So is the US blackmailed?

Submitted by Alexandros (United Kingdom), Nov 20, 2015 at 05:01

I wouldn't agree with that Michael as much. You write it is geography and Turkey controls this land. Ok is it then that Turkey blackmails America? Is America a hostage of Turkey then? Turkey is in NATO, can they easily leave NATO for someone else? And why someone's else hegemony would be better for Turkey? I do not agree with the abstracted observation of geography. You also write that the Greeks dominated, it is wrong, Greeks didi not dominate. If you go back in history you will see that Greeks and Phoenecians colonised the Mediterranean and akthough local conflicts were errupting they actually lived quite peacefully with each other and the rest of the people of the Mediterranean and traded and collaborated. I mean if you only read a bit of Greek mythology thus interaction is obvious. The Persians tried to dominate, the Galatians tried to dominate but they were defeated. Even Alexander did not try to dominate! He destroyed those who tried to dominate and then tried to create o unified empire.

That is why i am telling you that this abstraction and reduction to geography is not helpful. It is like we recognise that we are in perpetual war, that everyone is against everyone! Is it like that? Is cooperation and human interaction impossible without conflict? Is it only opposites that exist out there, do you love your family because you hate everyone else, i don't think so! This of course does not mean that we should be naive and everyone is benign out there, but it does not make sense to fight eternal wars as well.

The today's Turkish lands are only important if we think that Russia is an enemy of America and that Turkey is going to get side by side with Russia abandoning NATO. What does America have to lose if this happen? During the cold war Soviet Union had much more influence that today's Russia, did they win anything? Is it possible for Turkey to leave NATO and go with Russia and become something like Ukraine? That is why i am writing that the whole issue is over inflated and then exploited by the Turks, who are not benign at all!

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