Erdogan’s Ego Trip Is Undermining NATO
For the West to keep deterring Putin, Turkey needs to stop stonewalling Sweden and Finland and threatening war against Greece.
Scolding Swedes in Ankara.
Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images
Part of being, or becoming, allies is agreeing who your common enemies are and aren’t. Otherwise, there’d be no need for the alliance in the first place. But that’s easier said than done, especially when at least one ally is on an ego trip worthy of an Ottoman sultan.
In the NATO alliance, that would yet again be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He’s out only for himself, and making things unnecessarily complicated as a result. To look strong at home before an election next June, he keeps messing with the minds of friends and foes alike, caring not a whit whether his shenanigans undermine Western cohesion and European security in general.