Islamic Turkey Presages Troubled Northern Iraq and Wider Conflict

As if the United States didn't have enough problems in the region, Turkey has added to them by choosing an Islamic regime that has roots in reactionary ideas. This is rough news for the Bush administration which is already juggling an Iraq surge with bickering at home, an Iran on the precipice of nuclear weapons and a Pakistani regime unable to control its Islamists at home. Turkey is a deeply divided nation with one principle issue for the U.S. to consider - NATO.

The United Nations has long been criticized as an ineffectual remnant of Cold War thinking. The same could be true of NATO, if a nation within it is sympathetic with, or gives voice to, our greatest and most dangerous enemies. As the ever insightful Four Inch Heels said in passing yesterday, most of America is oblivious to how dangerous our enemies are right now. Most of us will be equally ignorant of the potential disaster this Turkish election may ultimately be, not only in Iraq, but with one of our oldest aliances.

It is probably time to rethink the map, and to rethink our "friendships" as we inch closer to a wider and more violent conflict, one country after another. Turkey is yet one more marker along that path. I'm not optimistic.