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Shame for Israel, Turkish Aggression, Ho-hum in the Aegean

Reader comment on item: Forty Years after the Invasion of Cyprus
in response to reader comment: "It takes a while to unlearn thousands of years of history." Very wise :)

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Aug 22, 2014 at 12:37

Hi, Alexandros

Israel is heading for a crushing defeat in Gaza, far worse than the Lebanon debacle of 2006 (which was actually an Israeli victory that the leaders turned into a defeat). That is foremost in my mind, nowadays. In 2006, there was a picture

http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070223/070223_binoculars_hmed_315a.grid-6x2.jpg

of Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz trying to survey the battlefield with the lens caps still on his binoculars. I'm afraid the dominant picture from this campaign will be a beaming Khaled Meshaal toasting Tayyep Recip Erdogan in Doha and procaliming total victory for the Turkey-Qatar-HAMAS axis.

You compared the chances of a Turko-Israel war vs. a Turko-Greek war. For the forseeable future, all I see coming out of all three countries are corruption scandals. This war stinks to high heaven; Israel has never performed this poorly against so insignificant a for. In Biblical terms, this is the Battle of Ai -- the first one. There is no excuse for Israel, which destroyed the entire Egyptian Air Force in a few hours in 1967, to be still under fire, after a month of hard fighting, by rockets fired from an insignificant strip of land just four miles wide. When the scandal of this hits the fan, the Israeli government is likely to make the Turkish mess look like a well-oiled machine!

Concerning the Greco-Turkish war, I don't expect it to happen, for the simple reason that Greece is so weak, it is unlikely to provoke such a war. To quote a starry-eyed Israeli article which is otherwise a bit of BS,

Athens also understands the importance of Turkey. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with Erdogan before he met with Netanyahu, and if we go into detail, we see that 25 agreements were signed in Ankara for cooperation between countries that had been once sworn enemies, in contrast with 10 agreements with Israel.

-- http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/greece-israel-turkey-relations-strategic-alliance.html##ixzz3B8ZXJ8mW

That presents Greece as more of a Turkish client state than anything else. Why should Turkey bother to attack a country that is already on its knees to it?

The second reason I doubt a Greek-Turkish war, is that both countries are in NATO. Turkey attacked non-NATO-member Cyprus in 1974, but not NATO-member Greece. In the foreseeable future, likewise, I think it is far more likely to attack non NATO-member Israel than NATO-member Greece. The former is still possible; but it would probably require a Greek equivalent to Erdogan to come to power first -- and at that, for such a demagogue to be counting on a strong Greek-Israeli alliance to back up his boasting.

The third reason is the elephant in the living room: Erdogan's repeated, Hitler-like demagoguery against not just Israel, but Jews in general. Compare his fairly mild anti-Greek comments with the blood-kurdling vitriol he reserves for Jews.

In contrast to the relative calm between Turkey and Greece, I see Turkey's border with Iraq and Syria on the verge of collapse. If Turkey proves to be reluctant to outright annex the northern halves of both countries, I expect the "Islamic Caliphate" to do their work for them and provoke a Turkish invasion. This could well be coupled with a parallel Iranian invasion of Baghdad-Basra and tacit Turko-Iranian agreement to keep Bashar Al-Assad as the ruler of a rump Syria-Damascus. Iran and Hizbullah would then be free to turn their attention against Israel, provoke an Israeli response and voila! Turkey and Israel would face each other off on a battlefield hundreds of miles long!

Do you see any reason, given the past 66 years of history, why that SHOULDN'T happen? By contrast, the only real trouble I see on the Turko-Greek front is a possible conflict over Turkish and Cypriot gas exploration. That sounds, to me, oddly similar to the Spratley and Paracel Islands dispute -- something that's been going on for decades and promises to go on for many more years without a major conflict.

In all this, I count the United States as completely impotent under Obama -- and NATO copying his every limp move.

What do you think?

Submitting....

