Rise of the Ottoman Phoenix

PHILIP MCCRUM states that a confluence of factors such as size, geography, religion and ethnicity were conferring Turkey with greater regional authority guaranteeing the rise of the Ottoman phoenix enhancing its national interests. In an analysis for the International Relations and Security Network (ISN), "Turkey’s Expanding Geopolitical Reach",he predicts that Turkey's strategic position at the crossroads of a diversified east-west natural gas supply network as well as its leadership position in the Muslim world as the largest Islamic economic power ensured greater geostrategic significance that even its domestic squabbles could not overcome.

Pipelines and Energy

Gal Luft, director at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) cautions the U.S. to curb its enthusiasm towards the Nabucco pipeline arguing that it served as Iran’s economic lifeline and would imperil American interests although it reduced European dependence on Russian gas. In an article for the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, “How to beat Iran’s pipeline strategy”, he also calls on the U.S. to cooperate with India on the development of a thorium nuclear fuel cycle.