The Terrorist Attack in Ankara, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท That Everyone Forgot

Foreword:


This was originally written on Monday October 2, 2023. I’ve been wanting to post this on here for almost a month now. I re-read this thing that I wrote about the October 1st terrorist attack in Ankara (the capital of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท), last month in September, and I made some edits to it, I added some things to it, and I felt like this would be good to put on the blog. Not just because it’s about Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท AKA Tรผrkiye ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, and I haven’t really posted anything on here that was focused on Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s been mentioned here and there on my blog, especially in the posts that center on the Middle East and center on authoritarianism and democratic backsliding; because whether we like it or not, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is a big player in the Middle East, it directly borders the Arabian peninsula and Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท, and has involved itself in the affairs of the Arab and Muslim world ☪️, but also because the country has been experiencing democratic backsliding ever since Recep Tayyip ErdoฤŸan came to power as president in 2014, and ErodฤŸan himself is an aspiring dictator, and depending on who you talk to, already is a dictator. But also because it’s somewhat relevant to what’s going on in the world, specifically the Middle East, right now. 

Because if you look at the dates, when this terrorist attack took place, and when I wrote this, you’ll know that it’s the same week that the October 7 attack took place. That’s why I say in the title that is this terrorist attack in Ankara, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is forgotten because it completely got overshadowed by the Hamas attack on Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ on October 7, 2023 (which was on a Saturday BTW). That attack, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, that it changed the world. It started a war that lasted 2 years and may or may not be over, and is estimated to have killed 68,000 people, all of them being Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, most of them being civilians, and most of them being women ♀︎ and children. You want to talk about a war in-which women ♀︎ and children suffered the most, look no further than the Gaza war of 2023-2025? I put a question mark there because I don’t know we can truly say if the war in Gaza is truly over or not. If you include the Israeli deaths ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ on October 7th, most of whom were civilians, which was 1,195, it brings the total number of deaths caused by this war to 69,195, which is barely above half a million. And of course, over 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ were taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attack, and of those 250 hostages, only 175 are known to have survived captivity during the entire duration of the war. It caused the humanitarian crisis the likes of which few people had seen, or thought they would see in the 21st century; this is the kind of stuff that people thought we left behind in the 20th century. 

It caused a famine that left millions of Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ starving. The famine wasn’t just caused by the war itself, but the Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ intentionally blocking the flow of aid into Gaza, in order to cause maximum pain to the entire Palestinian population ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ living in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ were engaging in collective punishment against the Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, instead of just punishing Hamas for what they did. They used Hamas as an excuse and as justification to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. It got to the point where people starting calling Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s campaign in Gaza a genocide. There’s just no other way of putting it, with however many people they’ve killed, however many buildings they decided, including historic cultural sites, and how they’ve blockaded the entire territory and didn’t allow humanitarian aid to go in, and to deny it is to either be dangerously naรฏve or even endorse such actions. It got to the point where even if you even tried to defend Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s actions or justify them in any way, you’d just look bad. And despite warnings about not letting the war expand behind the Gaza Strip, and become a larger war in the Middle East, it did anyway. 

The war not only expanded to Lebanon ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ง, with Israel not only committing a terrorist attack of their own by killing several Hezbollah operatives, by blowing up their pagers ๐Ÿ“Ÿ, but also invaded the southern half of the country to eliminate Hezbollah, or at least weaken them to the point where they can’t threaten Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ militarily, but it also expanded to other parts of the Middle East. It expanded to Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท with Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท and Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ launching missiles into each other’s territories across several miles, and even Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ conducting airstrikes in Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท against their nuclear facilities ☢️ (which the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ eventually participated in). It expanded to Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ with Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ not only occupying more territory in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ’s southern region, destroying several pieces of Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ’s military equipment, but also conducting airstrikes in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, all of which happened after the Assad regime fell, the regime that actually was hostile to Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ. 

It expanded to Yemen ๐Ÿ‡พ๐Ÿ‡ช and the Red Sea, with the Houthis targeting commercial shipping, hijacking them, taking the crew hostage, holding them at gunpoint, or even just launching rockets at any cargo ship that entered the Red Sea; negatively impacting the global economy, by delaying shipments of goods to Europe and North America, and forcing every cargo ship to take a long route to avoid being attacked by the Houthis. The US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ launched a military campaign against the Houthis called Operation Prosperity Guardian, along with a coalition of around 20 countries, under the Biden administration that continued under the second Trump administration, and while they signed a ceasefire agreement with the Houthis to get them to stop attacking commercial shipping, that ceasefire quickly broke down, and the Houthis kept attacking anyway, and in fact, expanded their attacks to Israeli shipping ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, not just any random commercial shipping, but Israeli shipping ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ specifically; just like a certain other ceasefire agreement that I’ll get to in a moment ๐Ÿคจ. 

It expanded to Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ conducted airstrikes in Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, mostly against Hamas targets, but even non-Hamas targets, they were targeting civilian infrastructure that had nothing to do with Hamas, and they were doing this while ceasefire negotiations were still going on; just a complete disregard for the peace process. Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ has also been in the news a lot recently too, and all for the wrong reasons, first they bribed Trump by giving him a private jet, that isn’t just a small private plane, it’s a big ass jumbo jet ๐Ÿ›ซ, a way bigger plane ✈️ than any single person would need as a private plane ๐Ÿ›ฉ️. Trump claims that he’s going to use that plane ๐Ÿ›ซ as the new Air Force One, but everyone doubt it, it’s more likely just going to sit there, collecting interest, or whatever, Trump’s not even going to use it, he’s just keeping it to have it. Then of course, the Trump family has been involved in all sorts of shady dealings with Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, the United Arab Emirates ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช, and Saudi Arabia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, such as profiting from crypto scams involving these countries, securing favorable real estate, like building new Trump buildings and golf courses ⛳️, and making chip deals with Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, and most infamously of all, gifting the Qataris ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ a military base on US soil ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ. 

It’s not a full-on stand alone base, it’s actually a part of an already existing US military base ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ in Idaho, the Pentagon is just granting the Qataris ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ a part of that space for themselves, and it seems like it’s going to be for training purposes, to train their fighter pilots; so it’s a Qatari Air Force ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ training installation. Such installations are not out of the ordinary in the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, other countries such as the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช, the Netherlands ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, and Singapore ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ all have military detachments on US soil ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, that are apart of already existing US military bases ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, and they’re all for training purposes. There’s even a full-on permanent training program in the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ for NATO members called the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program (ENJJPT), it’s hosted at the Sheppard Air Base in Texas, and at least 14 NATO countries have trained their pilots through this program, including Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, the Netherlands ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, and Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, who I’ll get too soon, don’t you worry. And Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ is an ally of the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, they host a US military base ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ on their soil, the largest one in the entire Middle East, and the one in which we use to carry out a lot of the military operations we conduct in the Middle East. 

It’s just the way that this deal was made, all the shady quid pro quo backroom dealings that were going on between the Trump administration and the Qatari government ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, that it gave the sense that the Pentagon only gave Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ this military installation because the Trump government owed the Qataris ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ a favor for all the corruption shady deals they were making with them, all the bribery that was going on. Many people saw this as the chickens ๐Ÿ“ coming home to roost, as the Qataris ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ collecting their check, and Trump returning the favor for all the things they did for him, all of the gifts and money ๐Ÿ’ต that they gave him and his family. The announcement of this installment was made with backlash on both sides of the political spectrum, and in both parties. Democrats, liberals, and leftists didn’t like it because they saw it as blatant corruption, and they didn’t like that they were giving part of a military base to a foreign powers, one that doesn’t share our same values or always has our best interest at heart, and that they did this without Congressional approval (not that I’m sure if you need Congressional approval for such a thing). Republicans, conservatives, and right wingers didn’t like it because they saw it as Trump and Pete Hegseth betraying the core tenet of “America first ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ,” by placing another nation’s needs before America ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ’s, and a Muslim nation ☪️ at that, and you know, those MAGAs ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, they hate Muslims ☪️ and Arabs with a passion, so you know that this infuriated them ๐Ÿ˜ค. 

It’s the same reason why they’re pissed off at the $20 billion bailout ๐Ÿ’ต of Argentina ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท, and the import of Argentinian beef ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿฅฉ into the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, all because Trump’s cronies all have stakes in the Argentinian economy ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท, and want to protect their investments by preventing the Argentinian economy ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท from collapsing, and propping up Javier Milei’s government because he’s a fellow right-wingers populist authoritarian leader like Trump; and just as economically illiterate as Trump too, if not more so. The war even spread to Tunisia ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ณ, a country that isn’t even in the Middle East; it’s in North Africa. Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ conducted airstrikes there too, because I guess there’s a Hamas presence too, or at least, that’s Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s excuse for dropping bombs on Tunisia ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ณ. Even Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท kind of got involved in the war, since they not only condemned Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s conduct during the war in Gaza, but also arrested several Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ they suspected of being Mossad agents in either Ankara or Istanbul, back during the early months of the war. 

Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ has been dropping bombs all kinds of Arab and Muslim countries ☪️ every since the war in Gaza started (Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท is not an Arab country, there is an Arab population there, but they are not the majority, the Persians are, but it is a Muslim country ☪️), acting with impunity, acting as if being attacked on October 7th gave them justification to bomb all of these other countries that had nothing to do with the Hamas attack. Their response to the October 7th attack was disproportionate to the number of people who actually died during that day, a lot of people feel, like you saw the numbers, they’ve killed way more Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ than Hamas killed Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ. And they’ve killed Arabs and Muslims ☪️ who had nothing to do with the attack, in countries like Lebanon ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ง, Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, Yemen ๐Ÿ‡พ๐Ÿ‡ช, Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท, Qatar ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, and Tunisia ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ณ. For this reason, many people in the Middle East and Middle East experts (at least ones that are honest and not pro-Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ) now see Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ as a destabilizing force in the Middle East, just as the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ was during the worst years of the War on terror, which makes sense because Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ and the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ are allies; the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ is really the only ally that Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ has left. And just as Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท and Saudi Arabia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ were in much of the 2010s with their stupid little proxy war. 

It has reshaped the Middle East in ways that people still haven’t fully grasp, and won’t know the true extent of until years down the line. All we know is that it has left a huge impact on the region, and completely changed the political dynamics of the region in a profound way. It uprooted the previous status quo and tore it apart. What was left the previous Middle East is gone now, and now we have a new Middle East…that may end up being just as violent as the last. It changed the way a lot of people looked at the world, probably more so than even the war in Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, and it turned an entire generation against Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ. It opened a lot of people’s eyes to the atrocities that Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ has been committing against the Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, not just in this war, but for 77 years, ever since Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ was founded as a nation, and drove 750,000 people out of their homes during the Nakba, which many historians consider to be a form of ethnic cleansing. 

The Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ were violently displaced and dispossessed of their homes, their land, and their belongings, and their society was destroyed through cultural, identity, and political suppression; any national aspirations they had were crushed. It’s the point where Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ is no longer seen as a bastion of democracy, an exemplar nation, or even an aspirational nation, instead it’s seen as a bit of a rogue state, a bad actor in the world, and an anchor ⚓️ that’s dragging the entire Western world down, especially the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s main backer. It’s just how South Africa ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ was viewed in the 1980s, before apartheid was abolished, but here it’s a lot worse because the Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ are or were committing a full-on genocide, and it felt like no other nation was doing anything to stop them; it felt like they were just letting them get away with it, just because it’s Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ and Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s a Jewish state ✡️, and no one wants to be accused of being antisemitic. 

Now of course, a lot of nations have turned their backs on Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, they’ve not only voiced their opposition against what Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ is doing, but also officially recognized Palestine ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, like many Western nations started recognizing Palestine ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ when they hadn’t before, and the UN ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ณ declared Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s war in Gaza a genocide. Even when Netanyahu showed up at the UN General Assembly ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ณ to give a speech, a bunch of delegates walked out on him. But still, a lot of people feel that it isn’t quite enough, or it wasn’t quite enough, they saw the recognition of Palestine ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ as a move that was too little too late, and what they really wanted was a ceasefire, and the resumption of aid into Gaza, and for the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ in particular to cut off all arms shipments to Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, to stop giving Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ weapons. Because without  continuous flow of American weapons ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ would not have been able to carry out this war, and their war effort would’ve completely stalled, and they would’ve been forced to pull back. 

There was eventually a ceasefire, and while it’s still holding at the time of me writing this, there are still a lot doubts that it hold for much longer or that it will lead to a lasting peace, and the cracks are already starting to show. For one thing, the conditions on the ground are not at all conducive to a two-state solution,  which is the solution everyone wants and is the only solution that will actually work, not even close. We are about as far from a two-state solution as you can possibly be right now. So, we don’t know what will happen next, but people seem content right now that the violence has come to a stop, the surviving Israeli hostages ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ have been returned, Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ isn’t dropping anymore bombs, and aid is finally coming in for the most part. The Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ started blocking aid again after they claimed Hamas was withholding some of the hostages, and then resumed the flow of aid, maybe, after international pressure to do so. 

Not only that, but the Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ have also been attacking and harassing Palestinian civilians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ even after the ceasefire was signed, and some might’ve even been gunned down. Even most of Gaza is destroyed, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a plan to rebuild, or at least rebuild on the Palestinians’ ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ terms, Jared Kirschner’s securing some favorable real estate deals for the Trump family, so that Trump can turn the Gaza Strip into a tacky resort, and the Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ will be even more displaced and oppressed even more; reduced to being servants of the rich and powerful ๐Ÿค‘; thanks leftists and liberals who stayed home on Election Day ๐Ÿ—ณ️ in 2024, thanks so-called pro-Palestinian activists ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, who stubbornly refused to support Kamala Harris just because she was apart of the Biden administration and because she didn’t say all the things you wanted her to say about Gaza, and then either sat out the election ๐Ÿ—ณ️, or voted third party and then encouraged others to do. 

There was this pro-Palestine person ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ that especially pissed me off ๐Ÿ˜ค, he’s a Lebanese restaurant owner ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ง in Michigan, and not only did he not vote for Kamala Harris during the 2024 election ๐Ÿ—ณ️, but he voted for Trump, and then after the ceasefire was signed, he gave him all the credit for making it happen, and then invited him to his restaurant to personally congratulate him, and then bragged about not voting for Kamala Harris ๐Ÿคฆ‍♂️. Bitch, Trump is not pro-Palestine ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, not even close, he supported Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ every step of the way. Not only did he not stop the flow of weapons into Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ during the entire duration of the war, but he vocally encouraged Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ to go all the way in their genocide against the Palestinians ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ. He told them, “finish job.” The man ♂︎ wants to turn Gaza into a resort full of Trump properties (buildings with his name on them), that desire has not gone away, and his son-in-law is making it happen as we speak. The only reason Trump went out of his way to broker this ceasefire agreement, and get it signed ✍️, is that he wants a Noble Peace Prize, an award that he does not deserve at all. 

He’s not a true ally or supporter of the Palestinian cause ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, he doesn’t want Palestine ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ to become a state, and he wasn’t doing any of this because it was the right thing to do, he did it for his own vanity; and also because he was feeling embarrassed by Netanyahu, and how everyone turned against Netanyahu and walked out on him at the UN ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ณ, and Trump doesn’t like being embarrassed or being associated with people who he perceives to be losers, even though Trump is the biggest loser of them all; that’s he hates losers so much, it’s all self-projection, he hates losers because he is one. If you can’t see that, then you truly are lost, and you don’t even have my pity. I can’t stand these hypocritical pro-Palestine people ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ, who will hate Biden and Kamala Harris for being pro-Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, or apparently being complicit in the genocide, and then go and either excuse Trump or even praise him, even though he’s doing much the same things they were, if not way worse. 

Trump is a thousand times than Biden was, and a thousand times worse than Harris would’ve been, and if you can’t see that or admit that, you’re being disingenuous, and that’s what a lot of those people are, they’re disingenuous. These people were never allies to our cause, if anything they were plants, and they are part of the problem, whether they see or not. I’ll talk more about this in the post I get to about the UN General Assembly ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ณ, but just know that I have a problem with those people. Not all pro-Palestine advocates or activists ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ are like that, they’re not all idiots and hypocrites, some are principled and hate Trump just as much if not more, just know I’m talk about the ones that skirt the line between being “progressive” and being pro-Trump, which is the opposite of being progressive ๐Ÿคจ. If you voted for Trump, and you still support Trump, even after everything he’s done, and everything he’s doing right now, then I’m sorry, you’re not a progressive, and you don’t get to call yourself one. 

Compared to all that, the 2023 Ankara bombing seems trivial by comparison. It seems like a footnote, to the real history-changing event that happened later that same week, just a few days later. Only 3 people died during that attack, the two perpetrators (the terrorists), and one random civilian who they killed while on the way to Ankara; they shot him to death. And then two police officers were injured during the actual attack, during the actual bombing. Compare that to the thousands of deaths during the October 7 attack and then the thousands of deaths during the ensuing Gaza war. But, there is a lot of interesting history behind it, and it highlights some of the inherent contradictions that underpin Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s relationship with NATO, and how Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s goals and interests are not always aligned with those of NATO; in fact, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s interests often undermine NATO, and what it tries to achieve; not just during the War on terror (the war against ISIS), but also the war in Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, and NATO’s ascension process. 

I should stop real quick to explain what I will be referring to this country as because as you saw that beginning, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has two names. There’s the English name, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, which is the name most people are familiar with and has been the country’s name since it was founded in 1923, and then there’s the new name, Tรผrkiye ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. That’s the name that EdroฤŸan gave it after he took power. He’s been trying to get everything to use that name instead of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, and a lot of people have accepted that, they’ve accepted Tรผrkiye ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท as the new name, and now always use it to refer to the country. For the sake of brevity, I will be referring to the country as Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, because it’s the name that I’m more familiar with, and I actually know how to pronounce it, unlike Tรผrkiye ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. Plus, everyone still says Turkish ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, even the ones who use Tรผrkiye ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท as the name of the country. If you’re someone who’s adamant about people using the new name, I’m sorry, but I won’t be doing that. I’m using the old name, and still current name, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. It’s my blog, and what I say goes. 

