"THOMAS P.M. BARNETT: An important ally
-- Scripps Howard News Service
Published: Friday, April 6, 2007
Name this country if you can:
1) Europe's largest NATO military force.
2) Loyal member of that alliance for over 50 years.
3) Booming economy, currently 17th-largest in the world.
4) Fiercely secular political system.
5) Population more than 99 percent Muslim.
If you guessed Turkey, then march to the head of the class.
If you didn't have a clue, don't feel bad. If I weren't on the verge of publishing my third book in Turkish, I'm not sure I would have done much better.
Turkey is arguably the most important - and least appreciated - bellwether of how America's doing in this long war against radical Islamic extremism, and yet its ultimate fate seems entirely out of our hands. That's because France, Germany and Austria, three societies whose knee-jerk racism against Muslims outdistances America's goofy post-9/11 variety, are openly sabotaging Turkey's long-anticipated accession to the European Union."
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