TILLERSON IN TURKEY: In a test of his diplomatic skills, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Ankara today, meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to try to mollify the crucial NATO ally’s anger over U.S. plans to retake Raqqa, Syria, by using Kurdish fighters.

Erdogan is furious that a Raqqa liberation force includes elements of the Kurdish YPG militia, which Erdogan sees as linked PKK insurgents, who have been designated a terrorist group by both the United States and Turkey.  Erdogan is also incensed that the U.S. has refused to extradite Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Erdogan claims was behind the failed coup last July.