1 Nov 2007

Married Forever

When you tie up with the US you remain tied up:
... Ankara is being made to realise that it simply cannot afford to have an independent foreign policy in its surrounding regions. The bottom line, as far as Washington is concerned, is Turkey forms part of the Western security system and the bondage is like a Catholic marriage — in perpetuity. As the new cold war gathers momentum, there is added urgency for Washington that Turkey should not remain a bystander, as in the Iraq invasion of 2003, if a U.S. military strike against Iran ensues.
As for Ramesh Thakur's hope
Maybe it [the US] will revert to being a benign hegemon with a change of administration in January 2009.
The chances of it being fulfilled seem slim. If the Republicans win, the chances are zero. And the Democratic frontrunner (as of now) is quite hawkish on the most immediate issue on which the benignness needs to be shown: Iran. And no one is talking of leaving Iraq either.

PS: What kind of a system is this 'democracy' when, in the most democratic country in the world, the politicians are ignoring the majority of their population's views so blatantly? As the TomDispatch link mentions, 72% of americans want their troops out of Iraq in 2 years, while no mainstream presidential candidate is guaranteeing that troops will be out by even 2013!

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