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Reader comments (79) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2Cypriot turks [121 words]BillJul 26, 2015 05:53224430
eqyptians and masochism [92 words]servet cevikOct 13, 2014 02:33218668
2Old civilizations and poor Turkish education [557 words]dhimmi no moreNov 1, 2014 15:46218668
Facts [36 words]NoneNov 20, 2014 14:57218668
%35 of cyprus is not greek land now :-) [497 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
servet cevikOct 2, 2014 04:48218384
1Genocidal Thoughts and the Rule of Jungle [624 words]Young MCOct 5, 2014 05:10218384
i wish the world was as you defined [290 words]servet cevikOct 8, 2014 03:54218384
Genocidal Thoughts and the Rule of Jungle - part 2 [255 words]Young MCOct 11, 2014 19:16218384
1Time for a flotilla to liberate Cyprus from Turkish Occupation [83 words]Michael S.Oct 12, 2014 14:52218384
simply welcome for the flotilla [83 words]servet cevikOct 13, 2014 01:26218384
I wasn't serious about a Cyprus invasion -- just being facetious [127 words]Michael S.Oct 15, 2014 08:04218384
3Lies, Propaganda vs Facts [443 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Kuvayi MilliyeJul 30, 2014 06:08216425
1Hypocrisy [507 words]Kuvayi MilliyeAug 3, 2014 11:19216425
3If military occupation of Cyprus is bad then why same is good for Palestine ? [98 words]Debanjan BanerjeeAug 4, 2014 03:53216425
4No more abuse from the murderers and the monsters [473 words]AlexandrosAug 5, 2014 12:11216425
2When did you sneak in? [87 words]Peter HallAug 13, 2014 10:00216425
3There is something wrong with the Australian Department of Immigration [132 words]dhimmi no moreAug 15, 2014 06:21216425
Where does Greece stand concerning Israel? [162 words]Michael S.Aug 17, 2014 12:21216425
1A bit complicated, but i will give it a go :) [1014 words]AlexandrosAug 18, 2014 06:25216425
2Thank you for your insights, Alexandros [547 words]Michael SAug 20, 2014 05:46216425
1"It takes a while to unlearn thousands of years of history." Very wise :) [476 words]AlexandrosAug 21, 2014 06:40216425
Shame for Israel, Turkish Aggression, Ho-hum in the Aegean [673 words]Michael S.Aug 22, 2014 12:37216425
1belonging to the turkish nation [219 words]servet cevikSep 11, 2014 21:46216425
Cyprus has never existed as a Greek State, never ever. [29 words]servet cevikSep 11, 2014 21:52216425
humans and earth [136 words]servet cevikSep 11, 2014 22:08216425
humans and earth [180 words]servet cevikSep 11, 2014 22:11216425
countries and peoples are not enemies [119 words]servet cevikSep 11, 2014 22:22216425
turkish jewish history [313 words]servet cevikSep 11, 2014 23:00216425
You need to learn your History. [123 words]Peter HallSep 14, 2014 02:58216425
War is inevitable; Israel will win. [137 words]Michael S.Sep 14, 2014 07:06216425
1Our dear servet is saying that convicted criminals and murderers have every right to immigrate any where! [319 words]dhimmi no moreSep 14, 2014 07:24216425
Jerry Lewis vs Jim Carrey [406 words]servet cevikSep 15, 2014 03:06216425
You sound very hospitable! [277 words]Peter HallSep 15, 2014 03:35216425
1And speaking of Jerry Lewis [751 words]dhimmi no moreSep 17, 2014 16:56216425
1Cyprus and Arab historians [110 words]dhimmi no moreSep 19, 2014 12:45216425
1Our dear servet is saying that drug addicts have every right to immigrate any where Turkey inculded! [309 words]dhimmi no moreSep 19, 2014 13:02216425
i dont understand arabic [764 words]servet cevikSep 21, 2014 16:16216425
YOU Need to learn your History a bit better [333 words]servet cevikSep 21, 2014 17:35216425
You need to learn your history better. [425 words]Peter HallSep 21, 2014 23:19216425
product of a failed culture ??? [92 words]servet cevikSep 22, 2014 02:33216425
