Biden offers F-16s to Turkey, F-35s to Greece

Implicitly twinning the sales tells a well-behaved US ally that its security is hostage to the wishes of a badly-behaved one, but maintains Greece's qualitative edge

The F-35 (Courtesy Lockheed-Martin)

For the first time since Turkey demanded new F-16s and Greece lobbied against it, the US administration of Joe Biden has come back with a counter-offer designed to satisfy everyone, reported the Wall Street Journal on January 13.

The key element of the counter-offer is that it seems to tie Turkey’s interest in F-16s to Greece’s interest in fifth-generation F-35 fighter-bombers.