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Interesting article. I wonder how long Erdogan will last. My speculation is that he won't last long unless he matures greatly in office. He blew it in the negotiations with the Americans, and while blame can be shared on all sides, Erdogan is the only one that Turkish voters can punish.

I'm not terribly comfortable with him because I fear an Islamic government could emerge. Presumably, the military would prevent that, but the fact that it's a possibility is a problem.

I wish Turkey well. I hope they come to their senses and quit trying to joing the EU, but that's their decision. They need to start choosing wisely.

'He was supposed to be the anti-Erbakan, so he was not about to impose his will on his party. Critics of Erdogan's performance, however, say that he should have done just that. ''Leaders have to lead,'' the columnist Candar said, adding cuttingly, ''Being the darling of the simple people is not enough during such turbulent times.'' '

Erdogan, I am convinced, is unable to do this, because, as the following demonstrates,

'In the speech following the poem, however, Erdogan went on to proclaim that Islam was his compass and that anyone who tried to stifle prayer in Turkey would face an exploding volcano.'

...he does not engage his brain before putting his mouth in gear.

To me, Erbakan is entirely too alien to Kemalist ideology to be regarded with anything less than an alert suspicion. The fact that Erdogan hasn't unambiguously refuted and confronted Erbakan and the like is cause for concern. Probably he is unable to articulate such a refutation.

"Al Sharpton moment," indeed. I think that a comparison with Huey Long is more appropriate. As Governor of Louisiana, Huey Long tried to rally the snake handlers in the Deep South with his "Share the Wealth" program in the Thirties, basing policy on some Old Testament passages and brutal intimidation. He was unable to justify his confiscation of private property with American ideology, and instead carried on like a demented evangelist, railing against the wealthy with things like "Woe to the rich!"

Here's an example:

'There is only one way to save our people; only one way to save America. How? Pull down wealth from the top and spread wealth at the bottom; free people of these debts they owe; God told just exactly how to do it all.'

'Hear me, people of America, God's laws live today. Keep them and none suffer, disregard them and we go the way of the missing. His word said that. Here is what He said:

"The profit of the earth is for all." Ecclesiastes: chapter 5, verse 9.

"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." Leviticus: chapter 25. verse 10.

"At the end of every 7 years thou shalt make a release. . . Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his. . . brother; because it is called the Lord's release." Deuteronomy: Chapter 15, verses 1 and 2.'

--excerpted from a radio address delivered by Senator Huey Long, January 19, 1935