The attack was carried out by the PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which was an armed Kurdish Marxist militant guerrilla group that’s been in conflict with Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท since the late 1970s. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party insurgency began on November 27, 1978, and it ended recently this year, on March 12, 2025. The conflict mainly stemmed from Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s mistreatment and persecution against the Kurdish minority, and a desire by the Kurds to form their own state called Kurdistan. Everyone talks about how Jews ✡️ are the most persecuted ethnic group in the world, the most persecuted ethnoreligious group in the world, well the group that comes the closest to matching the level of persecution that Jews ✡️ have historically faced, are the Kurds. Except, unlike the Jews ✡️, the Kurds do not have their own state. They are a stateless ethnic group, existing as a minority in multiple countries in the Middle East, such as Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท, Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, and of course, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. And in each of the countries that the Kurds live in, they’ve been persecuted and mistreated by the governments of these countries. 

They’ve even faced massacres and genocide in some of these countries, particularly in Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, since Saddam Hussein launched a chemical weapons attack ☣️ on a Kurdish village in northern Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, during the Iran-Iraq War ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ. It was called the Halabja massacre, and it resulted in around 3,200 or 5,000 deaths. It was apart of the larger Anfal campaign, which in and of itself resulted in around 50,000 or 100,000 deaths; the exact number of casualties is not known due to the lack of records, most people consider it to be an act of genocide because the campaign overwhelmingly targeted Kurds, and Kurds made up the majority of victims. This campaign was one of the reasons why Saddam was put on trial and charged with crimes against humanity after he was captured in 2003. His trial was held two years later in 2005. 

But, despite the Kurds not having their own state, and being separated and spread out across four countries, some of them have carved out some autonomy for themselves two of these countries. These Kurdish majority regions in these countries pretty much operate as separate states. There’s an Iraqi Kurdistan, there’s a Syrian Kurdistan. The Iraqi Kurdistan has somewhat being integrated into the rest of Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, like it’s recognized as a semi-autonomous region within the current Iraqi constitution ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, the post-Saddam/post-Ba’athist constitution. But, the Syrian Kurdistan hasn’t integrated as far as I know, the post-Assad government, led by al-Sharaa tried to get the Syrian Kurds to reintegrate back into Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ by promising them some degree of autonomy, but the Syrian Kurds refused because they didn’t trust al-Sharaa or his government. So, the Syrian Kurdistan exists as a separate entity from the rest of Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, and does not follow Damascus’s rules. There is no Kurdistan or Kurdish autonomous region in either Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท or Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, the other two countries with significant Kurdish minorities. 

The Kurds have faced mistreatment and persecution in Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท, and in especially Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. There have been several Kurdish uprisings and rebellions in Anatolia for over two centuries. After the modern state of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท was founded, there was a Kurdish uprising in 1925 led by a man named Shaikh Said Piran, that was quickly and brutally put down, and Said and 36 of his followers were executed. Ever since then, the Turkish government ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has tried to suppress the Kurdish identity and language, and the Turkish Kurds have resisted every step of the way; not want to relinquish their identity or language for the sake of “national unity,” or whatever bullshit excuse Turkish leaders ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท come with to justify their attempts to suppress the Kurdish language and identity. The PKK insurgency was just one part of this wider Kurdish-Turkish conflict ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, but it was a big part. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท was involved in full scale conflict with the PKK during the 1980s and 1990s, which resulted in over 350,000 deaths. 

Both Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and the PKK have been accused of targeting civilians and using terror tactics. The PKK have of course bombed city centers, conducting several other attacks where they’ve massacred civilians, and they’ve even recruited child soldiers. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, on the other hand, has depopulated and burned thousands of Kurdish villages ๐Ÿ”ฅ, and have massacred Kurdish civilians in an attempt to root out PKK militants. In fact, the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท have used the PKK repeatedly to go after Kurds, and continue their persecution of them, like after a military coup in 1980, the Kurdish language was officially banned in both private and public life. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has called any demand for education in Kurdish to be a terrorist activity by the PKK. And every time Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท rolled in to massacre some Kurds, they always used the PKK as an excuse, especially in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, during the Syrian Civil War ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. I should note that although their initial goal was for Kurdish independence and Kurdish statehood, the PKK officially changed its platform to seeking autonomy and increased political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. I’m guessing that’s why, on the Wikipedia page for the PKK, in the ideology section, it says “Kurdish nationalism (disputed)” because it’s not really certain whether the PKK really was seeking Kurdish statehood or not. 

The PKK have been designated a terrorist organization by multiple countries, not just Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, but also the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, Canada ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, the United Kingdom ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท, Australia ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ, and even the European Union ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ and NATO themselves. But, some analysts disagree with that designation, arguing that the PKK no longer engages in organized terrorist activities or systematically targets civilians. I think the 2023 Ankara bombing shows evidence of the contrary, but whatever. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s response to the attack was pretty minor all things considered. They basically conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, against what they claimed were PKK positions, with the Turkish Defence Ministry ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท claiming that they hit 20 targets. They also conducted airstrikes in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ on October 5, 2023, against Kurdish rebel groups in the northern part of that country, which is the Kurdish majority region; northern Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ is where all the Syrian Kurds live. 8 people are reported to have been killed in those particular airstrikes over Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. Compare that to Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s response to the October 7 attack, it’s pretty measured and tame by comparison. 

The most remarkable thing about these Turkish airstrikes ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is that the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ destroyed one of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s drones by accident. A US F-16 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ shot down a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท over Al-Hasakah in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. The US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ apologized, saying that it was a “regrettable incident,” but Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท initially denied that the drone was of Turkish origin ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, probably because they knew that these airstrikes over Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ and Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ made them look bad, but they did eventually fess up and admit that it was a Turkish drone ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. ErdoฤŸan put out a statement about it, expressing anger ๐Ÿ˜ก towards the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ for doing this, while expressing resentment towards the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ for their continued support of the Kurds, particularly the ones in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ; pretty much claiming the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ is training terrorists, which ErdoฤŸan nor his government provided any evidence. 

He also said that Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท would do what was “necessary” in response to this event, what that necessary was, I have no idea because a Turkish response ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท to accidentally downing of this drone by a US fighter jet ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ never materialized. Likely because everyone was so caught in the October 7 attack and Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ’s invasion of Gaza that they just forgot all about it, or they just put it aside because what was happening in Gaza was more pressing than an accidental drone shoot down. The PKK did sign a ceasefire agreement on May 12, 2025, and they announced plans to full dissolve. Whether or not that dissolution has taken place, I do not know, but the PKK insurgency has effectively come to an end. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has won this round, and the fight for Kurdish rights has been set back significantly. Though, some will argue whether or not the PKK were really a positive influence on the fight for Kurdish rights or Kurdish statehood; no body even really knows or can decide what they were really fighting for, or whether or not they were a positive influence on the Kurdish cause. 

Of course, I didn’t just talk about the bombing itself in the original text, because there really wasn’t a whole lot to talk about, and I didn’t just talk about the history behind the Kurdish-Turkish conflict ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, and the PKK-Turkish conflict ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท specifically (I talked more about that stuff here in this foreword), I also talk about the size of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s military relative to the rest of NATO, and how it’s the second largest military in NATO, and I talked about the different conflicts Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has intervened in and the countries Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has meddled with. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s relationship with NATO is weird, and a large part of that has to do with the Kurds. The Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท do not like the fact that US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ has collaborated with and supported the Kurds, particularly the ones in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, as I said before, and they see the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ as undermining their national security by supporting groups that they perceived as being terrorists. 

Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท pretty much lumped any Kurdish group with the PKK, even if they weren’t allied with the PKK at all. They’ve tried everything they can to drive a wedge between the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ and the Kurds, and for the most part, the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ has stuck with the Kurds, even when Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท exerts pressure on them to drop the Kurds. The only time there was a crack in the relationship between the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ and the Kurds was during Trump’s first term, when ErdoฤŸan tricked Trump into withdrawing US troops ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ from northern Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, and then a bunch of Turkish-backed groups ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท entered that region, and started massacring Kurdish fighters and civilians. Then Trump had to walk that decision back after he received all that backlash from abandoning the Kurds, threatened Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท with economic sanctions. That was the only time the American-Kurdish relationship ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ almost completely broke down, but there still Kurds today who still don’t forgive the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ or Trump for what they did; and frankly, I don’t blame them. 

The relationship between Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and the rest of NATO is also weird because of the rivalry between and tensions with its western neighbor, Greece ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and Greece ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท do not like each other, and have been at each other’s throats for centuries. They even had a war with each other shortly after the First World War, called the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. The only thing that’s preventing Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and Greece ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท from going to war again is the fact that they’re both in NATO, and despite the government and people being critical of NATO and the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ’s relationship with Syrian Kurdish rebel groups, they have no actual desire of leaving NATO and want to stay in the alliance; they enjoy the protection that NATO membership provides. 

Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s relationship with Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ has also complicated things, especially in light of the war in Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ. ErodฤŸan and Putin were kind of rivals for a good portion of the 2010s, ever since ErodฤŸa came to power and Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ entered the Syrian Civil War ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. But, after Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s currency, the lira lost all of its value, and the Turkish economy ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท collapsed as a result, ErodฤŸan turned around on Putin, and they seem to be best pals. This is probably due to Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ exporting their oil ๐Ÿ›ข️ and natural gas ๐Ÿ”ฅ to Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท. And also ErodฤŸan’s own growing authoritarian tendencies; dictators gotta stick together you know. But, regardless of the reason, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s friendlier relationship with Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ complicated its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท did send weapons to Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ to fight Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, particularly the Bayraktar TB2 drones, but they refused to allow Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ and Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช to join NATO. Now of course, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท isn’t the only country to blame for why Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ and Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช’s ascension into NATO was delayed. Hungary ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บ was also blocking both countries’ ascension into NATO because Hungary ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บ has a pro-Russian government ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ and pro-Russian leader ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ in the form of Viktor Orbรกn; he’s just as much Putin’s bitch as Trump is. 

