Well, Ankara hasn’t been nuked. Yet. You can never rule out the possibility altogether, but strange things are happening. Calculated but strange in the aftermath of the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey. Putin and Erdogan are singing from the same song sheet. Allied against ‘terror’ and ‘terrorists’ like never before. Ok, you can’t trust either on their definitions of ‘terrorism’ as its generally used as a term to describe anyone opposed to their own best interests. But united they are. Besties. Nice.

In early Stephen King books (which I lurve) there was often a division of groups. A collection of, if not completely similars, at least of moral equivalents. Kids would divide into the bullies and the bullied. The ‘jocks’ and the ‘nebachs’. And in the ‘nebachs’ was always a really short-sighted, bespectacled one (as Stephen King is), a really poor kid (as King was again), a black one (errrrrr…) and others that never made anyone’s A-list out in rural Maine. But these were the good people. They had inner strength and an instinctive grasp of right and wrong. They became friends by default. The ones no-one else befriended. And unsurprisingly, they always won in the end. The stories were often about the coming together of these people. The Stand. It. Stand by Me. Carrie. Even the Shawshank Redemption, to a degree, all studies of ‘the outsider’ by the master of character building in late 20th century America.

And now the world is dividing once more. Like we really need more divisions. But Putin and Erdogan are the dudes on no-one’s invite list. But they need each other. Everyone hates the Turks and won’t let them into ‘Europe’ so they’re forced to make alliances elsewhere. Poot’n is pretty much hated by everyone and attributes all its unpopularity to America’s ‘distortions’ of events. Like the hacking. Like the doping. Bombing. Assassinations. None of it actually happened, its just a figment of the Washington Post’s imagination. Turkey and Russia actually, eventually, ended up on the same side in Syria. Amazing as they started off with different aims and intentions and certainly backed different teams. But there ya go. They were also joined there by Iran, another American hating nation, if not the most America hating nation currently available.

These 3 ‘fine’ nations are now teaming up with Kazakhstan and China, creating an anti-West powerhouse. Or ‘The Bad Guys’ in my little Stephen King world. Russia now has a massive influence in the Middle East, which it has wanted from that very first invasion of Afghanistan, Turkey has an ally that won’t keep banging on about fucking ‘human rights’ all the bloody time, like Europe does. And the Chinese aren’t exactly popular either. I know nothing about Kazakhstan that Barat didn’t tell me. None of which was good.

Shaping up for a very happy Christmas

Happy Wednesday

A xxxx