Erdogan's Internation Isolation and "Dialectical" Recent Change

Submitted by Robert (United States), Jan 1, 2022 at 13:18

Dear Reader M Tovey,

Unfortunately, I'm not an Economist. And I am not aware how Economics Dr. Daniel Pipes has learned at Harvard or elsewhere of on his own. So I don't why there was no response to the well-argued Economic Comments of Reader David Ryan. However, Dr. Daniel Pipes made a very now critic of the relation between recent Islamist (Interest is Usury & Prohibited by Islam) interaction with Interest Rates of the National Bank.

So you brought us back to the nonreligious issues of Turkey's relations with other countries in this Globalized Word. On that score we see 2 things. (1) Erdogan's efforts to revive the (Neo) Ottoman Empire with his "Moslem Brotherhood" ways, has left Turkey ISOLATED beside an Economical Disaster. (2) Islam's Arab Muslim "Center" has returned to Egypt. There at Al-Azhar is the oldest Muslim institution in the world. Saudi Arabia is progressing under MbS, but it only has Mecca and Medina, which are ritualistic Religious sites, while Wahhabism is merely a Sunni Saudi sect. One must remember that Egypt's Nasser was loved by the Arab and Muslim World and that he succeeded institutionally in Separating the Mosque from the State (equivalent to our version of Separation of Church and State). Israel has also something equivalent, where 2 Rabbis rule only on religious matters, even though Israel has recently institutionalized the Jewishness of Israel based on Birth, Marriage, Divorce, which remain Jewish Religious issues. In the USA, these are Civil Matters except for Citizenship. But anyone can Convert to Orthodox Judaism and immigrate to Israel (as Trump's daughter can).

So after the Failure of Arab Spring and the Coup & Revolution in Egypt, we have Egypt rejecting the Muslim Brotherhood resulting in these Brethren being effectively invited and settled by Erdogan in one major center, Turkey.

And thanks to the subsequent Realpolitik and Love of Israel of President Donald Trump we have the ABRAHAM ACCORDS whereby FOUR Muslim majority Arab countries executing Peace Treaties with Israel. of those 4 2 are in the Gulf and part of the GCC. In dominance, is Saudi Arabia, which also leads among the 57 Muslim Majority countries.

Turkey also Isolated itself Politically (not Economically) from Israel which resulted in Israel switch its formerly "socialist" "bleeding heart" for the Palestinians - GREECE. And so Israel allied itself with it and the other EU country, CYPRUS. And there is also the historical event which contradicts Golda Meyer's (once Prime Minister of Israel) the observation that of all the place in the Middle East, Providence gave the LAND of Israel to the Jews - a spot without Oil. But after Gold passed away, Israel discover huge reserves of GAS off its Mediterranean cost.

These are just the Economic and Political events (I omit much) which may force Turkey or Erdogan to CHANGE ("Dialectic-ally"?). Where or not having kept Interest Rates forcefully and artificially low may turn out to be an Experiment imposed on the Turkish People and its Vast Refugees. Only Time will tell is Success or Failure.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".