What has America taught us?

In an article I wrote a few days ago, I asked the question "What has Russia taught us?" and sought answers to this question.

My views in that article were nothing special. I wrote about the relations between Turks and Russians from a historical perspective and how to understand the latest moves of Putin's Russia.

Similarly, in this article, I wanted to think a little bit about America.

I won't go into the history of America, we don't have serious relations with America like the Russians. After all, there is a long distance between us and as I mentioned in my previous articles, we are not a nation that is very keen on overseas territories. Let alone overseas distances, we have not even been a maritime nation for so many years, even though we are covered with seas on three sides. We don't like the sea very much for some reason, who knows, maybe we are seasick. After all, America is a country across the ocean. Far away!

Nevertheless, we have a distant diplomatic relationship with the United States of America starting from the Ottoman period. These relations were terminated on April 5, 1917 when the US declared war on Germany, our ally.

The relationship between the Republic of Turkey and the United States officially resumed on February 17, 1927, again on a diplomatic level.

In fact, I think we need to put ourselves in the shoes of this state in order to understand America. I don't think we can understand the relations very well from our point of view. 

Yes, let's say we are America, what would we do? What kind of a state would we be?

America is not a person, it's a country, so the way it reacts in international relations is not like a person, it's more like a collective mind. 

First of all, there are many Americas, which one are you talking about?

I will answer this question by saying the general one. In general, it is not easy to answer the question "What would we do if we were America?" easily. Nevertheless, let's try to empathize a little bit, as the famous expression goes. 

By the way, I don't understand why we haven't found a proper Turkish equivalent for this word. The dictionary says "empathy", but I don't think it's related.  

Anyway, whether it's empathy or whatever, I mean, let's take a look at the world from America's point of view.

You live across the ocean, in a geography where no one can seriously threaten you. 

There is a time difference with the rest of the world. You also have it within yourself. After all, you do not have a small amount of land, you are a big enough country.

You do not have a deep historical past like many other countries. So you don't have such a deep common culture among your citizens. 

The initial majority were actually white people with an adventurous spirit who had fled the conservative lifestyle and oppressive rule of the United Kingdom, or at least were dissatisfied with that lifestyle and were looking for a new life in a new land.

A generation of white people who did not hesitate to exterminate the Indians who were the true owners of America, enslaved and tortured the black people they brought from Africa for years, and fought a very bloody war among themselves with the North-South wars.

It is a country of wild capitalism. It's a country where if you don't have money you will be disgraced, but it's also a country of opportunities.

It has more than enough natural resources. It produces oil and gas. It has gold and other underground riches.

The climatic conditions are to everyone's liking, there are places like Miami where it is always hot and places like Alaska where it is always cold.

People from all over the world migrated to this land with dreams of a new life and became American citizens. So in fact America is a country where people from all over the world live. 

There are Chinese neighborhoods, there are African-American neighborhoods, there are Italian, French, Irish, Armenian, Jewish, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Russian, German, Spanish, even Turkish, there are people of all nationalities and they are all Americans. 

As a result of so many different people struggling to survive in a wild capitalism, there is competition in all kinds of issues, like survival of the fittest, so new ideas are constantly being produced, they have to be produced. Because you have to live, you can only make big money if you have a good idea. And for America, money is everything. If you have money you have power, and power is the sine qua non of survival. Or you become a slave. You work for somebody. Or you're on the streets, you're out on the streets. 

This is the real power of the United States. The idea of dominating the world financially is a product of this competitive spirit, and so is the idea of dominating the world militarily. It's all competitive spirit.

Hollywood was born because of the competitive spirit, Las Vegas exists for the same reason. For the same reason it is superior to everyone else in the space race. For the same reason Silicon Valley was born. For the same reason it was able to build world-class companies. For the same reason social media, which we are all addicted to today, was born. For the same reason, from all kinds of sports to various cultural events, America always comes out on top.

You have established a global financial order, everyone uses your money in trade between themselves. Everything is priced in your money. Everyone keeps your money in their vaults as a reserve currency. You can print as much money as you want for the cost of ink and paper, and you can buy whatever you want with this money.

You have built an enormous army, using both your own national resources and the resources of the world as you wish, and you have become the gendarme of the world. You have bases all over the world. If a soldier gets a bloody nose where you plant your flag, you make them pay a very bad price. Because no one else has your power.

In short, you are the neighborhood bully. We get it, you understand everything, you know everything, you made the best movie, you found the best rhythm.

Now let me ask you one more time, what would you do in America's place?

Turkey? I can assure you that millions of people in America don't even know where Turkey is. 

Therefore, if you don't listen to them, if you go too far out of your way, to put it crudely, they can also cause a coup d'état or an economic crisis in the country. He will take you out of the F35 program as he sees fit, and even if you ask him to give you an F16, he won't even give you that.

He has Europe, not Turkey, wrapped around his finger. Ukraine is at war today because he said it would go to war with Russia. Russia, in my opinion, was forced to go to war in Ukraine because maybe it had to take the gamble of its life. 

Sometimes you have no other choice, you have only one move left, you have to make that move.

In fact, even Russia is an easy target for America. Its only reservation is Russia's intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles. But still, it has no fear, it presses and presses Russia's buttons. 

Even the sabotage of the northern gas pipeline was probably done by America, and even if it wasn't America, it definitely had a hand in the sabotage. The purpose is clear. 

As the old saying goes, you are to be feared. America is just like that, as I said, the neighborhood bully. 

America is the one that has been terrorizing us for years, and it is also the one that will perhaps pit us against Greece tomorrow with its buildup on Greek soil.

Although that stockpile is not against us, it probably planned to draw Russia into the war at the time, so it made its preparations in advance. But if we disobey, the barrels could turn on us at any moment.

So America is actually a national security problem for us!

America is also the reason for the circle of fire around us, which grows hotter and hotter every day.

So let us return to the question in the title of our article.

What has America taught us?

I think the first thing it has taught us is that international relations are only about interests, nothing else. Humanity, human values, emotion have no place in international relations.

The second lesson I learned is that we have to achieve financial independence as soon as possible. We have to get rid of our debts as soon as possible. This will not free us from America's grasp; if it wants to, it can be a thorn in our side even if we don't have debts. As long as we don't act against America's interests.

We also need to reduce our military dependence. The developments in recent years are very promising and should be continued without interruption, and we should use our own national products to a greater extent in these military technologies. 

Another thing that can be done is to establish two more armies like the Aegean army, which is independent from NATO and uses only our own weapons. I think this will be of great benefit. While the existing armies will continue their relations with NATO, the new armies should be independent like the Aegean army. Maybe there could be armies that would act together with the sister Turkic states.

Of course, it is certain that any such moves we make will be met with a direct reaction. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen our unity within the society. 

The cadres who will come to power should not have soft women against America. If there are cadres with weaknesses like the current ones, America will not hesitate to use these weaknesses. The fact that the cadres are brave cadres who draw strength from the nation may be a preventive factor for America for a while. Nevertheless, if we cause problems, it will not hesitate to do whatever it can. Because his perspective is very different. America is a country that will only engage with you if it suits it. 

Also, like everyone else, America has its weaknesses. The most important of these weaknesses is that the management system is based on lobbies. Therefore, as a state, we need to support the Turkish lobby in America to become stronger by organizing our American citizens.

For now, these are the things that came to my mind, an ancestral saying says that you should call a bear an uncle until you cross the bridge. It may be useful to evaluate the relations from this perspective.

But I don't mean in the same way as some pro-American intellectuals in the country, that whatever we do is useless. It is also necessary to know how to stand upright when necessary.

If you have any ideas about what can be done, write in the comments.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow.