Turkey is a NATO member since 1952 and also interested
in joining BRICS. That is not a good idea for BRICS, although Turkey did
not join the sanctions against Russia, which would still qualify Turkey
for membership. That it hosted nuclear weapons in the 1960s is
testament to its loyalty to NATO. I believe those nukes are still in
Turkey and never pulled out.
However, Turkey, like India, is just
playing musical chairs between NATO and BRICS. Therefore, Turkey is not
a trustworthy country to be admitted into BRICS, only good for
Christmas dinner tables. Who knows which side Turkey will bend towards
after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps down? Just look at the
Philippine as an example, being a puppet of the USA deep inside its DNA.
Turkey is an important member of NATO, because of its
geographical position and the USA will not let it loose. It holds the
key to the Black Sea, controlling the Bosphorus or Straits of Istanbul
connecting Asia and Europe and is a critical passage for international
maritime trade. The USA, as leader of NATO, by definition, controls this
critical waterway, just like the Panama Canal and Suez Canal, all
critical choke points in the event of conflict. Do not be fooled also by
claims that the Panama Canal is under Panamanian Government control and
the Suez Canal under Egyptian control. That is just pulling wool over
unsuspecting eyes.
However, countries are now looking at opening
up alternative routes in Nicaragua to bypass the Panama Canal and Iraq
is looking at a land route leveraging on the BRI extension to bypass the
Suez Canal, and of course Thailand is interested in reviving the
Isthmus of Kra project to bypass the Straits of Malacca. Russia is even
exploring the Arctic route with climate change making it more feasible to
navigate with wider melting ice.
Anonymous
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