Submitted by Shoshana Bryen via The Gatestone Institute,
Erdogan came to office in 2003 with a policy of "zero problems with neighbors," but has since led Turkey to problems with most, if not all, of them.
Turkey's foreign policy choices and current crises have combined to make Erdogan reach out to Israel for help.
Republicans have always understood that fear works to motivate their white base. Fear appeals to our basic animal instinct to stay safe, and it makes the simplest, inane and most downright evil solutions sound smart. This is great for Republicans because they don't have any real solutions, but it's awful for our democracy and keeps us from having an honest conversation about the things that are really hurting our country.
The United States has built permanent base infrastructure in every Persian Gulf country except one -- Iran. The U.S. government gets agreements with undemocratic and often despotic states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain to build bases and in return remains silent to their human rights violations.
Following Vladimir Putin's 'endorsement' of The Donald, explaining his hope for "a more substantial, deeper relationship," with America, Trump has reciprocated the show of respect by thanking the Russian president for the "great honor." This mutual back-patting stunned MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough, who exclaimed, Putin "is a person who kills journalists, political opponents and invades countries," to which Trump responded, silencing Scarborough, "he's running his country, and at least he's a leader, unlike what we have in our country."
In a world of competing powers and ideologies, insecurity seems forever just around the corner. This too comes in historical cycles. And, if such insecurity becomes deep enough and widespread enough it can threaten finely balanced democratic political systems as citizens forget about constitutional rights, which support peace and stability at home, and go looking for "strong leaders."