I’m not entirely certain why Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท didn’t want Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ to join NATO, other than it’s not what Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ wanted, but I do know why refused to let Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช join NATO. It was basically claimed Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช was harboring PKK members, and giving them safe haven. Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช denied this, but Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท didn’t budge. Eventually, they did resolve whatever issues they had with Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ and Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช, and allowed them to join; becoming the newest members of NATO. Of course, it took far longer to convince Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช to join because of the whole PKK issue, and it wasn’t until 2024 that they were finally admitted in. Another thing that complicates the relationship between Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and NATO is the democratic backsliding and the increasing authoritarian bend of ErdoฤŸan. NATO is supposed to support democracy, and while they already have a dictatorship in their midst: Hungary ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บ. They do not want another one, that’s why the other members and the organization are critical of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and of ErdoฤŸan’s government. They do not want him to become a full-on dictator like Orbรกn. Though some will argue that ErdoฤŸan already is a dictator. 

Since I mentioned Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, I should talk about the countries and conflicts that Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has intervened in or meddled with. They’ve involved themselves in both Libyan civil wars ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡พ, they’ve involved themselves in the current Sudanese civil war ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฉ, supporting both sides, they supported Azerbaijan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, giving them weapons (again, Bayraktar TB2 drones), and of course, they’ve been heavily involved in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, during the Syrian Civil War ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. Usually, it’s been to take down the Kurds, but they’ve done other stuff in this war too. They’re the reason why Bashar al-Assad fell, and why HTS rose as the victors in that war (or at least, that phase of the war), as they gave extensive support to HTS, and other groups like HTS; as in, Islamist ☪️. Had it not been for Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท deciding to support these groups, and give them funding and weapons, Assad would still probably be in power even to this day; Tulsi Gabbard would still have her bestie in power; she’d trying to reshape US foreign policy ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ to be more in Assad’s favor because she loved that dude ๐Ÿ˜; she did an interview with him while she was running for president, even when everyone told her not to, and that it was a bad idea. That is the one potentially positive thing that has come out of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s foreign policy, they helped bring down Assad, and end the war in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. That is, if it’s actually over or not. Wikipedia can’t even decide whether or not the war is actually over or not, since despite them saying the war ended in 2024, with the fall of the Assad regime, they have a disclaimer on the top of the page that says that it’s in dispute when the war actually ended, or if it’s even over. 

Regardless of whether or not the Syrian Civil War ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ is over, Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ still very much a divided country, and it still has a ton of problems. Most of which were caused by the war, and by the Assad regime, but also by the new government led by al-Sharaa, and them sowing or exacerbating divisions with the country, mainly on ethnic and religious lines. The Alawites and the Druze are being targeted by Sunni militias, Sunni civilians, and by the government itself, there have already been two recorded massacres of both Alawites and Druze on separate occasions. The Kurds have been living autonomously from the rest of Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, and haven’t been reintegrated back into Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, despite the al-Sharaa government’s attempts to do so. So, the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024 was not an end to the violence, it did not reunify the country, the various ethnic and religious groups that make up Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ’s population did not come together, hold hands ๐Ÿค, and sing Kumbaya, instead, they still fought and killed each other. 

Violence and division still persists in the land of the Levant, and for that reason, it could be argued that the war is not over, but has entered a new phase. Maybe not as large scale as the previous phase, but still deadly nonetheless. Not only that, but Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ is still being occupied in several areas by foreign powers including the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ, and of course, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, the main subject of this post. I want to briefly touch on Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ because this is important in helping people understand the current situation in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ, Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ invaded Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ after the fall of the Assad regime, and occupied more territory in the southern most region of the country (they were already occupying a piece of Syrian territory ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ called the Golan Heights, but now they’ve taken more). 

They conducted airstrikes to weaken Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ’s military before the new government was formed, and they’ve conducted more airstrikes afterwards in the months that followed, including against government buildings. These airstrikes Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ did, were in response to the al-Sharaa government’s persecution of Druze, an ethnic group that the Israelis ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ strongly favor, and they’re just doing it to protect the Druze. But, the al-Sharaa government saw those Israeli strikes ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ as attempts to destabilize Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ and sow chaos in the country. So, until Wikipedia makes up its mind, I’m going to say that the Syrian Civil War ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ is still ongoing, even without Assad being in power. The reason why Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is doing all this, is #1 to get rid of the Kurds, or at least forcefully assimilate them into Turkish society ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท (not letting them practice their own culture or speak their own language), and #2 to expand their influence across the Middle East and Africa, and also the Turkic world. Azerbaijan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ is not a Middle Eastern country or an African country, it is technically a European country since it’s located in the Caucasus, and the Caucasus is considered a part of Europe, but it is a Turkic country, the Azeris ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ are a Turkic ethnic group, Azeri is a Turkic language. So, already, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท favors Azerbaijan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ. 

Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท seeks to be a middle power, which is just below being a superpower. If you’re a middle power, you do have some regional or global influence, you are not a full on superpower. Some would even say that Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท already is a middle power, though I’m not entirely sure if I agree with that. If Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s a middle power, then the United Arab Emirates ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช is a middle power too, and I don’t see as many people say that the UAE ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช is a middle power. Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ could almost be considered a middle power if we’re going to say that Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท’s a middle power; it’s certainly becoming a middle power, at the rate it’s going, fighting the Russians ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, developing its defense industry; Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ is certainly on the path to becoming the most militarized country in Europe, it has most battle hardened and battle tested military on the entire continent, way ahead of even some NATO states. But, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is on a path to becoming a middle power certainly, it’s getting there, ErdoฤŸan is going to make sure of that. He’s a Neo-Ottoman ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท to some certain extent, he wants to recreate the Ottoman Empire ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท in the modern time in some form, by Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท as glorious and powerful as the Ottoman Empire ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท was. 

There are at least a couple more things I want to include in this foreword before I finally close this out, and let you get on with reading the original text. Most of it is political, since this is a more political post, but one at least one of them will be non-political, you’ll see. First up, Sanae Takaichi has officially become Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต’s first female prime minister ♀︎. But like I said in the foreword to my King’s Man ♂︎ review, that is not necessarily a good thing, or it’s very positive thing you’re on the Left or even if you’re just a liberal. Takaichi is very right-wing, she’s been compared to Margaret Thatcher, and if you know anything about Thatcher, you’ll know why that’s a bad thing and why it probably won’t pan so well for Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, if she she lasts that long as prime minister to do as much damage to Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต as Thatcher did to the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง during her time. Shigeru Ishiba was barely prime minister for a full year before he was ousted. He was elected on October 1, 2024 and then left the prime ministership on October 21, 2025. It’s become a joke at this point that Japanese prime ministers ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต don’t last very long, and they keep changing their prime ministers every 10 seconds. Just when you get used it to being one person, all of a sudden it’s someone else. That’s what Shinzo Abe so special (though that’s not meant to be a positive connotation), the fact that he lasted so long as prime minister of Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, for about 9 years; most Japanese prime ministers ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต can only dream of lasting that long. 

So, how long will Takaichi it’s hard to say at this time because she’s barely taken office and she hasn’t done anything yet; at least at the time of me writing this. She holds many of the same beliefs that Abe held, especially in regards to Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต’s war crimes during World War II, and visited the Yasukuni Shrine which honors war criminals, many of them convicted (about 1,066 of the people honored at the shrine are convicted war criminals), numerous times. So, if you didn’t like Abe, and you don’t like it when Japanese politicians ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต deny or downplay their country’s crimes during World War II, then you probably will not like her. You’ll probably hate her in fact. I don’t even live in Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, and I already don’t like her just based on what I’ve read about her. But, to be fair, this not the Japanese people ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต’s choice. The Japanese people ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต don’t really have the same ability to choose their leaders that we Americans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ do and hopefully will still continue to be able to despite Donald Trump and his efforts to undermine Americans’ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ right to vote ๐Ÿ—ณ️, and stay in office indefinitely as a dictator. 

Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต does have elections ๐Ÿ—ณ️ (still), but they work a lot differently than they do in the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, and there is very opportunity for other parties to break through and win the prime ministership. It’s always the LDP, almost every prime minister Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต has had since the end of World War II has been from the LDP. The LDP have held a pretty tight grip on Japanese politics ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, and effectively rule the country as a one party state in all but name. The people didn’t vote for Takaichi to be the leader of the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), nor did they select her to be the new prime minister, the party itself did, and they only reason why they did was that Ishiba stepped down as both the party leader and the prime minister after the LDP suffered a devastating blow in last year’s snap election ๐Ÿ—ณ️, making his government a minority one; meaning he couldn’t get things done or enact his full agenda. So, it’s not the people’s fault that Takaichi got elected and if she ends up causing destruction to the country, and making their lives more miserable, because it was never their decision to begin with; they had no say in their new leader was going to be.

