[Pearls Before Swine]

You can’t put the Ottoman Band back together without Arabia, and later, Iran under your thumb. Maybe the first part can be done more or less peacefully, but the second has the Sunni/Shia rivalry going.

[ought-six]

“You can’t put the Ottoman Band back together without Arabia, and later, Iran under your thumb.”

Yup. But you’d also have to take Crimea, southern Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Egypt, Irag, Lebanon, Israel, Bulgaria, and Romania. I think Turkey would be content with Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the Caucasus. But, as a wise man once said, “Ain’t gonna happen!”