From the Business Insider:
Turkey may not be important economically— in terms of contagion to the rest of the global economy — but it sure is important strategically and militarily.
Turkey’s other borders face six nations: Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, and Nakhchivan, a territory affiliated with Azerbaijan. Five of those are involved in ongoing armed conflicts or outright war.
Turkey is the thing that has physically prevented the Islamic State terrorist group from rolling into Greece. It keeps the Syrian war inside Syria. It prevents the Russians from rolling back into Bulgaria. And it deters the Iraqis, Iranians, and Kurds from escalating their various conflicts northward into Europe.
Turkey going the way of Venezuela is not in our interests.
but he wants low rates to keep the economic growth going.
Amazing how that statement can just float there with no visible means of support. It’s AP magic.
How much further do they have to go? Turkey showed its true colors as a U.S. ally when it would not allow the U.S. to send troops across its border in order to open a second front against Iraq. Mind, I was against the invasion, but that was really the last straw from a strategic aspect.
Turkey is no more a U.S./Western ally than is Saudi Arabia. We have nothing in common with either nation.