Turkey's President Erdogan in Moscow to 'reset' Russia ties

[MongGrel]

And the plot thickens, I guess.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37018562

That's a lot of dots you can connect, without even trying too hard.

 

[sandorski]

this is not good

 

[Oric]

Actually it is good

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160808/1044057229/russia-turkey-syrian-crisis.html

 

[some_guy]

Putin may have been impressed with Turkey's purge of political opponents.

To describe it, "Use this coup to eliminate all powerful moderates, judges, military, journalists and others in the general vicinity."

 

[Jaskalas]

"The Turkish government understood that the West was behind the unsuccessful military coup that took place on July 15. President Erdogan openly mentioned this," the analyst said. "This is testament to how important Turkey's cooperation with Russia is."

Erdogan is in an open war of words with NATO. Moreover, his consolidation of power and disregard for human rights of the Turkish people stresses, if not outright threatens, NATO membership status. This turmoil has Erdogan going to Russia to either: 1: Drop NATO, or 2: Exploit Turkey's geographical / political value and extort a price from us. Having Turkey "in play" on the world stage between two competing interests may appeal to you, but it is a game of brinkmanship with nuclear stakes.

I pray Erdogan is smart enough to play both sides for a peaceful interest, but he is stoking conflict and there are NATO forces in Turkey. Misstep by placing them in danger and no one knows how far down this rabbit hole goes. Military conflict / tension risks dangerous escalation. No one wants that.