Sam Raimi has a new movie coming out in January next year. It’s not a movie he produced, it’s a movie he actually directed. It’s called Send Help, it stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, and it’s basically a survival psychological comedy thriller about these two people who get stranded on a desert island ๐Ÿ️. They’re co-workers working for the same company, Dylan O’Brien is Rachel McAdams’s boss, so they have a boss/employee type relationship with each other, and they get stranded on this island ๐Ÿ️ after their plane ✈️ crashes during a business trip; with Dylan O’Brien’s character sustaining an injury during the crash, and Rachel McAdams having to take care of him. The idea is that Dylan O’Brien’s character is an asshole boss, and he often abuses Rachel McAdams’s character. So when they get to the island ๐Ÿ️, the tables turn, and she uses this opportunity to get back at him for all the abuse she put her through, taking full advantage of his vulnerable state due to his injury, and tormenting him and intentionally keeping him trapped there on the island ๐Ÿ️. 

Being on the island ๐Ÿ️ for so long makes her go crazy basically, and she becomes increasingly more violent and more unhinged (she actually likes being on island ๐Ÿ️ and wants to stay there rather than be rescued or finding a way to escape), and Dylan O’Brien’s character either has to kill her or find a way to escape; and along the way, he sees the errors of his ways back at home, and becomes a better person during the course of this whole ordeal; learning to treat people with respect and not be such a dick to everyone. Though, given that this is Sam Raimi, I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie ended with him not escaping the island ๐Ÿ️ and him still being trapped there, even if he does manage to kill Rachel McAdams’s crazy ass, or it will end with both of them dying. No body wins, everybody just dies, which I suppose is more realistic than them somehow finding a way to escape ๐Ÿคท‍♂️. 

I saw people in the comments of the trailer comparing this to both Misery and Castaway, like a lot of people in the comments said that it like if you combined Misery with Castaway. And yeah, that is a pretty good way to describe this. I could also see it being compared to Six Days, Seven Nights, that romantic comedy adventure movie ❤️ starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche that was about a couple who get stranded on an island ๐Ÿ️. This movie is like that, only it’s more of a thriller than an adventure movie, and there’s little-to-no romance element ❤️ in the film as the man ♂︎ and woman ♀︎ are not a couple in the slightest, and in fact hate each other; or I guess the woman ♀︎ hates the man ♂︎, and the man ♂︎ is afraid of the woman ♀︎. I also saw one comment saying that they wouldn’t mind being trapped on an island ๐Ÿ️ with Rachel McAdams, implying that they wouldn’t mind being trapped on an island ๐Ÿ️ with her because they find her attractive ๐Ÿ˜. Look, it doesn’t matter how attractive she is, if she’s crazy and you’re stuck on an island ๐Ÿ️ with her, with very little chance of escaping, it’s not going to end well for you, and judging by the story and the choice of director, it isn’t going to end for this guy ♂︎ in the movie. 

It looks interesting, it looks like it could be a really engaging and intense thriller with some comedic elements (perhaps a bit frustrating ๐Ÿ˜ค at times, depending on the decisions the characters make), the Wikipedia page does list it as a black comedy, or dark comedy, as well as a thriller; so it could be funny in a dark and twisted way, as well being a really tense and stressful thriller, which is what a good thriller should be; it should have tension, and this movie looks like it has good opportunities for tension with this set up of this guy ♂︎ being stuck on an island ๐Ÿ️ with this crazy woman ♀︎, who was one of his employees who he mistreated and wants revenge for how he treated her. The movie’s also a revenge fantasy for any woman ♀︎ out there with a shitty boss; especially a shitty male boss ♂︎. There’s probably a lot of women ♀︎ there that wish they could do this to their male boss, and this would be cathartic for them, even if Rachel McAdams’s character is presented as the antagonist of the film. It is also important to note that Rachel McAdams is older than Dylan O’Brien in real life. Rachel McAdams is 46 years old, and Dylan O’Brien is 34 years old, so there is an age gap between the two, and I’m sure age will play a role in their dynamic. 

The idea of an older middle aged woman ♀︎ having a male boss ♂︎ who’s younger than her, not just younger than her but 12 years younger than her. How does a mature woman ♀︎ navigate something like that, how does a young man ♂︎ like that feel about having power over someone older than him? Does he use his power responsibly or does he abuse his power? And this movie seems to be going with him abusing his power, reveling in the fact that he’s in charge of someone who’s older than him, and not just that, but a woman  ♀︎ who’s older than him. Just so that it’ll bite him in the ass when he gets stranded on this island ๐Ÿ️ with this one woman ♀︎ who he’s been treating badly, and has to be taken care of by her because of his injured leg, and she starts to go insane from being stuck on this island ๐Ÿ️ for so long. The only thing is that this movie is being released in January, and that historically has been a month where studios release movies that they have little-to-no faith in. So, Disney releasing this in January (through their 20th Century Studios label) could be a really bad sign ๐Ÿ˜ฌ. But then again, there have been some good movies released in January, so maybe there isn’t a reason to worry, and this movie will actually be good ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ‘. We’ll just have to wait and see. But it is cool to see Sam Raimi get back into directing, and directing something that isn’t a superhero movie.

The second No Kings Day protest ๐Ÿชง was held last Saturday, October 18, 2025, and it went off without a hitch. It was pretty successful, more successful than anyone even imagined. There were already people saying that the protests ๐Ÿชง were going to have a huge turnout, that’s what everyone was saying in the days leading up to the event, but it was way beyond what everyone was saying leading up to the event. It’s estimated now that about 7 million people participated in this second No Kings Day protest ๐Ÿชง, which is about 2 million more than the first one. 5 million people participated in the first No Kings Day protest ๐Ÿชง, and the second one doubled that; it became the largest single day protest ๐Ÿชง in American history ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ. But, it wasn’t just a nationwide protest ๐Ÿชง, it was an international protest ๐Ÿชง. Other people in other countries also protested Trump on that day too, like there were some protests ๐Ÿชง in London too. That’s caught people off guard about this protest ๐Ÿชง, the fact that it was global, and people in other countries were standing in solidarity with Americans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ who oppose Trump, and oppose themselves, like the British ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง don’t like Trump, most of them anyway. Now people are excited for a third No Kings Day protest ๐Ÿชง, I’m sure all the organizers are gearing up for the next one, hoping for an even bigger turnout than this one. Hopefully, I’ll be able to go to the next one because I haven’t been able to go to either one of these ones. 

But, they have urged that people still protest ๐Ÿชง and still take some kind of action against the Trump administration, even if it’s just speaking up, voicing your opposition to what this regime is doing, in between the big No Kings Day protests ๐Ÿชง. Trump and the Republicans, but especially Trump was not happy about this. They kept saying in the days leading up to the protest ๐Ÿชง that they were “Hate America ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ” rallies and that they were full of terrorists, communists ☭, ANTIFA agitators, and Hamas supporters, and they were going to be violent, and that they would need to deploy the National Guard to quell whatever uprising they claim is going on, or even invoke the Insurrection Act. And when the protests ๐Ÿชง happened, and they were overwhelmingly peaceful, their entire narrative fell apart, so they did damage control, and tried to find any way to misconstrue the protests ๐Ÿชง as being radical, or anti-American ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, and/or discredit them entirely by saying that they weren’t that big, that the media was lying about how big they were, or that all the images of the protests ๐Ÿชง were fake, and were AI generated. 

Speaking of AI generated, Trump’s response to the protests ๐Ÿชง was to create an AI generated video in which he flies a F/A-18 over a city, while wearing a crown ๐Ÿ‘‘ on his head, and the oxygen mask that pilots wear incorrectly, and then dumps a bunch of poop ๐Ÿ’ฉ on the protesters ๐Ÿชง down below on the streets; all while Kenny Loggins’s song, “Danger Zone” plays in the background, something that Kenny Loggins did not authorize BTW and asked Trump to remove afterwards. One of the protesters ๐Ÿชง featured in curiously was one Harry Sisson, a progressive political commentator; a 23 year old progressive political commentator; so he’s Gen Z, he’s of that generation, and same, although I’m much older than him, by about 3 years; I’m 26, and he’s 23, so I was born in 1998 and he was born in 2002; he was born the same year as Jenna Ortega, and is probably the same age. When people saw that video, people were wondering, who is this guy, and why is Trump targeting him? Why is he singling him out of all people? Like if Trump’s goal to diminish him, then absolutely failed because he did was elevate him, expose to him to a lot more people, make him more well known. 

Most of people probably had no idea who Harry Sisson was, unless they were terminally online. But even then, even amongst other political commentators (or progressive political commentators to be more specific), Harry Sisson wasn’t very well known. But, because Trump decided to feature him in this stupid AI video, he made him way more famous, now way more people know who Harry Sisson is than they ever did before. And I gotta say, Harry is not very picky on what channels he appears. Ever since Trump put out that video of him dumping shit ๐Ÿ’ฉ on the American people ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, and Harry Sisson was the the one who singled out as being covered in shit ๐Ÿ’ฉ, all of these political commentators have been asking Harry to appear on their channels to get his side of the story, to find how it made him feel that Trump targeted him with this AI meme, and Harry has accept pretty much every offer. He’s appeared on leftist or progressive channels, liberal channels, and even one conservative/centrist channel. 

