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Ancient empires seeking more on the world stage

 


Most Americans are simultaneously focusing on COVID-19, the start of a new school year, the November election, the economy, and demonstrations and protests to support the police or end racism. There is a lot to think about for each of us, but we are missing one thing: a focus on international issues.

There is a lot going on overseas right now that demands our attention. Since we are the only superpower in the world, we cannot afford to get myopic about nations that were once great empires and are now trying to resurrect their past glories. Three nations come to mind, although there are others: Turkey, Iran and China.

Let’s start with Turkey. The Muslim Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Christian Empire by defeating the capital Constantinople in 1453. The name was changed to Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1922 after the end of World War I. Today, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pronounced Erdowan) leads the conservative Muslim party called Justice and Development. Some see him as Islamist, an accusation the party vehemently denies. Islamist or not, Erdogan wants to extend Turkish influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

Currently, Erdogan has angered Greece and France with Turkey’s territorial and energy claims to a Greek island off the Turkish coast and its desire to expand the exclusive economic zone around its part of Cyprus. French President Emmanuel Macron has sent warships to the Eastern Mediterranean, asking Erdogan to back down. The United Arab Emirates sent F-16s to help the Greeks.

Turkey has allied with one of the fighters in the Libyan civil war, hoping to gain access to natural gas and oil resources in this divided nation. At one time, the Ottoman Empire controlled the north coast of Africa. Erdogan is involved in the Syrian civil war in southern Turkey where he comes into contact with Iranians, Russians, Americans and Kurds as well as the Syrian government, increasing tensions for all. He also sided with Muslim Azerbaijan on territorial claims against Christian Armenia which is supported by Russia.

Iran is Turkey’s neighbor. He dreams of expanding to the borders of the former Persian Empire which ruled from what is now Pakistan to parts of Egypt and Libya, through what is now Turkey to part of Eastern Europe in the 400s and 500s BCE. Under the current Islamist Shiite government, Iran has interests, soldiers and advisers in Iraq and Syria, and is allied with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Despite severe economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the Iranian government continues to try to expand its interests in the region.

China is on the verge of signing a $ 400 billion deal with Iran. The deal means better defensive coordination and better intelligence sharing. In return, Iran gives China discounts on Iranian petroleum products. Xi Jinping’s Chinese Belt and Road Initiative aims to recreate the Silk Road that once existed between China and Europe. With its financial largesse, China hopes to find and develop alternative routes to needed resources in the rest of the world. China was a great power before the emergence of European powers from the 1500s. It saw itself as “the Middle Kingdom” or the mediator between heaven and earth. As part of this past vision, Xi Jinping is pushing China’s economic and military might against its neighbors. India is feeling the heat in the high icy expanses of the Himalayas where deadly violence recently erupted between Indian and Chinese forces.

The US State Department is creating a “NATO in Asia” with four countries that feel threatened by Chinese expansionism: Australia, New Zealand, India and the United States, known as the name “Quad”. China pushed Japan to claim rocky outcrops claimed by both countries, harassed Vietnamese fishing vessels and exploring for resources off the Vietnamese coast, set up military bases on coral reefs in the South China Sea and generally pushed its weight into the Pacific. Xi is expanding the Chinese Navy, trying to intimidate Taiwan with invasion threats, and developing hypersonic weapons and ballistic missiles that pose a major threat to the US Navy. The list goes on.

As Americans worry about the November election, racial protests, police shootings, COVID-19, reopening of schools, and hopes for an economic resurgence, these former great powers are planning future glories like empires . Turkey, Iran and China dream of past empires dancing in their heads. Being myopic at a time like this is not healthy. We must have a competent president and a fully functioning Congress. At this point, we have neither.




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