Vinod's Blog
Random musings from a libertarian, tech geek...
Friday, January 24, 2003 - 02:04 PM Permanent link for Turkey on US Hypocrisy
Turkey on US Hypocrisy

MSNBC is running an article titled "Turkish Chief Sees U.S. Hypocrisy".    The rest of the article, however, isn't quite what the title makes it out to be:

RECEP TAYYIP Erdogan, chairman of the governing Justice and Development Party, said eliminating nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in Iraq was a worthy goal.
       “This sounds good,” he said in his first appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “But let’s not kid ourselves.
       “No one is interested in eliminating their own weapons of mass destruction. They’re interested in strengthening their own weapons of mass destruction.”
       Asked if he was accusing the United States of hypocrisy, Erdogan said: “I meant all the countries in the world. The United States is also included.”

In other words, Erdogan appears to be taking a very Realist perspective on a nation's neverending thirst for power.   It isn't that any one particular nation is good or bad, it's that almost any nation that claims it isn't seeking WMD has at least a few threads domestically that truly believe they should possess WMD.  Especially if most other nations do NOT possess 'em.  

Accordingly, he actually seems to imply a general understanding that physical force rather than diplomacy/inspections are the only ultimate solution to the troubles around Iraq.   Diplomacy / inspections only truly work if intentions are aligned.   Muscular response is the only option when we can't rely upon underlying intentions.

The majority of the article is a discussion of Erdogan's description of the impact of conflict on Turkey:

He also noted the “major price” Turkey paid after the 1991 Gulf War in terms of Kurdish refugees, lost lives and economic disruption, which he put at $100 billion.

Still, it's more than a little misleading for the headline to amplify a teeny tiny piece of the article that, within a broader context, most would actually agree with...


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