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Originally Posted by nik-
It's not a black and white situation and pretending that it is is ridiculous. It's all fine for someone on a forum to say "durrr, they're supporting him!!!" but what are they supposed to do?
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There's a pretty long list of political and financial weaponry the West can aim at other countries when it suits their needs. In most times just holding up trade negotiations of a key industry can get countries to buckle quickly, as those kinds of problems turn into internal ones rapidly. Even quite innocent looking measures like complicating border crossings have proved to be quite effective, especially if it's directed at businessmen and politicans. Just holding up a few trucks of a well chosen company can eat the support of a leading politician, especially if election time is close. Threatening to cut financial aid is also generally quite effective. (George Bush actually got Israel to play ball with this for a while. It's one of the better achievements of his presidency.) Science exchange, student exchange... There's just so much other countries want from Europe.
If a country receives financial aid like Turkey does, cutting down on that aid is generally a pretty good stick to hold over someones head.
I could go on, the bag of tricks is really quite big. It's really pretty basic stuff if you know international diplomacy.
Most of that stuff however requires a working political system and a free press. Which is why the West should have acted while those were in place.
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It's probably the same people that would be crying up a storm if they intervened in their country's affairs.
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Nonsense.