Military Alliances in Europe Make Strange Bedfellows

Military Alliances in Europe Make Strange Bedfellows

Treaties Galore
The first and second world war were both started due to treaties between various countries.  Since Turkey is part of NATO, Europe, as well as the United States has an obligation to defend the country in the event of a conflict.  The fact that Russia and Turkey are not the closest of allies these days, this encounter has the potential to escalate and create an international crisis that we haven’t seen since WWII.

Emergency Meetings
Turkey has called an emergency NATO meeting to discuss the situation while Russia is already making claims of retaliation to one degree or another.  While this incident in and of itself probably won’t be a catalyst to an escalation of tensions, it has the potential to turn into something much bigger.  This is especially true if cooler heads don’t prevail and both sides decide to kick things up a notch.  Meanwhile, this places Europe in a precarious position, especially since Russia is taking the lead against the fight with ISIS as other countries are reluctant to step up to the plate.

Turkey is a Problem
What really makes this situation both strange and dangerous is that Turkey is the primary jumping-off point for people from the west.  There is also a complex web of political and economic ties between Turkey and Syria, Russia and the west as well.  All of this contributes to a conundrum that is not easy to sift through, yet resolve.

This is where our own interests come into play.  We need Turkey as an ally in order to try and hold ISIS at bay and keep fighters from coming back to the west in order to carry out attacks.  Europe needs Russia for gas.  Russia wants to establish a permanent presence in Syria while expanding their relationship with Iran.  We want to be in Iraq in order to keep the other powers at bay and expand our interests in the region as well.  Then there’s Israel, which is not that far away from where all of this is unfolding.

Turkey knows this, and they are trying to play all sides to their advantage, despite their courting of Europe in order to join the EU.  In other words, Turkey represents a cauldron of conflict that threatens to de-stabilize peace and security around the world.

What This Means for US
We’re already running the risk of being attacked by ISIS at home as well as abroad, and this threat will only increase as our involvement in the region escalates.  We also know that there are terrorists lying in wait in our cities and towns, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.  However, now that we have the possibility of a conflict with Russia and fighting a proxy war in the Middle East, threats to our security have just increased exponentially.

Keep in mind that chances are that we will be faced with a non-traditional attack.  Cyber attacks can throw our communications, electrical grid and transportation networks into disarray.  An attack on our financial sector can send panic through every layer of our economy.  Fear and uncertainty alone, promoted by a ratings-hungry media can also create panic and promote more social unrest.  The bottom line is that what’s happening in that part of the world can easily bleed into our daily lives on the home front.

There has never been a more important time to be ready for anything, because we are being threatened on multiple levels at the same time.  If you haven’t started to prepare for a SHTF scenario yet, now is the time to take it seriously and get to work.   Get your bug out bags ready, build your stockpiles and have exit strategies in place to move to safety at a moment’s notice.  Things can go from normal to chaotic a lot sooner than most of us think, and it can all be initiated by a conflict thousands of miles away.