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'A multifaceted catastrophe': Turkey has 'so alienated everyone (truncated)
The Washington Post via BI ^ | February 21st, 2016 | Liz Sly

Posted on 02/21/2016 9:58:07 PM PST by Mariner

ISTANBUL — Turkey is confronting what amounts to a strategic nightmare as bombs explode in its cities, its enemies encroach on its borders and its allies seemingly snub its demands.

As recently as four years ago, Turkey appeared poised to become one of the biggest winners of the Arab Spring, an ascendant power hailed by the West as a model and embraced by a region seeking new patrons and new forms of governance.

All that has evaporated since the failure of the Arab revolts, shifts in the geopolitical landscape and the trajectory of the Syrian war.

Russia, Turkey's oldest and nearest rival, is expanding its presence around Turkey's borders — in Syria to the south, in Crimea and Ukraine to the north, and in Armenia to the east. On Saturday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced the deployment of a new batch of fighter jets and combat helicopters to an air base outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan, 25 miles from the Turkish border.

Blowback from the Syrian war in the form of a string of suicide bombings in Istanbul and Ankara, most recently on Wednesday, has brought fear to Turkish streets and dampened the vital tourist industry.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: russia; suicidebombings; turkey
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To: UCANSEE2

To strengthen Erdogan, but to give Iran control of the Middle East.


21 posted on 02/22/2016 1:25:47 AM PST by Piranha (Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have - Saul Alinsky)
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To: Mariner

Erdogan has played with fire and will be badly burnt. Kemalism was the root of Turkeys prosperity for close to 100 years and Erdogan has upset that balance.


22 posted on 02/22/2016 1:59:07 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: Mariner

Everything Obama has touched in the past seven years has turned out the same - catastrophic. If I didn’t know better (thanks to the media), I would conclude that Obama’s goals are not compatible with America’s security, stability, or success.


23 posted on 02/22/2016 2:18:55 AM PST by Pollster1 ("A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean is worthless." - Scalia)
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To: Pollster1

AA was never envisioned to rule us!


24 posted on 02/22/2016 3:07:36 AM PST by Dr. Ursus
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To: wiggen
Erdogan took preemptive action several years ago getting rid of as many of the high ranking officers who weren't 100% in his camp.

As obama has done here.

25 posted on 02/22/2016 4:31:39 AM PST by Salvey
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To: MrEdd

He put many generals in jail already, coup protection .


26 posted on 02/22/2016 4:35:21 AM PST by conductor john (from jersey)
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To: Mariner

Obama propaganda


27 posted on 02/22/2016 4:36:58 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;+12, 73, ....carson is the kinder gentler trump.)
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To: nickcarraway

Sometimes the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy...that’s when it’s popcorn time.


28 posted on 02/22/2016 7:21:44 AM PST by reed13k (w)
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To: wiggen

I think Obama has been doing the same...


29 posted on 02/22/2016 7:37:19 AM PST by rusureitflies? (Not much to say, yet.)
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To: Mariner
This will end with a Turk incursion into Syria to preserve Erdogan's pride, or a Turk military coup.

Erdogan got rid of all the Generals that would had opposed him, similar to Stalin's purge of the Red Army just before WW2.

30 posted on 02/22/2016 3:35:53 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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