The Folly of Treating Ankara as an Adversary
Elliott Abrams's letter 'Put Not Your Trust in Recep Tayyip Erdogan' (April 16) urges treating Turkey as an adversary but never asks the next question: Then what? Turkey is invaluable to the central task of American statecraft: countering the challenge from the revisionist bloc of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The Turks operate across multiple theaters—Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and the South Caucasus—support Ukrainian sovereignty and field the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's second-largest army. Without them, the West can neither contain Russia nor sustain a viable order in Eurasia. Ask a Polish or Romanian official how secure they'd feel if Washington considered Ankara an adversary.
Turkey doubtless poses serious challenges, including growing hostility toward Israel. But labeling it an enemy risks deepening that hostility. Before making a bad situation worse, shouldn't the Trump administration at least attempt to strike a balance between Ankara and Jerusalem?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
33 minutes ago
- New York Post
Trump vows to ‘liberate Los Angeles' – slams ‘Third World lawlessness' and ‘rioters bearing foreign flags' in speech to US troops
President Trump on Tuesday vowed to 'liberate Los Angeles' from 'Third World lawlessness' on night five of the anti-ICE riots raging through downtown LA in a fiery speech to US troops. Trump, defending his decision to deploy the National Guard and US Marines to the City of Angels amid violent riots, argued that without the reinforcements, LA would be 'burning' like it did when wildfires swept through Southern California in January. 'Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness, like is happening in California,' Trump told soldiers during a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. 'As commander in chief, I will not let that happen.' Advertisement 6 President Donald Trump stands on stage during a speech in front of service members at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on June 10, 2025. REUTERS 6 Masked protesters line up in front of National Guard troops during protests in Los Angeles on June 10, 2025. Barbara Davidson/NYPost The president declared that the 4,000 Guardsmen and 700 Marines he dispatched to Los Angeles will 'protect federal law enforcement' carrying out his mass deportation order 'from the attacks of a vicious and violent mob.' Advertisement 'If we didn't do it, there wouldn't be a Los Angeles. It would be burning today just like the houses were burning a number of months ago,' Trump argued, referring to the wildfires. 'Within the span of a few decades, Los Angeles has gone from being one of the cleanest, safest, and most beautiful cities on Earth to being a trash heap with entire neighborhoods under the control of transnational gangs and criminal networks,' the president said. 'It's horrible.' 'As the entire world can now see, uncontrolled migration leads to chaos, dysfunction, and disorder.' 'Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again,' Trump pledged. 'It's happening very quickly.' Advertisement 6 An American flag burns on the ground during protests in the streets of LA on June 8, 2025. AFP via Getty Images Protesters have been clashing with local police and federal authorities in Los Angeles since Friday. The unrest was sparked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids targeting criminal illegal immigrants in the sanctuary city, where officials, including Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, refuse to go along with Trump's immigration crackdown. 'What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags,' Trump said. Advertisement 6 Protesters wave a Mexican flag in front of riot police outside a federal building in Los Angeles on June 9, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 6 Vulgar graffiti is spray-painted on the exterior of an Apple store looted during the LA Riots on June 10, 2025. REUTERS Mexican and Palestinian flags have been a ubiquitous presence in the demonstrations and violent rioting that have plagued the city for the last five days. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the presence of foreign flags arguably makes the LA riots 'worse' than the unrest that broke out in Minneapolis in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in police custody. The senator called on Trump to consider invoking the seldom-used Insurrection Act of 1807, which would allow US troops to conduct law enforcement activities, to quell the rioting. 6 Mounted police and other riot units enforce a curfew on the streets of Los Angeles on June 10, 2025. Getty Images After Trump's speech, Bass announced that a curfew would go into effect in parts of downtown Los Angeles in response to the violence and looting. 'We reached a tipping point,' Bass said at a news conference, declaring a local emergency after 23 businesses were vandalized Monday night.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
California governor says 'democracy is under assault' by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Gov. Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. In a speech Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Trump's direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated 'war' intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,' a somber Newsom warned, seated before the U.S. and California flags. 'Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.' As head of the heavily Democratic state known as the epicenter of the so-called Trump resistance, Newsom and the Republican president have long been adversaries. But the governor's speech delivered in prime time argued that Trump was not just a threat to democracy, but was actively working to break down its guardrails that reach back to the nation's founding. ″He's declared a war. A war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself," Newsom said. 'He's delegitimizing news organizations, and he's assaulting the First Amendment.' Newsom added that Trump is attacking law firms and the judicial branch — 'the foundations of an orderly and civil society.' 'It's time for all of us to stand up,' Newsom said, urging any protests to be peaceful. 'What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.' His speech came the same day that Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protective gauntlet around agents as they carried out arrests. The judge chose not to rule immediately, giving the Trump administration several days to continue those activities before a hearing Thursday. Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, though the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. They were originally deployed to protect federal buildings. Newsom's speech capped several days of acidic exchanges between Trump and Newsom, that included the president appearing to endorse Newsom's arrest if he interfered with federal immigration enforcement. 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,' Trump told reporters. Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in California's long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights, called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents that 'your children are in danger' because of illegal immigration. Trump relishes insulting the two-term governor and former San Francisco mayor — frequently referring to him as Gov. 'New-scum' — and earlier this year faulted the governor for Southern California's deadly wildfires. Trump has argued that the city was in danger of being overrun by violent protesters, while Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have called the federal intervention an unneeded — and potentially dangerous — overreaction. The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated in the city's downtown hub. Demonstrations have spread to other cities in the state and nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York City, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made. Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It's one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president. 'If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see,' he said from the Oval Office. Michael R. Blood, The Associated Press
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
California governor says ‘democracy is under assault' by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Gov. Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. In a speech Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Trump's direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated 'war' intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House. 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,' a somber Newsom warned, seated before the U.S. and California flags. 'Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.' As head of the heavily Democratic state known as the epicenter of the so-called Trump resistance, Newsom and the Republican president have long been adversaries. But the governor's speech delivered in prime time argued that Trump was not just a threat to democracy, but was actively working to break down its guardrails that reach back to the nation's founding. ″He's declared a war. A war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself,' Newsom said. 'He's delegitimizing news organizations, and he's assaulting the First Amendment.' Newsom added that Trump is attacking law firms and the judicial branch — 'the foundations of an orderly and civil society.' 'It's time for all of us to stand up,' Newsom said, urging any protests to be peaceful. 'What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.' His speech came the same day that Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protective gauntlet around agents as they carried out arrests. The judge chose not to rule immediately, giving the Trump administration several days to continue those activities before a hearing Thursday. Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, though the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. They were originally deployed to protect federal buildings. Newsom's speech capped several days of acidic exchanges between Trump and Newsom, that included the president appearing to endorse Newsom's arrest if he interfered with federal immigration enforcement. 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,' Trump told reporters. Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in California's long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights, called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents that 'your children are in danger' because of illegal immigration. Trump relishes insulting the two-term governor and former San Francisco mayor — frequently referring to him as Gov. 'New-scum' — and earlier this year faulted the governor for Southern California's deadly wildfires. Trump has argued that the city was in danger of being overrun by violent protesters, while Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have called the federal intervention an unneeded — and potentially dangerous — overreaction. The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated in the city's downtown hub. Demonstrations have spread to other cities in the state and nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York City, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made. Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the U.S. to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It's one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a U.S. president. 'If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see,' he said from the Oval Office. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
