Following the leader

I find it interesting that Turkey cites the resolution by the US Congress calling the killings of Armenians by turkey a century ago genocide as an excuse to beat war drums. What gets me though is the fact that this resolution by the Turkish Parliament seemed inevitable and it would have come anyway, regardless of the resolution by the US Congress. What this resolution has done is provide Turkey with an excuse to ignore US concerns and enter Iraq, just like "WMD" allowed the US to get into Iraq despite international concerns.

The response of the Turkish Prime Minister to US concerns was “did they seek permission from anyone when they came from a distance of 10,000 kilometers and hit Iraq?. We do not need anyone else’s advice.”

This brings back memories, specifically the response by the US government to international concern about their preparations for a war in Iraq. It was basically to the effect of "we will do whatever we need to in order to protect our security." Turkey is towing this line now. US influence and credibility in the region is clearly diminishing, evident in the statement of the Turkish Prime Minister addressing concern that the US Turkey relationship would be affected. He said “if such an option is chosen, whatever its price, it will be paid”. There is nothing much the US can really do. I guess bribing Turkey is an option but it didn't help before the Iraq war started and is unlikely to help now. Besides, Turkey clearly has the upper hand.

The purpose of government is to ensure the interests of a group is protected and the more the government is given the power to do this, the more individual liberties have to be given up. I would apply this to multinational institutions like the UN where countries have had to change their foreign policy because the UN disagreed with them. What has happened since the US invasion is that the UN has been undermined as a result of the US going its own way, despite overwhelming opposition. A trend has now been set. The UN is only as strong as its members make it. The shortsightedness of this American administration and its determined perusal of "yee haa" foreign policy has severely undermined the UN and thereby, international security.

I think we can most certainly expect countries to follow the American example in their foreign policy, resulting in further conflict. What a pity that no one listens to the "unpatriotic Americans".