Interesting piece in the New York Times this weekend which essentially was a holy-crap-what-are-we-doing-with-our-foreign-policy moment for the paper. Seemingly coming to the realization that hey, things are not aligning well for America and Israel in the Middle East - this could get ugly!
The New York Times reported:
A newly assertive Turkey offered on Sunday a vision of a starkly realigned Middle East, where the country’s former allies in Syria and Israel fall into deeper isolation, and a burgeoning alliance with Egypt underpins a new order in a region roiled by revolt and revolution.The portrait was described by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey in an hourlong interview before he was to leave for the United Nations, where a contentious debate was expected this week over a Palestinian bid for recognition as a state. Viewed by many as the architect of a foreign policy that has made Turkey one of the most relevant players in the Muslim world, Mr. Davutoglu pointed to that issue and others to describe a region in the midst of a transformation. Turkey, he said, was “right at the center of everything.”
He declared that Israel was solely responsible for the near collapse in relations with Turkey, once an ally, and he accused Syria’s president of lying to him after Turkish officials offered the government there a “last chance” to salvage power by halting its brutal crackdown on dissent.
Strikingly, he predicted a partnership between Turkey and Egypt, two of the region’s militarily strongest and most populous and influential countries, which he said could create a new axis of power at a time when American influence in the Middle East seems to be diminishing.
Read the FULL piece HERE
Glenn wondered what such an alliance would mean for the United States. "Another thing we told you that was a conspiracy theory - another think we told you was that they were all going to start to cobble themselves together," Glenn said.
"Turkey is part of NATO even though they seem to be puling in the other direction, so if we (NATO) went to war and they attacked Israel, would have to keep our NATO alliance with Turkey?" Glenn wondered. "Or would we be fighting for Israel?"
"I'm not really sure anymore. I think that's by design. We don't really know who our allies are anymore, do we?"