(via TKS:
ISTANBUL, TURKEY — The year is 2007. After a clash with Turkish forces in northern Iraq, US troops stage a surprise attack. Reeling, Turkey turns to Russia and the European Union, who turn back the American onslaught.
This is the plot of "Metal Storm," one of the fastest- selling books in Turkish history. The book is clearly sold as fiction, but its premise has entered Turkey's public discourse in a way that sometimes seems to blur the line between fantasy and reality.
"The Foreign Ministry and General Staff are reading it keenly," Murat Yetkin, a columnist for the Turkish daily newspaper Radikal, recently wrote. "All cabinet members also have it."
Jeebus. There's more, none of it encouraging. What scares me is that just yesterday I was saying Russia and France are trying to woo Turkey away from the US, and that all three would see that as a "win" for their own interests. Seems like that idea's in the air over there, as well. |