Method to Obama's madness

Submitted by Robert Solto (Mexico), Apr 6, 2009 at 20:11

I agree that it rankles to have our president negotiate on behalf of an Islamic government so as to undermine freedom of expression. But there may be some method in Obama's madness—according to George Friedman (Stratfor):

The key to sustaining the U.S.-German alliance is reducing Germany's dependence on Russian natural gas and putting Russia on the defensive rather than the offensive. The key to that now is Turkey, since it is one of the only routes energy from new sources can cross to get to Europe from the Middle East, Central Asia or the Caucasus. If Turkey — which has deep influence in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Ukraine, the Middle East and the Balkans — is prepared to ally with the United States, Russia is on the defensive and a long-term solution to Germany's energy problem can be found. On the other hand, if Turkey decides to take a defensive position and moves to cooperate with Russia instead, Russia retains the initiative and Germany is locked into Russian-controlled energy for a generation.

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