The end of Turkey as an ally

Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks
"Istanbul (Not Constantinople),"
most recently 1990, They Might Be Giants.

The wreckage of the Obama administration's foreign policy continues to wash ashore. Turkey, a NATO member, has been a troublesome ally--remember we sent troops to invade Iraq from the north in 2003--but the Turks, at the last minute, told us not to enter Iraq from its soil. Last fall Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited his "good friend," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and defended the anti-Semite's nuclear program. Last month Turkey and Brazil brokered a hollow agreement with Iran to limit uranium enrichment there--but the mad mulluhs still have enough material to manufacture a couple of nuclear bombs. If dropped on a small country like Israel, two bombs might be enough to destroy it.

The "humanitarian" flotilla that tried to run an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip originated from Turkey. Now there is speculation that Turkish Navy vessels could accompany the next flotilla. What if the Turks--which once had a warm relationship with the Jewish state--fire on the Israelis?

What will President Obama do? Probably nothing. And the Turks know this. Obama, in Charles Krauthammer's words, has a foreign policy of "determined weakness."

I can't imagine such a scenario occurring while George W. Bush was president.

As for Obama, I think he's pulling for the Turks.

As for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, if she does decide to challenge Obama in 2012 and then captures the Democratic nomination, this foreign policy disaster will be among the many abominations she will have to defend.

Why did America "get the works?"

Related posts:

In retreat: America under Obama

Obama's disgraceful treatment of Israel

Passover signals dark turn in US-Israeli relations

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