RETURN TO THE EAST: Walter Russell Mead: Erdogan’s Big, Fat Turkish Idea. “Turkey is likely to have a rocky road as it turns back on the road Atatürk abandoned, and Turkish-US relations are likely to cause intermittent heartburn and table thumping in both countries. Nevertheless, it looks as if their shared interests lead the US and Turkey to update and renegotiate their sixty year old partnership in a changing region.”

This is a good time for me to once again recommend Austin Bay’s new book on Kemal Ataturk’s legacy.