[Colin Glassey] Turkey and South Korea
Both of these countries are allies of the United States. They are/were both front-line states, Turkey on the front-line against the U.S.S.R., South Korea on the front-line against North Korea. Now that trouble is on both their borders (Iraq and North Korea) both countries have elected governments which are much less pro-U.S. than previous governments. So what does this tell us?
Well, it seems pretty clear that neither front-line country wants a war fought on its border, though Turkey's fear is a lot less reasonable than South Korea. It is also clear that the Cold War is over and the alliances which we built up to fight Communism seem to have run their course. Yes, both countries can end their alliance with United States and both countries seem well on their way to ending it. In fact the United States seems to have lost its allies Germany and France over the last decade.
One obvious question is: were they ever really our allies or did they just threw in with us because the alternative was worse? Now that the choice isn't between the United States and the U.S.S.R. but between the United States and the International Community. I would say that as the world changes, national self-interest comes to the fore. The bottom line is that the United States does have a national self-interest which is different from, and to a limited degree opposed to that of other nations.
I'm disappointed with all of our erst-while allies. I see them putting their state's needs too far ahead of the world at large. I see them too casually throwing away the United States alliance in exchange for some short-term benefits. How can everyone on this planet be expected to work together for a common good if every choice is just being made based on national self-interest? Nearly every country has benefited from these last 50 years of peace, and this was directly resulting from the actions of the United States. Now that we are seriously considering going to war against Iraq, largely because of the threat Iraq posses, not just to the United States, but to the world as a whole, we get actively attacked by Germany, and Turkey says it will only help us in exchange for 10 or 20 billion dollars.
Well, no one like the police. That is what we are becoming, the world police.
1:15:47 PM 
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