Will Erdogan resort to regional nuclear blackmail?
... from its goal of overthrowing the Syrian government in favour of an Islamist regime that will be remote-controlled from Washington and Riyadh. Ankara, however, may harbour a larger and more sinister goal in mind: The union of the pan-Turkic and Pan-Islamic worlds under its leadership. A US-abetted nuclear blackmail would provide the ideal opening for this otherwise unlikely adventure. The ball is now in Putin’s court. The Aug 1 downing of a Russian military helicopter in Syria’s Idlib province bordering Turkey was swiftly accompanied by the desecration of the pilots’ bodies. The terror group allegedly responsible for the shootdown, the Army of Conquest, was long backed by the ...