Raging Moderates is run by Jessica Tarlov, who is still a Fox News host, she’s one of the network’s token liberals that they keep on to make them seem “fair and balanced,” like they represent all view points and aren’t just a right-wing propaganda channel. And Jessica is by no means a leftist, she’s not progressive, she’s a moderate, that’s why her show is called Raging Moderates, she is very much a moderate. She’s a member of the Democratic Party, and she’s pretty much a centrist, or center left, or even just a liberal, either of those terms would probably describe her viewpoints pretty accurately. She’s by no means a fan of Trump, but she doesn’t that we should go all the way with left wing populism or progressivism, she doesn’t that we should veer too far to the left and embrace socialism or social democracy. She’s more someone who wants to implement a slightly better version of the previous status quo before Trump came along, or at least that’s the sense I get from her. She’s no fan of Bernie Sanders, or AOC, or Ilhan Omar, she’s probably not even a fan of Jasmine Crockett, I don’t want to put any words in her mouth or assume anything about her beliefs and which Democrats she likes ๐Ÿ‘ and dislikes ๐Ÿ‘Ž,  but I do know for a fact she’s not a fan of Bernie or AOC. 

She thinks they’re too leftist, which shows just how moderate she is. She’s one of those liberals who’s still kind of conservative, she has one foot in the door of conservatism, but doesn’t go all the way and is kind of socially liberal, but doesn’t all the way with social justice or social reform. She’s still a capitalist at heart, and still wants to maintain the capitalist system, but with maybe a little bit more checks and balances, a little bit more regulation. Or that’s the sense I get from here, I could be slightly wrong about her beliefs, but I do think I’m on the mark with her. But, Harry was willing to appear on her channel, appear on her channel, despite him being more of a progressive and her being more of moderate liberal, and the two obviously having many differences and disagreements politically; the only thing they really have in common is that they both hate Trump, and they hate current form of the Republican Party. That’s how equal opportunity Harry is the appearances he chooses to make, as long as you’re against Donald Trump and you’re in support of democracy, you’re good with him ๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿ‘.

And of course, Trump tore down the East Wing of the White House, all to make room for his stupid gaudy ballroom that no one wants except him. That had everyone outraged, even some Republicans, Republicans who voted for Trump, and otherwise support him and everything (else) he does. I said in the comment sections of other videos, but whenever there’s another Democratic president in office again, they need to tear down that ballroom. You tore down the East Wing, we’re going to tear down your ballroom, the thing that you love the most, apparently. And they should make Trump watch…if he’s even still alive by the because he’s not looking too good health wise, and it’s looking more and more like his days are numbered, and he will be gone from this world sooner rather than later. And of course, the government shutdown drags on, with Trump and the Republicans (particularly Mike Johnson), refusing to negotiate with the Democrats or make any sort of compromise. There’s a risk that if the shutdown continues any longer, then people won’t get their SNAP benefits, including me. I receive SNAP benefits, I’m with the SNAP program (so is my dad), and if the shutdown continues, we may not get our benefits. It’ll be delayed until the shutdown finally ends, and the government opens back up. 

Mike Johnson is also refusing to swearing a newly elected Arizona representative, Adelita Grijalva because she is the final Congressional vote necessary to force a discharge petition and have the Epstein files released. Trump is in the Epstein files, and Mike Johnson is doing everything he can to protect, and so he’s refusing to swear in Grijalva, making up every excuse under the sun ☀️ to delay it further and further. Violating the constitution in the process. Mike Johnson has been sued by the Attorney General for not swearing Grijalva into the House of Representatives, I don’t know what will come of it, but I am glad that they finally decided to sue because this is getting ridiculous; I hate Mike Johnson so much, the man ♂︎ has a punchable face, such a infuriatingly smug demeanor, and I hope he gets everything that’s coming to him. Everyone keeps saying that we need to invoke the 25th amendment, and we need to remove Trump from office. 

Okay, but if we did invoke the 25th amendment, and we did remove Trump from office, we’d still be stuck with JD Vance, since the line of presidential succession says that if the President of the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ dies, or steps down, or is removed from office, the Vice President takes place. So, without Trump, we’d have JD as president. And some will argue on whether or not, he’s more or less dangerous than Trump, and whether or not he’d be willing or able to turn the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ into a dictatorship with him as its head. There’s this TikToker/YouTuber that I watch on and off here and there called Christina Talks, she’s a political commentator, she’s a white woman ♀︎, and she’s from the South. She’s from Alabama, I know this because she did a video a couple of weeks ago talking about this Cuban-American Republican politician ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บ who said some racist, pro-ICE type things (she put a sign on her yard that was racist towards Latinos and was pro-ICE), and she straight said that she’s from Alabama; I even left a comment on that video, talking about the reasons why I think so many Cuban-Americans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บ are right-wing, and tend to vote Republicans, despite them being Latinos of course; they speak Spanish, just like Mexicans ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ and other Latino people (except Brazilians ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท, they speak Portuguese). 

It’s because they came from a communist country ☭ that once supported the Soviet Union ☭, that participated in a couple Soviet proxy wars ☭, waged mainly in Africa (Cuba ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บ participated in the Angolan Civil War ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ด and the Ogaden War), and was almost nearly the epicenter of World War III; it was the place where World War III almost started. They wanted to escape that, and then they want to separate themselves as much from that regime as humanly possible, and so they embrace right-wing politics and support Republican politicians and policies; even if it’s against their own interests. They’re still Latinos, they’ll embrace their Latino side whenever it’s convenient for them, whenever they want to seem like they’re down with other Latino groups and they stand in solidarity with them, but whenever it’s not convenient, they’ll abandon their fellow Latinos and try to get in on the white people; act like they are white, when they aren’t and white supremacists and white nationalists will never accept them as white; it’s a very capricious and self-serving thing that a lot of Cuban-Americans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บ do when it comes to how they view themselves, and how they view other Latino groups and their relationship with other Latino groups. 

So, she has this thick southern accent (an Alabama accent to be more exact), and when I heard her accent, the moment she said her “Well, well” catchphrase, I almost thought that was a fake accent. Like, this was just a voice she was putting on to poke fun at white Republicans, specifically white southern Republicans, and more specifically, white southern MAGA Republicans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ. But no, I guess it’s her real voice, her real accent. She was also a Muslim ☪️ at one time (she isn’t anymore) because she was married to a Muslim ☪️ and she converted to Islam ☪️ as a result of her being married to him, and she had children with him. So, she has a lot of insight on the religion of Islam ☪️ and on Muslims ☪️, and she always pushes back on whenever she sees someone being Islamophobic, or spreading hatred or misinformation about Islam ☪️ and Muslims. Like, she talked about her feelings on 9/11, and how her first thought after it happened was how was it going to affect her children? Now that the country’s been attacked by a radical Islamist terrorist organization ☪️, and it’s going to war against that organization or any Islamist organization ☪️, or any government that supports them (or they claim supports them), and Islamophobia in the country rose to historic proportions. 

I don’t watch her as much as I was before, because she said some things that I didn’t agree, and I kind of got annoyed her kind of smug and sarcastic demeanor. I know it’s her personality and everything, and she’s mocking horrible people (genuinely horrible people) on a daily basis, but I can’t stand people who are overly smug or sarcastic all the time, and Christina is one of those people. She’s one of those creators, where I’m like, “Are you like this off-camera? Are you like this in real life? How much of this is you, and how much of it is you putting on a persona for the cameras, for the Internet ๐Ÿ›œ?” I genuinely want to know, because there are a lot of YouTubers and TikTokers, who, even if they’re not explicitly playing a character, they still put some level of a persona, and will act very differently from how they act in real life; usually, it’s an exaggerated version of themselves, it’s them cranked up to 11, or it’s a Flanderized version of them, where they emphasize one part of themselves, one personality trait and then make that their entire online persona; Christina to me comes across as one of those. But, in this case, I did agree with what she had to say about Trump and the 25th Amendment, I enjoyed listening to her insights on this particular topic.  

Christina Talks seems convinced that if JD did replace Trump as president, he’d be even less successful than Trump because he’s less charismatic than Trump, he’s commands less respect, adoration, and unquestioning devotion as Trump. He’s a very awkward and humorless human being, it’s like he doesn’t know it’s actually like to be a normal human being. The MAGA movement ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ only cares about Trump. They do not care about JD. Trump is the only with a personality cult while JD does not. They only tolerated or accepted JD because of his proximity to Trump, because he’s Trump’s current Vice President. Had it not been for that, they won’t accept him. The MAGA movement ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, the MAGA base ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ (what’s left of them), has been conditioned to only want Trump as president and no one else, even though Trump is old and senile and is clearly going through a severe cognitive and physical decline. When they presented with someone who was like Trump, who had pretty much the same policies as Trump, but way younger in the form of Ron DeSantis, they rejected him, they soundly rejected him. They said, we don’t want Trump lite, we want the real thing. And there is an argument to be made that the same thing would happen to JD if he put in a position where he’d have to replace Trump as president, or even if nothing happens to Trump and serves out his full term, and JD tries to run in the 2028 Presidential Election ๐Ÿ—ณ️. 

