Turkey is in a commanding position; and Erdogan is in a commanding position in Turkey.

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Nov 3, 2015 at 04:17

Erdogan's deft use of repression, antisemitism and fearmongering, in which he resembles his evil twin Adolph Hitler, seem to have turned the trick for him yet again.

Civil war? Nah, I don't think so. Just look at Hitler. His country was almost equally divided between Catholics and Protestants, who still vivdly remembered the Thirty Years' War. The Communists were a powerful minority, and he had to confront the West while hobbled by the Versailles Treaty; but he was not seriously threatened by civil war. Edrogan leads a much more unifie country, on all counts.

For the apocalyptically inclined, I am beginning to think that Turkey will be the host, described in Rev. 9:3, of "locusts" that conjure up images in my mind of attack helicopters. Interestingly, Turkey is now producing the most advanced attack helicopters in the world. If they are the "locust folk", we will probably have to wait a few years before we see Erdogan making his military move against Israel (Ezek.38-39). I've got my eye on him.

In the crazy mish-mash of Syrian politics, it's interesting that the Russians now occupy a role parallel to that of the US in Vietnam in the 1960s. Bashar al-Assad, of course, is Ngo Dinh Diem, and the Jihadis are today's Viet Cong. The US has until recently been trying to back the equivalent of "Non-Communist" Vietminh, which don't effectively exist. Our only allies in the region seem to be the Syrian Kurds, whom we might liken to the Montagnards Lots of luck, GI boots on the ground!

Turkey, meanwhile, is clandestinely backing Islamic State, perhaps their best example of "no problems with neighbors". I think they can outlast the Russians, Iranians and Americans, and come out on top in this one. As things stand right now, they have effectively surrounded the US special forces, whom they threatened to fire upon if they cross the Euphrates. The US is facing the Islamic State to the west and south, the Turkish-allied Kurdish Regional Government to the east, and Turkey itself to the north; and in ISIS, Turkish influence effectively extends over a half of Iraq and half of Syria.

And, "Ah, the refugees!" Turkey controls the refugee tap into Europe, and can turn it whichever way it wants. They also occupy a natural route for natural gas into Europe from Russia and Central Asia, and have the clout to seriously challenge Israeli natural gas fields in the Mediterranean. Just for sweeteners, they control naval passage from the Black Sea to the Aegean, and so have leverage over the Russians.

Turkey is in a commanding position; and Erdogan is in a commanding position in Turkey. If and when Russia and Iran falter (and there are signs that they may), Turkey will vie only with Israel for dominance in the Middle East.

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