Maybe nobody lost Turkey, NATO should stop pretending nothing is wrong

Understanding Turkey’s relationship with its Western allies is challenging, at times, non-sensical. Scholars debate between whether the West actually ‘lost’ Turkey, or whether Ankara actually chose to drift away from being identified as a stalwart member of NATO, or a key strategic ally of the US Some say, it’s neither. It is simply a function of a more independent and economically assertive Turkey, seeking strategic autonomy, that does not feel obligated to tow the western line at all times. Whichever explanation one sees as correct, is less important than the long list of grievances that isolates Turkey inside of NATO and its relationship with Washington. These range from Turkey’s foot-dragging over NATO expansion, adding Finland and Sweden to the alliance, all the way to actively supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Some argue that despite lingering problems, there is no need for alarm, as many of the disagreements are not new, are managed, and as a result, Turkey and the West can continue to coast along by co-operating in areas where they agree and agreeing to disagree, where they don’t. This is unsustainable.

Securing Lebanon to Prevent a Larger Hezbollah-Israel War and Wider Escalation

As tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalate, the specter of a full-scale war, with the potential to draw in the United States and Iran, demands the US’ immediate attention. The Biden-Harris Administration has tasked, in response, White House Senior Advisor Amos Hochstein with the responsibility of mediating efforts to de-escalate the conflict and bring stability to the Lebanon-Israel border.

Mare Nostrum: Roman Naval Power

The Battle of Actium, by Johann Georg Platzer

Most people, if they were asked to list the great seafaring peoples of history, or more specifically the great naval fighting traditions, would come up with a fairly uniform list. There are obviously the two great naval powers of modernity in the British Empire and the United States (though the latter is now not without challengers), and the navigators of the first transatlantic empires in Portugal and Spain. China had a brief period of prolific shipbuilding and navigation in the early modern period, but was disinterested in trying to leverage this into durable power projection. Modern China seeks to rectify this missed opportunity. A deeper dive into the mental archives might churn up the ancient Phoenicians, or perhaps the Genoese and Venetian city states that dominated the Mediterranean in the early modern period. There are those wonderful Vikings, who managed to reach the Americas in their open hulled longboats, and terrorized and colonized much of Europe with their nautical reach. Few, however, would immediately think of the Romans.

Iraq says it has arrested PKK-linked cell suspected of planning attacks

Iraq said on Monday it had arrested three people linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and suspected of planning attacks across the country, including on a key oil export pipeline in the north.
Interior ministry officials showed reporters three suspects dressed in yellow jumpsuits with their faces covered by masks and said they had comprised a cell connected to the PKK.

Continentalism Vs Dugin: 1:0 For Europe – Analysis

Continentalism, a geopolitical concept coined by Algis Klimaitis, adviser to Algirdas Brazauskas, the first President of Lithuania after it became independent, stands for a Europe focused on itself. (1) Continentalism is directed against transatlanticism, because it stands for a European social market economy, in other words the continental model of “Rhenish capitalism” and not the Anglo-Saxon model of “shareholder/stakeholder capitalism”, for a Christian-conservative culture, as opposed to the “woke” ideology that has come from the United States, and for a European security system that eclipses NATO.