He’ll receive just as much pushback, if not more than Trump for this push towards authoritarianism and overall government dysfunction, if not more so, since the MAGA movement ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ will probably not have his back or uncritically support everything he does like they did Trump. The MAGA movement ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ may have been on board with Trump being a dictator, but I highly doubt they’d be quite as on board with JD being a dictator. That might make JD easier to deal with than Trump since he doesn’t have a cult-like fanbase that will back him no matter what, the cult would reject him just as they rejected Ron DeSantis. So, I will Christina Talks’s argument are persuasive, and I do think she makes some good points about JD and his survivability as president, but if it were up to me, I’d remove all of Trump’s cabinet. Everyone he ever nominated or appointed, they all gotta go, we’d have to completely start fresh with a clean slate of government officials. But, at least, with JD as president, the Republicans would be even less successful turning the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ into a one party autocracy. They’re already not successful, as they’re so stupid and incompetent, the American system ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ is a lot more resilient than they anticipated, and they’re receiving more and more pushback for what they’re doing, but without Trump, the man ♂︎ who’s folding this motley crew together, and someone way less popular and way less charismatic like JD, their authoritarian plans would be utterly crushed.

To have one more thing centered on politics in this thing, Moldova ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ recently held their parliamentary elections ๐Ÿ—ณ️, last month, and the pro-EU ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won. This was a huge victory for Moldovans ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ obviously, but also for Europe and the democratic world as a whole, and a huge blow for Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ. Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ lost big time in this election ๐Ÿ—ณ️. There was some worry in the lead up to the election ๐Ÿ—ณ️ that the pro-Russia parties ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ were going to win just because of the general trend in Europe and in the democratic world of this rightward shift and democratic backsliding. It seemed to a lot of people that authoritarianism was going to win the day again. But all those worries were proven to be unfounded, as the pro-EU party ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ won overwhelmingly, maintaining their majority. The Moldovans ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ made it clear that they want to be in the EU ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ, they want to be apart of Europe. They don’t want to be apart of Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ. 

They do not want to be trapped in the Russian sphere of influence ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ. And now that it’s becoming abundantly clear that Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ is losing the war in Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, and that it is not going to win, they don’t feel as intimidated to not vote for the pro-EU party ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ. Moldovans ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ want to be apart of Europe ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ, and they’re taking this as their chance to pursue EU membership ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ, and escape the Russian bear trap ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ for good. The winner of these elections ๐Ÿ—ณ️ are the Moldovans ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ who value freedom and democracy, and don’t want corruption, and the losers, or I should say, the loser is Vladimir Putin. He so wanted the pro-Russian parties ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ to win, and now that they’ve lost, and the pro-EU party ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ have won, he’s finally starting to realize that like Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, Moldova ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ is slowly but surely slipping away from his hands. This is not going to be like Belarus ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พ, Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, and Putin specifically, lucked out by the fact that Belarus ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พ already had a illiberal dictator in place, in Alexander Lukashenko, and that he wanted to be apart of the Russian world ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, he wants to rejoin the Russian empire ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ. Putin is not going to get anything like that again, another post-Soviet government so willing to give up its freedom and join Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ again. 

Almost every country in the post-Soviet space (except for maybe the Central Asian states) is against Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ and would rather join Europe. Decades of oppression will do that to you. Putin only managed to sort of reverse this trend in Georgia ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ช, since it elected pro-Russian leaders ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, but the majority of the Georgian population ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ช still hates Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ and wants to be apart of Europe; they want EU membership ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ. Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ started a war against Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ to stop its move towards the West, towards the European Union ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ, and now they’re stuck, with no way to win, even when they have a numerical advantage; even when they have Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท supplying them drones (which they’ve manufacturing domestically inside Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ), and even when they have North Korea ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ต supplying them troops, so they won’t have to send any Muscovites or Petersburgians to fight in the war. 

Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ has outsmarted Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ at every turn, and now they’ve found an effective strategy to go after Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ’s oil industry ๐Ÿ›ข️, and cripple their ability to export oil ๐Ÿ›ข️, but also supply oil ๐Ÿ›ข️ to the troops and to their own people for domestic consumption. Now, Moldova ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ is moving away from Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ and more towards the West, and is going to try to pursue EU membership ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ, taking advantage of Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ’s increasing apparent weakness and diminishing ability to exert power abroad. Putin can’t stop this, he tried everything and it’s not working. The momentum can’t be stopped, the march towards Europe ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ cannot be reversed. He has lost Moldova ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ, just as much as he lost Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ (and Georgia ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ช).

I saw the trailer to the upcoming sci-fi horror thriller film, We Bury the Dead ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️, starring Daisy Ridley. It’s confirmed, it’s a zombie movie ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️, that’s why I put a zombie emoji ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️ next to the title. I mean, we all should’ve guessed that it was a zombie movie ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️ because most movies that have the word “dead” in them usually are about zombies ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️. You could don’t see many vampire movies ๐Ÿง›‍♂️๐Ÿง›‍♀️ with titles that have the word “dead” in them, even vampires ๐Ÿง›‍♂️๐Ÿง›‍♀️ are undead as well. They usually have titles with the word “blood ๐Ÿฉธ” in them because vampires ๐Ÿง›‍♂️๐Ÿง›‍♀️ drink blood ๐Ÿฉธ. It’s just like how werewolf movies ๐Ÿบ usually have titles with words like “howling,” “hair” or “hairy,” “dog,” or “full moon ๐ŸŒ•”; you know it’s a werewolf movie ๐Ÿบ if the title has anything to do with silver bullets or just silver in general because the only thing that can kill a werewolf ๐Ÿบ is silver; just like the only things that can kill vampires ๐Ÿง›‍♂️๐Ÿง›‍♀️ are garlic ๐Ÿง„, holy water ๐Ÿ’ฆ, wooden stakes, and of course, sunlight ☀️. But, I didn’t want to make any assumptions about what the movie was going to be about based solely on the title. 

Sure, it’s about a virus ๐Ÿฆ  or an infection of some kind, and sure it’s about corpses coming back to life, but that doesn’t necessarily mean zombie ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️; at least not to me; by that logic, Frankenstein should be considered a zombie ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️, and I don’t see anyone who does. To be honest, the only reason why I’m interested in this movie is that guy ♂︎ who’s directing the next MonsterVerse movie, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, was a producer on this movie, and I want to see some of his work, directorial or otherwise. Grant Sputore spent most a good chunk of his career so far as a producer, either as a regular producer or an executive producer, and only really directed two films, I Am Mother and the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. He’s mostly operated in the Australian independent scene ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ, and this movie, We Bury the Dead ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️ is no different, and now he’s currently directing his first big budget Hollywood blockbuster. He spent the leap from indie filmmaker to blockbuster filmmaker in a pretty short amount of time. But the movie does look interesting, I might consider checking it out. I’m also interested in it because of Daisy Ridley and I think she’s hot ๐Ÿ˜.

I also saw the trailer to Kathryn Bigalow’s upcoming movie, A House of Dynamite ๐Ÿงจ, which is a Netflix exclusive. It’s going to play in theaters as far as I know, and if it is, it’ll only be a limited release; just so that movie will be eligible for awards. It’s basically about a nuclear attack on the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ☢️, and the government’s response to that attack. It’s very simple. The reason why I’m talking about this, why I’m even bothering to bring this up here is that I watched a CBS Sunday Morning video talking about this movie, and I kept wondering to myself after watching that video (or while watching that video), is it going to do that Top Gun thing where they never actually say who the enemy is, so as to not offend anybody? I hope not because it is kind of cowardly, like you’re taking the easy route by not saying who the enemy is so you can maximize international appeal, but to the hell with that. I don’t think a story where the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ gets attacked by a nuclear missile ☢️ will have much international appeal, like I don’t think people in Uzbekistan ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฟ are going to care that much; let alone people in Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ or China ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ, countries that actually receive American films ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ from time-to-time; those countries even produce films where the enemy is the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ or the villains are Americans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ. If this were a North Korean production ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ต, they would say who the enemy is, and the enemy of course would be the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ. 

It’s okay to just make a movie for a domestic audience, not everything needs to be for an international audience, and this is really a story that’s relevant to us, and would only really matter to us. Plus, if you actually name the country that’s doing it, it makes it a bit more tangible, like this could happen, rather than it just being a fictional scenario that couldn’t actually happen for real. If I were writing this movie, I’d either make it Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, or China ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ, maybe even North Korea ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ต if I really felt brave; maybe even Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท in a crazy hypothetical scenario where Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท actually did acquire nuclear weapons ☢️. And if not, if the studio forced me not to make it a real country, then I would just make it a fictional country, that way the enemy can be tangible and you can play it to an international crowd without risking offending anyone. But, I don’t think Kathryn Bigalow went there with this film. Without having even seen it yet, I’m guessing she went in one or two routes: she either didn’t name the enemy and kept it a mystery that never gets solved and we never actually find out who the enemy is, or the enemy is a non-state actor, a terrorist organization that somehow acquired nuclear weapons ☢️, so that an actual country isn’t responsible. But, I hope I’m wrong. This is an instance where I would love to be wrong, I just don’t think I am, just because of how Hollywood approaches these sorts of things, and how they want that international market. I will say this though, Idris Elba is the president in this movie. 

