re: #80 Killgore Trout

That is going to be very interesting to watch. It really seems the timing for bringing Turkey into the fold is really bad. Erdoᇺn has massive domestic problems, human rights abuses and was probably laundering money/gold for Iran. They’re in the process of strengthening ties with Iran and seem to be on a strong track towards a permanent Islamist government. I’m not sure how Turkey’s choices are going to fit in with UN standards for human rights but it will be interesting to see them try.

Over the decades, Turkey has made a number of changes to bring it into line with EU standards; they still have some ways to go, of course. Perhaps the Europeans are looking at Turkey and its relatively young and dynamic population and thinking, “Ah ha……labor pool” for the longer-term future. Until quite recently, Turkey’s economy was growing significantly - presumably if the Turkish Central Bank can ignore political interference from the AKP government, they’ll likely be able to pull out of it, but with Erdogan, you never know.