Turkey Has Alienated Everyone

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience during a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, December 3, 2015. REUTERS/MURAT CETINMUHURDAR/PRESIDENTIAL PALACE PRESS OFFICE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

Liz Sly, Washington Post: Turkey’s increasingly desperate predicament poses real dangers

ISTANBUL — Turkey is confronting what amounts to a strategic nightmare as bombs explode in its cities, its enemies encroach on its borders and its allies seemingly snub its demands.

As recently as four years ago, Turkey appeared poised to become one of the biggest winners of the Arab Spring, an ascendant power hailed by the West as a model and embraced by a region seeking new patrons and new forms of governance.

All that has evaporated since the failure of the Arab revolts, shifts in the geopolitical landscape and the trajectory of the Syrian war.

Russia, Turkey’s oldest and nearest rival, is expanding its presence around Turkey’s borders — in Syria to the south, in Crimea and Ukraine to the north, and in Armenia to the east. On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the deployment of a new batch of fighter jets and combat helicopters to an air base outside the Armenian capital, Yerevan, 25 miles from the Turkish border.

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WNU editor: This is so true ....

.... “It has so alienated everyone it cannot convince anyone to do anything,” he said. “It is a country whose words no longer carry any weight. It bluffs but does not deliver. It cannot protect its vital interests, and it is at odds with everyone, including its allies.

Permitting mass immigration to Europe despite EU appeals, sending its army into northern Iraq without Baghdad's permission, attacking the only U.S. supported Kurdish group that has been effective in pushing back at the Islamic State .... and then threatening the U.S. to choose. There are consequences to every action, and for Turkey thee consequences are all coming in at the same time.