Having abandoned the side it supported in Vietnam, the artificial government it established in Afghanistan and the groups it supported in many other countries, America is now handing Ukraine over to Russia. As former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said: “It is dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, and fatal to be a friend”. This is indeed the case. America’s friends are waiting with dread for the Trump administration’s imminent betrayal.
Europe in particular is in great fear. Following the US lead, the Europeans supported Ukraine and gave large amounts of arms, thinking that this would help them contain Russia. They were right, but with Trump in power, their dreams of victory over Russia have turned into nightmares about how to protect themselves from Russia. Europe is not very sincere either. They are now considering sending troops to Ukraine in spite of the US, but they are planning to do it after Ukraine has surrendered to Russia.
Europe can neither fight nor bravely support those who fight. Years of complacency have made them so complacent that today some of them would abandon their neighbors in a heartbeat if Russia blinked. Indeed, if the war in Ukraine ends, Hungary and Slovakia, unlike the others, will improve their relations with Russia. The others, even though they react against America and are hostile to Russia, they have nothing to do. Because some of them don’t even have an army. It looks like they are going to pay the price for years of relying on America.
In the meantime, they will probably knock on Turkey’s door. Turkey, which they had excluded until yesterday, is likely to be highly valued in Europe. Poles are even suggesting under the Twitter messages of their prime minister Donald Tusk that we should have an army and defense industry like Turkey.
Turkey has indeed had an enviable last 20 years. Especially when the seeds planted 20 years ago started to bear fruit and started to be eaten, it attracted the attention of others. Among those fruits, we can especially highlight foreign policy and the defense industry. Although Turkey’s independent foreign policy drew reactions, time has shown that Turkey was right. Turkey is no longer someone’s wagon, but a country that they are trying to be a partner with. For example, at a time when countries like the US and Russia are ruled by outsiders, Turkey is the only country that has been able to keep warm relations with both countries. You will never hear a word against Turkey from either Trump or Putin. And if you do, you can guess that there will be a response to that word.
On the other hand, the nationalization of the defence industry is another fruit, bigger and tastier. From a Turkey that was waiting at the door to buy weapons until yesterday, we have turned into a Turkey that produces hypersonic missiles with a range of 1000 km, a world leader in UCAVs, and will soon start mass production of its own tanks and jets. In addition, thanks to these weapons, we have become one of the most influential countries in the region. Countries in the region that were hostile yesterday are lining up to buy weapons.
Probably Europe will also be in line. If Europe wants to survive and if it wants to maintain the European Union, it has to ensure its security. Some countries have population, weapons but no army to fight. Some have no population, no army and no weapons. Turkey is the only country that meets these three parameters. Therefore, they will approach Turkey under the pretext of security and want to benefit from Turkey’s effective foreign policy and military power.
My advice to the government is that if it is going to sell its fruits, it should sell them at a very high price. The government knows best what price was paid to grow those fruits and that the Europeans themselves cut off the water supply to the trees. Fruit that grows hard should be expensive. It should not go cheap. Buyers have a lot of money to give and other valuable assets.
