The World is The E.U. and al Qaeda

I still cannot believe that the following was written, and published, in Newsweek.  I was going to be judicious, but this is unacceptable.  There is no longer any excuse for hack bloviating, as follows:

Now, with the EU pushing its boundaries into the Balkans up to Turkey, and with Al Qaeda clamoring that there is a war between the "Muslim world" and the West, there is no longer a gray area in which Turkey can position itself: it must become an EU member and part of the West, or else fold into the Muslim world, as per Al Qaeda's vision. Sarkozy should be alarmed about an alienated Turkey on Europe's eastern borders.

Yes, Soner, that's exactly it!  Either the E.U., or al Qaeda.  These are the considerations that power EU expansion policy, and these should be the terms on which we understand the evolution of the EU and a Turkish trajectory that goes from late Ottoman to AKP: By way of Bin Laden.  This is almost the most absurd thing I have ever read, and I have read many, many things.  I believe that we must grow, mentally, beyond such senility -- never mind such rank racist nonsense.  Even if Turkey doesn't join the EU, that does not mean that Turkey will fail to grow and mature.  The idea that only through adherence to European standards can a society develop itself is disproved everyday; it was disproved when Pakistanis turned to the streets in the thousands to demand the reinstatement of their Chief Justice, and it is disproved when Iranians bravely protest the results of the current election.  Never mind the changes, good and bad, that so many other societies have gone through.  (I suppose Nelson Mandela was an EU employee). 

But wait, let me share with you what is by far the best part: "There is no longer a gray area"?  Got that?  No longer.  No longer!  But why?  What changed?  Is Soner arguing that, after 9/11, we must base all future policy decisions on al Qaeda actions?   In other words, make al Qaeda the frame by which to judge -- which is, by the by, a rather frightening road to go down.  You be the judge.  Did the author of the essay above suddenly stop thinking, but continue writing?  Should someone call Dr. House to explore and explain, with far more caustic wit than I in all my life could muster, how such a strange event has come to pass?  Truly disappointing and, still more, deeply worrying.  But it really is that easy to say something foolish and pass it off as deep analysis.  (Kind of like this blog post, wherein I wasted my time on a nonthought.)

Comments

[Pinar]

Soner has been writing such nonsense from Washington for a while now. Sadly, he is a former classmate of mine from Ankara. He did his PhD on Russia I think and then started to live in DC and write all this crap about Turkey. I have also read the stuff he wrote that said a halal certificate should not be introduced in Turkey because then alcohol would be banned in the restaurants that sell halal meat. I think he is earning a living by badmouthing AKP now.

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