So, They Noticed.

Erdogan is a shrewd politician but is he a real statesman? It is clear that average Turks have a better geopolitical sense than official Ankara and I wrote about it for years. Like this: 

RUSSIA IS OUR STRATEGIC PARTNER” When asked “How would you define the relations between Russia and Turkey” in the survey, 58.2 percent of the respondents said “there is a strategic partnership”. Other answers to the same question were as follows; "10.5 percent are cooperative", 6.5 percent "close cooperation", 4.5 percent "neither cooperation or problems", 9 percent "problems", 11.4 percent "hostile." "WE DON'T TRUST THE USA" When asked about the relations between the USA and Turkey, which was asked as "Which of the following options best describes the USA in terms of its relations with Turkey", 35.5 percent of the Turkish people said "unreliable". While 32.8% of the citizens said to the same question as 'colonial country', the other answers of the participants were as 'strategic partner' (18.3%), 'enemy country' (12.4%), and 'friendly and allied country' by 1%. RUSSIA YES, USA NO. 

Here is graphics to get the scale.

Since then many things changed--Russia demonstrated to the world what real war means, plus Erdogan must contend with Turkish street opinion on genocide in Gaza. For him it was fine and dandy, until Russia AD has shown Turkish UAVs that they are for bombing defenseless, and then there is this thing: ECONOMY. Now RT reports:

For decades, Turkish nationalism marched under the NATO flag. But now, one of Türkiye’s most influential right-wing leaders is calling for a turn East – toward Russia and China. His proposal may mark the country’s clearest ideological break with Atlanticism since joining the Alliance. In September, Türkiye’s political landscape was shaken by a statement that many experts called sensational and potentially transformative. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a long-time ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the People’s Alliance, proposed the establishment of a strategic trilateral alliance involving Türkiye, Russia, and China to counter the “US-Israel evil coalition.” Bahceli emphasized that such an alliance is “the most suitable option, considering reason, diplomacy, the spirit of politics, geographical conditions, and the strategic environment of the new century.” The proposal extends far beyond the usual nationalist agenda, positioning Türkiye as a player capable of initiating new formats of international cooperation.

Well, yeah--NATO has been not just defeated, it was utterly humiliated and exposed for the paper tiger that it is. BRICS is flourishing, and Europe is getting poorer. Hello! There will be no "trilateral" alliance, because that place is now firmly occupied by Iran, but I spoke about this on a number of occasions--Turkiye's future is in Eurasia where it truly belongs, minus the idiotic idea of pan-Turkism which Russia will not allow to develop, not to mention the fact that Turkiye doesn't have economic wherewithal to actually support this funny ideology other than propaganda and some moderate size projects. Turkiye should simply continue to pursue her objective of becoming a full member of BRICS and of SCO. NATO is over, so is Europe. Somebody in political top in Ankara has finally noticed what average Turks knew for a long time. 

These Motions...

 ... have been pretty much inevitable. 

Türkiye will seek to join the BRICS group of nations and intends to bring up the issue at an upcoming meeting of the economic bloc’s foreign-ministers in Russia, Ankara's chief diplomat Hakan Fidan announced on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters while on a three-day visit to China, Fidan stated that Türkiye has long been waiting to become a member of the European Union, but has for years faced opposition from some of that bloc’s members. In this context, Ankara is now considering BRICS as an alternative platform for integration, the minister explained. ”We cannot ignore the fact that BRICS, as an important cooperation platform, offers some other countries a good alternative,” Fidan said, noting that while the group still has “a long way to go,” Ankara sees the “potential in BRICS.”

Turkiye today is pretty much her own thing and, no matter how "westernized", will never share the so called European "values", not to mention the fact of EU market losing purchasing power while Eurasian market gaining it. Turkiye also is very closely economically tied to Russia in critical fields such as energy and increasingly through military technology. Turks are not stupid, they observe the "performance" of NATO weaponry in SMO. These are tectonic shifts:

Moscow has welcomed Ankara’s interest in joining BRICS. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated that the topic of Türkiye’s membership in the group will be featured on the agenda of next week’s summit, which this year is being chaired by Russia.  

Turkiye fits, however, into the overall integrationist trend of BRICS and she will be a welcome addition. Consider also the real economic sector of Turks is very large and, as an example, in terms of steel production Turks outproduce every single EU nation (some of them combined) with the temporary exception of Germany with which Turkiye has a rough parity. Turkish tomatoes and building contractors are omnipresent on Russian market, plus Turkiye is a huge vacation spot for Russian tourists. So, there you go.  G-7 is not really a G-7, at best it is G-3, in reality it is G-2. 

Meanwhile NATO's buffoon in chief states the obvious.

The level of Russia’s weapons and ammunition production since the start of the conflict with Ukraine has surpassed NATO’s expectations, the secretary general of the US-led military bloc has acknowledged. Speaking to Sky News on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg was asked to comment on a study released last month by the consulting firm Bain & Company, which revealed that Moscow was generating artillery shells at more than three times the rate of all NATO members combined. “It’s correct that Russia has been able to build up their defense industry faster than we expected, and it’s correct that NATO allies have spent more time than they should in ramping up our production,” Stoltenberg replied.

No, fool, it was already there to start with, with key industries being returned to Russia's control as early as 2012-13, in reality the process started earlier. But ignorance is expected from economic BSers from combined West. Next thing you know, Goldman Sachs will advise on the design of NATO's Air Defense system and hedge funds will issue field manuals on brigade and divisional level EW. Good God, what a loser.

