re: #374 SanFranciscoZionist

Under Bush, Iran was prancing around with folk dancers waving ‘uranium’ in little containers, but it was not seen by his supporters as a referendum on the effectiveness of George W. Bush. Nor should it have been.

Any analysis of international affairs that depends on a general idea of how the president is ‘seen’ by the world is basically wishful thinking.

And neither you nor I know what’s being said to Erdogan behind closed doors.

iran has been our enemy for more than 30 years under administrations from carter to Obama. Turkey has been our “friend” for a lot longer than that, even if we have had some bumpy spells. There is a huge difference between iran and Turkey. I totally disagree that it is not important how the world perceives our President. It is CRITICALLY important whether our POTUS is seen as loyal and resolute or someone whose core values change according to the most recent news cycle. Afghanistan is a perfect eaxmple. Karzai is hedging his bets and moving closer to the taliban enemy because he may think that Obama is going to cut and run. And why do you suppose he feels that way? it may be because he has seen the actions and heard the words of our administration over the past 18 months and is not fully comfortable with them. As for what erdogan is being told behind closed doors, I’ll agree with you on that one. But regardless of the private messages, his actions on the world stage are what matters. if we are privately reading him the riot act and he is still openly defying us and siding with iran, I guess he doesn’t worry too much about the consequences of his open defiance.