Actually Turkey has been wandering for quite some time but who cares about pipsqueak Cyprus, which isn't even a member of NATO? And who cares about Greece, which is a NATO member? Turkey is what's important to NATO in order to help contain the USSR. If you remind me the USSR is no more -- Turkey's president is well aware that NATO is loath to slap his wrists because as far as NATO is concerned, one just never knows when the USSR will reconstitute then send tanks into Brussels.
Anyhow, last night on the John Batchelor Show, Batchelor and Gregory Copley worked an analysis of Turkey's latest wanderings -- specifically, getting a little too friendly with Russia -- into their discussion of Copley's new book, "Sovereignty in the 21st Century and the Crisis for Identity, Cultures, Nation-States, and Civilizations."
Great title, and the subject is certainly topical; they'll be talking more about the book in the coming weeks. (The book isn't available yet at Amazon or other online booksellers.)
During his talk with Batchelor, Copley brought out that the PKK -- Erdogan's nemesis -- is not just Kurds anymore. It's come to represent a large multi-ethnic transnational minority that threatens to break apart Turkey, which under Erdogan's political party and his neo-Ottoman aspirations lost a strong nationalist underpinning. Thus, the tie-in with Copley's book. I found the discussion very interesting, and of course it has applications to the United States as well as many other nations.
Here are the Audioboom podcasts from the John Batchelor Show: "Turkey between two worlds, NATO and the Kremlin." Part 1 of 2. Part 2.
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