Countries are making a show today of delivering aid to earthquake-ravaged Turkey. They made a show in 2010 of pledging aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti too. But many of these compassionate poseurs failed to deliver on their pledges.
Turkey earthquake diplomacy
But Turkey is being spared such unconscionable acts of stolen charity. The list of countries already delivering aid is long. It includes the US, Russia, the EU, and China. And they are providing everything from food to search and rescue teams.
International rescue missions were rushing to Turkey and Syria on Monday after one of the most powerful earthquakes [7.8 magnitude] to hit the region in at least a century left more than [5,000] people dead, thousands injured and an unknown number trapped in the rubble.
The early-morning quake and dozens of aftershocks wiped out entire apartment blocks in Turkey and heaped more destruction on Syrian communities already devastated by over a decade of war.
(The Guardian, February 6, 2023)
The West is delivering aid so Turkey will help Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has much to do with this rush to help. Turkey is a political and geographical bridge between the West and all other countries.
That’s why it’s playing peace broker. And the countries fall into two camps: Allied democracies are supporting Ukraine. Axis autocracies are supporting Russia.
Of course, neither camp thinks Turkey can broker any peace between Russia and Ukraine. But this war is a clash (by proxy) between democracies and autocracies. That’s how no less a person than President Biden framed it. So both sides covet Turkey’s support.
Then, of course, there’s the spoiler role it’s playing on NATO expansion. Sweden and Finland need Turkey to support their membership applications. Both sides, for and against those applications, also covet Turkey’s support.
So what better way to curry its favor than to make a show of delivering aid? Allied countries have greater means, of course. Their supply of military aid to Ukraine has demonstrated this. It has been far more than Axis countries have been able to supply to Russia. So everyone expects Allied countries to deliver more humanitarian aid to Turkey too.
The point is that Allied countries are banking on Turkey reacting favorably. That is, by ratifying Sweden and Finland as new members of NATO.
Of course, that will only escalate this proxy war in Ukraine. Both sides are bound to double down. And that will increase the prospect of escalating it into World War III.
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