Coup or Fire
Coup or Fire. Let me explain. The attempted coup in Turkey failed, 1,000's of antigovernment individuals eein arrested or detailed. Officers in hiding in Greece. Erdogan gaining more power. Switch to Pre WW 2 Germany. Reichstag Fire [set by the NAZIs, blamed on others], opposition party members arrested or detained, assumption of dictatorial powers.
Are we seeing the same in Turkey under Erdogan? News reports say that his top military aide is being sought by the government.
It all seems like a power play but who knows.
The most troubling fact is Turkey has the 2nd largest Army in ATO. It Borders on all of the current hotspots and has absolute control over entry and departure to the black sea.
If Erdogan becomes more Islamist in view, perhaps even radicalized, it could get real ugly in a hurry in that part of the world and Europe. The Turks tried to capture Europe one before. Read about the Ottoman empire and the Balkans. Look at Albania.
Call me suspicious or even paranoid. I just don't trust the current government in Turkey.
Are we seeing the same in Turkey under Erdogan? News reports say that his top military aide is being sought by the government.
It all seems like a power play but who knows.
The most troubling fact is Turkey has the 2nd largest Army in ATO. It Borders on all of the current hotspots and has absolute control over entry and departure to the black sea.
If Erdogan becomes more Islamist in view, perhaps even radicalized, it could get real ugly in a hurry in that part of the world and Europe. The Turks tried to capture Europe one before. Read about the Ottoman empire and the Balkans. Look at Albania.
Call me suspicious or even paranoid. I just don't trust the current government in Turkey.
Never trust. Always expect corruption.
Never, N E V E R, give your blank check book to government (like the American people did in 1913.)
Worry about the American government first and foremost.
Muslims do not want anything to do with assimilating. Their Koran teaches taking over or else.
No this failed coup, contrived or not, is not a good thing. Turkey is the gateway to Europe...a strategical gain for islam should it move to that column.
It's an interesting chunk of history for those who wish to look.
Ever read "Catch the Jew!"? Funny and enlightening book. I recommend it.
could well be. -- j
.
That's why Turkey hasn't attacked ISIS and, in fact, has been buying ISIS oil.
Check out the maps in this piece, especially the second one. It shows the history of Muslim conquest over the centuries.
https://medium.com/@Penseur/isis-isnt...
Turkey wasn't originally Muslim. It was Christian, the seat of the Orthodox Christian Church. It wasn't until the Muhammadans had taken Constantinople and slaughtered the Christians that it became the seat of the Ottoman Empire.
The Middle East was almost all Jewish or Christian until 622 AD, when Muhammad started Islam's rampage. The "martyrdom while killing infidels is the sure road to paradise" religion kicked the crap out of the "turn the other cheek" guys.
That's one of the reasons I believe it's possible to turn Muslims away from Islam. Many of them want something spiritual but, would welcome spiritualism without Islam's militaristic baggage.
Language being a precursor to conscious thought and the concept of responsibility...I say they have been found wanting...this looks like an ongoing and very, very long battle.
Let's hope it keeps them occupied and out of our lives.
Now as to barbecue One is burnt and the othere is true. A good Texas barbecue burns the meat slightly and has a completely different type of 'hot' sauce wise from Louisiana and they from the rest of the South. Then there is Oklahoma. Dos Okies leans toward Texas style but if you find them in Port Townsend, Washington be aware they use Dave's Insanity
Sauce as a base. That's the one that has instructions for cleaning concrete garage floors using their product. It's not a joke.
I like a few black stripes on my rare steak thank you.
The Hot Spot is the Bosporus Strait and it's two choke points, the major warm water ports used by Russia Sevastapol and Odessa add in the Danube River traffic and Sea of Azov traffic and add in Russia's attitude toward Ukraine, and a host of smaller countries
Except for weaponry provided by the US Turkey is not a first line nation and most of that is old. I've seen their F5 Phantomns zip by on many occasions while working merchant marine. It's not oil rich as we would deliver Nato purchases to their southern coast port so Azov is probably the closest direct route oil field. Much of the fuel came from refineries in Greece.
They did deny passage for Gulf II
The common border area with Iraq and Iran is also the center of Kurdistan which is anti ISIS. Turkey gets too pushy that's the local center of resistance thus another flash point for a major war IF Kurdistan gets outside support (Russia and depending on our elections the USA along with France possibly, Britain and Germany for economic reasons.)
The Turks pushed into SE Europe but it was An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub known as Saladin (1137 – March 1193), was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign ... Under Saladin's command, the Ayyubid army defeated the Crusaders
Thus a third spark which adds in Israel and unlike the others has nuclear weapons. At least as far as we know. Depends on Kerry's and Obama's side deals with the region.
Erdogan will make friends with and form a mutually beneficial relationship with Putin. They will cooperate against the Kurds and Armenians and Georgians. Erdogan supports ISIS against Iran. Putin supports Assad against the insurgents. I predict Erdogan and Putin will cooperate on a partition of Syria.
Turkey will continue to arm Palestinians and cause as much trouble as it can for Israel. Turkey will continue funneling Muslim refugees to Europe.
It's already happening.
Circumstances make strange bedfellows. Putin is primarily antiwestern. For almost a century Turkey leaned prowestern. It has done an about face and is now primarily antiwestern. Putin wanted Assad to stay but, rumor has it, had quietly conceded he may have to go. Syria may once have served a strategic purpose but, having secured Sevastopol, Turkey is now far more important to Putin than was Syria. Pulling Turkey out of NATO is part of his plan and, most likely, part of Erdogan's plan.
Assad and Erdogan are off and on friends but, Assad's tolerance of religious minorities is at odds with Erdogan's hard-line Muslim stance. Now that Erdogan has gotten rid of the last of the secularists, Turkey will become an Islamic state and, that means Assad will have to go. Putin will sacrifice Assad to placate Erdogan.