Multiple posters shared multiple credible sources with you, which you handwave away because they don't support your narrative, so I'm not sure what value there is in continuing the discussion with you. An unexpected passby of F-35s is not the same as having them operating out of bases right by Russian radar installations. If you were US or NATO would you trust Erdogan not to sell you out to the Russians? I sure wouldn't.
I sure wouldn't trust Erdogan. But why should he trust that the US also has his interests?
People are overthinking this. More and more countries are simply doing what is in their best interest, or what the leaders think is in their best interest. The US is also doing what they think is in their best interest, and what is in their best interest is not always what is in another country's best interest. More often than not it is the opposite.
To the Germans who are trying to get off nuclear power they say, do not buy Russian gas, they even threatened to sanction companies building Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
To anyone that wants 5G tech, they say do not invest in Hauwei despite companies in the West being some ways behind when it comes to having any viable tech that can be monetized at a similar timeline.
To oil producers, they say sell in the dollar or we will wreck you with sanctions.
To India they have threatened to add tariffs on some products, demands that they open up their markets. To Turkey they imposed tariffs that brought down the Lira in an effort to strong arm them into not getting the S-400's.
What people do not understand is that we are no longer in that cold war era where the world was dominated by ideology. We are at an age where there are a lot of countries looking towards the East for openings in commerce in areas that have been dominated by US and the West. The ever improving markets in Asia offer a far greater opportunity for trade and with the US having been in so many wars over the decades, these countries have effectively invested more money into research and better products.
It is a battle for commerce in key areas like currency, tech and military defense spending. Big ticket items around which data (gold mine of our age) and outlandish military spending that guarantees aerial dominance is seen as key for anyone looking to dominate key areas in continents. It is for this very reason that you see many a proxy war in the middle east, tensions in south east asia. In the Eurozone you saw Germany bail out her own banks through the back door, and now the biggest bank has them teetering on the edge to a point where they might have to increase taxes to bail Deutsche Bank out.
It is for this very reason that you see the Chinese waking up in the morning and deciding what range their currency will trade against the dollar. Is it fair practice? Of course not, but it weathers their currency against speculation. To US, and companies elsewhere it means that they can keep their cost of manufacturing low and their goods competitive which s why you see so much manufacturing coming from there i.e. self interest.
No one is really looking to get anything if they are not going to have key areas of tech under their control. And the moment people stop seeing this as a NATO - Russia problem rather than a commercial one, then the better.
