I dunno about that, turkey will do what is perceived as being in their best interest, and historically that means backing the strong horse. That isn’t Russia, and it certainly isn’t Al Qaeda, so while they don’t understand what makes a democracy strong, they do not doubt the strength of the US. They do however doubt our commitment.

To a certain extent, I agree with you that restraint should be used.

However, my problem is that major Universities’ chief benefactor has become the government, with the decision making done primarily by the bureaucracy of government. This bureaucracy is thoroughly controlled by leftists, often through the Public Employee Unions. As a result, Universities have become even more leftist, forcing out anyone of conservative opinion.

There are a multitude of ill effects on society and democracy as a result. Too many to describe. The following is just a couple of examples.

By slowing winnowing away conservative voices at the Universities, the Democrats have slowly eliminated the intellectual underpinnings of conservative thought. Many of the new ideas of the right used to come from University professors. Arthur Laffer of USC formulated the beginnings of supply side economics. Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago formulated monetarism. Now, few Universities even teach supply side economics even after the success of the Reagan tax cuts, Prop 13, the Capital Gains cut of the 90′s, and the Bush tax cuts. I have several Ivy league educated MBA acquaintences who if you mention tax cuts or propose oil drilling, they look at you as if you made an obscene gesture. Look at the top 25 Econ blogs, many of which are run by University professors, only one or two are supply siders .

More and more, the democrats want to push policy making away from legislative and executive branches of government to boards, panels, or commissions of so-called “experts”. This way they can deflect criticism of their ruinous policies on the “experts”. But the Democrats know that these “experts” will almost always be Democrat experts. Controlling the Universities largely means you control the expert debate. Conservatives are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of public funded leftist experts. Look at the Global Warming debate, or the Polar Bear Threatened Species listing. Conservative voices are drowned out.

In California, our politicians have relinquished policy making to these same “expert” agencies and boards like the Coastal Commission, the Air Quality Management District, the Southern California Air Resources, and the Department of Fish and Game. These agencies and boards have been given a broad mandate to enact policy in the name of environmental protection without hardly any public input. All sorts of inane and destructive regulations, like the banning of wood burning fireplaces, have been enacted with no public recourse.

Slowly but surely, largely behind closed doors, our lives are being controlled and our rights are being taken away.

Then how about we back Greater Kurdistan and see how they like them apples.

“While Obama downplayed the significance of Bill Clinton’s presidency when he was campaigning for the nomination against Clinton’s wife, he now cites it as an economic marvel. “During Bill Clinton’s era in the 1990s, incomes for the average family went up by $6,000,” he said.
“During George Bush’s reign in the White House, we have seen the average family income go down by $1,000.””

Speculation is, Russia has offered Arms and other elements to Turkey to gain their cooperation, and the Islamists who run Ankara despise the West certainly. This is not Kemal Ataturk’s Turkey, rather it is Osama bin Laden’s. The Saudis have funneled a lot of money to the religious party, which in turn has infiltrated and Islamicized the military.

Turkey has a lot more people than Greece, to give one example, and would like to rule it (again). The people there would like to rule a great deal of the Balkans. Other nations in the area are just as weak, and Russia would like that play (swoop in as protector against Turkey).

Good phrase