You could stay the same about Tom Friedman. He was a good columnist for the
first five years but then he started driving a Lexus and putting olives in his martinis
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Coup attempt in Turkey
- Thread starter JohnHammond
- Start date
You could stay the same about Tom Friedman. He was a good columnist for the
first five years but then he started driving a Lexus and putting olives in his martinis
Be funny if KJIM turned up as the Secretary of Education for Turkey
Big Circus
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Wouldn't wish that on her. That has a real Al-Qaeda #2/Spinal Tap drummer feel to it.
LongTimeListener
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If Erdogan fired 21,000 teachers in a day, he can't be all bad, right YF?
YankeeFan
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I was trying to figure out the right wording for my post on this topic.
Justin_Rice
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Yes. For sure.
The United States has no influence on the world stage, because bad things happen.
Remember back when we had influence, and bad things didn't happen?
YankeeFan
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I think you must have forgotten the 2008 Obama campaign, his 2009 Cairo speech, the Russian Reset, and our withdrawal from Iraq.
Obama was going to fix these things. Our aggressive foreign policy was our problem.
Obama's quiet leadership was going to make the difference.
Instead, our enemies don't fear us, and our friends don't respect us.
Justin_Rice
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That's simply the narrative you want to be true, and you pick and choose data points to "prove" it.
Enlighten us: Specifically when was the time when our enemies feared us, and didn't dare do things we didn't like?
It's really weird here right now. Very tense; we keep getting warning after warning to be careful. There was some kind of planned protest outside the consulate earlier this week and we were sent home as a precaution, but it didn't happen due to some funeral.
The local staff has been hit really hard, too. Lots of emotions going on; they're going through far more than the Americans. It's really gut-wrenching because if all goes south, we can go home but they are home.
No idea how the state of emergency will play out; I'm flying to Ephesus on Saturday and hope the driver can pick me up at 3 a.m. as planned. And, obviously, that the continued protests and gunfire don't come anywhere near me.
My boss' first query upon my out-of-town travel was whether I'd still be available to call those on my little limb of the phone tree. All staff have been ordered to carry our phones around at all times. It's not a lot of fun.
The local staff has been hit really hard, too. Lots of emotions going on; they're going through far more than the Americans. It's really gut-wrenching because if all goes south, we can go home but they are home.
No idea how the state of emergency will play out; I'm flying to Ephesus on Saturday and hope the driver can pick me up at 3 a.m. as planned. And, obviously, that the continued protests and gunfire don't come anywhere near me.
My boss' first query upon my out-of-town travel was whether I'd still be available to call those on my little limb of the phone tree. All staff have been ordered to carry our phones around at all times. It's not a lot of fun.
Nope. My job is here, and I like it. It helps that I'm single and am not responsible for anyone else's well-being.
My career plan is to bid on Kabul, Bdad or Ibad next, so this is pretty much what I am after anyway.
Istanbul is still deemed safe enough for us, even though there are warnings, the powers that be feel we're able to continue our work. Basically, I really couldn't quit anyway - at least not without a lot of hassle and red tape. (I suppose I could bench and moan and try to get reassigned, but it would probably be shooting myself in the foot career-wise.)
Should things continue downhill, there's a possibility that family members might have the option to leave (meaning on the taxpayers' dime).
Really, no one has any idea how this is going to unfold. I get a lot of questions from incoming officers and there's just no way to answer them. We just don't know what's going to happen.
My career plan is to bid on Kabul, Bdad or Ibad next, so this is pretty much what I am after anyway.
Istanbul is still deemed safe enough for us, even though there are warnings, the powers that be feel we're able to continue our work. Basically, I really couldn't quit anyway - at least not without a lot of hassle and red tape. (I suppose I could bench and moan and try to get reassigned, but it would probably be shooting myself in the foot career-wise.)
Should things continue downhill, there's a possibility that family members might have the option to leave (meaning on the taxpayers' dime).
Really, no one has any idea how this is going to unfold. I get a lot of questions from incoming officers and there's just no way to answer them. We just don't know what's going to happen.
