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The Spectacle Blog
Last night Rick Perry, asked if Turkey still belongs in NATO, said that it’s “a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.” The Turkish Ambassador to the US is, per his statement, “disappointed and concerned,” while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara is far less temperate; the scorn they heap on Perry makes for entertaining reading.
The thing is, Perry was, while imprecise, kind of onto something. So writes Michael Rubin, who has extensively documented the troubling political developments in Turkey in recent years: “While I would not go so far as Governor Perry, had he simply called Prime Minister Erdoğan an enabler for Islamic terrorists, he would be 100 percent correct.” Rubin goes on to list supporting evidence.
That said, if a presidential candidate is going to say something that creates a minor international incident, he should probably be precisely correct. Perry wasn’t.
View all comments (16) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/01/17/talking-turkey-with-rick-perry
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btims| 1.17.12 @ 3:55PM
In the ultra politically correct world we live in today, there are no enemies, no adversaries.......there are only people who we haven't given enough subsidies/social programs to. This is one big reason why we have failed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are afraid to call an enemy, an enemy. We fight politically correct wars in an politically corrent fashion.
We're even afraid to say we have borders and illegal aliens deserve nothing but deportation. We're actually afraid to deport. Silly White guilt and political correctness.
Um| 1.17.12 @ 4:11PM
So...what to do about this supposedly terroristic Turkey? Would you support an invasion of Turkey? The bombing of Istanbul?
And because I can't help but wonder: have you ever been within 500 miles of Turkey?
btims| 1.17.12 @ 5:30PM
Aren't you missing from the Ron Paul masturbation group? I don't debate high school kids........
Ken (Old Texican) | 1.17.12 @ 3:59PM
Precise: I'm one of the "many" that "Perceive" the rulers of Turkey as now terrorists... think flotilla at Israel.
Um| 1.17.12 @ 4:10PM
You mean the time Israel killed 9 Turks in international waters?
Nite| 1.17.12 @ 7:33PM
They were not in international waters. They were in Israel territorial waters.
c. j. acworth| 1.17.12 @ 4:20PM
Is it permitted to ask if even WE ought to be in NATO? While I don't think it is anything like our #1 foreign policy question, I do think that we are long overdue for a re-evaluation of our joint security needs with Europe. Do we really need all those bases in Germany et. al.?
RJ| 1.17.12 @ 9:57PM
NATO is an organization that succeeded in its purpose - to defend Western Europe and American interests against the Soviet Union. It is time to evaluate what its purpose is today, particularly since some of the members are not meeting their responsibilities.
Sean| 1.18.12 @ 10:01AM
NATO has lost its purpose. Russia is no longer a major conventional threat to the main NATO allies. Recent NATO operations include Libya and Kosovo hardly its intended purpose.
JGwen| 1.17.12 @ 4:30PM
The Ambassador and the Ministry sound very CAIRing, quick on the draw with a response to intimidate and demean.
As for "what to do about this" ... start with recognizing the likely reality, develop plans to address if a situation develops that warrants a addressing. Avoid an "ostrich"/PC reaction.
Um| 1.17.12 @ 4:41PM
As for "what to do about this" ... start with recognizing the likely reality, develop plans to address if a situation develops that warrants a addressing. Avoid an "ostrich"/PC reaction.
***
What does this string of vague abstractions mean?
I submit that it means nothing.
NotPropagandized| 1.17.12 @ 5:08PM
Yes, of course, be precise instead of ahead of the game which Perry did contrary to polically correct diplomats that regularly get squished by not leading their targets. Perry was leading the target and hit it spot on. Those who fail us aim right where the target is pretending to be now and miss EVERY time. We are such a naive and soft nation now. Gone is the courage and ruggedness of America that wholly discouraged enemies from fooling around. We now invite international political thugs to belittle us at every turn. Our wimps make issue of a correct call by Perry or anyone else for fear of hurt feelings. For God's sake, call a spade a spade, especially when they're moving toward threatening ground.
Dai Alanye | 1.17.12 @ 5:49PM
Perry had a successful debate but was superficial and emotional in his arguments. He seems genuinely stuck on stupid.
Nite| 1.17.12 @ 7:36PM
Wow, you just have to trash Perry. Perry had a very good night. He is certainly not stupid or he would not have been elected Governor of TX for 3 terms. He called it right about Turkey. There is plenty of information out there about the President of Turkey wanting closer associations with strict Islamic countries. The army has always been secular and are clashing with him.
No ally at all | 1.18.12 @ 1:54AM
Folks, we could fill pages here with the radical turns and perversions that Turkey's leadership has taken in the last two decades.
Turkey is not a US allied friend. They play with Europe and us when it comes to something that aids their economic situation, trade.
Remember: Turkey imperiled our US troops in March/April 2003 when denying US military units (in Turkey) the ability to move across Turkey's border into Iraq. That was the much delayed northern offensive, delayed on purpose by a Turkish leadership that has nothing but contempt for Americans.
Eventually it happened, but weeks after it was needed.
Turkey's leadership does all it can at calculated junctures to stick it to the West and western values. I've been in Germany when the current Turkish leader has come just to speak to his own people who are in Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands by the millions. He'll speak to them in closed doors sessions, only Turkish. Outsiders and media not permitted.
And he is not bringing them the latest poetry sonnets from Istanbul.
What foreign leader gets to do this on another nation's soil? What foreign leader would?
Turkey's throwback muslim caliphate leaders are working steadily to return Turkey into a very dominant leadership role in the muslim world. Some say that they wish to be the leaders of it, they want supremacy as the most muslim or all muslims.
None of the above is a good thing. The only thing that keeps a lid on them at present is the needing of commerce with the more prosperous West. The need for the almighty Euro dollar tourism is never more evident than right now when several million northern European tourists are in Antalyia on Turkey's southern coast enjoying beaches, milder temperatures, and the Med. sea. Turkey still desperately needs this sun, sand, and sea tourism.
Turkey's lurch firmly toward militant muslim goes completely under reported, unnoticed. Yet one more massive U.S. State Dept failure.
Turkey's leadership step by step movement toward radical, militant islam means that the day of outright conflagration with the West is ever nearer.
Yet in our PC world, no one is pointing out how vile Turkey has become in these last 20 years.
Mike W| 1.18.12 @ 8:37AM
In the old GOP , a comment this stupid would have been laughed (justifiably) but today our intellectually lazy ranks just nod their head in agreement.
Perry could say that Canada is a terrorist state and some of his slack jawed supporters would say amen to that.