I was wondering what role he was actually play in the movie, and thanks to the CBS Sunday Morning video, I now know that he’s going to be the President of the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ in this movie. Kathryn Bigalow was pretty damn strategic about making the president a black man ♂︎ in this movie. She had to have known that putting a black president in her movie was bound to upset a certain group of people on the Internet ๐Ÿ›œ: the anti-woke crowd, who get upset every time they see a black person, especially a black woman ♀︎, in a role that they think should only be for white people, and make hundred videos about it before they move onto the thing to be faux outraged about. If she really wanted to upset the anti-woke people, she should’ve made it a black woman president ♀︎, that would’ve really sent them over the edge ๐Ÿคฌ. When the movie, G20 came out earlier this year with Viola Davis as the president, they wouldn’t shut up about it, they kept making videos about it rooting for it to fail and claiming that it did fail, why? 

Because it had a black woman ♀︎ as a president, and they hate the idea of a black woman ♀︎ being president, and they will be outspokenly opposed to any movie that has a fictional black female president ♀︎. Because they’re racists, they never want to admit that they’re racists and they hate black people, but they are and they do. Otherwise they wouldn’t react this way to seeing a black woman ♀︎ as president or seeing a black woman ♀︎ in any role really; any role they think should only be played by white people. But, Bigalow stopped short of making the president in her movie a black woman ♀︎, and just made him a black man. They’d still probably be upset about that, but not as upset as they would be if it were a black woman ♀︎; white supremacists always direct their most vitriolic racism for black women ♀︎, not just because they’re black but also because they’re a woman ♀︎, so there’s a level of misogyny to go along with that racism. If Bigalow made the decision to cast Idris Elba with that in mind, then I will commend her for that. It would slightly make up for the cowardice of not naming the enemy in the movie itself, and keeping it a mystery to avoid offending anyone.

One last thing, I want to address Sam & Tristan, they’re a reaction channel that I watched frequently from time-to-time, they’re a boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife duo; I’m not sure if they’re married ๐Ÿ’ or not They react movies, they usually edit down their reaction videos for YouTube to avoid copyright issues, but they do react to the entire movie, whichever one they’re reacting to in that video. Like every movie reaction channel, they post full things on their Patreon pages, so it’s behind a paywall, and if you want to see their full length reactions, you have to donate to their Patreon and become a subscriber to their Patreon. They also have alternate channels too, where they have other kinds of content, but that’s beside the point. They recently did a reaction to Ghostbusters, and they got a lot of hate for it ๐Ÿคฌ because they didn’t really like it, like they thought it was okay; one said that it was a one time watch for them. The video was just full of negative comments, saying that they’re wrong, they’re crazy, they don’t know what they’re talking about. 

I mean, it’s their opinion, you can’t exactly hate them for having their own opinion about a movie? So what if they didn’t like the movie that you like, and thought was an untouchable infallible classic? Would you rather them lie, and say that they loved it when they actually didn’t? I understand Ghostbusters is a nostalgic childhood movie for a lot of people, but it doesn’t click with someone, it doesn’t click with them, it’s as simple as that. I’m not afraid to say that I don’t really like Ghostbusters, it’s not my thing, it’s not my cup of tea ☕️. In fact, I prefer Men in Black to Ghostbusters, Men in Black (1997) is to me what Ghostbusters is to all these other people who left comments on Sam & Tristan’s video disparaging them for not liking Ghostbusters. But, even then, I’m okay with people not liking Men in Black (1997), it doesn’t bother me, if they don’t like it, they don’t like it. I wish all the people who felt those comments on Sam & Tristan’s video had the same philosophy, the same mentality when it comes to people not liking a movie that they like; that they grew up with and apparently made their whole identity, their whole personality.

 

—

 

(This is the flag of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท.)

 

Yesterday (October 1, 2023), a terrorist attack took place in Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท's capital, Ankara, a car bombing at a government building or a checkpoint, I'm not exactly sure. No one claimed responsibility for the attack on the day it happened, but I guess the next day, the Kurdish Marxist militia group, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) ultimately claimed responsibility. The PKK is a staunch enemy of Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, so the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท did not hesitate, and immediately took military action against the group. They carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, killing quite a few PKK fighters; something the Iraqi government ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ was not particularly happy about, they didn't like that the Turkish military ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท carried out airstrikes on their country without consulting them. Now, this recent terrorist attack was the first major terrorist attack in Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท (committed by the PKK) about 6 years, since 2017. 

 

 

(This is the flag of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK short.) 

 



There were actually quite a few terrorist attacks over course of a 2 year period, from 2015 to 2017. Most of those attacks were by the Islamic State, ISIS, but a couple of them were by the PKK and other Kurdish groups, and this most recent one was by the PKK. Now, the Turkish-PKK conflict ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is very touchy and sensitive, there's a lot of controversy about the way the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท have conducted the war against the PKK and other Kurdish groups they claim are aligned with the PKK. 

The Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท have been accused of war crimes and atrocities against Kurdish civilians, and many people have accused the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท of using the PKK as an excuse to persecute the Kurds, or commit a genocide against them. The Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท certainly don't like the Kurds, and don't think they should be the country, and certainly shouldn't have more autonomy or have their own state. And indeed, the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท have attacked Kurdish groups in Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ and Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ that were aligned with the United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, and were cooperating with the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ in the fight against ISIS, and even Bashar al-Assad's forces, like the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or the People's Defense Units (YPG), which Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท designates as a terrorist organization. 

So, it's obvious that the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท do have a bit of a problem with the Kurds as a whole. But, despite that, the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ does also recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization just like Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท does, so the Americans ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ are on the same side about the PKK that Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท are, just not other Kurdish groups, particularly the ones based in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ; the Kurdish rebels in Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ were the most effective military force against ISIS, they were part of the reason the CJTF–OIR (Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve) was able to defeat ISIS. 

And the PKK was one of the main reasons why the Turks ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท blocked Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช's entry into NATO, because they had accused the Swedes ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช of giving the PKK safe haven, or even helping them with intelligence or training or strategy, although the Swedes ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช denied this; I don't think the Swedes ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช viewed the PKK as a terrorist group. But, they worked things out, Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช drops its alleged support of the PKK, and Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท dropped its opposition to Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช's accession to NATO, and now Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช is on track to join the alliance by the end of this year; sometime in fall or winter. 

Speaking of NATO, that's the thing that I wanted to write this about. I wasn't really going to write about the current situation in Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท with the terrorist attack or airstrikes in northern Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ, until I heard in a video by Joe Blogs (an economics YouTuber) talking about this topic that Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท was the second largest military force in NATO. Now, when I heard this, I was really surprised, and I had to fact check it, so I went on DuckDuckGo (my go-to search engine) and looked up the largest military forces in NATO, and low and behold, yes, Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท is the second largest military force in NATO; the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ is obviously the largest military force in NATO, they are still #1. 

I was always under the impression that the United Kingdom ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง was the second largest military force in NATO, but no, they aren't. They're actually the sixth largest military force in NATO, countries like even Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช, and France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท are ahead of it. And from what it seems, it seems as if this wasn't always the case. I watched a video by British historian ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, Mark Felton talking about the current state of the UK military ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง in comparison to the state of the state of the UK military ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง during the Cold War, and according to him, there was a time when the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง was the second largest military force in NATO, certainly the second most powerful and capable. They were expected to do a brunt of the fighting against the Soviet Union ☭ in the event of war against the communist federation ☭ on the European continent. 

But, I guess the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง has downsized so much since the end of the Cold War that they lost their status as the second largest military force in NATO, and were replaced by Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, who have only grown their military since the end of the Cold War. While Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท has been expanding and growing their military in recent years. They're trying to expand their global influence and cement their status as a "middle power," which is why they've directly and indirectly intervened in conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, in countries like Libya ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡พ and Syria ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡พ. They've also been involved in the Caucasus, supporting Azerbaijan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and supplying them with weapons such the much lauded Bayraktar TB2 drones, which the Azerbaijanis ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ used to great affect against the Armenians ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฒ. 

But, still, even if the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง's only the sixth largest military force in NATO, they are still the second most influential and important. Like, they're still one of the key decision makers in the alliance along with the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท, and Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช, they're kind of the Big Four in the alliance, the US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ, the UK ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท, and Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช. Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท's status as a significant and powerful military, and their position within the Black Sea gives them a level of strategic importance to the alliance that the other alliance members are unwilling to let them go, despite the various disagreements over the Kurds, their "sort-of" friendly relationship with Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ, the potential disagreement over their support for Azerbaijan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the democratic backsliding in the country and the authoritarian bent of its current president, ErdoฤŸan. 

NATO can't afford to lose Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท despite all of those disagreements and criticisms towards the current government, because that means sacrificing a potentially strategic position within the Black Sea, and losing one of the most powerful and effective military forces in the alliance. And Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท, despite their disagreements with other members of the alliance, despite their differing strategic goals and differing interests, and despite their criticisms and complaints about the alliance, they can't avoid to leave NATO because Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท gives them a level of protection they wouldn't have otherwise. They love the security guarantees that NATO provides, and no Turkish citizen ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท actually wants the country to pull out of NATO, despite any complaints they have about NATO and some of the members of NATO. 

—
 

Here's a link to the article talking about the NATO countries with the top 10 largest militaries in the alliance.


–

 

Here's Joe Blog's video on the terrorist attack in Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท and Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท's military response to the PKK: 


 

 

Location: New Mexico, USA

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