Read the companion piece to this one: Why Turkey Should Be Removed From NATO
First, the obvious; there is no mechanism in the North Atlantic Treaty to remove a member without their consent.
The only conceivable workaround is for the other twenty seven member states to deposit their intent to leave the Alliance in Washington D.C., and then form a new Alliance. However, this “solution” has problems.
The credibility of the alliance would be compromised. Public’s on both sides of the Atlantic are growing ambivalent to collective security.
Collapsing and reforming the alliance to exclude one of the oldest and most strategically relevant will inspire a lack of confidence in collective security. The whole house of cards comes crashing down.
Read More: 10 Days In Turkey: An American Student Comes Face To Face With The Islamic Crisis Of Modernity
For the sake of argument, let’s say that excluding Turkey is possible, and won’t create a tremendous credibility gap; NATO would still be shooting itself in the foot in terms of its deterrence value.
Even ignoring that Turkey has the second largest military in NATO, its geographic position is invaluable in deterring Russian aggression against the alliance, and negating the Black Sea Fleet.
The Black Sea Fleet, recently reinforced by ships stolen from the Ukrainian Navy, would be free to do as it pleases, were it not for the Bosporus and Dardanelles, which act as a tremendous nautical choke point.
The Bosporus Bridge. Photo Credit: Güldem Üstün/Flickr (CC by 2.0)
This severely limits the ability of the Russians to act aggressively in the Mediterranean, as they must utilize this passage.
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Turkey is a guarantor of good behavior on behalf of the Russians in NATO’s southern flank, and gives the alliance a second front to project over the Black Sea.
If Turkey is so important, why would anyone want to be rid of it?
A reasonable criticism is that Turkey is increasingly undemocratic due to President Erdoğan, among other things, silences media at home and abroad, and continues to deny the genocide in Armenia.
Photo Credit: Hyeong Seok Kim/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
While these instances are wholly undemocratic, and contrary to the democratic ethos of the Atlantic Alliance, it would not be the first time an alliance member was behaving badly.
Both the United States and Belgium, for instance, fueled the Congo Crisis of the early 1960s, leading to the deaths of about 100,000 people.
The British and the French attempted to seize the Sinai Peninsula in a shameless imperialist land grab in 1956. Poland’s ruling party is also curtailing democracy in much the same way Erdoğan has.
Yet all of these parties remain in the alliance.
Instead of ostracizing an old and strategically invaluable friend, utilizing the existing alliance architecture to influence Turkey back onto the path of liberalism is the far more reasonable reaction.
Read the companion piece to this one: Why Turkey Should Be Removed From NATO
Do you with agree with this view? Give us your take in the comments below.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: ResoluteSupportMedia/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Do It For Yourself, Not The Gram
This piece is part of our “What Do You Live For?” series. It attempts to answer that confounding question that few people ask themselves.
As a millennial, our lives are consumed with being connected at any and all times. Our daily actions include a continuous cycle of checking our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Snapchat feeds to see our friends, family and celebrities living their lives and giving us a sneak peek into how they are living their lives.
It is because of the habits we’ve formed as a society, as a generation that led me to rethink what my purpose is, what I am actually living for.
There is a term, FOMO (fear of missing out) that was coined a few years ago to sum up how you felt if you were not a part of something everyone else was doing.
Whether it’s at the latest concert, party, bar/club, and any type of activity that everyone would be talking about later on and leaving a digital footprint behind.
With the continued osmosis of social media platforms becoming one with our daily habits, too frequently do we find ourselves attending events only if to send a Snapchat or take a cool photo for our followers?
Since when did enjoying your free time become burdensome?
I will be the first to admit that I am as much part of the social media generation but it’s taken me quite some time to learn limits, boundaries and understanding of what is right and wrong.
At the beginning of the year I made a vow to stop using Twitter as frequently as I had once become accustomed to.
I deleted the app of my iPhone and my iPad and I changed my password so I wouldn’t be tempted to fall back down the rabbit hole that is binge scrolling.
Day after day, month after month I found myself no longer yearning for my Twitter account until one day when I realized Twitter had in fact deleted my account for some odd reason.
“What Do You Live For?” Series: An American Educated South African Answers That Question In A Poem
I didn’t even blink an eye that it was gone, because I knew that I was living completely fine not being “plugged in” to the social media network.
The generation that I am a part of has decided that as a whole we must document every aspect of our life, whether with a witty check in, a cheeky Instagram post, or a facetious Tweet about the 2016 Presidential Election.
We have become slaves to our social media following. Don’t get me wrong, it is fun to get acknowledgment and praise from time to time for something awesome or a life event that is once in a life time, but most of the time it is something so mundane or asinine that one doesn’t even bat an eyelash at.
When I think about what I am living for, I realized that I have to live for myself, for my happiness and what is reasonably acceptable for my life, both personally and professionally.
Too often I see peers who find the need to “do it for the gram” and it is that braggadocios attitude that continues to help divide our society as a whole.
It is a battle of the haves and have nots. Being a trend chaser, whether you’re at the latest music festival, or eating at the next biggest brunch place, these material things don’t matter in the long run. They’re short term activities that will have no bearing on your life in the future.
As a millennial who recently hit his “quarter life crisis” I’ve found myself become more introspective and take an inventory of everything and everyone in my life.
Over time, quality has become the overwhelming value in my life over quantity, from friends, to followers, to amounts of time I use my social media to brag to my “friends” about what I am doing.
I have put myself first in an attempt to live a better, more values based lifestyle. Instead of engaging with those who I don’t share interests with anymore, I choose to part ways and not look back.
Letting go of any ill will I may have harbored or any semblance of a relationship I once have has allowed me to open my heart and my mind to so much more.