Lovely Ania...

 ... gives updates from Tzvetnoi (Colorful) Boulevard and Moscow-city. 

As you can see yourself, Russians are simply stoically suffering from West's sanctions... not. Any argument about being in Moscow is invalid, because the same "suffering" happens all over Russia from Vladivostok to Novosibirsk, to Kazan and Kaliningrad. 

And here is an interesting snippet: 

The vast majority of Austrian companies present in Russia continue to operate even in the face of Western sanctions, the Russian ambassador to Vienna, Dmitry Lyubinsky, stated on Friday. Most of the 650 Austrian firms working in the Russian market have stayed, the diplomat said in an interview with RIA Novosti.Lyubinsky noted that entrepreneurs in both countries “are showing great interest in the continuation of mutually beneficial cooperation.” He added that despite facing “unprecedented pressure,” only a “handful” of Austrian companies have opted to leave Russia. The envoy pointed at numbers which indicate that Russia remained among Austria’s top ten trade partners in 2022. It also ranked sixth in terms of export volumes “despite the desire of the Austrian authorities to freeze everything connected with Russia,” Lyubinsky stated.    

Well, Russian internal market is huge and despite sanctions and natural for any developed nation islands of low income and social problems, Russians largely remain solvent and continue to buy stuff ranging from food to consumer goods. 

Meanwhile, rescue continues in Turkey and Syria, and some small miracles still happen like with this Turkish girl 4 days after quake. 

Here is one of the most regal women in the world, Asma Assad and her husband, the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad, with victims of the earthquake in Syria.

  

The President. 

This all is not for photo-ops. Is this what it takes--a tragedy--for good people around the world to remember who we are? My heart goes out to people of Turkiye and Syria.

Have Moscow And Budapest...

... settled the issue of Hungarian enclaves in former Ukraine already? Here is significant interview to Polish resource by former Hungary's MP a day ago. 

The Hungarian government believes that Russia will win the war against Ukraine and therefore avoids sanctions against Moscow, Hungarian politician and former MEP Benedek Jávor told EURACTIV Poland in an interview, adding that Budapest silently hopes there will be a modification of borders in the region.“They [Hungarian government] want to maintain good relations with Russia. They believe Moscow will defeat Ukraine, and there’s a chance for modifying the borders with Ukraine and annexation of the Podkarpackie region,” Jávor said. Asked if this is an “official” plan, he replied negatively but said former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev had openly suggested that after destroying Ukraine, Russia could divide it up between Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.“I heard the Hungarian willingness to stick to this plan during informal talks with government politicians. Orbán hasn’t mentioned it openly,” Jávor said. 

Of course, Victor Orban will not say anything like this openly, but it is implied in contemporary Russian-Hungarian relations.  That fits not only into the pattern of these relations but into a historically firm trend of smaller nations changing their geopolitical orbits around major powers. In Russia's orbit one gets to be assured of energy supply and, under some circumstances, protection, including military one. And then, of course, there is the issue of culture. Russians do not really care what political system or religion one has, as long as it is not hostile and socially and culturally traditional. Hungary fits the bill perfectly. Nobody asks anyone to love Russia. Strictly business and what could be defined as conservative (not in the American sense) values. 

Does Orban believe in miraculous revival of Europe and its culture? I don't think so. Just today, fresh from Hungary.   

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto issued a scathing rebuke of the US ambassador to Budapest on Thursday, asserting that he has no business meddling in the nation’s internal affairs. The minister’s comments came after Ambassador David Pressman, who has represented Washington in Budapest since September 2022, told Politico earlier this week that Hungarian policymakers “continue to push policies endorsed by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” He was referring to Budapest's opposition to anti-Russia sanctions and support of Moscow’s proposals for a ceasefire. When asked to respond to the statement at a press conference, Szijjarto said, “Nobody can tell us from the outside how to live, so it is of no interest what a citizen of another country – be it an ambassador – thinks about the domestic political processes in Hungary. “We ask for more respect for the Hungarians, even from the ambassador,” he added. It is not Pressman’s “job to interfere in the internal affairs of Hungary,” the minister declared. 

You see, Hungarians can be Russophobic all they want, as long as they maintain reasonable relations, Russians do not care. If that is not enough, Turkiye's Interior Minister has his very interesting (and realistic, I may say) take on the whole US-EU and Turkiye relations:

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accused US ambassador Jeffry Flake of trying to “confuse” people in the host nation and told him to get his “filthy hands” off the country. He has previously claimed that Western nations were waging “psychological warfare” to undermine tourism in Türkiye. “I’m telling you very clearly, get your filthy hands off Türkiye. I know clearly what you have done, what steps you have taken, and how you want to confuse Türkiye,” the minister said in a speech on Friday. Soylu claimed the first questions “every US ambassador” arriving in Türkiye was asked were “How can I stage a coup” and “How can I harm Türkiye.” The minister also stated that European nations were “run” by American diplomats.The remarks came a day after the US and several EU nations decided to temporarily shut down their their consulates in Istanbul due to “security considerations.”

I cannot say that he is incorrect. Soylu surely has a point. This trend on many nations having a point will continue, until the whole EU structure collapses. Per US attempts on China. Well, those Washington's "strategists" should sort their clusterfuck out in 404 first, and Russians observe it in genuine amusement.