Serbia, in constant war with Muslim Kosovo and will never be let into the EU in my lifetime given their long list of war crimes. The Serbs are pro-RU as is Erdogan's Turkey (also Muslim). Kosovo is very western, surprisingly. Europe and NATO have paid too little attention to the Black Sea (dominated by the RU Navy until Ukraine). The Bla…
Serbia, in constant war with Muslim Kosovo and will never be let into the EU in my lifetime given their long list of war crimes. The Serbs are pro-RU as is Erdogan's Turkey (also Muslim). Kosovo is very western, surprisingly. Europe and NATO have paid too little attention to the Black Sea (dominated by the RU Navy until Ukraine). The Black Sea is critical for international trade choked at Istanbul on both sides of the Bosporus as Erdogan regularly plays footsy with RU. I won't even drive thru Serbia anymore - too dangerous, and not a very friendly nation anyway. Checking into a hotel in Istanbul, is like boarding a flight to Jerusalem - x-ray baggage and just short of a strip search. Westerners have been shot and stabbed by terrorists when they are heard speaking English.
I know about Serbia. Years ago on the now defunct Liberty Forum there was a Croat, living in Canada, screen name Machiavelli, and a Serb in California. I can't recall his screen name at the moment. The only thing that united them was Muslims.
That Balkan conflict has always confounded me, As Bosniaks are Slavs, Bogmomil christians converted to Islam under the Ottoman's, a choice made to escape the onerous jizzyah, poll tax, levied on Peoples of the Book (Jews and Christians), Croats, Slavs converted to Roman Catholicism under the suzerainity of the Western Roman Empire, and Serbs , Slavs converted to Greek Orthodox under the Byzantine Empire.
Kosovoairans and Albanians, Illyrians conquered and converted by the Turks.
There is a deep seated, religiously based, ethic based distrust, hatred and fear in the that neck of the woods.
As regards current political alliances, I suspect that they are transactional and temporary.
Turkey was modernized and secularized by Kemal Attaturk, and so it stood, even during WWI when it sided with the Kaiser and the Austro Hungarian
Empire.
After which it was forced to give up it's holdings in the Levant to a desert tribe Chieftain, Saud, a desert tribe chieftain who posited himself as a King, the Hasemite. The British Empire which took control of the Levant, Iraq and Iran
Turkey was neutral during World War II, but played a role in helping Jewish refugees and supplying raw materials to the Allies. It also played a role as a recruiting ground for the Waffen SS, Arab Leaque, and Hajj Amin al-Husayni , the Mufti of Jerusalem met Hitler in Istanbul.
After the war, Turkey allowed the U.S. to base it's intell operations near the Russian Border, and the U2 flights over Russia flew out of Turkey.
But the influence of salafist Islam has gained footing among the population and Turkey has progressively shifted rightward religiously.
After WWII, Germany depleted of vital manpower, recruited Turks to fill its need.
Turkey has kept one foot planted in the west and the other planted in Asia and the mid east.
Until Oct 7th it has been a trading partner with Israel, It had remained neutral between Iran and Israel, but has had increasing trade ties, which I assume circumvented US Sanctions.
Erdogan spends his time looking at the windsock.
That whole region is a complicated mess, a Gordeon knot that can't be unraveled.
And Albania, well that is, as I see it, a ruthless mafia society, brutally communist under Hoxha. The Albanian mafia in America is brutally worse than the Russian, and Colombia cartels.
Which brings up a sore subject. Kind open hearted America opens its arms to the world, and the next thing it is swarming with Irish, Italian, Russian, Albanian, Armenian, Haitian, Salvadoran, Cuban, Colombian, Mexican mafia and ruthless gangs.
Serbia, in constant war with Muslim Kosovo and will never be let into the EU in my lifetime given their long list of war crimes. The Serbs are pro-RU as is Erdogan's Turkey (also Muslim). Kosovo is very western, surprisingly. Europe and NATO have paid too little attention to the Black Sea (dominated by the RU Navy until Ukraine). The Black Sea is critical for international trade choked at Istanbul on both sides of the Bosporus as Erdogan regularly plays footsy with RU. I won't even drive thru Serbia anymore - too dangerous, and not a very friendly nation anyway. Checking into a hotel in Istanbul, is like boarding a flight to Jerusalem - x-ray baggage and just short of a strip search. Westerners have been shot and stabbed by terrorists when they are heard speaking English.
Wow Tom.
I know about Serbia. Years ago on the now defunct Liberty Forum there was a Croat, living in Canada, screen name Machiavelli, and a Serb in California. I can't recall his screen name at the moment. The only thing that united them was Muslims.
That Balkan conflict has always confounded me, As Bosniaks are Slavs, Bogmomil christians converted to Islam under the Ottoman's, a choice made to escape the onerous jizzyah, poll tax, levied on Peoples of the Book (Jews and Christians), Croats, Slavs converted to Roman Catholicism under the suzerainity of the Western Roman Empire, and Serbs , Slavs converted to Greek Orthodox under the Byzantine Empire.
Kosovoairans and Albanians, Illyrians conquered and converted by the Turks.
There is a deep seated, religiously based, ethic based distrust, hatred and fear in the that neck of the woods.
As regards current political alliances, I suspect that they are transactional and temporary.
Turkey was modernized and secularized by Kemal Attaturk, and so it stood, even during WWI when it sided with the Kaiser and the Austro Hungarian
Empire.
After which it was forced to give up it's holdings in the Levant to a desert tribe Chieftain, Saud, a desert tribe chieftain who posited himself as a King, the Hasemite. The British Empire which took control of the Levant, Iraq and Iran
Turkey was neutral during World War II, but played a role in helping Jewish refugees and supplying raw materials to the Allies. It also played a role as a recruiting ground for the Waffen SS, Arab Leaque, and Hajj Amin al-Husayni , the Mufti of Jerusalem met Hitler in Istanbul.
After the war, Turkey allowed the U.S. to base it's intell operations near the Russian Border, and the U2 flights over Russia flew out of Turkey.
But the influence of salafist Islam has gained footing among the population and Turkey has progressively shifted rightward religiously.
After WWII, Germany depleted of vital manpower, recruited Turks to fill its need.
Turkey has kept one foot planted in the west and the other planted in Asia and the mid east.
Until Oct 7th it has been a trading partner with Israel, It had remained neutral between Iran and Israel, but has had increasing trade ties, which I assume circumvented US Sanctions.
Erdogan spends his time looking at the windsock.
That whole region is a complicated mess, a Gordeon knot that can't be unraveled.
And Albania, well that is, as I see it, a ruthless mafia society, brutally communist under Hoxha. The Albanian mafia in America is brutally worse than the Russian, and Colombia cartels.
Which brings up a sore subject. Kind open hearted America opens its arms to the world, and the next thing it is swarming with Irish, Italian, Russian, Albanian, Armenian, Haitian, Salvadoran, Cuban, Colombian, Mexican mafia and ruthless gangs.