I’m able to live a fuller life that focuses on who I am as a person.
It’s important in life to remember who you are as a person, and if the person you’re portraying outward is not the person you are on the inside, than that is not living a genuine and authentic life. That is superficial and will only lead to more insecurities later on in life.
If you find yourself questioning your choices because of what is expected of you from others, instead of giving in or feeling pressured to oblige, think twice about if that is something you would truly do, something you would feel good about as an individual with their own identity.
Self-identity is exactly as it sounds. Instead of doing what everyone else is doing, do what you want.
As a wise person once told me, be the flame, not the moth. Be the one to stand out, not the one who follows.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Robin Vintevogel/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Why America Really Needs A New “West Wing”
As chaos, deceit and lies are engulfing the White house, the sanctum sanctorum of American democracy; I find myself increasingly pining for the “cartoonishly optimistic” days of the Bartlet administration on my TV screen.
I watch the reruns of West Wing with a sense of nostalgia, where the White House staffers would do the “walk and talk” with charge, meet at the Oval Office with a distinguished President, and give press briefings that were transparent and not a battle ground for the war against media.
Watching West Wing nowadays is painful.
The Trump administration has destroyed the prestige of working at the White House.
The well- beloved CJ Cregg, who was known for her astute mind and performance of “The Jackal”, has been replaced in reality with the aggressive and dull Sean Spicer, whose lexicon leaves a lot to be desired.
Leo McGarry, the man who always stood behind President Bartlet, who always viewed everything with benevolent pragmatism, has been replaced with Reince Preibus, a man who believes that defensiveness is the shield that he must carry and not necessarily political acumen or sensitivity.
It is almost like the Trump administration is trying to be the total opposite of what idealists loved about West Wing.
For almost a decade Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing mesmerized the American psyche; depicting American democracy’s morals, values and diplomatic stance in the world, albeit with a few instances of infamy, all along having a scholarly president at the helm of affairs.
With his penchant for classical music, literature and finer sensibilities in life, President Bartlet and his team exuded a sense of fairness, liberalism and intellectualism that acted as a panacea for the troubled times of the Bush administration.
The fictitious West Wing gave all Democrats a ray of hope.
Sam, we need you right now.
The President’s failure to disclose his physical ailment was tantamount to a big scandal!
It would probably hardly earn a mention when compared to the missteps of Trump and his team.
What do we do now?
The country is split along party lines.
The chaos is palpable.
Intellectualism has been relegated to a secondary place.
The disregard for traditional institutions of democracy, including its fourth pillar known as the free press, is too blatant.
We need an escape from reality.
This time, we need an even bigger flight of imagination.
At the same time however, something too idealistic might be painful to watch amidst a sense of crumbling political values and lack of accountability displayed by the current administration.
We need a show that encompasses “American values”, one that believes in intellectualism, respect and equality and yet portrays the reality with sincerity.
In the last season of West Wing, Republican nominee Arnold Vinick and Democratic nominee Matt Santos were fighting for the presidency.
Their election season was intense, their campaigns were on full throttle; but throughout the entire political discourse they remained civil.
Do you remember when we thought this was a tough debate?
They fought on the basis of substantive arguments, not through personal attacks and the spread of abhorrent lies.
In fact, both candidates found mud-slinging repulsive, and they never launched any attacks that would defame their opponent.
Granted that at the end of the day, this election wasn’t real, and these campaigns were all part of Aaron Sorkin and Lawrence O’Donnell’s imagination, but they remind us that civility is not unnatural, that it should be the norm.
Shows such as Scandal and Designated Survivor do an excellent job in commanding the attention of their audience for the allotted one hour block they are given, but they are meant to act as a source of excitement and drama.
Scandal is a somewhat dystopian depiction of the White House, where corruption, bribery and murders are rampant.
It’s a political drama in some aspects, but it doesn’t do the job of alleviating the nerves of those who are already flustered by the Trump Administration.
I personally love West Wing.
The fast paced dialogue, sharp analysis and wit of the show are all very addictive.
There are days when I watch four episodes in a row, just to soak up the intense and realistic depiction of what goes on in the White House.
West Wing is unique because it shows the camaraderie of Presidents and political leaders despite partisanship and politics.
It romanticizes the White House and its occupants.
When the reality is filled with mundanity and crudity and when there is an obvious attempt at breaking away even from the age old tradition of honoring one’s predecessor; the only escape can come from the TV screen, when we can turn off CNN and indulge in the pure extravaganza of wishful thinking!
The country deserves and needs an updated, idealistic, version of this show so we can all make it through the next four years.
So help us Aaron Sorkin, you’re our only hope.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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Women Now Make Up The Majority Of Law Students
In a historic milestone, women now make up the majority of law students in the United States, comprising of just over a 50 percent of the seats at accredited Law Schools in the country.
According to the American Bar Association, the number of male and female students enrolled in Juris Doctorate programs had been nearly equal until this year which also marked the first time women law students outnumbered their male counterparts.
Data released by the American Bar Association shows that 55,766 women were enrolled nationwide in a Juris Doctorate program compared with 55,059 men.
The released data also showed that over 51 percent of first year students were female.
The American Bar Association requires accredited schools to annually disclose data in a number of fields such as admissions, financial aid and employment outcomes.
Most law schools however, do not require students to identify their gender hence some students are not included in the data as they do not identify with either gender.
Overall, law school enrollment remains flat with only a tiny increase in first year students.
Enrollment numbers have stabilized after dropping drastically by almost 30 percent since 2010.
Women outnumbering men in law schools is a historical milestone as this was one area where male enrollment exceeded female enrollment despite women historically having earned 57.1 percent of college degrees.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo: University of Michigan School of Law. Jason Crotty/Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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