Bobby Ghosh, Columnist

Erdogan’s NATO Brinkmanship Smacks of Desperation

The alliance should remain skeptical of the Turkish president’s attempt to play Sweden and Finland’s entry into the group to his advantage.

May 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM UTC

By Bobby Ghosh

Bobby Ghosh is a senior editor in the digital weekend team. Previously, he was a columnist at Bloomberg Opinion, where he wrote mostly about international affairs and culture.

He likes the attention.
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg

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What exactly does Recep Tayyip Erdogan want from NATO? And more to the point, does NATO need to give it to him?

On Friday, with the alliance anticipating formal applications for membership from Finland and Sweden, the Turkish president casually tossed a wrench into the works by saying his country would “not look positively” upon the expansion.