prime Minister of Greece Confident of US/EU Support Against Ankara

The US decision to fortify its military presence in Greece’s northern port city of Alexandroupolis and choosing Greece as its strategic partner and energy hub resulted in “provocative and hostile” remarks from Ankara.

Clearly Greece has been acting in a manner that would unavoidably result in some undoubtedly concerned remarks – I’m unsure that they were hostile..

In a similar vein, public broadcaster ERT quoted Deputy Education Minister Angelos Syrigos as saying that the US abandoned its decades-long neutrality between Athens and Ankara and explicitly supports the former.

Turkish military drones recorded the deployment of Greek armored vehicles on the islands of Midilli (Lesvos) and Sisam (Samos), which Ankara maintains is in violation of international law. The footage was released on Sunday.

Türkiye on Monday summoned the Greek ambassador and called for an end to violations on Aegean islands and restoring their non-military status.

In the note, the ministry stated that the deployment was another violation of Greece’s obligations under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris. These islands were required to be demilitarized under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris, so any troops or weapons on the islands are strictly forbidden.

Including locking on to Turkish F-16’s on NATO duty

“You are locked!”: Turkish pilots are trembling against the Greek Air Force in the Aegean

In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, the retired lieutenant general of the Turkish Air Force, Erdoğan Karakuş, complained that the Greek pilots are now quite “provocative”.

As he said in an interview he gave to the newspaper, when the Greek aircraft lock the target, they send a message that says: “You are locked, you are on my target, I can fire my missile if I want…”.

According to Karakuş, the phenomenon has been more intense lately, which he attributes to the fact that Greek pilots train together with Israelis in Kalamata.

The latter seems to trouble the Turks for another reason. As Karakuş said, it is possible that the Greeks are being trained by the Israelis on the facts of the Six Day War, when the Israelis had destroyed the Egyptian planes on the ground within half an hour.

This possibility seems to be of great concern to the Turks, especially after the new data created over the Aegean by the presence of the Rafale and their ability to hit targets at long distances.

The Turks fear that the Israelis are training the Greeks to make an immediate first strike and destroy their planes while they are on the ground and at their bases.

The source of the latest tension is Greece militarizing Aegean Islands with US made military equipment and the blessing of the US.

Greece is deploying US-made military vehicles on two Aegean Islands, which Turkiye says breaches an agreement

*Kremlin says Turkish banks under ‘unprecedented’ U.S. pressure over Mir cards

*The last three Turkish banks decided to refuse to accept Mir cards, fearing sanctions

*Is the US besieging Russia or Türkiye?

*Finally…U.S. needs strategic off-ramp to end Russian war in Ukraine

How does this war end if Putin is determined to win? Should we not be at least considering acceptable terms for all parties to end the war? Understanding Putin’s thinking is vital. But, as the United States failed in the past to understand the adversary, is this recurring?

Clemenceau observed that “war is too important to be left to the generals.” In this case, is Ukraine too important to be left to Zelensky? The United States needs a strategy with an off-ramp to seek an end to the violence and the war. Until then, the United States does not have a strategy.

Or the US does have a strategy? And that is to allow/encourage this war not only to drag on, but to expand. That looks to me to be THE STRATEGY.