Putin is gobbling up whatever he can -- while Obama does nothing

That was then. This is now. Erdogan visited Moscow last week, and the two are now thick as thieves, even raising fears about the integrity of NATO. (Remember: Strategically located Turkey commands the alliance’s second-largest army.)

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Erdogan is angry over our refusal to extradite Fatullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based preacher Erdogan accuses of masterminding a failed military coup against him. But will Turkey now bar US and NATO planes from continuing to use the Incirlik airbase near the Syrian border?

“You have never seen such a cheap tactic from Turkey,” an Ankara parliamentarian named Taha Ozhan told me recently.

Well, at least not since 2003, when Erdogan abruptly blocked a US-led alliance from using Turkish soil to launch the Iraq war, forcing a major last-minute strategy shift.

Either way, Putin sees a US-Turkish rift and seizes on it. With his Turkey-Azerbaijan move, which includes a planned natural-gas pipeline, he can dominate Central Europe’s energy markets. And as a bonus, Turkey and Russia are promising to share intelligence on Syria.

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