France's Hollande, in Moscow, urges grand coalition against Islamic State | Reuters | How to Carve a Turkey | Islamic State Unfazed by Losses in Iraq, Syria | Putin, Hollande to Meet as Russia Penalizes Turkey Over Jet - Bloomberg Business | Pope Says Christian-Muslim Dialogue Essential for Peace - NYTimes.com | No Known Terror Threat to U.S. Before Thanksgiving, Obama Says - NYTimes.com | Atlanta Police: Ex-Boxing Champion O'Neil Bell Fatally Shot - ABC News - 2:00 PM 11/26/2015



2015 Thanksgiving Show


Two hot old turkeys fight. Applause, applause and many thanks! 
They are no "Honest" and they are no "Abe". No pardons for them, Mr. Obama! 


There are striking similarities between Erdogan’s Turkey and Putin’s Russia,
not least their ability and propensity to move conflicts into the covert arena. While Russia’s intervention in Syria may have cynical intent, the Turks are acting in support of their national interests in Syria with equal ruthlessness.
Ankara is often guilty of neglecting attacks on Isis and hitting the Kurds (who are in so many ways the most effective force against the jihadists) instead, smuggling weapons in the guise of humanitarian convoys (something we saw the Russians doing in Ukraine), and being willing to support groups which are often jihadist in their own terms. Turkish military intelligence organisation (MIT) is every bit as cynically opportunist as the Russian military spy agency (GRU), and Erdogan every bit as erratic, brutal and ambitious as Putin. 
As the analysts Fiona Hill and Kemal Kirişci have put it, “the personalities and political styles of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian president Vladimir Putin seemed to complement if not mirror each other” such that these “similarities … have now come into play in a dramatic way.”
While the overt clashes may be headed off by the usual machinery of diplomacy, both countries – with large, extensive, secretive and brutal intelligence apparatuses and a history of working with both gangsters and terrorists – may well instead simply transfer these tensions to the covert arena.

Mirror Images: Are Putin And Erdogan Too Much Alike To Compromise? 












Putin, Hollande to Meet as Russia Penalizes Turkey Over Jet - Bloomberg Business


Uniting Russia and the West - a diplomat's guide


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