American Neo-Cons Turn on Turkey

The usual suspects from the Iraq debacle - Richard Perle, John Bolton, James Woolsey - have crawled out of their cave to slam Turkey which they see as the key supporter to the recent Gaza humanitarian aid flotilla.

...Outraged by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's repeated denunciations of the May 31 Israeli raid, as well as his co-sponsorship with Brazil of an agreement with Iran designed to promote renewed negotiations with the West on Tehran's nuclear program, some neo-conservatives are even demanding that the US try to expel Ankara from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as one of several suggested actions aimed at punishing Erdogan's AKP (Justice and Development Party) government.

"Turkey, as a member of NATO, is privy to intelligence information having to do with terrorism and with Iran," noted the latest report by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), a hard-line neo-conservative group that promotes US-Israeli military ties and has historically cultivated close ties to Turkey's military, as well.

"If Turkey finds its best friends to be Iran, Hamas, Syria and Brazil (look for Venezuela in the future) the security of that information (and Western technology in weapons in Turkey's arsenal) is suspect. The United States should seriously consider suspending military cooperation with Turkey as a prelude to removing it from the organization," suggested the group.

The attack is being led by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), a hard-line neo-conservative group that promotes US-Israeli military ties. Perle, Woolsey and Bolton sit on JINSA's board of advisors. What these jokers persistently fail to recognize is that America's influence (hegemony) in the Middle East has faltered thanks, in no small part, to their adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia and China are positioning themselves to pick up what America drops along the way. Turning on Turkey is a great way to start.

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