Foreign Confidential ™

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says losing Turkey's friendship would hurt Israel. Click here for the story.

He made his remarks in an interview in which he again lashed out at Israel, leading this reporter to wonder: with "friends" like Islamist-leaning Turkey, who needs enemies?

U.S. support for Turkey's crypto-Islamist government by both the Bush and Obama administrations is backfiring. The Turkish military, traditional guardian of the country's secular system, has been prevented from intervening out of fear of antagonizing the United States and the European Union, which has allowed acceleration of Turkey's Islamizing trend--and tilt toward Iran.

The loss of Turkey is a serious blow to both Israel and the U.S.

While the problem predates Obama, as mentioned above, it has been made worse by his engagement (appeasement) policy toward nuclear-arming Iran and outreach to "the Muslim world," which has effectively encouraged Islamists to see themselves--and to be seen--as an ascendant, supranational power on a par with the superpowers.