Parallel Lines

Is there a parallel to be drawn between the current coup underway in Turkey and what happened in Egypt three years ago? To me, it appears so. Mohamed Morsi, with the tacit support of President Obummer, was elected President in Egypt in a supposedly free election. So was Recep Erdogan reelected in Turkey ... also with a nod from the current U.S. administration. Morsi rapidly began to consolidate his undemocratic control in Cairo by seeding secular Egyptian institutions with his Muslim Brotherhood cronies and fomenting radical unrest. Erdogan has clearly departed from General Mustafa Ataturk's secular vision for Turkish government and has more gradually reimposed autocratic Muslim strictures on the media and those who elected him. He has also been playing footsie with ISIS by allowing it to smuggle Syrian oil and refuges through his country ... and foreign fighters to join ISIS. Morsi clearly found the levers of power intoxicating and lined his and the Muslim Brotherhood's pockets. Erdogan recently built himself a super extravagant  $615 million royal palace ... see: Yahoo New Story ... and his son has been accused of benefiting from ISIS oil smuggling.

Morsi's excesses and attempts to crush Egypt's democracy finally inspired huge street riots and its military to stop this country's slide into a caliphate. General Abdel el-Sisi ousted Morsi who is now on trial with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood for murder and crimes against the state. Now, Turkey is going through a similarly coup to try to wrest Erdogan firmer grip on power. Whether this coup succeeds is still very much an open question. If it doesn't prevail, the Middle East will certainly experience a great deal more innocent bloodshed.

True to form, the Obummer administration is supporting Erdogan in this putsch attempt whereas I can't help but wonder if Russia's Putin might not be pulling some other strings in this puppet show ... and he doesn't like to lose.

We should know the results of this Turkey trot fairly soon. Is Erdogan gone? Let us hope so ...

Afterward: Bloody failure ... see: Daily Mail Story. Did Erdogan set this up to cleanse things?

More: And now others are speculating the same thing ... see: Daily Mail Story.

Turkey Trot

Turkey is a full member of NATO and thus is a prime ally of the western world ... at least in name and form. However, this Muslim nation has drifted so far away from Ataturk's secular vision and from its responsibilities in this NATO alliance that serious thought should be given to showing it the door.

The President of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, took the opportunity of Pope Francis's visit to Turkey recently to denounce the West in terms devoid of any sugar-coating. He spat out:

I speak openly, foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world ... they like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us ... they look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die.

Pretty hostile words from the leader of a friendly nation. To read a fuller context of this diatribe against his alliance mates (including specific slurs against the United States), see: Powerline Comments

Pope Francis on the other hand turned the other cheek and praised Turkey for its humanitarian assistance in the ISIS conflict next door in Syria and Iraq. They both made nice-nice and then the Pope was shown Erogan's humble new abode ... a $600 million presidential palace. For more about this ecumenical belly-rub see: NY Times Article.

Obviously, the Pope either hasn't read the newspapers or has chosen to ignore Turkey's deviousness in allowing ISIS to attack the Kurdish town of Kobani, Syria from inside Turkish territory. Clearly Erdogan's hatred of the Kurds outshines his love for the West... see: The Guardian Article.

It surely looks to me like Turkey is a turkey ..

Afterward: To see how oppressive Turkey is becoming, read about a professor jailed there for barring the hajib in class: Atlas Shrugged.