do you have difficulty understanding what you read? [194 words]servet cevikSep 22, 2014 04:05216425
1But I provided you with a translation of the Arabic text [78 words]dhimmi no moreSep 22, 2014 08:26216425
1The Arab historians tell us that Cyprus belongs to the Greeks [213 words]dhimmi no moreSep 22, 2014 11:18216425
Again you are a little out of touch [167 words]Peter HallSep 23, 2014 02:15216425
insults and demagogy vs facts [684 words]servet cevikSep 23, 2014 13:40216425
1Think before you post is this asking for much? [182 words]dhimmi no moreSep 24, 2014 07:06216425
1Our dear servet is saying that history started in 1570CE!! [154 words]dhimmi no moreSep 26, 2014 08:08216425
2Is the West abandoning the Syrian Kurds to please Turkey? [264 words]Michael S.Sep 26, 2014 19:10216425
1Minorities and the Kurds included and the West [127 words]dhimmi no moreSep 27, 2014 07:34216425
Cyprus has never existed as a Greek State, never ever. [375 words]servet cevikSep 28, 2014 16:31216425
1Even Mu3awiyya tells us that Cyprus was a Greek island so was he a liar? [306 words]dhimmi no moreSep 30, 2014 07:52216425
1Here is what al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir tell us about Cyprus: It is a Greek Island! [65 words]dhimmi no moreSep 30, 2014 08:05216425
Turks and Kurds [581 words]Michael S.Sep 30, 2014 10:32216425
1Hilarious servet cevik [91 words]PrashantSep 30, 2014 18:49216425
Teachings by servet cevik, the Genocide Denier [105 words]Young MCSep 30, 2014 18:59216425
i now understand it all... [240 words]servet cevikOct 2, 2014 09:44216425
1Exposing poor and uncritical education [61 words]dhimmi no moreOct 3, 2014 06:39216425
devil worshipping is GOOD :-) [154 words]servet cevikOct 8, 2014 02:04216425
send me evidence of arabs being our masters [153 words]servet cevikOct 8, 2014 06:44216425
2The Yazidi Genocide [69 words]dhimmi no moreOct 12, 2014 12:02216425
2Silence is golden and sob stories [377 words]dhimmi no moreOct 12, 2014 12:17216425
dhimmi [127 words]servet cevikOct 13, 2014 01:57216425
sob stories [30 words]servet cevikOct 13, 2014 02:20216425
2We are all Yazidis [76 words]dhimmi no moreOct 15, 2014 06:58216425
3We are all Armenians and get used to it [54 words]dhimmi no moreOct 16, 2014 07:02216425
what gave me the impression :-) [39 words]servet cevikOct 17, 2014 16:40216425
geriatric assistance [56 words]servet cevikOct 17, 2014 16:56216425
2Why do you allow convicted criminals to live in Turkey? [79 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 28, 2015 12:38216425
i do not follow tayyip [73 words]servet cevikMar 3, 2015 01:50216425
i do not follow tayyip and likes [103 words]servet cevikMar 3, 2015 01:57216425
1Turkey may be preparing an armed attack on Israel [346 words]Michael SJul 27, 2014 10:23216357
An invasion supported by Israel. [1 words]RogerJul 23, 2014 23:10216314
1Greek and Turkish Cypriots [267 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Malcolm LoweJul 22, 2014 07:37216279
4Cyprus will be Sharia-Free-as it has been for millennia [121 words]Michael Hanni MorcosJul 21, 2014 23:26216266
6Turkey's 40 year military aggression against the Republic of Cyprus [525 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Miltos MiltiadouJul 21, 2014 18:55216261
240 years of military occupation by a NATO country of a European Union country!!!!!! [206 words]kyriakos MichaelidesJul 23, 2014 04:31216261
Basics of Persuasion [34 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
JoelJul 21, 2014 17:35216259
cyprus onedi view [31 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
AmeerRaschidJul 21, 2014 17:27216258
3Comparing Israel with Cyprus [237 words]Michael S.Jul 22, 2014 02:58216258

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