Excerpt: “Do not be surprised if, in the near future, the world is treated to the spectacle of Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan having a friendly cup of tea in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.”

“The United States won’t like this. But Erdogan no longer cares what the United States thinks, and for both political and economic reasons. Erdogan is playing the United States for a sucker in the Middle East, and the U.S. is either allowing itself to be played as a matter of policy, for the ultimate purpose of disengaging entirely from the region, or because of the incompetence of its policymakers. Or both.”

“The Turkish President is skillfully manipulating the situation in the Middle East to his advantage, and his successful efforts in this regard, coupled with the fecklessness and incompetence of U.S. policymakers, are rapidly changing the political and military dynamics of the region.”