Monday, February 13, 2023

Turkey Earthquake -- February 13, 2023

A reader writes that Bloomberg is reporting that Turkey's Erdogan is controlling the news, his people won't know how bad the earthquakes were, and Erdogan will be re-elected.

My not-ready-for-prime-time reply

This was "eastern Turkey."

"Eastern Turkey" is also referred to as "Indian country" or something to that effect by Istanbul, and "western Turkey" and the capital in the north, Ankara (central, though considered the west).

No one cares about eastern Turkey -- it is very sparsely settled compared to the west.

Eastern Turkey to Ankara / Istanbul is like Kansas/Nebraska to Washington, DC, and NYC. No one cares.

In addition, the Muslims "inshallah" attitude is that this is god's will, nothing to do with secular rulers.

My hunch: this is a huge story because its got great video and Ankara is going to receive huge tons of foreign aid, much of it won't reach eastern Turkey. If you think the "big man" in the US gets his cut, it's nothing compared to what the Big Man in Turkey gets.

As noted earlier, I have no interest in this story. Earthquakes happen; money flows to Turkey; and who ever is in charge will be the big winner. There was a moment in time when Turkey had the chance to move into the 21st century but that is lost, if not forever, at least long enough that I won't see any change in my lifetime.

The fact that Turkey is in NATO controlling whether Finland / Sweden are allowed to join NATO is a real travesty. 

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